The Invisible Man (1897)

Misanthropic and bereft of philosophy, it begins as farce and concludes in a homicidal froth. Pity. ( )

Universal Studios and Claude Rains' Invisible Man will always be the Invisible Man to me, but I enjoyed finally reading the original story.

In the novel Griffin is a brilliant scientist obsessed with the nature of color, optics to be exact. As an albino he's faced a lot of discrimination, which perhaps explains his behavior to his fellow human beings. Griffin succeeds in turning himself invisible, but does so in a way that leaves him vulnerable to the outside world. His situation becomes ever more precarious as he continues to fail in reversing the invisibility process and his money diminishes.

Being a jerk, he has no friends to turn to and only accidentally comes across one of his colleagues who he trusts enough to explain his situation to. There is pity in the novel, but not much, and the pages are filled with Griffins bumbling and ineffectual attempts to seize power by virtue of his being invisible.

There wasn't as much to dig into in this book as in The Time Machine, but I enjoyed it all the same. ( )

An inventive & exciting story by one of the foremost Science Fiction authors of his era, whose literary fame encompasses Histories & Philosophy. Created from the serialized tale published in 1897 in a UK magazine, Pearson's Weekly, The Invisible Man as the title suggests has a main character Griffin who becomes invisible. Wells examines the good aspects & pitfalls of such a transformation with the emphasis on the downside as Griffin becomes increasingly erratic - no spoiler here - read it for the dramatic events and conclusion. ( )

I listened to the unabridged audiobook.
Published in 1897, the world and information moved so much slower than contemporary audiences ever remember.
I think there are more legends about the invisible man that have sprung out after this book than were in the book. ( )

Don't ask -ugh! ( )