“Great and strange ideas transcending experience often have less effect upon men and women than smaller, more tangible considerations.”
The Invisible Man, H. G. Wells
Invisibility might seem like a chance to do something that you would have never done before. A similar thing happens with our protagonist in this book the invisible man by HG Wells. Being the wonderful scientist that he was, he would have been very rich and famous if he would have just sold the idea of invisibility to others but the question arises – is the idea of invisibility such a good thing for this world? But this book is not only about invisibility, read this book review to find out more about this.
Book – The Invisible Man
Author – H. G. Wells
Pages – 151 pages
Genre – Sci-fi, Thriller
My Rating – 4 out of 5 stars
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Book Review of The Invisible Man
The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells covers a story about a scientist who decides to invent the formula for invisibility. After a lot of experimentation and some cat tests, he is finally able to invent the formula that can turn a person invisible. The book covers his adventures after his invisibility and how it slowly spirals him into the madness of sorts.
“All men, however highly educated, retain some superstitious inklings.”
The Invisible Man, H. G. Wells
Summary of the novel:
To summarize the story of the invisible man is the story of a student who was so interested in science that he decided to develop the formula of invisibility. he did succeed in finding invisibility and made a cat disappear. Then he decided to use that technique on himself and disappeared. However, he got stuck with an invisible body and no clothes. Thus begins his journey in the city, which was not so happy and very eventful. So he decided to turn himself in somewhere where people won’t get suspicious of him. This is how we come to the beginning of the book, the inn in a small town.
“The stranger came early in February, one wintry day, through a biting wind and a driving snow, the last snowfall of the year, over the down, walking as it seemed from Bramblehurst railway station, and carrying a little black portmanteau in his thickly gloved hand.”
The Invisible Man, H. G. Wells
This is how the journey in the book the Invisible Man begins.Our protagonist did exactly what others would have done with the powers associated with invisibility; they would have used it for all the wrong purposes too because what is there that is right and requires invisibility?
“I am just a human being — solid, needing food and drink, needing covering too — But I’m invisible. You see? Invisible. Simple idea. Invisible.”
The Invisible Man, H. G. Wells
The inn is where the story begins, taking with us into the middle of the adventures of our Invisible man. It slowly transcends into something bigger and more serious than just a few robberies and later on, blood gets involved too. We won’t indulge ourselves into spoilers in this book review, so let’s see some other aspects of the story.
Writing Style and other aspects:
The writing style of this novel is very different from the stories I’ve read before in this genre. It begins with a snowy evening in a far-off town where a stranger requests delivery of his equipment. What seemed like a very normal conversation will lead to a very interesting turn of events. In this book, invisibility has been shown as something that can be used for both good and bad. the author has described the process very believably although the concept of invisibility in itself is an unbelievable task. The condition of the protagonist in the city, the situations he escaped and how he arrived in the town inn is something that interested me; even more than the event that has happened because it showed how a man who was hell-bent on discovering something great and giving something new to the humanity turned into the evil he became. It showed a development arc and character development of an honest student into something so unbelievable.
“I was invisible, and I was only just beginning to realise the extraordinary advantage my invisibility gave me. My head was already teeming with plans of all the wild and wonderful things I had now impunity to do.”
The Invisible Man, H. G. Wells
The ending was brutal for someone so brilliant. The path he chose followed him to his death. After listening to the situations and events the protagonist had to go through in the days of his invisibility, I wanted to empathise with the protagonist. I wanted to understand his point of view which dominated his thoughts at the beginning of the experiment. It was a well-intentioned one but slowly he began to terrorize people of his invisibility and thus began the downfall of the character.
Instead of showing invisibility as a boon, the author has shown how invisibility can be turned into a curse too. It is a sci-fi book in which the author has tried to liven up one of the most curious aspects of modern technology – Invisibility. This factor has brought up so many experiments and so many endeavours into mirroring, camouflaging and so much more at the time of writing the story that it didn’t seem that inconceivable to cultivate a formula so brilliant that would make the person invisible.
“Alone– it is wonderful how little a man can do alone! To rob a little, to hurt a little, and there is the end.”
The Invisible Man, H. G. Wells
One of the main and recurring themes of this story is loneliness. The protagonist was already plagued with loneliness and even his father’s death didn’t bring any sorrow to him. This acceptance of loneliness and lack of any kind of attachment to anybody brought out the savage within him who wanted just to gain control over situations. This was one of the main reasons for him going berserk the way he did. The absurdity of the invention is vividly portrayed by the author through the protagonist. Even after achieving what he wanted to for this whole life, he was unable to satisfy himself or gain happiness.
“To do such a thing would be to transcend magic. And I beheld, unclouded by doubt, a magnificent vision of all that invisibility might mean to a man—the mystery, the power, the freedom. Drawbacks I saw none. You have only to think! And I, a shabby, poverty-struck, hemmed-in demonstrator, teaching fools in a provincial college, might suddenly become—this.”
The Invisible Man, H. G. Wells
Conclusion and Recommendations:
Overall, this was a brilliant piece of work with definitive descriptions of the events. It also touches upon the psychological aspects of a person’s mind and the impact of consecutive events. It takes us into a world where anything is possible but comes with consequences of its own. The Invisible Man is a story of science and the human mind working together to produce something powerful and damned at the same time.
If you are interested in reading science fiction that doesn’t go beyond the atmosphere of earth, which feels realistic and brings our focus upon the several human aspects, and also gives you the thrill to keep you on the edge of your seat, then this is the perfect book for you. I hope this book review helped you. Comment your thoughts and anything that you want to add further.
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