October read along: The Invasion of the Body Snatchers

In preparation for Halloween, a read along of Jack Finney’s The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This has been on my TBR pile of books for some time. We will read a chapter every weekday for the month of October. My copy of the book is only 144 pages long spread over 21 chapters so that is about 7 pages per weekday. Of course you can binge read over the weekend, just not post spoilers before the date below for a particular chapter. We will start on Monday, Oct 6. That gives folks who want to join us plenty of time to locate a copy of the book for themselves.

Monday, Oct 6 - Chapter 1
Tuesday, Oct 7 - Chapter 2
Wednesday, Oct 8 - Chapter 3
Thursday, Oct 9 - Chapter 4
Friday, Oct 10 - Chapter 5

Monday, Oct 13 - Chapter 6
Tuesday, Oct 14 - Chapter 7
Wednesday, Oct 15 - Chapter 8
Thursday, Oct 16 - Chapter 9
Friday, Oct 17 - Chapter 10

Monday, Oct 20 - Chapter 11
Tuesday, Oct 21 - Chapter 12
Wednesday, Oct 22 - Chapter 13
Thursday, Oct 23 - Chapter 14
Friday, Oct 24 - Chapter 15

Monday, Oct 27 - Chapter 16
Tuesday, Oct 28 - Chapter 17
Wednesday, Oct 29 - Chapter 18
Thursday, Oct 30 - Chapter 19
Halloween - Chapters 20 & 21 (chapter 21 is only 3 pages long)

>2 Karlstar: Sounds fun! I will see if I can pick up a copy, but I do have some family business that may interfere.

I'm in. We have the same edition I believe. A short read, not too demanding. Let's go.

I found my copy - Dell paperback has 21 chapters, but is 219 pages

Glad to have a few more fellow readers along for this, my first read of IotBS.

>1 Neil_Luvs_Books: This discussion will be taking place over in the 75 Books Challenge Group, yes? Or are you doing it in here this year?

>6 clamairy: We are doing it here. It was just easier for me to start a new one here.

I want to see if I can manage to fit this group read into my schedule because I've never read Invasion of the Body Snatchers although I know my husband and I watched at least two movie versions.

>7 Neil_Luvs_Books: Great. I belong to this group, even though I rarely post. I do not belong to that other one.

>8 jillmwo: Same, and I prefer the old movie version just because I grew up with it.

>8 jillmwo: & >9 clamairy:
Right, I am putting you both down as the snipers for this BB that struck me.

:-)

I saw an old version in the 1960s and have not seen it since or read the book.

>10 pgmcc: *pew pew*
I was going to listen to this as an audiobook, but now I'm thinking I want to put my eyeballs on it instead.

>11 clamairy:
Be careful. They will snatch your eyeballs first and come back for the rest.

>12 pgmcc: I'm pretty sure that's a different book entirely.

>12 pgmcc: 😅

I do not have the book and getting to my library is hard now with road construction so I will read the comments. I do have the movie downloaded and watched it more than once. Not on Gutenberg Project.

>15 mnleona: Are any of the links in this search result useful PDFs for reading along with us?

https://www.google.com/search?q=invasion%20of%20the%20body%20snatchers%20pdf&amp...

I'll try and join, I've never really been part of a readalong like this before!

I found the audio book on You Tube (free channel).

>18 mnleona: Awesome! Glad you’ll be able to join us.

>17 ngoomie: I did one for the first time for last years Halloween prep during Sept and Oct. We read Bradbury’s The October Country and it was really fun. Which is why I decided to host this one for this Oct. Glad you’ll be able to join us!

I found my copy! I have a 1978 copy - I always wrote the year I got the book in it when I was a kid. I would have read it then (Unlike now when I get so many books at the $5 a bag library book sales, I couldn't possibly read them all before the next sale). This should be fun!

>21 daxxh: excellent! Glad to have you along.

I finally just bought a copy. I read chapter 1 and went to look at how far behind I was... and noticed we're not starting until tomorrow! Hurrah for being ahead of the game.

>23 elorin: I thought we were starting on the 1st, and I got so caught up in listening to it that I just kept going.

CHAPTER 1

Day 1 of our Halloween read along of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I enjoyed the first chapter. Sets the scene, raises expectations that something is off, but is it Wilma or Uncle Ira? And I wonder if there will be any romance developing between Miles and Becky.

A couple of things date the story, but I didn’t mind that because Finney makes it clear that this story is set 40 or 50 years ago in the 1970s. I wonder why Finney took the time to describe hanging Miles’ coat on the office skeletons?

What did you think of this first chapter?

I have read Chapter 1 and have really enjoyed it. The style and humour are a great help. I love the way the author has filled in the reader in with local background and his own details.

I started ahead of time.

>25 Neil_Luvs_Books: & >26 pgmcc: The humor was unexpected, and a big plus. I've read other Sci-Fi from this era and the attitudes seem dated, but this did not.

I'm reading a Danish translation, so I'll just follow this thread and see if something's been lost in translation :-)

>25 Neil_Luvs_Books:

Thoughts on chapter one.

From the start, paragraph one, make it clear this is a story at odds with science, with accepted facts, with "loose ends". A theme that will be continued.

I think there was no need at all for Finney to set this 20 year in the future when he wrote the book. It reads better set in the "current day" whenever that is -- when it was written or when it was read. This a serialize story, so perhaps he planned on using "the future' somewhere along narrative, but no need to to that. Perhaps it grabbed readers at the time and sold better; perhaps setting it in the future was a nod to "science fiction". But today that just dates the story. In my reading therefore, it is set today, not in the 50's or the 70's, but whatever today is.

Random thoughts on the writing:

They loved their alcohol. "Medicinal brandy" to handle the day, followed by a "mixed drink", two drinks in when the beautiful Becky shows up at the office.

Miles also loved the women, and he liked them full. Character development or the author's preference, I don't know, but lines like these made me smile a bit but also cringe. ""Becky has a fine, beautifully fleshed skeleton; too wide in the hips, I've heard women say, but I never heard a man say it." A compliment from a doctor I supposed, so must be his doctor character speaking for the first cringy part, then segue into a more normal observation. Miles continues with his appreciation of Becky's beauty : "kind and intelligent eyes", "full, good looking mouth", etc. Yes, Miles is already crushing again on high school beauty, now a woman "well into her twenties"

The divorces? Two experienced, unattached people. Ready to find love again? The divorce is a bit interesting -- for younger readers, divorce in the 50's was not as common as today, and carried a stigma. Was Finney protesting against that stigma? I don't know. I"ll keep an eye on this as the book progresses.

I do appreciate that Miles and Becky are still in their twenties. That is, one was a full adult, responsible and capable of making adult decisions and leading an adult life. Miles as a town doctor, and Becky (well, other than a divorcee, did I miss what she was?). This was the view of the people in their 20s well into the 1970's still. This contrasts to today's society starkly, where adulthood is seemingly postponed to one's 30's today. I perhaps honed in on this (I am age 62, graduated high school in 1981, was a child of the 1960s and came of age in the 1970s). As a 16 year old, I worked the mint and corn fields, drove large trucks from the farms to the cannery, married soon out of high school, had kids, and we are still together heading into retirement today. I guess my point is that society allowed teenagers and twenty year olds to be adults back 'in the day', and that is reflected in this book.

On to Wilma, Mile's backhanded sexism on display a bit, but we'll let it go as a product of it's time. "Wilma .. red cheeked, short short and plump, with no looks at all; she never married. .... I think she'd have made a fine wife and mother." We'll give the author a pass on these observations (or again, is that Miles speaking?).

Miles is established as 28 years old, described as attractive, yet also lving in his parent's house who have both passed. Either his parent's had him when they were quite old (unlikely), or they both died young in their 50's. Hmmm, likely reading too much into that -- but did they both get an illness and die, were they in a car accident. File this under -- it does not matter for the plot of the story, other than to explain Miles place in town as a son of a doctory, a doctor himself, a house owner -- and a potential provider for Becky -- so perhaps this is set in the 1950's after all.

Regarding the coat on the skeleton: I think they author was just showing the humorous side of Miles. That combined with the 'beautifully fleshed skeleton" of becky show he is a doctor with a dark humor. His training as a doctor, someone who understands science, is established.

>30 sdawson:
As I understand it he is telling the story from the future. He starts recounting events from 1953. I do not know how long the story goes on for before its end but I have not problem with his telling the tale from a point in what was the future for him. The nature of the telling is to my liking and telling it as a current day tale would give it a different feel. I am happy with it.

That opening definitely does a good job of getting you interested, and quickly

>30 sdawson: Nice observations. I also think that the book could have been written with a timeless sense rather than marking it in the 1970s. I wonder if Finney thought that making it “current” would make it seem more relevant to his readership at that time?

I am curious if the sexism continues. Miles may simply be a product of his time.

CHAPTER 2

Day 2 of our Halloween read along. This was a good chapter. The first real clue from Wilma of how to tell the body snatched from the regular folks: the lack of emotion behind the eyes. Is that possible to be able to sense emotion behind the eyes? I think it is but I am not sure how I would describe that. Maybe it’s a little like when someone looks deeply into your eyes - someone who loves you deeply and has significant history with you.

That was interesting to find that Aunt Aleda may also be affected. What might be the link between Ira and Aleda that they may have been both affected but Wilma was not?

What will happen to Wilma? Will Becky and Miles become involved? Sounds like they might have been in the past before they were both married to other partners. Will this matter to the plot later on?

Chapter 2 is scene setting and introducing three new characters, Wilma and her aunt and uncle, or are they? It is a fairly standard tale of someone suspecting something outlandish and the reasonable people she turns to thinking that she is actually suffering from some mental issue. Wilma’s frustration is clear to see and it will be interesting to see how the story develops and how, if at all, she manages to persuade people that her suspicions have a real basis.

>34 Neil_Luvs_Books: I know the copies are flawless physically, but if their eyes are soulless why are so many people fooled? I know, it makes the story much more gripping.

I listened to the whole thing because it was so good I couldn't stop myself... I really enjoyed this one. I have even dug out my DVD of the 1950s film version. I might wait until Halloween to watch it.

>34 Neil_Luvs_Books: "the lack of emotion behind the eyes. Is that possible to be able to sense emotion behind the eyes? I think it is but I am not sure how I would describe that."

Neither was Wilma. The lack of emotion in otherwise exact replicas is crucial. The question becomes: "What is it to be human?". Is feigned humanity a substitute for humanity? If no, then one strives to express that in words. Wilma struggles here.

Viewed from the present day -- with AI making remarkable advances -- this question is quite relevant. Where does emotion and humanity exist -- in the superficial, exterior traits, or something deeper. I fear that many people are embracing the current day body snatchers.

As I relate the story to my own life, I recall my emotional responses to the world when I was a teenager and compare them to them in my older age. Emotions are still there, but have the sharp edges been smoothed? Do I experience a sunny spring day, or wet autumn rain as fully as I did when I was younger? On rarer occasions I believe, not as frequent and perhaps not as intense. Does that mean that a younger me would view current me as somehow lost some humanity?

Back to the story though. Miles, continuing his character from chapter 1, is again presenting the scientific view of the situation. Uncle Ira is absolutely Uncle Ira, hence, the issue must be with Wilma. That is the logical scientific explanation. Miles is irritated a bit: '"Listen, Wilma" I spat out the words"'. And when Wilma drops the bombshell about her aunt --- well it seems pretty clear from a medical standpoint, that the trouble must be within Wilma's mind. Let's call in the psychiatrist, Dr. Kaufman and he'll sort her out.

And with that done, he is now back to thinking of Becky. They 'pick up where they left off' in high school, the romance unfolds a bit, and the chapter closes.

Almost. Something nags at him still, in spite of his logical reasoning, that something is the emptiness of Dave's Diner. A seed is growing. That final paragraph is excellent from a story telling perspective.

>37 sdawson: Yes! That comment about the diner rattled around in me when I read it.

With the young vs mature you/me comparison, I wonder if that is due to seeing things or experiencing things for the first time. I think this is why many so enjoy being with children: we get to vicariously experience again that feeling of the first time be it a first kiss or a first roller coaster ride.

Is there something in that human aspect missing in the body snatched?

I appreciate your comparison to our current day body snatchers: AI. I hadn’t thought of that but I see the parallels after reading your comment.

>36 clamairy: I am not surprised you listened to it all at once. It is taking a lot of discipline on my part to read one chapter a day.

>38 Neil_Luvs_Books: It was a lot easier to stop at the end of each short story with last year's Bradbury.

>39 clamairy: True!

>39 clamairy: & >40 Neil_Luvs_Books:
I have read the first four chapters and had to force myself to stop. I will write my chapter comments tonight and post them on the appropriate chapter date. His storytelling is great.

I found some commentary on the web that you may be interested in. These are short pieces written as book notes or introductions.
* Dean Koontz's introduction to the 60th anniversary edition of IotBS
* Milton Wolf's introduction to the 1992 Easton Press edition
* James Gunn's notes that accompanied the 1992 Easton press edition

Thus far, what Finney has successfully communicated is two things ( in Chapter One) the period of transition between light and dark, the seasonal period of transition that both Miles and Becky are in (both having had marriages that ended), the very ordinariness of the place in which the action takes place and then (in Chapter Two) the frustration felt when one can't articulate the nature of a change or shift that is sensed. Both create unease in the reader.

Additionally, Miles senses that he has failed Wilma so we can see that he's not necessarily a superhero full of empathy for others -- just a very ordinary small town medical guy. But she still trusts him (at least more than she trusts either Uncle Ira or Aunt Adela). But that sense of uncertainty is pervasive.

BTW >42 Neil_Luvs_Books: Thank you for posting those three introductions to Jack Finney's work.

CHAPTER 3

I am not sure what to say about this chapter except "the plot thickens."

>43 jillmwo: I agree with you. Finney is very good at ratcheting up the tension in what seems to be fairly mundane ordinary town life. Except for these weird cases that keep cropping up of people claiming that those close to them are no longer them. It has the doctors stumped.

So… as a professional, will Miles report whatever he is about to find in Jack and Theadora's house?

Yep, the story continues in chapter 3.

More strange cases to open the chapter. Something is going on.

Then a gathering of four doctors to open the chapter (two medical doctors, two psychiatrists). Representing the established expert medical community up against something unknown (or at least rare). They are stumped and joke about the old methods "blood letting". The doctors are cautious but interested.

Then Miles denial of his feelings for Becky continues. She is just a 'comfortable way to spend the evening', good company, companionship as they have divorce in common. No pressure or need to plan the future with Becky. OK, if you believe that, all I can say is that there is delusion happening, but it is not a delusion of the town folks, but Miles attempt at deluding himself.

Oh, a tidbit about the movie he saw and which was interrupted Time and Again was the movie. Finney eventually wrote that book in 1970. It was on his mind in 1954 when he wrote the interrupted movie scene.

Other random takeaways --- for the younger readers --- they seat 'three in the front seat' on the way to Belicec's house. Bench seats were the standard -- at least up to when I started to drive in the 1970s'. Do any cares even have bench front seats today. Perhaps the shift to front bucket seats is what really killed the Drive-In movie theaters.

And the dark humor continues "switching practice entirely to abortions". I wonder if that was changed for the movie. I don't recall, but my guess is it would have been.

Toward the end two interesting items are established.

1) This is a story about people of action. People who can make decisions and act on them. Finnedy appreciates Belicec for his decisiveness treating the Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Seems like action will be required.

2) What type of person are you Miles? Would you be willing to bend the laws if necessary?

That last I thought was quite interesting. Belicec beating around the bush trying to scope out Miles. At the end of the conversation, it comes down to "I'll probably report it." And that qualifier was enough for Belicec to take a chance with Miles.

These are citizens who understand their duty to society, yet, in extreme situations would be willing to ignore a few of society's laws if necessary. Hmmm.

>42 Neil_Luvs_Books:
I"m holding off on reading those (althrough I already read the EP introcution in the book). But I don't want to read further so I can work on my own interpretation.

>43 jillmwo:

I missed the 'light and dark' and 'seasonal' transittions. Will pay attention going forward to see if I pick that up.

Uncertainty pervades, I agree.

Had to reread to find the failure, but yes I had underlined it as I read, then forgot it. It was a thoughful sentence.

"Wilma smiled gently and put her hand on my arm the way a woman does when she forgives a man for failing her"

I'm trying to picture that scene in my head. Do women do that? Perhaps they do.

But I don't know if Miles felt he failed, but it did seem like Wilma thought so.

Ambiguous I guess, he took the action called for at the time -- phone the psychiatrist for help.

OK, I'm changing my mind, yes Miles felt he failed her because he could not solve her problem, he could not make it right. Such a paternalistic male point of view I guess, but common. Something husbands are frequently not even aware of.

I found Chapter 3 moved the story on from disbelief of Wilma to realisation that something strange is happening and it is probably not in Wilma's head. We also have a step towards something being revealed.

Finney is great at ending on a tense moment leaving the reader wanting to jump into the next chapter to find out what this is all about.

We also see Miles and Becky becoming comfortable with each other but Miles realising that they have both had damaging experiences with their marriages and will therefore be nothing more than just good friends. This reminded me of a quote I recorded today from The Sparrow* by Mary Doria Russell. (I am reading this for a book club meeting later in October, so am struggling to keep the two stories separate in my head.)

"‘And if you believe that,’ Emilio said informatively, ‘D.W. has a very nice piece of the True Cross you might like to invest in.’"

*I am reading this for a book club meeting later in October, so am struggling to keep the two stories separate in my head.

I'm reading along, no real deep thoughts to impart. Enjoying the story. I will say that after stopping at Chapter 3 to read the comments here so far, I am now moving ahead to Chapter 4 a day early! I want to know what's up at the house!

As mentioned in >29 bnielsen: I'm reading this in translation. Actually two slightly different translations. One of them has chapter 1 to chapter 21 and the other has chapter 1 to chapter 19 and with a title to each chapter. So I'm wondering how many chapters the original has. (So far they agree on chapter 4 and that it happens to be about a cellar.)

>50 bnielsen:
That is interesting. It reminded me of the story about the Icelandic version of Dracula being translated into English for people to realise the translator had totally changed the original story. Think of the trouble we would all be in if Google translate had a wicked sense of humour.

>51 pgmcc: or this:
The New York Times, 1996

Elaine Steinbeck, John Steinbeck's widow, can spot her husband's name on the spine of a book in many languages, including Russian and Greek. Once she was in Yokohama and, at sea with Japanese, she asked a book-store owner if he had any books by her favorite author. He thought for a moment, then said, yes, he had "The Angry Raisins."

>52 bnielsen:
LOL

You might enjoy Umberto Eco's book, Rat of Mouse: Translation as negotiation.

>53 pgmcc: Thanks. I've ordered Mouse or rat: translation as negotiation from ILL here in Denmark, so with a bit of luck it'll arrive just in time for the fall holiday (i.e. next week) :-)
I'll recommend this one in turn: Le Ton beau de Marot : In Praise of the Music of Language by Douglas R. Hofstadter .

>54 bnielsen:
That looks very interesting.

>54 bnielsen: >55 pgmcc: Seconded. Very interesting, indeed.

CHAPTER 4

Whoa! So that was a good chapter. Finney has good pacing to allow the dread and the implications seep into the reader. But this story is a product of its time; it’s clear that Finney is writing in a world in which women seem to play a supporting role. At least up to this point in the novel. Also, I have never thought about what it would have been like when smoking was so common that as a host you would be expected to lay out ashtrays for your guests. And drinks all around to steady the nerves. I always find it interesting with stories (& movies) written in the 1950s that people reached for alcohol to take off the edge.

Interesting digression on translation! I’ve always thought that writing is thinking and so translation reveals that people with different languages think differently. Or maybe that language is a tool for thinking and that different languages are different tools for developing thinking.

Just rambling here …

>54 bnielsen:
Now ordered, so you can notch up another Book Bullet hit.

>57 Neil_Luvs_Books:
Chapter 4 was good, and I agree with you about the writing and pacing.

I grew up with smoking everywhere, even planes. Drinking was not as prevalent in my circle of friends and relatives. It appeared a lot on US films and shows.

That description of the found body put a pretty dang vivid image in my head.

>59 pgmcc: It's funny to me how the legacy of smoking on planes means all planes I've been on have an always-lit "no smoking" light alongside the light to put on the seatbelt, despite me being young enough that it stopped being a thing a fair few years before I was even born (I'm 22 born in 2002, and smoking on planes was apparently banned in Canada in 1994)

The first three chapters just gave us that initial sense of growing unease. Chapter Four with the thing lying on the billiard table ups the ante. (Now we see why Miles is a doctor as well as WHY Jack was asking about how Miles felt about legally-binding reporting requirements.) The other thing that turned up the heat was how Miles was setting up a very dangerous experiment overnight for Jack and Theodora. And as always, Finney knows to end a chapter with a cliff hanger.

I got to thinking about scars and how our bodies are marked by our lived experience. I think I would be recognizable without the scars, stretch marks, and wrinkles that give my body its lived in feeling, but it wouldn't be me for sure.

CHAPTER 5

Another very good chapter. It is very difficult to only read one chapter a day! I like how Finney writes Miles’ thought process and how logic, emotion, and eureka moments play out inside his head. And also his mischievous side when thinking about other medical professionals who do not normally deal with late night calls.

Thanks for a great first week of reading along with The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I’ve enjoyed reading your thoughts on the book. Chapter 6 is on Monday.

>63 Neil_Luvs_Books:
I agree with what you are saying. It is nearly impossible to stop at one chapter a day. I have read up to the end of chapter 7 and am starting to lose track of what happens in each chapter. I have been trying to keep a note of the chapter activities but it is a case of those old good intentions. :-)

>61 jillmwo: As you say, Finney is excellent at pacing and building up curiosity for the next chapter. I love it when I am reading a book and the author has me chomping at the bit to know what happens next. Finney does that. I recall this was very much the case with Murakami's Wind-up Bird Chronicles. Every sentence posed a question in the reader's mind. The next sentence answered the question but posed a more intriguing question. It just dragged me through the pages. Finney is doing that.

One quote I found in Chapter 5 struck me as very relevant to today with all the work devoted to purging business processes of human beings. Miles is frustrated that the telephone exchange has been automated and therefor there is no one whom he can ask who was ringing him late at night. He thinks:

"Sometimes I think we’re refining all humanity out of our lives.”

A very pertinent comment in this age of AI implementations across every aspect of business and commerce.

What is Miles thinking that has him running for his life? Who almost ran him down? How far will he run?

>65 pgmcc: Sometimes I think we’re refining all humanity out of our lives."

Exactly, that is a vital sentence in the chapter. It struck me as well. This is a book about alien body snatchers, but is a parable of the loss of humanity due to technological and cultural changes in society. When he wrote, it was the telephone, with the loss of connection with an operator to place the call. More efficient, but the human contact is lost, and just a bit of humanity. The extrapoloation of that concern to the current day is obvious. People can (and willingly do) go days and weeks without having to interact with another human. The loss of the need to interact with fellow humans leads to the lost of ability to do so for many people. More efficiency has unintended side effects.

This chapter and the last placed heavy emphasis on the 'man of action' the decisive man, who knows that society depends on the actions of a few. It is too important to turn it over to the policie or the rules of law. It is rare in the real world that this attitude would lead to good outcomes. It seems that this typically leads to tragedy. But in this book, it seems like it is necessary -- for the police surely would not believe the situation, would be too slow to respond, and may be compromised themselves. It's a fantastic story, but would not work well in the real world.

Miles finally drops his mask and denial. His full on longing for Becky at the beginning "nothing in her construction had been skimped or neglected "" ... "staring after her fine full figure". OK, settle down Miles. By chapters end, his fear for losing Becky to the body snatchers takes over him completely. He runs the three blocks to her house at full speed in complete panic. Yeah, he's in love.

I'll admit I wasn't sure about Miles at first, but he really grew on me. (No pun intended.)

>65 pgmcc: I think you hit the nail on the head, Peter. After I finished it I was mulling over the theories of the day that it was about McCarthyism or Communism, but neither one really fits the bill. Anyone who's ever had to deal with one of those automated voice activated systems when you need to talk to an actual human can relate.

>68 clamairy:
In the 1970s there was a lot of talk about computers releasing people from mundane work and giving them more time for leisure. The conversation went on to ask about what those people would be doing. My father was particularly curious about how people would survive if computers took over a lot of the work. It is only in recent years, particularly with the rise of AI, that people are starting to realise this is a serious problem. One of the best books I have come across on the topic is The Rise of the Robots by Martin Ford published in 2015. The full title is Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future. It argues that in the past automation had affected unskilled jobs and that people displaced by technology could be retrained for higher value work. Now, with technology affecting jobs in medicine, law, and other specialist areas, the number of higher value jobs is diminishing. There will be no higher value jobs to train people for. AI is simply the next tranche of technology that is eliminating jobs and displacing people. When you think about it all the efficiency drives of the past, no matter what methods and buzzwords were used, were all designed to reduce the human effort in tasks and processes.

Perhaps we are seeing AI as the new Body Snatchers, at least Job Snatchers.

>67 sdawson: >68 clamairy: >69 pgmcc: yes, it this could easily have been a commentary on AI today. Which indicates abdicating tasks to tech/machines is a timeless issue. AI is simply the current version.

I read a manuscript recently that touched on this in which the author ruminated how using LLM to help with their writing was calling into question their own humanness as a writer. And have you noticed how AI assisted writing tends to make the writing more bland or less unique. Perhaps that is part of the humanness that tech replaces - our uniqueness or individuality.

>70 Neil_Luvs_Books:
A fundamental problem with AI is that it only regurgitates what it has been trained on. Or should say the material that has been used to mould its processing. It cannot, therefore be genuinely creative. Also, the use of the I in AI is misleading. There is no intelligence, merely processes that have been programmed to work a particular way; there is no reasoning or contemplation.

>71 pgmcc: yes, I have a friend who asked ChatGPT if it could generate its own questions and it replied no. So, yes, I think you are correct the I in AI is a misnomer. These chatbots programmed by LLM are not actually intelligent.

>67 sdawson: Fun fact: That sentence is completely left out in one of the Danish translations (the old one from 1958). (Maybe the telephone system in Denmark was still manually operated at that time, so the translator just dismissed that part as being too difficult to explain.)

I am late posting my thoughts about chapter five. Clearly this is where the characters suddenly grasp in a visceral way the nature of the danger. Theodora is unable to bear the realization and ends Miles' experiment abruptly. She wakens Jack in alarm and they flee the house. Jack is also shaken. Miles snaps into awareness and the two men agree its time to DO SOMETHING. Miles reaches out to Mannie, his fellow medical man, and asks him to come immediately. But then Miles feels the same cold terror that Theodora felt. In bedroom slippers and a raincoat, he runs madly into the street. (So, yes, >67 sdawson:, I agree with your assessment.)

It's interesting that Finney doesn't convey the horror through the vocabulary we might expect. In describing Theodora's emotional state, he tells us that she is dough-white, but doesn't tell us she's terrified. We don't know exactly what thought it is that drives Miles out into the night, just that he's only got bedroom slippers on his feet rather than shoes.

>73 bnielsen: A quite important sentence left out of the translation!

>74 jillmwo:
I suspect he is running to Becky’s afraid that she may be a target like Jack. Bwahahahah!

>73 bnielsen:
I agree about your assessment of the sentence being left out. It is also situation that was tie bound because once full automation was installed it would possible to identify an incoing number.

An interesting article on AI in The Tyee this weekend. I thought some of you might find it timely following the parallels we are seeing in IotBS and AI. After reading it, I could not help but wonder why anyone would trust any of these AI chatbots: they seem to be designed to please rather than provide factual trustworthy information.

https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2025/10/10/ChatGPT-Me/

I know I'm behind, I will get a copy and try to catch up.

>78 Karlstar:
Once you have a copy you will find it easy to catch up. The story just pulls you along. I am finding it difficult not to read too far ahead of the read.

>78 Karlstar: & >79 pgmcc: is right. I did the audio, (which is free from Audible if you have a membership) and whistled right through it. I couldn't stop myself. :o)

>78 Karlstar: I am listening on You Tube (free channel).

Chapter 6:

Action, horror, and unbelievable scenes.

Horror and flirting mixed during the rescue. Miles rescues Becky, and there is quite a lot of suggestive talk as he carries her away. Becky is quite a gal, equally qilling to fall in love with Miles. "Are you kidnapping me? Carrying me off to your den"... She .. saw ... I was wearing pajama. "Miles, couldn't you wait? Couldn't you at least ask me, like a gentleman?" ... "you're perfectly safe; Mannie Kaufman is there, and both the Belicecs." ... "Too bad" she murmered. Well, Becky is definitely on board with being swept off her feet by Miles and taking things further. Perhaps this was why they were both written as divorced. This is an adult relationship in the 50's -- two people on equal footing (even with the standard gender roles of the time). Sex is on the table and no one is being taken advantage of.

Back to the horror though, Mannie and Jack and Miles return to the Belicec's house -- and find nothing but gray fluff. No body. Kaufman believes them though -- somebody has taken the body. There's a mystery and Mannie has something to share ... in the next chapter.

An action packed chapter.

CHAPTER 6

Welcome back, hope you had a good weekend. Up here in Canada it is Thanksgiving weekend. I had a wonderful turkey dinner yesterday. Plus I was able to get my COVID and flu vaccinations. So it was a very good weekend for me.

This was another excellent chapter. Finney’s writing is very compelling. I appreciated his attention to the details of Miles searching Becky’s house and the hard work of carrying Becky back to his place. Also, the description of the growing dawn as they made their way with Mannie back to Theodora’s and Jack’s house. You just knew that the dawning day was going to have a significant effect leaving just dust behind where the body was left on the billiard table. At least at this point this is what I am assuming happened to that forming body on the billiard table.

So my question is what happens to the bodies of the people who are replaced? Do they end up as dust before they wake with the dawn when their doppelgänger is fully baked? That’s my guess.

I look forward to reading what Mannie has to say to them in chapter 7.

>82 sdawson: That description of Miles carrying Becky back to his house was interesting. I couldn’t help thinking, “really?! Is this how a woman would react waking up to find herself being carried down the street in her PJs?”

Also, Becky seemed remarkably calm at Miles’ house when it becomes apparent to her what almost happened to her at her place. Taken at face value it indicates that either, Becky is a remarkable person or she does not really appreciate the gravity of the situation. I think it is the former.

>84 Neil_Luvs_Books: perhaps a bit of both.

If Miles had been a stranger though, then the reaction would have been different. But she was quite groggy, coming out of whatever influence she was under. In my reading, was similar to someone in recovery after surgery, where things are accepted and one is not quite clear in the head yet. |

I think Finney tried to wave it away a bit, as she had not seen the body in the basement, so not quite real to her yet?

It is a great chapter and it builds the suspense even more.

>86 pgmcc: and makes you wonder how the copying or whatever's going on actually works. I mean Becky was almost finished being copied? Or maybe someone would come and kill her when the copy was fully baked? Maybe the copy would do it? But if so, where are the bodies of the previous victims? Suspense, suspense :-)

ETA: As mentioned in >54 bnielsen: I ordered Mouse or Rat from ILL and it turned up today, so it's coming with me for the fall holiday here.

>30 sdawson: If I recall correctly, Finney wrote it in the 1950s, but he updated it in 1978 because of the release of the 1978 version of the movie, starring Donald Sutherland and Leonard Nimoy. (I prefer the 1950s movie, but both were good.) In the 1978 updated book, Finney makes reference to another of his novels, "Time and Again," saying it was playing in the town's movie theater, but it was never made into a film. Perhaps he was hoping for a film adaptation of that, as well!

>88 Betelgeuse: I've been meaning to read Time and Again for years. I did notice that was the title of the movie they ended up having to leave.

>89 clamairy: I really enjoyed Time and Again. Never made into a film as far as I know, though there are several films that are similar, such as "Somewhere In Time," which has a character named Dr. Finney as a nod to the novel Time and Again.

>88 Betelgeuse:

Ah, that make sense, I did not know it was updated in the 70's.

>85 sdawson: that makes sense: being still groggy might make one not respond to the seriousness of the situation.

>87 bnielsen: my money is still on the replaced bodies becoming dust as is implied what happened to the unfinished doppelgänger.

CHAPTER 7

So rational, logical Mannie proposes to explain away the whole episode as mass delusion/hysteria citing historical examples as his evidence. The whole thing will simply go quietly away in a few days.

Oh yeah… Like that’s going to turn out to be true…

My money is still on the replaced bodies and the half-baked becoming dust and blowing away. But how do the doppelgängers get into the house in the first place?

>94 Neil_Luvs_Books: Poor Mannie. As soon as he started his spiel I assumed he had gone to the dark side.

As to how the doppelgangers get into the house, I was assuming the pods were always stashed in some hidden corner of the property anyway. They would just have to walk up from the basement or crawl out of the shed.

I am with >95 clamairy:; Mannie has to be one of them.

>95 clamairy: But how do the pods get there in the first place?

>96 pgmcc: Hmmmm… is Mannie one of the body snatchers? I hadn’t considered that possibility.

>97 Neil_Luvs_Books: They do explain that near the end.

This chapter is quite suspenseful. Because Finney has you (as well as the main characters) questioning what has been presented thus far. Finney had spent a lot of time in Chapter 6 in describing Miles moving about the basement in Becs’ house where he found the “prototype” version of Becky. We bought into that wholeheartedly. But now in Chapter 7:

So now I wondered if Mannie weren’t right, and it was strange; I felt a sense of disappointment, a real let-down at the thought, and realized that I was trying to resist believing him. We do prefer the weird and thrilling, as Mannie had said, to the dull and common-place. Even though I could still see in my mind, vivid and horribly real, what I’d thought I’d seen in Becky’s basement, I felt intellectually that Mannie was probably right. But emotionally, it was still very nearly impossible to accept, and guess it showed in my face and in Jack’s.

This to me is a key quote in Chapter 7. Because there would naturally be this internal tension between logical thinking and the horror of encountering something so weird as the “fake” bodies. Which does take over?

Of course, yes, the immediate question as a follow-up is whether you can trust Mannie. But Miles had already characterized him as one of the people he MOST trusts in his professional expertise. Personally, I don’t feel so willing to accept Miles’ assessment. Mannie seems a bit off, a bit too smooth in calming down the questions .

Although the question in my mind is why does it take so long for these "look-alike" bodies to absorb the specifics of the human beings they copy? Particularly, if they dissolve so quickly once removed from proximity to the living individual? If you're an alien from another planet, the length of time required to transform is a significant vulnerability to survival...

>80 clamairy: Just not sure I want to start this while my daughter is in the hospital. Seems like asking for bad things to happen.

>100 Karlstar: I understand completely. I hope she's doing well and mends quickly.

Our narrator is a solid guy. He's been through medical school and been practicing medicine for a few years. What is it about Mannie that makes him doubt his own powers of observation, doubt himself entirely?

>102 elorin: I suppose it is to sew doubt in our own mind. I agree that it is a bit incongruous, but the Miles hasn’t slept well.

>100 Karlstar: Prayers sent.Hope she will be out soon.

>100 Karlstar: I hope she is doing well. Take care.

CHAPTER 8

The fingerprints! Mannie’s explaining away the disappearing half-baked bodies cannot explain away the physical existence of the blank fingerprints. And we finally have mention in passing of the mysterious seed pods possibly from outer space via a newspaper clipping. I suspected that was coming based on what I have previously heard of this story.

So… what will the police think of Jack’s reporting of the disappearing body?

Interesting to read the cultural gender roles of the time playing themselves out: the men sitting around the table while the women prepare breakfast & serve them coffee.

Also, I liked the conversation about what makes sense vs what is possible. Statistically speaking, Mannie’s logical explanation is likely correct. But Jack makes the case that maybe this time is the outlier. Maybe this time is what happens 1% of the time.

Lot's of interesting stories on mass delusions. I wonder which of the stories actually happened -- I did not look them up myself. Intermixed with the stories is the one of importance to our story.

Lot's of conspiracy talk -- including why folks are attracted to conspiracies as they live their mundane lives. Once more, quite applicable to today, as the 'net and social media have proven to be a perfect incubator for conspiracy. Suddenly, the idea of the witch hunts of centuries past is more understandable.
Mannie represents established science --- which most of the other four are rejecting.

Logical or not, Mannie's explanation doesn't wash away Theodora's sheer terror at returning to her house. Whatever happened to the fingerprinted paper? Did Jack squirrel it away? I definitely get a sense of sheepishness from Miles in the face of Mannie's explanation, but definitely also "I know what I saw" when he remembered the fingerprints.

CHAPTER 9

What a great description of the pods developing into doppelgängers! Finney has done this a couple of times now in this book where he uses a known example to compare, to describe an unusual process. In this chapter the example of making the crude doll being similar to the forming doppelgängers. He does that well.

I don’t know… I think if I were either Miles or Jack in that coal bin watching the bodies developing and knowing that their intention was to replace me and my friends, I think I would have hauled them out of the basement and burned them right away. And that last sentence in which Miles thinks that Becky now has to stay there … if they are not going to destroy the doppelgängers, wouldn’t it make more sense to get away from that house as quickly as possible? Miles must be thinking of something else that Finney will reveal in chapter 10 if he thinks its ok that they remain in the house in the midst of body snatchers.

>109 Neil_Luvs_Books:

Agreed, destroy them and get out of the house. Or at least get out. But to what end?

Also, is Mannie already one of them? Miles believes so.

Of note in this chapter -- the first paragaph and the second to the last paragraph bookend this chapter. What is humanity. This has been constantly contemplated throughout the story. In the first paragraph, as humans are replaced, the city is decaying as well. The replaced people lost their civic pride, they are not doing the little things people do -- open shops, buff the brass plate, sweep up the broken bottle. The dehumanization is starting to show on the city.

Then in that second to the last paragraph -- the old newspaper headlines of "murder, violence, and corruption of a city, were understandable and normal, and seemed almost good to see." Here is the argument the pod people can make. Humanity has all these flaws -- humans being what they are. Their replacement will make for a better, less violent, less destructive, society without murder, violence, and corruption. It is all quite logical from that point of view.

Yet, humans are not logical creatures. Or rather they are, but only in some aspects of life. In much of life, they are driven by passions and emotions, and rationalize all actions. Humanity has both positive and negative aspects. If one takes away the negative, would society be better? Or would that blunt the positive as well.

I'm sure I'm reading far too much into a science fiction story. But that is what a good story does to the reader.

>110 sdawson: I don't think you have read too much into it at all. I think you are spot on. It reminds me of that episode of ST:TOS when Captain Kirk gets split into two and neither one of those halfs are functional human beings without their light/dark side.

>111 clamairy: That's also the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde theme of splitting good and evil.

>110 sdawson: >111 clamairy: >112 bnielsen: thanks for highlighting this. This puts the developing relationship between Miles and Becky in a new light for me. Up till now I thought it was odd to have this romance subplot overlain on to the invasion main plot. But now I think I get it. Finney is probably using that as a parallel counterpoint for what it means to be human with all of its beauty and illogicality. For example, in a previous chapter when Miles was carrying Becky down the street at night in their sleep wear it didn’t make sense to me why Finney was telling in some detail the blooming romantic/erotic feelings Miles was having for Becky. Ditto, when Becky wakes up in Miles’ arms and rather than being freaked is rather enjoying the closeness with Miles while being carried. It didn’t make sense to me - but maybe this is one of Finney’s points in this book - humans don’t always make sense but despite that still have beautiful lives.

Interesting… this gives me a different perspective on this book. Thank you for sharing that!

>113 Neil_Luvs_Books:. Nice connection. I had not though of it like that, but you are right. The romance of Becky and Miles contrasting with the un-emotionaly pod people.

On to chapter 10.

Isolation.

The story is in full swing, with this chapter filling in more details, Miles seeing the town he has known since birth as taken over by the outsiders. It is changed.

He and Jack then reach out for help -- call in the FBI or the Army or some larger authority figure to destroy the menace, before it spreads. But they realize the impossibility of that. They are alone in dealing with this invasion. There can be no help from the outside. Then to seal the isolationism, the phones as well are cut off.

This echoes earlier chapters where the individuals --- Miles and Jack and Becky -- must take action, they can rely on no others.

Seems like an un-winnable position for them. When one is doomed, will one give up and accept fate, or will one fight to the end, taking out as many of the enemy as possible before the inevitable.

Am excited for the next chapter, and am holding back on the reading though.

-Shawn

>114 sdawson: Oy vay! Yes, Jack and Miles are now sufficiently concerned to call someone in authority only to realize that it won’t do any good. And that it appears communication may be being controlled by the body snatchers. Now they’re panicking. What can be done?

I was pleased that Finney tied up that seeming loose end with the doppelgängers being left in the basement at the end of the last chapter. Good to know that Miles is acting in a way that seems real to me: He euthanized the doppelgängers with an ample air injection. I wonder if he simply had to wait until a functioning circulatory system developed.

I like how Finney develops the impending sense of doom: “we’ve got to do something! I know let’s call the authorities! I don’t know any authorities. I’ll call a friend in the hierarchy and have them boot it up the chain of command. The next link in the chain of command is not a person with initiative. Let’s phone another authority. The phone call won’t go through. We are stuck here alone…”

The mounting sense of doom reminds me of the scene in Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring, where the fellowship is working their way through the mines of Moria and Pippin knocks an old helmet into the well, while Gandalf is reading the last words of the dwarves who died in that chamber fighting off the orcs: their last stand - no one is coming to help them - and the orcs are on their way.

Sort of feels like what Finney is describing when Jack and Miles realize help is not coming.

We do chapter 11 on Monday.

>114 sdawson: & >115 Neil_Luvs_Books:

I have always felt that one of the things a horror story is trying to do is to put the protagonist in a position of no hope. This chapter hammers home the isolation of the small group and demonstrates that the cavalry is not on its way.

>116 pgmcc: I rarely read or watch horror so I had not noticed that character of the genre.

This is one of the reasons I like this Halloween read along: It allows me to read classic horror novels that I would not otherwise read on my own. Horror gives me the willies!

>117 Neil_Luvs_Books: I don't read much horror either, but this one is old enough that it did not impact my sleep the way more recent horror novels often do. I guess it helps that I have my very vague memories of the 1950s movie version (that I saw as a child in the 1960s) to fall back on. The book is definitely better.

I am up to Chapter 15 so no comment but reading the comments from others.

>119 mnleona: And I'm lagging three chapters behind and will hope to catch up over the weekend and be able to add my comments by Sunday.

There is a similar setting in Stephen King: The Dome where a town is cut off from the rest of the world. Who would you like to reach in that situation if you are inside the isolated place and how can you reach them?

>121 bnielsen:
I"m holding myself back, so am reading more chapters from my current other novel The Moonstone and getting a bit of whiplash going back and forth between the genres.

>122 sdawson: I’m doing the same. Reading another novel alongside for which I can read to my heart’s content.

How agonizing to realize the phone operator is one of them. Have they, then, highlighted themselves as needing "attention" from the bodysnatchers? Are they in added danger for having tried to reach out for help?

>124 elorin: this is what I am also wondering.

I finally got a chance to start! I haven't read this thread much to avoid spoilers.

>126 Karlstar: Now you can just read almost all of it.

One of the very effective techniques used in Invasion of the Body Snatchers is the back-and-forth use of descriptive prose. Finney gives particularly detailed accounts of the basement in Becky’s house, the attic in Miles’ house, the local neighborhoods.

Before the jolting reveal in Chapter 9, we get these bits of very specific and granular detail:

the leather of our soles gritting the hard dust on the floor

and

puffballs of dry, tangled vegetable matter

. There are 2-½ pages of solid description before we hear another exchange between Jack and Miles. One might think it would be tedious but instead, it builds the immersive (and scary) experience.

Honestly, I stopped reading at the close of Chapter 9 because it gave me the heebie-jeebies and I wanted to be able to fall asleep with some degree of calm.

But then we’re on to Chapter 10 in this morning's light which includes these tidbits of the very ordinariness of Miles’ world.

the row of my mother’s dresses and coats…suspended on hangers…covered with a sheet to keep off the dust.

…my father’s wooden filing cabinet, his framed diplomas stacked on top of it.

Their long porch railing sagged inward in a shallow curve and it needed painting…

All of this is quiet, recognizable and calm. What Finney proceeds to follow with is the idea of how remote is the protective military might of the government from this particular small town in California. There is no way to properly make a case to a far-away bureaucracy. They’re on their own. They might reach out to a more local authority, but...

Chapter 10 ends with a dreadful realization.

>128 jillmwo:
Your comment about the descriptions is very accurate; it does not feel like you are ready a description but absorbing the sights in front of you, and as you say, he describes things that people would easily recognise and relate to.

Has anyone noticed that the Director of the 1978 film was Philip Kaufman. A relation of Mannie?
Bwahahaha…

>97 Neil_Luvs_Books: "But how do the pods get there in the first place?" This question bothered me the whole time. I'm not sure it is ever sufficiently explained, as they are very large and obvious. I know there's an explanation near the end, just not sure it is plausible.

>104 mnleona: >105 Neil_Luvs_Books: She's out of the hospital and recovering, thank you!

>130 pgmcc: Now I understand! Good observation.

Chapter 11:

Frustrating writing in this chapter for me. They get away, the four of them. Have a good night's sleep. Then all decide to go back, without any plan at all to confront the menace. I understand their story would not be believed by the authorities, and thus the fate of the world is in their hands. They must do something. However -- get a plan folks! At least load up on guns and ammuniition. Instead they just decide to go back and wing it.

Frustrating decision.

>133 sdawson: I felt the same way. But….

I very much liked how Finney portrayed panicked action in this chapter. I also thought that Miles and Jack were starting to behave the way that I imagine I would behave when confronted with a developing seed pod: stomp it to bits and then burn whatever remains. I would have started doing that a couple of chapter ago! :)

I did find their decision to return to Mill Valley odd. I think I would have found someplace in the mountains away from everything and holed up there. But again, maybe Finney is writing these four characters as more rational than I would be in this situation. I mean, clearly they think that this is likely happening wherever they go and will be forced to confront the body snatchers even while on the run or living a hermit-like existence. So they decide to go back and defend what they can of their homes. In addition, how will they get food if they do run away to the mountains? I don't think any of them are hunters.

I cannot help but read this in the light of current horror stories or shows. One could interchange the body snatchers with the Walking Dead or the fungus infected people in The Last of Us. In those stories people typically end up running away from civilization as it decays. But perhaps not before attempting to resist. I guess that's where Becky, Theodora, Jack and Miles are at this point: not yet entirely ready to give up their homes now that they are no longer panicking.

I am looking forward to seeing how these four are able to resist and defend their lives.

>128 jillmwo: I agree. The description really adds to the environmental flavour one gets in their imagination while reading. This is very different from the long descriptive passages I am reading now in the Wheel of Time series I am concurrently reading. Jordan’s descriptions typically get in the way of the story. Finney is clearly a better writer than Jordan!

>135 Neil_Luvs_Books: Funny you should say that because after I finished it all I could think of was that I wanted to read MORE books like this. (I have added another of Finney's to my virtual TBR.)

Edited to add: I have been doing that Jordan series as audio because every time I try to read them I get annoyed with those long descriptive passages you mentioned.

>136 clamairy: I finished Crossroads of Twilight last week and based on the reviews I have read, the novels improve with Knife of Dreams and when Brandon Sanderson takes over the writing after Robert Jordan’s death for The Wheel of Time. So I think I’ll be able to complete reading the entire series. Right now I am half way through New Spring.

What stood out to me in this chapter is when Becky fell asleep in the back seat and couldn't be waked. They found pods in the trunk of the car. How did they know to check the trunk? How did Becky sleeping clue them in? How did they bear the thought of getting back in the car? I understand going back - that's about not giving up on their hometown. But did they sleep in shifts that night? How did they feel safe if pods can form in the car trunk?

Next chapter has the whole town cast as Spookyville. Nobody buys anything in the shops. Nobody cares. Even the coffee and the Coke is bad. And the cozy librarian is also one of "them". The archived news papers from a couple of days in May 1953 have had some stories removed. Probably about the arrival of the pods. But no one attacks Becky and Miles so are they in danger?

This chapter builds up suspense but downplays the treat.

Duplicate post removed.

>139 bnielsen: Spookyville… good name.

CHAPTER 12

I am really enjoying the writing in this novel. In this chapter, I again appreciated the descriptions this time of the decaying town. The question that came to me was how long had this been happening? Was the decay due to people being replaced by the body snatchers, or had the decay been happening for years due to perhaps economic decline. Finney does not make that clear except for the portions in which it is clear that a particular form of neglect was over the past few days. That was a nice description of the change in the librarian that Miles caught for a second before the librarian returned to its façade of who had been replaced/snatched. But I was surprised that Miles revealed to the pod person that he knew what was going on! If it was me I would have kept quiet and kept my knowledge a secret. Because now, the body snatchers know that Miles knows and so they will need to take care of him - not in the benevolent sense. Perhaps this was a realistic portrayal of someone (Miles) getting angry at what was happening and irrationally revealing themselves. For sure this is going to come back and bite Miles in a future chapter.

>138 elorin: I wondered about this too. How did Miles jump to the conclusion to check in the car trunk? I have noticed Finney do this a couple of times in this novel where he expects the reader to fill in some gaps. I think this works because it doesn’t weigh down the narrative with explanations and also draws the reader in to consider how the leap was made. In this case, when I started wondering “but how…” I thought, hmmm… I bet Miles is realizing that bodies get snatched while asleep and the pods seem to be tucked away someplace and then the light bulb went off in his head: the trunk!

Let’s see if Finney does that again in this story. Makes for great conversation in a book club. 😀

I thought it was logical for them to think the pods were in the trunk when the ladies fell asleep as they knew the pods had been in the proximity of others when they were being copied. The thing I thought strange was that there were not four pods in the trunk. Obviously the trunk wasn’t big enough to do the job correctly.

>143 pgmcc: I missed that point that there were only two pods rather than four in the trunk. But that makes sense that the trunk would only have room for two fully developed bodies. So is there some intelligence that determines where and how many pods are deposited? But if the bodies developed in the trunk, how would they have gotten out eventually? This is the 70s before escape latches were installed inside car trunks. So maybe some intelligence but not super intelligence?

And how do the pods get deposited in these specific locations? I’ve been assuming that it must be seed dispersal via the wind which would negate the possibility of an intelligence determining where and how many pods are placed. Or maybe there is a physical mechanism that the seeds sense the space and presence of non-snatched bodies?

So many questions…

>139 bnielsen: Did anyone else think of the soda shop scene from Back to the Future at this point?

How pods are located is a big question for me. Why did Becky's dad get replaced but not Becky - yet later we encountered a pod at Becky's, one in Miles' basement for her, and then one in the trunk for her. Why were so many people able to "detect" the pod people replacements (and report it to the doctor) and then apparently got bodysnatched in wave two of the invasion? If the bodysnatchers are directed by an intelligence and our quad of characters wasn't a target after trying to call the FBI, I imagine they definitely are now after directly challenging the librarian.

These last two chapters are great writing. The visit to town, descriptions of the decay. The unmasking of the librarian. I particularly liked the memory of the shoe shine man and the false front he had to put on to flatter his customers, and how it disgusted him -- and how it impacted Miles when he learned of it. Then relating that to the falseness of the people back in Mill Valley. The story telling is quite good here.

But again, why they came back to town, with no plan is hard to understand. Am looking forward to the continuation of the story.

>146 elorin: I assumed the infiltration by the pods had to happen slowly at first. One pod would be easier to hide than four.

It's enough of a stretch that a pod could fixate on one person sleeping nearby to replicate. That the person replicated would disintegrate into dust after that duplication was complete seemed almost ludicrous, but I think it was the only way Finney could work around having lots of corpses, or living duplicates.

>147 sdawson: CHAPTER 13

Yes, another very good chapter. I also like how Finney again uses an anecdote from Miles’ life (the shoe shine man) to help explain a situation, this time the way that the body snatchers talk derisively about those who are still human when they think no one is listening. I find this story telling technique very effective in placing us in the shoes of the characters and what they are experiencing/feeling.

I’m glad that this quartet of resisters are finally trying to develop a plan of action.

>148 clamairy: This is one thing that Finney's story-telling does not do, at least up to this point: provide rational explanations for how things are happening. But then, it is told from the perspective of Miles, who does not know how things are happening. So not hard science fiction in that sense. But rather the kind of SciFi in which Finney is exploring how people react to a new situation. And I think in this case is how Finney's' work becomes horror: it is a horrific situation.

I'm playing catch-up with the comments. I wasn't going to reread this since I read it just a few years ago and was reading some of the comments. But now I am about halfway through. I can tell some people are reading the 1955 version of the story vs the 1978 version. A couple months ago I read Finney's "The Night People" which is set in Mill Valley in 1976. It has been a few years since I have been to Mill Valley but I went often enough that many things in the stories are quite familiar to me and the town is not run down although it is aging like all of us - I think Finley is doing that to represent something as an effect of the pod people. By the way, the library is extremely beautiful, take a look https://www.millvalleylibrary.org/ . There are many scenes in The Night People book set in the library.

What a relief to be able to take a swing at one of those imposters! (And that they have human like pain responses!) I wonder how Jack and Teddy are faring? Let's hope their unplanned code gets everyone to the same place at the same time.

Double post

>149 Neil_Luvs_Books: I have caught up to chapter thirteen. In just a few chapters the story went from spooky to scary horror. This really is excellent storytelling that we experience from the character's experiences. The pod appearances are perplexing. Are there seeds in the air and everywhere around Mill Valley just waiting for a host? Or is it more, somehow, that something is planting them? The pods in the trunk of the car as they were fleeing was very scary.

CHAPTER 14

Another interesting chapter. The conversation with the botanist was not very productive. I do wonder if he is a pod person and that the noise of the doors closing and people talking while Becky and Miles are running up into the hills was the botanist telling other pod people that Becky and Miles were just there. The scene of Jack and Teddy racing while chased by shooting police was hair raising. Sounds like now there are only two remaining in Mill Valley that are not body snatched. Only now is Miles realizing that that was a bad decision they made to return to Mill Valley. Didn’t I say that!? It didn’t make sense to me then when they decided to return. I guess the stress of running for your life clouds one’s judgement.

What are they going to do now?

What do the rest of you think? Was Professor Budlong one of the pod people?

>154 Neil_Luvs_Books: I think he's one of the pod people. His downplaying of what was in the newspaper sounds just like the poeple who apologized to Miles for their delusions of thinking that their relatives were not really their relatives.

One of the things that I thought a bit incongruous was how on the return trip the only road to town was potholed requiring them to slow down and crawl along while the previous evening when they were fleeing the place they raced out of town. Only a minor detail which did not spoil my enjoyment of the story.

Starting to question the writing a bit at this point (or perhaps the character). Story is still good, don't get me wrong, but in what world would Miles thow the pistol into the weeds because he could not carry it concealed? Makes no sense.

>154 Neil_Luvs_Books:

Similarly, the trip to the botanist house served the story telling -- where could the pods come from? But at this point I don't believe Miles or Becky should trust anyone in town -- not Professor Budlong for sure.

And agreed, the decision to return to town without a plan, they have realized was a bad decision. We knew that when they made the decision. But it serves the story -- the lone hero taking on the baddies. But not quite credible.

We can chalk it all up to -- folks under stress make poor decisions. Which in fact is quite believable. So let's chalk it all up to just that -- they are clearly making poor decisions throughout the story.

I agree with all these comments on the latest chapter, 14. I too was bothered by the road is suddenly potholed. Throwing the gun into the bushes? I was hoping he would run back for it because the professor was probably a pod person. They are panicking.

>158 RBeffa: Yes, but Miles is also a doctor and doesn't like to hurt people. So throwing the gun into the bushes made sense, I think.

>159 bnielsen: That is the way I thought about it. He is someone who only wants to heal people and the idea of having a gun was an anathema to him.

>159 bnielsen: >160 pgmcc: Very good point. He beat the "police officer" unconscious with the gun, but didn't shoot him. Didn't even seem to want to, despite his own fear. And the pod people are showing a remarkable lack of violence (with perhaps the speeding car chase past the professor's house as an exception.)

>161 RBeffa: >159 bnielsen: >160 pgmcc: I like your assessment that perhaps because he is an MD that he is committed to healing, not to violence.

Except that these are no longer people. But maybe he isn’t there yet and has not yet considered them an existential threat - they look too much like his people. For example, Becky wanted to go back and see her father even though it isn’t her father anymore. I wonder if Finney is trying to accurately portray people and how they would react to exact replicas of those they love.

But I think Miles has to get there eventually. These pods are going to wipe out the human species.

>156 pgmcc: yeah… the potholed roads mentioned on the way back to town but not on the way out of town seemed weird. On the other hand the drive out of town was in panic mode so maybe it would make sense that the road condition didn’t register on Miles as the narrator - he had other things on his mind: get out of there as fast as they could and as far away as possible.

CHAPTER 15

Creepy…

“Then every other town in the county was called out, until presently, in no more than fifteen minutes, perhaps, all five trucks were empty, except Joe Grimaldi’s, which had two left.”

One pod for Miles and one pod for Becky.

This chapter was a great descriptive passage of a seemingly normal Saturday in small town America and how it slowly, subtly changed to something more sinister. I really liked that slow simmer.

I think this is the first time that Miles has referred to the pod people as the enemy: I think he has finally clued in that they are an existential threat.

>163 Neil_Luvs_Books:

My thought as well.

This was a great chapter, great ideas and storytelling. Hauntingly terrific. The future looks grim.

Since so many people whose threads I've visited seem to be doing this joint read, I decided to join in too, even though I don't do horror. I managed to borrow the audio and have listened to the first week's worth and reading the comments to match each chapter as I go along; I'm on chapter 6 wondering why our hero has abandoned his guests in the middle of the night.

I must find out who the narrator is; he makes it sound like the old B&W films, Humphrey Bogart-style, which sets the atmosphere for me.

One thing that bothers me about the story is it seems that everything, stores, streets, desks covered in dust, fields are rapidly decaying. It seems to at least partially imply that the pod people have been there doing nothing for quite a while. Even still, it seems over done. I started to watch the 1956 film a little last night and the doctor returning to town sees the Grimaldi(sp?) fruit and vegetable stand in complete collapse after just a couple of weeks. So the film appears to have the same theme of rapid decay. It is a little strange. I only watched about 15 minutes of the old movie just to get a sense of it. It was a very long time ago that I saw it.

Chapter 15 in the town square is a very dark chapter. The parasites are spreading.

>166 RBeffa: yes, I noticed that too: how the decay seemed to happen quickly. A little too quickly if due to the body snatchers. But I wonder if Mill Valley had been in economic decline before the pod people arrived and they just accelerated it. At least that was the impression I got a few chapters ago. That the decline and decay are a combination of both slow economic decline before the snatchers that they simply accelerated.

>165 humouress: If this is the same audio version I listened to then at the end of the book the narrator tells you who he is, and then you will understand why he got the ambiance just right.

Chapter 16 on Monday. Have a great weekend, everyone!

>169 Neil_Luvs_Books: You, too!

Chapter 15 is bone chilling. Watching innocent people rounded up for no reason at all makes me think of the ICE agents in our modern day. Thankfully those people seem to have been let go after the pod distribution is over - but were they let go or replaced?
How overwhelming to see that it's only Miles and Becky left - everyone else is gone! Do they stand a chance of fighting back or is survival the only consideration to be made?

Well, I'm up to chapter 7 and we're heading out for dinner. We're going somewhere that we can take our dog too - rare in Singapore.

>82 sdawson: Chapter 6 - the body has disappeared, so does it mean it's wandering around looking for its host? There were lots of descriptions of clothes (a list of what Miles and Becky got dressed in, for example) and he seems to feel that dawn is significant but I didn't get why - was it mentioned before this?

Every chapter ends in a cliff hanger. Did someone say this was serialised?

>1 Neil_Luvs_Books: Any chance you could add the post links in for (those like) me, since I'm still catching up? :0)

>172 humouress:, yep serialized in Colliers magazine. Finney took that into account when writing those cliff hanger chapters.

>173 sdawson: Miles and Becky really should have noticed this and realised they were in a serialized work of fiction :-)

>174 bnielsen:
Nice one. A good meta joke.

>175 pgmcc: Yes, I thought so, because we were discussing some of Miles and Beckys actions, that were a bit strange, but knowing that the book was serialized made it all make sense.

>171 elorin: I wondered about this too, but later it seems to be resolved, far too quickly.

Our PBS station in San Francisco (KQED 9) has an interesting 8PM movie tonight (Oct 25).

Saturday Night Movie
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.

>172 humouress: All previous posts are up above within this thread. You will see each day starts with CHAPTER # in upper case.

>177 Karlstar: Yes, I don’t think the people rounded up in town before the dispersing of the pods were replaced by body snatchers. My sense is that it takes at least a full night for a pod to snatch a human.

Fun fact. I was browsing an Ellery Queen book (The Dragon's Teeth) and one of the reviews here caught my eye:
Reviewer @mmyoung :
"Ellery Queen himself seemed to have been replaced by an even more bloodless pod-person version of himself ..."

:-)

>181 bnielsen:

Nice. I was talking with my daughter about the origins of "pod person" last week as well.

CHAPTER 16

Yeesh! What can they do? Caught and seemingly no way out. The argument that Mannie gives Miles and Becky that they are the same as before after their bodies have been snatched doesn’t wash with me and I wonder if Miles will see the loophole too eventually. Or maybe just feel it in his bones. They are not the same people after being body snatched as evidenced by the overheard conversation at Becky’s house when Miles and Becky were crouched under the window outside eavesdropping on the body snatchers who had replaced Becky’s parents. They were not the same making fun of Becky and Miles and able to accurately mimic their voices.

As a biologist I need to let slide the evolutionary explanation that Professor Budlong gave. His explanation implied directed evolution which biologists have discredited for a few decades now. But I will suspend my disbelief by imagining that perhaps the body snatchers had gene splicing technology and so were able to manufacture a genome capable of doing what the pods do. So not evolution, but rather sophisticated genetic recombination using CRISPR or something like that.

Ok, that explanation allows me to suspend my disbelief. 😀

>183 Neil_Luvs_Books: It still doesn't make sense that the original turns to dust when the copy is complete. Or if it does, then how can you wake up an almost copied person without that person being serious ill?

>184 bnielsen: Good question. I assumed that it had to do with the "life waves" that Budlong was explaining. For my suspension of disbelief I have to assume that it is all or nothing: you are completely copied and then toasted. But until you are completely copied, your existing body is just fine. I have no idea why it would work that way - I just assume that is how it works.

That's the explanation I have to give myself.

It makes things worse that they talk about it, talk to Miles and Becky about it, plan their demise. The pod people are just waiting for them to sleep - I don't know if I could stand it! Backed into a corner, learning for certain that beloved family members are gone and can't be rescued/recovered. I'm certain I would scream at least once.

>186 elorin: I agree. That is one thing I find terribly difficult to imagine: being in a situation in which you are completely helpless and in the knowledge that something awful is about to happen to you.

Moved on to Chapter 17:

All is explained it seems. The horrible parasitic nature of the life form intent on destroying the world -- not just a symbiotic relationshipt of any sort, but an inferior life with no purpose other than to propagate, and in so doing leave the Earth as lifeless as Mars or the Moon.

Well, now Miles and Becky surely do have a reason to fight back, more so than ever now. Still, it seems hopeless. Another great chapter and another cliff hanger ending.

CHAPTER 17

So that was a nice twist. The other planets in our solar system, including the moon, were once living. Earth is the last planet to be infected by the seed pods in our solar system.

That is interesting that Finney is using the body snatchers as a commentary on the rapacious appetite of human beings for consuming without malice. That it is our function - to live at the expense of other living beings. In a normal ecosystem there would be a predator to balance things out. Or prey would dwindle to such an extent that predators can no longer find sufficient food and thus their numbers would decrease. So are humans different from other organisms? We are now the apex predator and we seem to be able to raise our own prey/food. But is there a limit? Will the Earth become like the moon? I suspect that like so many other species before us, the number of human beings will significantly decrease when conditions change such that we can no longer live in all corners of the Earth and our numbers will significantly decrease over time.

Yes, the ecological viewpoint is thrown in to what purpose? Ist is just an observation in the rise of human coming at the cost of other species existence. But still, we are somehow better than the invaders. Emotions give rise to remorse, and remorse to some part of humanity wishing to change the trajectory. Whereas the pods, as they have no motion, are incapable of the reflection necessary to even attempt to change the outcome.

ch 17 I agree that Finney is commenting on the rapaciousness (good word!) of the human species with respect to others, flora and fauna. Although I have read this novel before I could not remember how the end played out. I did not remember the pod alien explanation. I was a little surprised that the pod people have some sort of advanced collective genetic memory, I can't think of what it exactly it would be called, but for them to be born anew and now their history is rather intriguing.

I read through to the end without thinking about it this morning so I won't say more for now.

>190 sdawson: I was wondering about this later after my initial morning post and the issue of emotion, caring, remorse that the pod folks apparently don’t have maybe enables humanity to not be like the body snatchers? I guess it depends upon whether greed and privilege overpower empathy and humility in humans.

Doesn’t look good these days…

>191 RBeffa: Yes, that is an interesting bit of SciFi biology: memory written into the genome of the pod people. The closest thing to reality that we know of now is epigenetic inheritance.

>192 Neil_Luvs_Books: "Doesn’t look good these days…"

I'm afraid you're right.

>192 Neil_Luvs_Books:, >194 clamairy:. I tend to agree. However, let's set that aside I guess.

Latest chapter -- the pods can be fooled! They simply have little imagination; they lack the spark of humanity. The first glimmer of hope so far for our heroes.

>195 sdawson: Yes! They can be fooled. But do you think it might be hubris rather than lack of imagination? They seem so confident that their outcome is inevitable. Their attitude reminds me of the Borg in Star Trek: resistance is futile.

CHAPTER 18

I suspected those skeletons in Miles’ office at the beginning of the novel were going to be significant!

:)

But what have Miles and Becky planned? Finney implies that Miles is going to try and take on Mannie, Budlong and the other two while they are moved to the prison and then Becky is going to … what?

I enjoyed the description of the deteriorating skeletons.

>94 Neil_Luvs_Books: Chapter 7: I think Manny is in on it. He's an alien. And maybe everyone's theory about the dust is valid; there seems to be a lot of it now.

>109 Neil_Luvs_Books: Chapter 9: OMG - they sat and watched? I'd have been upstairs packing to get away as far as possible.

>196 Neil_Luvs_Books: I think this was the first time that Becky and Miles said "I love you" to each other. It took the likelihood of their impending death for them to say what we the readers knew long ago.

I don't exactly buy the pod deception with the skeletons.

I'm kind of sad that Manny was deceiving them from the beginning and had apparently been among the early pod-people.

I fell asleep typing my response last night. It makes no sense in the morning and in light of the next chapter.

I'm rooting for Becky, unsettling Miles' gendered role expectations even in dire straits. Of course she won't be standing back, covering her face in terror. You tell him, Becky!

The 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers with Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter will be on MGM+ on Friday (Oct.31) at 9 AM Central. It was on the other day and I missed most of it. It is the movie I remember. I saw it when I was a senior in High School that year. I have DISH.

>201 mnleona:. It is that time of year. I have it on the DVR from last year still. But may watch the two remakes later as well, I see them on streaming.

CHAPTER 19

Nice escape! I liked how Finney writes that despite knowing the woman who holds up her hand to stop Miles and Becky was a pod person, social convention caused them to stop in the sidewalk. But after a few seconds rationality takes over and Miles pushes her out of the way. That was a nice touch - it contributed to the scene feeling real. I could easily see myself having a hard time overcoming the façade of the pod woman.

Now, I assume that Becky and Miles are going to wait in that field covered in weeds until it gets dark before they make their way to highway and hope they will be able to flag down a car that is not driven by a body snatcher. At least that’s what I think is going to happen in the last two chapters.

Good! I finally get to read to the end of the book. Tomorrow is Halloween and we complete our read along.

>201 mnleona: >202 sdawson: I have never seen either versions. The 2nd version came out when I was a young teenager and the previews freaked me out too much. I’ll see if I can locate one of them to watch on Halloween.

>114 sdawson: Chapter 10 : Why are they still there? I'd have hightailed it out of town yesterday. Are we sure the doppelgängers are done for? Shouldn't they be going around in pairs?

This is why I don't watch horror and I've never tried to read horror before. Listening to the audiobook and doing this read-along works for me though. Hoping to get to the last chapters in time to read them with everyone else.

>133 sdawson: Chapter 11: Why???

Well, I suppose it would only have been half the book. But they all decided, almost independently.

How did the seed pods get into the car? Who put them there? Why are they being replaced?

>135 Neil_Luvs_Books: I suppose the description prolongs the suspense because you're waiting to find out what's happening.

>138 elorin: Oh, I missed that. The sleep clued them in to the fact they might be carrying pods with them; when he took Becky from her house she was groggy then, too.

Chapter 12

Why did the four of them split up? You Never split up if you're in a horror film.

>139 bnielsen: Does yours say May 1953? My audio said June 1976.

>141 Neil_Luvs_Books: Is the decay a commentary on small towns being lost as people move to big cities, I wonder? If Miles was going to confront a pod person (silly thing to do) then why not ask them questions?

>149 Neil_Luvs_Books: Chapter 13: Well. Obviously the pod people don't like humans. Poor Becky, getting confirmation about her dad.

>154 Neil_Luvs_Books: Chapter 14: Yeah, I think the botanist is a pod person. He seemed to be trying to throw them off the scent.

>158 RBeffa: Why do they keep throwing away their advantages? I suppose it makes the story.

>163 Neil_Luvs_Books: Chapter 15: I suppose this is why they had to stay - to witness the pods being handed out. They're very careful handling the pods but our heroes have destroyed about 8 so far and the aliens still seem to have spares.

I'll have to find one of the movie versions and watch it tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing how it ends!

>183 Neil_Luvs_Books: Chapter 16: I could have told Miles and Becky that those two had already been changed. I don't know why they would even think of trusting them now.

>184 bnielsen: >185 Neil_Luvs_Books: I think you're right. And also Becky was groggy the two times they tried to copy her so maybe there is an effect before the process is finished.

Maybe Miles and Becky falling in love (as a plot point) is to give them something more to fight for; new love being more intense?

>188 sdawson: Chapter 17: To be honest, I have to agree with the aliens' analysis of how we humans have/ our treating our planet. So this means people have been commenting on this for the last 70 years, not just 40 or 10. (And, yes, for centuries before that too. But more pronounced.) I wonder if this book made any impact on its readers then re environmental conscientiousness?

With everyone focussed on their devices rather than socialising and the rise of AI ... maybe we are being slowly body-snatched ...

>195 sdawson: Chapter 18: All those solutions he has in his office; given what the gasoline did to the pods (on the way out of town) surely he could have used something? I suppose it wouldn't work on a full formed pod person anyway. Oh, the poor skeletons!

Becky has a point - everyone assumes the damsel will be cowering uselessly in the corner. Miles said something like 'I hated relying on a flimsy idea of Becky's' even though he's been operating (badly, I think - they should have left a long time ago (I believe I've mentioned that a few times)) on his own flimsy ideas.

>203 Neil_Luvs_Books: Chapter 19: Finally an(other) escape attempt. Becky's 'flimsy idea' worked well. I agree about the pod old woman.

The cliff hangers (because of the serialisation) work well. And my narrator (I'm waiting to find out who he is) builds the tension with the pace of his reading.

Whew! Caught up. I'll listen to the last couple of chapters tonight (if Libby works on my laptop) - which will be about 12 hours ahead of those of you on the east coast of the US (or tomorrow morning if it doesn't, which will then be All Hallows Eve in the US).

>211 humouress:
I agree; issues that are now becoming critical were mentioned in this story.

CHAPTERS 20 & 21

Well I liked that ending. Which surprised me a bit because reviews of Invasion of the Body Snatchers that I have read before suggested that the ending was underwhelming. But I liked it. It seemed real to me. No huge heroics. Just people doing the best they can in the face of impossible odds.

The other thing I thought of as this book closed was the banality of evil. But maybe that is too far of a stretch. Banal in the sense that the pod people weren’t malicious against humans - they were just doing what they do to survive, to live. So were they evil? Is a lion evil for eating a gazelle? But from the Becky and Miles’ perspective… hmmm… so maybe not evil.

I’m not going to write anymore about that until I read what some of you think.

Chapter 20: So close!

Chapter 21: And done. >215 Neil_Luvs_Books: I like the ending too though I did hope that they'd get all the pods and maybe stop the invaders altogether. It looks like the 'cover' to my e-audiobook is that last scene. It was a rather Twilight Zone ending, especially with the music that was played. There was an interview at the end with the narrator, whose father directed the first film adaptation, and the end of that film was different from the book.

Just a heads up; the first touchstone that I'm getting for Invasion of the Body Snatchers is for the 1957 film rather than the book.

>215 Neil_Luvs_Books:
Another thought in relation to the slow, gradual invasion is that it is like the slow invasion of environmental destruction and the creeping invasion of technology, both referenced in the story and both becoming more obvious and critical. Everybody knows the pod people are behind it all.

>216 humouress: I know that the ending for the 1970s film also has a different ending. I need to watch both films. And I noticed yesterday that there is a 3rd film adaptation from the 1990s, The Body Snatchers that is not as well rated as the first two.

>217 pgmcc: That is an interesting observation about the gradualness of the invasion in relation to the gradualness of climate change and techno creep. Mind you, it seems these days that the rate of climate and technology change is increasing. Sort of like how the invasion sped up quite a bit near the end of the book. Must be an exponential growth curve.

>218 Neil_Luvs_Books:
They have obviously reached a topping point.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhh…………..quiet, calm oblivion.

>215 Neil_Luvs_Books: I'm just wondering how the pods are going to drift up in space. But I doubt Jack Finney knew how hard it would be when he wrote the story so maybe I'll just write it off to that.

I think there are several sf stories where an alien invasion against all odds are defeated just because humans are so mean and stupid that they won't surrender. So based on that the ending is okay :-)

I also like how the pod people will just continue living as sort of zombies until they die off. Nice closing of the story, IMHO.

>206 humouress: Just checked. Page 112: Santa Mira Tribune, april, maj, juni 1953. So I guess your audio is trying to move the story to a more recent year.

>215 Neil_Luvs_Books: I don't think of the pod people as evil. There was that one bit tho where the early pod people were mimicking miles and becky...

Underwhelming ending, yet ultimately satisfying to think that humanity is so stubborn we can out... well, not outwit or outthink, but we can be more stubborn than the invasion.

I'm looking for one of the movie versions to watch tonight.

We watched the movie from the 70's. Quite different from the book, but enjoyed it. Enjoyed telling my wife and good friend about the differences afterwards, and hearing about how the movie from the 50's compared.

>223 elorin: It was a bit full-on - there's no escape - this is it - and then ... oh. But I like my HEAs. (And of course he survived to tell us the story - though there are ways around that.)

>225 humouress: I like the book ending best. I'm now challenging myself to find the original movie version and watch it.

Life got complicated so I ended up reading the final seven chapters of Body Snatchers in a single sitting late one night. What I found amazing was that the story actually ends on something of an up-note. We are human beings, not just plants. Our strongest emotions (above and beyond any survival instinct) are what move us forward, one generation after another. Our responses to the challenges that face us become more creative when motivated by love, anger, panic, etc.

More: The victory of humankind over an invasive species does not come just from two “little” people. In this story, it is small groups acting independently that persuade the “pod people” that after all, this is an inhospitable planet. The “inauthentic” people who have grown from the spores die out after only five years. Human beings repopulate their towns and begin again. It takes time, but we gain momentum in recovery and begin to thrive.

The novel as originally written notes the way in which people came back following the destruction caused by World War II and, in the face of the Cold War and the threat of atomic weapons, reassures the audience that we as a species can do it again. We know what drives us.

Finney tells a good story (even as I sat and analyzed what it was that was creating in me some sense of personal trepidation). He has faith in our resilience. Despite the things that either (a) scared me as I read or (b) popped up as distractions from the reading across the month, I am glad that I read this all the way through. (And, when I started, I was rather concerned that I might end up classifying it as a DNF.) Quite frankly, I'm not sure the movie adaptations did it justice.

Thank you all for participating in our Halloween read along of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I would not have read it on my own without you. And I am glad I did: Finney is a good writer. I’ve enjoyed reading all of your comments and thoughts on his novel.

I think we should do this again for Halloween 2026. Anyone else game? I have a few books on the scary side that are on my TBR book shelf. Please complete the poll below to see if there is one that most would prefer reading next year.

Also consider The Exorcist which was about the same time as Rosemary's Baby, but is better in my opinion. Don't let the movie adaptaion color your view of this execellent novel.

And what about a Christmas read?

>230 sdawson: If someone else wants to organize a Xmas read I’ll consider joining. But I think I may be doing The Short Story Advent Calendar with my family. We did it last year and really enjoyed it. The 2025 collection will be published sometime mid-Nov. But I think previous years are still available from Hingston & Olson. Click on “The Calendar” at the top of this webpage and you will see a list of previous years’ collections:

https://www.hingstonandolsen.com/home

The first story in the 2024 collection was one of the best short stories I have read in a very long time.

>231 Neil_Luvs_Books:

I was not aware of these. Nice idea, and I'm interested, so am persuing the web site for ideas. I may do that with my family as well. I also see a 12 days of stories, which may be less of a commitment for them. Thanks for letting me know of this.

>228 Neil_Luvs_Books: Thanks for getting this going and all of the organization. I wouldn't have read this book either without the group. Personally I'd prefer the Poe next year, I've either read the others or have very little interest.