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The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance
By H.G. Wells and Arthur C. Clarke
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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About this ebook
ONE OF THE MOST BELOVED WORKS OF SCIENCE FICTION
H.G. Wells' classic The Invisible Man is an artful combination of a psychological thriller and science fiction novel. A young scientist who discovers the secret of invisibility feels initial joy at his newfound freedoms and abilities, but quickly turns to despair when he realizes the many things he has sacrificed in the pursuit of science. While he struggles to create the formula that will restore his visibility and his connection to other people, murder and mayhem ensue.
THE ART OF THE NOVELLA
Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers but beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. The Art of the Novella Series celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners. The series has been recognized for its "excellence in design" by AIGA.
H.G. Wells' classic The Invisible Man is an artful combination of a psychological thriller and science fiction novel. A young scientist who discovers the secret of invisibility feels initial joy at his newfound freedoms and abilities, but quickly turns to despair when he realizes the many things he has sacrificed in the pursuit of science. While he struggles to create the formula that will restore his visibility and his connection to other people, murder and mayhem ensue.
THE ART OF THE NOVELLA
Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers but beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. The Art of the Novella Series celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners. The series has been recognized for its "excellence in design" by AIGA.
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Author
H.G. Wells
H.G. Wells is considered by many to be the father of science fiction. He was the author of numerous classics such as The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The War of the Worlds, and many more.
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Reviews for The Invisible Man
Rating: 3.4536082474226806 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
97 ratings107 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A disappointing read. H.G Wells has much better tales. I would not recommend wasting your time on this one.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Invisible Man was a jerk who was mean to people and tortured a cat. This pissed me off and has left my mentally incapable of leaving a more detailed review. I expected better.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Misanthropic and bereft of philosophy, it begins as farce and concludes in a homicidal froth. Pity.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In H. G. Wells' classic novel, a scientist turns himself invisible and wreaks havoc in rural England. This book is a versatile classic because it could be read by someone who is young or who simply wants to read fluff, but it can also be appreciated by more careful readers who are looking for undercurrents of meaning. It's a tragi-farcical romp in 19th century England, but it's also a warning about what people might do simply because they can get away with it. This is a classic that anyone interested in science fiction should read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An 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.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Het gegeven is natuurlijk fascinerend, maar de uitwerking valt tegen: traag en gebroken ritme. Lectuur opgegeven na 120 blz
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5*Spoilerish type reivew* This was a decent book by Wells, but my least favorite of the books I have read by him. This one obviously is a short novel about a man who is invisible. I thought the idea had a great deal of potential, but I never felt like the story ever took off for me. The Invisible Man is simply grumpy and perhaps a lunatic and the story turns into more of a chase down the bad guy plot. Not a bad read, but certainly not one to remember.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great read. Man.........this guy is a jerk. But I guess karma comes full circle.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surprisingly more action than I thought the novel would have (after reading the disappointing Jekyll & Hyde last year, anyway). The Invisible Man seems to be a bad dude. Definitely not a misunderstood villain, just because he is invisible, which is what I was expecting. This invisible man could have written the book on terrorism. I thought the plot kept its pace and was the perfect length. The writing itself wasn't as great as I wished though.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Still a great read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent! A classic thriller.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Het gegeven is natuurlijk fascinerend, maar de uitwerking valt tegen: traag en gebroken ritme. Lectuur opgegeven na 120 blz
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A classic that probably should be read. Story of a man with awesome power who is corrupted quickly and completely.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My first Wells book, and I must read more of his now. Much better than I had even guessed it would be.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I am such a geek. My favorite part of this book is the Invisible Man's brief lecture on how light and invisibility work, midway through the book. For a day, in the background of my brain I was designing camp curriculum's around it.
So, H.G. Wells has a reputation for a reason. This book is compulsively readable, if a tad old-fashioned. It does suffer the problem of being a book in which the main character is impossible to like. Though it does serve as a rather thorough argument that invisibility is not a fantastic superpower to have, and that it certainly does not free you of your dependence on other human beings. If anything, it makes that dependency sharper. Also, how much of our trust of people hinges on being able to see their face?
More pulp than psychological thriller, but I'm okay with that. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great book! by my favorite auther, Hubert George Wells (who has sadly been dead for a very long time)for sci-fi fans, you'll love this!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This is such a famous novel that I was expecting a far better read. The opening chapter, as a muffled mysterious stranger comes to an inn, asking for a room and to not be disturbed is full of promise. But the rest of the story was tedious, as the invisible man loses his temper, and seems only to want to revenge himself on others. What is fascinating is the title which captures the imagination. But Wells strangely concentrates on the downside of invisibility - having to be naked in cold weather, being unable to eat invisibly, having others bump into you, without having some fun plus side moments.So, a great idea, and I'm sure this is why the novel is 'a classic' - but none of the characters were particularly interesting, the invisible man himself plain peculiar, and what he gets up to bizarre and slow-moving.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent story. Truly liked the imaginative thought processes of the supposition of invisibility. Highly recommend the book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I would probably give this book a 3.5 but since that isn't possible, I rounded up. I enjoyed this book and thought it to have many thought invoking ideas. The creativity and thought put into what it would be like to become invisible is great and it really made me think. I may have given this a higher rating if I had read it back in the day when it came out. Knowing the story over the years without having read the book has ruined it a little for me. As always though I love H.G. Wells writing and amazing originality for his time.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was OK. But it felt insubstantial. How did he get to this point and why was he so power mad?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's not easy being invisible! Griffin, a minor scientist in England, discovers how to make things invisible. His experiments with living things only left the back of a white cat's eyes, but he was able to make himself totally invisible. That's when his troubles began. How does an invisible man eat (especially if partially digested food is still visible), clothe himself (especially if "walking clothing" scare others, or get and carry money without creating "floating money" (especially before the days of "virtual money"? In addition, how does an invisible man refrain from performing acts of mischief that are so enticing?This classic novel answers the above questions and provides for an interesting play-by-play of this scientist's adventures, including his ability to find someone (Mr. Marvel, the tramp) who scams him and, by chance, to discover someone who could help him (Dr. Kent). Both funny and sad, this story is well written, almost believable, very imaginative, and a most enjoyable read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heard this as an audiobook. A very dark tale, but with a dry sense of humor - at least in the beginning of the novel. Then it descends into madness and terror. One would think that invisibility gives you the upper hand in many situations - however here we have a frightened, freezing and vulnerable man who cannot get shelter, food and sleep. And then he gets very angry!!I like the way Wells presents the novel from different points of view. We are drawn into the tale by guessing who this strange man is - and then The Invisible Man steps unto the scene and tell his own story. How he experience everything. Then you get more sympathy for the guy.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5So I have never heard anyone describe this book, nor have I seen any of the Invisible Man movies. For some reason, I was imagining the invisible man to be a much nicer person than he was in the book. He was an absolute villain in the book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5When this story began I was rather sympathetic to the Invisible Man, and enjoyed the story which was written in 1897. Stories this old are apt to improve one's vocabulary and bring back expressions probably heard from my grandparents. The tale took an unexpected twist for me, and my sympathy for a scientist who perhaps didn't realize the consequences of his actions was dashed. Instead we find we have a story of a sociopath, a man who seems to have been mad at the world from his college years. We can distill this down to "mad scientist" I believe.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5great fast read. didn't see it coming until the teddy bear.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Excellent story with lots of suspense and a slowly building plot. Could be a bit of a dry read at times, but overall very good.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book has all of the characteristics of good science fiction: science is simultaneously man's great power and his outdoing.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I've actually never read this before, and was surprised both by how detailed the science of the transformation was (though I probably shouldn't have been, because this era was big on the science in science fiction) and how unsympathetic the protagonist was. Enjoyed very much!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I enjoyed The Invisible Man a lot better than War of the Worlds, I'm happy to say. I preferred the writing style used in this book and thankfully it wasn't filled with geographical information. Plot-wise, it wasn't what I expected. I sort of expected more experiments, more obvious madness, or at least more of a suspenseful sinister atmosphere throughout the book as the beginning where he was locked in the room talking to himself did seem a bit more dramatic.The Invisible Man himself is very selfish, dominant, disregards others' feelings entirely and generally sees other people as stupid obstacles in his way. Despite this, I did feel sorry for him as being made irreversibly invisible and all the unforeseen consequences of that (being chased, hurt, hunted, ignored, exposure to cold, eating in public) would affect anyone, and so I saw him as a victim of his own foolhardiness. At the same time, he has a terribly short temper and he is a control-freak - demanding rather than asking, never attempting to negotiate, always thinking of his own needs. Meanwhile, the other people are scared of him and try to hold him on account of his breaking the law. They eventually try to play him at his own game and make it difficult for him to move around and steal, which has fatal consequences. I don't think they wanted to hurt him but he had killed brutally once and dreamed of doing more. The book doesn't endear you to any of the characters really, but there is a real sense of empathy for both sides - the Invisible Man, an oddity, who can't turn back and the villagers, who are scared, and taken advantage of and stolen from etc. I'm glad I read this book, and some of the writing is really well done. I really liked this quote from the Invisible Man's monologue, for no other reason than I got such a good sense of the shop that I just knew there was a bell on the door before I read about it:"...a dirty flyblown little shop in a byway near Drury Lane, with a window full of tinsel robes, sham jewels, wigs, slippers, dominoes and theatrical photographs. The shop was old-fashioned and low and dark, and the house rose above it for four storeys, dark and dismal. I peered through the window and, seeing no-one within, entered. The opening of the door set a clanking bell ringing."I enjoyed this book, and especially liked the powerful presence of the Invisible Man by the references to him as the Voice or the Unseen. His suspicious and dominant nature did make him enjoyably formidable.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5If you like stories about mad scientists and descent into madness then this is the one for you. Although to tell you the truth I'm not sure Griffin's morality was screwed on that tightly to begin with.Scientist discovers way to make himself invisible. Scientist discovers being invisible is not the party he thought it would be. Scientist goes slightly more crazy that he was previously. Scientist finds old school chum whilst on the lamb. Old chumb turns him in. Scientist dies while being pursued. The end. Fairly basic premise for this genre. The best part of the book is the insight Wells gives us into the main characters lack of concern for his fellow man.At the end it was all right.