The Invisible Man

"We begin with a reign of terror."

The Invisible Man can be read in quite a few ways. There's something to the idea that Wells, more or less contemporary to Dostoevsky and Nietzsche, is simply serving up the same question in a punchier, sci-fi way: What is allowed when nobody sees you do it? The text and its adaptations has kept evolving, Frankenstein-like, as technology and society has moved on; from Whale's 1933 madcap proto-slasher via tons of sexploitation takes on it to Whannell flipping the script in 2020 (power structures are always invisible!).

The novel itself has aged remarkably well, notwithstanding that it slams on the breaks mid-third act to give us 30 pages of exposition. Wells mixes humour with chilling details, giving show more voice to the invisible unfettered supervillain; yeah, he gets his comeuppance at the end, but... don't we secretly enjoy it? Doesn't it seem fun to live without consequences? show less

“Every conceivable sort of silly creature that has ever been created has been sent to cross me. If I have much more of it, I shall go wild. I shall start mowing them” says Griffin: the invisible man. H G Well’s character is unsympathetic in the extreme and this is what in the end gives this book a bit of an edge. When we first meet Griffin he does not come across as a mad scientist, but rather an irascible one, albeit with a vicious streak. His paranoia increasingly takes hold of him and he fights back to such an extent that he comes to believe that his natural place is to rule over the visible fools and dolts that try to apprehend him.

We first meet Griffin as a mysterious character seeking a place of refuge in a seaside town show more somewhere in the South of England. He rents a room in a small boarding house where he can lock himself away and work. His curious landlady and fellow guests soon interfere with his plans and he uses his invisibility first to frighten them and then to make his escape. This first section of the book has the feel of a slapstick movie as Wells has great fun describing the antics of those trying to apprehend an invisible man. There are fights, chases, robberies, near murders, until finally the invisible man becomes notorious and must now live on his wits to hide from a nation bent on tracking him down.

A wounded Griffin manages to escape and blunders into the house of Mr Kemp an old friend from university days and initially tricks him into giving him some aid. He slowly starts to tell Kemp his story and this is where the novel moves up a gear. Griffin has used himself as a guinea pig to test a chemical that he has invented that can neutralise the colour in skin pigmentation. His aim was to turn himself invisible, so that he could profit from the advantages that this would give him. He had not thought of the problems of being invisible and his first venture out into the streets of London naked in January soon made him feel that he was in a hostile world. Finding shelter and food were soon problematical and Wells description of Griffin in this altogether different environment is both imaginative and exciting. Griffin’s story is told in the first person, which contrasts nicely with the first section of the book which tells of Griffin’s exploits largely in the third person where we see the sometimes comical effects on other people of an aggressive invisible man.

Dr Kemp soon realises that his old friend is now nothing more than a brutally selfish individual, whose only thought is how he can use his invisibility for his own gain and his obvious delight in his ability to hurt other people convinces Kemp he is mad and dangerous. The remainder of the book takes on the appearance of a thriller as Griffin is hunted down

Wells’s novel has plenty of thrills and spills and there is the excitement of the chase, which rounds out the novel nicely. There is also the fantasy of being invisible and Wells brings out this aspect of his story to fire the imagination making it another early entry into the ranks of science fiction. When Wells switches the emphasis from being a mystery adventure story into something more fantastical then the novel started to work for me. Published in 1897; the novel cannot escape it’s British Victorian flavour and so we are not surprised when Doctor Kemp wonders about putting powdered glass on the road to impede the invisible man “It’s cruel I know, it’s unsportsmanlike” For me this adds to the charm and a busy street in London full of Hansom cabs and other horse drawn carriages would be just as dangerous to an invisible person as motor car traffic would be today. A 3.5 star read. show less

May contain spoilers. Though, given the title, I'm not sure there's much to worry about there. Anyway, on we go!

The story seems best designed to illustrate the dangers of “lone wolf” science. If Griffin had been part of a team of researchers, or at least needed the stamp of approval from an oversight committee before proceeding with his project, he never would have wound up in the mess he did. Some member of the team, less blinded by dreams of unfettered larceny and licentiousness, would surely have realized that permanent invisibility, requiring permanent nakedness, would soon lose any charm it might initially have promised. Especially in a non-tropical environment. But, heck, even in the tropics one might like the option of a sun show more hat and sandals. Anyway, Griffin fails to look before he leaps, and the story fails to be tragic, or at least pathetic, only because he so richly deserves what he gets.

The first half or so of The Invisible Man is pretty slow going. Wells milks the country-bumpkin dialect of the villagers in Iping for all it's worth, and then quite a bit more. When we finally get out of the village, though, things do pick up, and there is actually some pretty funny stuff. The department store scenes, in particular, are really amusing (I kept being reminded of the children's picture book, Corduroy. Only with a naked psychotic instead of a fluffy little bear.) – I particularly liked Griffin's observation that he had never before seen clerks looking as lively and enthusiastic as they did on leaving the store at closing time. Griffin never becomes even remotely sympathetic, though. He reminded me a bit of a Poe character. Utterly self-absorbed, nasty, and increasingly unhinged.

On a more positive note, I took away from this a new appreciation for how nicely Sauron (the evilest villain in Tolkien's Middle Earth) designed his invisibility ring. When you put on Sauron's ring of power, not only do you disappear, but your clothes, sword, books, backpack, and all-the-loot-you-can-carry disappears with you. As long as you hold on to it, it's yours. A much more convenient system than Griffin's, where you need a porter (who may be reluctant) to carry even a credit card. A further Tolkien connection appears when Griffin is, several times, nearly located and caught because he's caught cold and can't stop sneezing, just as Bilbo does in Lake-town, in The Hobbit. Unlike Bilbo, though, Griffin can't carry tissues or a handkerchief. Heck, he doesn't even have sleeves. Eeew. It really doesn't bear thinking about.

Philosophically speaking (like Griffin, I'm recklessly leaping in where angels fear to tread!), Wells, it seems to me, isn't, at least not much. That is, he may be making a point about science – “don't make yourself a guinea pig without properly thinking things through” – but he's not really saying anything about the corrupting action of the power to act without social restraints, the way you might expect him to given the similarities to Plato's story of the Ring of Gyges. The power conferred by Griffin's invisibility can't be seen to corrupt him much, if only because he was such a horrible person to start with (If his dream of standing by his father's grave is supposed to indicate nagging conscience, I found it totally inadequate.). His plans for life with his “superpower” seem to have involved crime from the get-go. Feeling no remorse for sending his father to an early grave, kicking off his project with catnapping and arson, his only question is what sort of criminal career will best suit his condition. When it turns out that murder appears more practical than theft or blackmail he is not troubled in the slightest. So, moral degradation isn't really an issue. I guess that does put him in the same category with Plato's shepherd, with the only check on human depravity being societal restraints. A depressing thought, and much less interesting than a moral struggle would have been. show less

"Alone....it is wonderful how little a man can do alone! To rob a little, to hurt a little, and there is the end."

This book covers fairly familiar science fiction ground, namely that the lust for power, immortality, and in this case invisibility, is a dangerous thing. Griffin, aka the Invisible Man, is a scientist obsessed with taking science a step further. He figures out how to make light refract differently off the body, thus rendering the person invisible to the average person’s eyes. The story revolves around him befriending a man and telling him the story of how he became invisible.

This book has comedy, tragedy, action and of course science fiction but it is also about alienation. Griffin is a sociopath with no meaningful show more friends. He steals money from his father to fund his obsession for scientific success not realising that that money was in fact borrowed and the loss would lead directly to his father's suicide. He has isolated himself from his contemporaries and comes unstuck when he reaches out to an old classmate.

Truthfully, there isn’t that much to this story here, what there is fairly simplistic and there are some serious holes in the 'science.' On the surface, it is a pretty simple thriller, but it is still interesting and I loved the moral questions that it prompted. Most of us have probably wanted to be invisible at some point in our life but here Wells asks the question, what would we do if we were truly invisible. Would we do good or evil with our new power? Would we all be tempted to do bad things knowing no one could see us do it?

Given that the fact that Wells wrote his books well over a century ago I still find it remarkable how he is still asking us to look at the world in new ways. The issues in this book strike at how we deal with sudden scientific advances, whilst there are obvious benefits there are also inherent risks. Wells foresaw that societies would change under the impact of new innovations. show less

Another of H. G. Wells' impressive run of original and influential science-fiction novels, The Invisible Man sits somewhere between The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds, not only chronologically, but in the level of enjoyment it brings. The Time Machine was, in my opinion, an excellent read and a perfectly concise novella, whereas The War of the Worlds was a dry reading experience in spite of its cornucopia of prescient ideas. All three books presented inventive and original concepts that have deeply influenced pop-culture in the century-plus since.

If The Invisible Man doesn't quite charm to the extent the storytelling of The Time Machine does, it is at least fascinating to watch the titular invisible man, Griffin, descend into show more bitterness, alienation and madness. The book is a page-turner and it does well to trace the limitations of Griffin's dubious gift: he needs to eat but undigested food betrays his presence, he feels the cold weather, and dogs can sniff him out. One method proposed for his capture is to lay powdered glass, because of course the man is walking around barefoot. The evident thought Wells put into his concept, and the air of plausibility he gives to its scientific rationale, helps sell the story to the reader.

The Invisible Man shares some of The War of the Worlds' dryness and provincialism (its plot is basically an invisible man causing mild havoc in an English countryside village), but it is saved by its surprising levels of comedy. Wells recognises the absurdity of his main character's dilemma and has plenty of people bumbling around perplexed at the invisible shenanigans. And then there's the unspoken hilarity of the fact that the invisible man is technically stark-bollock-naked through it all. The book generates such a goodwill that the reader glides over its bumps without really feeling them, and is left with a definite sense that Wells' place in the hearts of his readers, and in the minds of his imitators, was well-earned. show less

Herbert George Wells asetab «Nähtamatus» sõrme teaduse kõige haavatavamale ihulapile. Teadlane-füüsik, kel läheb korda muuta end nähtamatuks, ei varjagi, et uus olek annab talle võimu ja vabaduse, mida ta tavalise inimesena, vaese laboriassistendina, elu sees ei saaks nautida. Oma armetu maise saatuse eest otsustab ta nähtamatuse varjus inimkonnale kätte maksta. Wellsi «kuri teadlane» sai inimkonnavastase tegevuse eest oma teenitud karistuse. Mida teadus aga tuvastaks – kas tänapäeva teadust juhivad ja valitsevad head või kurjad vaimud?

Romaanis “Inimjumalad” manab ulmekirjanik me silme ette kauge tuleviku ideaalriigia. Väike inglise seltskond, kes oma autodega maanteel sõites satuvad teadusliku eksperimendi show more tulemusel ootamatult paralleelmaailma Utoopiasse – osutuvad omamoodi pagulasteks, kes põrkavad kokku enda omast koguni mitu tuhat aastat kaugemale arenenud tsivilisatsiooniga. Vastuvõtt on igati külalislahke ja esimesed mõttevahetused kõigiti viisakad, Maa esindajad esialgne üllatus ja imetlus kõrgema tsivilisatsiooni vastu asendub üsna pea umbusu ja kahtlustustega. Wells kujutab psühholoogiliselt veenvalt maalaste ebalust, võõristust ja vastumeelsust, mis kasvab ootamatult kärmelt üle pimedaks agressiivsuseks ja vallutushimuks. show less

"Éste es el primer día del primer año de una nueva época: el Período del Hombre Invisible"

Este libro es de esos que comienzan lentamente, pero sin dejar misterios a la vista porque desde el principio deduces que el nuevo huésped hotel es el hombre invisible, pero el verdadero interés que plantea es ¿Quién es este hombre y porqué es invisible? Ambas preguntas se responden a poco más de la mitad del libro, que para mi fue la parte más interesante (más o menos desde el capítulo XVII) pero no por ello la primera mitad pierde el tiempo, de hecho nos da una perfecta visión de como el creerse omnipotente puede trastornar a un hombre y los problemas que esa creencia puede traer.

"¡Está loco! no es un ser humano. Es puro show more egoísmo. Tan sólo piensa en su propio interés, en su salvación"

A partir de la segunda mitad empezamos a conocer a este hombre vemos sus motivaciones, su pasado, su frustración, la razón de su locura y, al mirar con mucha atención, sus miedos y cómo todo esto le hizo perder su parte humana y lo convirtió, no en un monstruo, sino en un gato hambriento en un callejón: todo lo que se acerque será tomado o destruido a fin de lograr su supervivencia.

"Has sido muy enérgico e inteligente, aunque no puedo imaginar lo que pretendes conseguir. Estás en contra mía. Me has estado persiguiendo durante todo el día; [...]El juego está empezando. El juego no ha hecho más que empezar."

Un libro muy interesante, con un final muy bien narrado, aunque un tanto rápido, y que vale la pena leer el personaje principal causa curiosidad, una historia en la que, dado que hoy en día todos la conocemos en mayor o menor medida, vale más cómo lo cuenta que lo que cuenta. show less