***Group Read: The Island of Dr. Moreau

I've read it. Hope you enjoy. The only rule is 'no spoiler.'

I am planning to read this soon. Thanks for setting up the thread for this.
--BJ

I just finished the book. It was an uncomfortable read, but well worth the cringes if you can endure to the end. The themes are a lot heavier than in the other Wells books I have read.

I admire how creative and inventive H.G. Wells is, especially considering this was written in the 1890s. I also liked the portrayal of the main character. He is very sympathetic and knows where he stands on most issues. Reall,y how can you not feel for a man who is shipwrecked and picked up by another ship and then cast out to sea again (in a leaky boat) and forced to take refuge on an island with a mad scientist?

I thought this was a perfect Halloween read! Totally creepy, creepier than Frankenstein, I thought. I also cringed at a few parts, but I persevered.
--BJ

Finished this a couple of days ago. Yes definitely creepy, more horror than sci-fi. It's delivers the message not to mess with the laws of nature because sometimes nature strikes back.

I'm about halfway through the book now. I know I watched too much Lost but there are so many things that strike me as similar. Arriving on a mysterious island and not being sure of what is going on, but having a creepy feeling that things aren't right, people on the island with secrets, white rabbits, running through the woods at night, etc.

Also, on a random front, I just noticed the movie version came out in 1996 and was set in 2010.

Interesting that there is a recent movie of this. Wonder if I would be able to watch it? Not sure that I could.
--BJ

I hope this isn't a spoiler...but I just got to the part of the ritual in the cave. (Interesting in itself in relation to Plato.) But the part about not eating flesh or fish I thought was strange. Perhaps Wells is also asking the question, "Where does a man really end and a beast begin?"

Now that I'm finished, I think this is definitely one of the more haunting books by Wells. There is so much here: ethics and science, ethics and humanity, morality, man and animals, man and nature, abandonment, religion, etc. Great book.

I agree that there is a lot to this book, different from what I thought Wells would be like.
--BJ