The Invisible Man follows the trail of an arrogant and selfish man who is too doltish to think of any negatives to being invisible until after he achieves such a state.

I've been an H. G. Wells fan for years, but strangely enough had not yet read any of his books, until now. A fan of his stories as adapted to film, the ideas, his influence on the Science Fiction genre.

The writing here is a bit old-fashioned, as is to be expected, but I found it accessible enough. This was not high-brow Literature of the day. Which in my opinion is a good thing.

The story is interesting enough, although I found it a bit boring in the middle especially, and relatively short. But I have to believe some of Wells' other stories must be better.

Buddy read 8/10 with some cool people!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

If Annie Wilkes Stepheny doesn't lock us all up in her vegetable cellar, I will be buddy reading this with an awesome gang of misfits: Anne, Jeff, Stepheny, Delee, Christopher, Tadiana, Will, Licha, Alissa, Steve, and the Dans (both 1.0 and 2.0), Miriam, Jenna, Auntie J, Carmen, and Ginger on August 10.

Please Stepheny......don't........*falls*


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Read a book you own but haven't read yet.
2.5 stars

Does anyone remember this movie?

I was in high school when it came out and I thought it looked like the coolest movie ever.

It wasn't.

And now that I've finally read this great classic work of literature for the first time, I now see that the film is not all that original either. Until I had read this book, the extent of my knowledge of the titular Invisible Man came from this:

And after reading this book, I realized that Hollow Man is a 1999 gorier, more violent version of this book and I much preferred The Invisible Man who was in Allan Quartermain's gentleman's league.

I really really wish I liked this one more. I don't know if its because I'm jaded or if I read it at the wrong time, but honestly, I just couldn't get that into it. I loathed the titular character not because he's a disgusting specimen of a character who has no respect for human life, but because that's all he is. I just found every single character in this short novel lacking in depth. There didn't seem to be any kind of conflict residing within our Invisible Man. He just wanted power and money and to make people suffer. He wanted to murder for the fun of it and silently relish the idea of his being invisible. Which is so stupid for these reasons:

1. Being invisible is kinda a shitty ass superpower. You have to be naked all the time for it to work, and even then, you still leave footprints and perspiration marks. And you can't eat because your food will show up undigested in your bowels (SOOOO much ew btw, and that's coming from me, the jaded, not-grossed-out-by-anything-RN-to-be.) And seriously? Why do you want to be invisible? To be a peeping Tom? To steal from people? To confound the police when you murder someone and they don't have a suspect? All of the above is pretty douchey behavior, and doesn't put me in mind of a superhero.

2.So you want to murder people and become rich and powerful and brilliant. Cool. Why? Everyone has to have some kind of motivation for their behavior. And our Invisible Man doesn't. Which makes him flat and boring. And as far as I could tell, he didn't go all Jekyll and Hyde once he became corrupted by the power that his scientific explorations gave him. He was always a douchecanoe, even before the invisibility happened. So that makes him EVEN MORE flat and boring. I hate flat and boring.

3.The Invisible Man is an albino. Why? What is the significance of this? Other than it makes it easier to turn invisible because he has no pigmentation. I would have LOVED some backstory on this character maybe fleshing out his struggles with being different or cast aside or alienated by his peers or isolated by his family due to his condition. But no. We get none of that.

4. The Invisible Man tortures a cat. Enough said.

5. The middle of the story is basically one big fat info-dump. I hate info-dumps. They are boring.

But I still gave it 2.5 stars which is not a terrible rating. For one, this novel is quite humorous. I think the humor saved it for me. At least a little bit. Also, I was incredibly fascinated by the science-bits. Being in the medical field myself, I love me some science. And actually, particularly for the time period in which this book was written, the science part of it is extremely well-written and thought out. There are no glaring plot holes, and Wells made the science behind being invisible actually sound quite plausible. (I know it's not ACTUALLY plausible. I am a science person, you know). And I give this author kudos for that.

So this book unfortunately was not my cuppa, but I am very interested in reading more of Wells work. This is actually my first Wells novel (save your rotten tomatoes) and I am interested in seeing how this founding father of the science fiction genre writes things other than invisibility.

So... invisibility isn't all it's cracked up to be. I'll remember that.

I have always been aware of the stories of H.G. Wells but my interest in him was really sparked when I read David Lodge’s biography, ‘A Man of Parts’, a couple of years ago. H.G. certainly lived a colourful life!

Here Alma Classics have republished one of his earliest books and I found it very enjoyable. The science has some grounding but I got lost on the explanation as to how the invisibility was actually achieved.

The story relies heavily on the lead character’s condition which leads to some excellent knock-about comedy, described extremely well. As with all good tales there is an underlying moral which in this case is the ancient message of be careful what you wish for.

For the aficionados this is not necessarily the original 1897 text. It is the 1924 Atlantic Edition updated for spelling and punctuation; not that I would have known any difference. Also, although the book is 192 pages long the actual story is just 175 pages with the remainder being Alma’s usual notes, a short biography and a bibliography.

There is no doubt that H.G. Wells has a great descriptive style. Although the words are familiar the language can be different with a turn of phrase that often excited me. My favourite example was the sentence that ended: “… and then woke up with a curious persuasion of something wrong.” Wonderful.

Given the brevity of the book and Alma’s modest prices what excuse can there be for not reading this classic, you will not be disappointed. It is well worth four stars.

Reviewed by Clive on www.whisperingstories.com

Read for March Reading Sprint-2019 in Buddy Reads.

This was the most extraordinary tale.

“It’s very simple,” said the voice, “I’m an invisible man.”

Would you vanish if you found the secret to invisibility and try to gain all the advantages you could by concealing yourself from the human eyes? Yes? Most of us would. So did our friend in here.

I experienced a wild impulse to jest, to startle people, to clap men on the back, fling people's hats astray, and generally revel in my extraordinary advantage.

One day, a bandaged man with a very pink nose, wanders to Iping’s Coach and Horses and demands a room. His peculiar nature and his very oddly covered head soon becomes the talk of the town. People seem wary of this strange man who has hundreds of bottles stored up in his room and who only comes out at night like some apparition. Of course, we find out that he’s rather invisible but most people can’t grasp that concept, and we follow the story as everyone’s curiosity gets the better of them and the invisible man tries to be left alone and we witness the horrors and tortures he leaves in his wake.

I experienced a wild impulse to jest, to startle people, to clap men on the back, fling people's hats astray, and generally revel in my extraordinary advantage.

This was my first book from Wells and I am not disappointed. The writing was very good. The irony was magnificent. The Invisible man came looking for anonymity and became a legend. Wanted to be left alone and got his privacy blown to the winds. Wanted to take advantage of his invisibility and ended up wanting to look human again. Wanted to be appreciated for his work and ended up becoming everyone’s terror.

Where'd you be, if he took a drop over and above, and had a fancy to go for you? Suppose he wants to rob—who can prevent him? He can trespass, he can burgle, he could walk through a cordon of policemen as easy as me or you could give the slip to a blind man!

As I said before, the way Wells told this story was very impressive. We don’t get to see any humane qualities of the invisible man (We don’t even get his name till two-third of the book has passed). We see him not showing any emotions and even his diaries have nothing personal within their pages. People are against him before he has even committed a crime or done any harm. Wells presents him as something alien, something not human and maintains that style throughout most of the book. When we finally get to know his name and his misadventure from his own account, our feelings change drastically and we get to see where his acts come from. So that in the end, we have conflicting thoughts.

I went over the heads of the things a man reckons desirable. No doubt invisibility made it possible to get them, but it made it impossible to enjoy them when they are got.

The Afterward by Scott Westerfeld was excellent and he truly sumarises all that Wells must be trying to portray through his words. I also read the Introduction by W. Warren Wagar again (read it first time before I started the book) and it has some really good points to ponder over. We see the invisible man going mad with his rage and sensitive temper, but we also notice how the society rejects him before he does any wrong.

Is Griffin—the former chemistry student of University College, London, and the terrorist of Iping—a one-dimensional fiend or something more complex—even, strange as it may seem, a fellow human being?

Of course, Wells could also be referring to the modern era and the invisibility we all get through social media. We seem to act and portray ourselves differently from who we really are. Our accounts grant us the advantage of being anonymous. We also tend to not think of other online ‘beings’ as equally human because we do not see them. This tends to create problems too. Cyber bullying is an excellent example. Emoticons and punctuation does help, but again, it cannot be enough. The two lessons I learned: Don't let your temper get the better of you and never try to be invisible!

About the Movie:
I watched the 1933 movie based on this book after I was done with the book. It was hardly an hour long, but they threw in a love interest which was bearable, and Mr. Marvel was nowhere to be seen (Dr. Kemp took his role too). Mrs. Hall was okay but her tendency to scream really seemed unrealistic at the best of times. I think they took it (the invisible man’s rage) a little too far at the end and we really didn’t get to see the hidden meanings we noticed in the book. Still, it was fairly enjoyable and even funny. Obviously, the book was way better, not that I regret the movie.

n  My Thoughts as I Read:n
There are spoiler tags within this tag, so feel free to open it!

1:
A strange man indeed. I’m guessing all those bandages that baffled Mrs. Hall are to save her from more horror when she sees him.

2:
Finally something funny. I like how Mr. Henfrey described the stranger. I wanna ask that are his eyes visible through the glasses? Are the glasses semi-transparent or did his eyes not disappear? I think I’d cause all kinds of havoc if I were invisible but it’s sure to lose its charm.

3:
I kinda feel bad for the stranger. I wonder if he’ll be able to cure himself of this invisibility. His temper and annoyance sure are growing.

4:
I would have left this village if this were me. It’s not wise to stay here after everything that’s happening.

5:
He shouldn’t have done that. Obviously if they tell anyone about this, they’d suspect our stranger. Did he really ran out of money?

6:
Lol, he is an idiot. He’s gonna get caught. He could’ve avoided this!!!

P.S. The chapter headings are awesome.

7:
First, way to go Mrs. Hall for standing up to him! That was impressive considering how scared she was. I didn’t expect him to really show them. He was also so stupid to go for the knife in such a situation. But he did use his wit afterwards. I almost thought he’d be caught. Is Jaffers dead or what?

P.S. Loved this chapter.

8:
Adderdean? Where’s he going?

9:
Should he have threatened Mr. Marvel? I think pleading would have gotten him farther.

10:
So will Mr. Marvel be caught? I loved the last para.

11:
Awesome! I quite liked how he handled it here, but I still think he’ll get caught.

12:
Honestly, I didn’t properly follow what exactly happened but damn!

13:
Poor Mr. Marvel.

14:
marvel was so close to telling him! How that burst in his face. I feel pity for him. Money fr a ticket?

15:
Lol, I really pity Marvel!

16:
Poor, poor Marvel. The invisible man should let him go. This isn’t good. But Marvel shouldn’t have brought the books. The invisible man wouldn’t go without them. I liked the other men here. They weren’t so stupid or cowardly. I don’t think he’s dead.

17:
First, I’m glad to have the name Griffin. “The Invisible Man” was quite a mouthful. I do feel bad for him right now. A lot. But I admit that he didn’t do it right all the way. I think Kemp might help. It’d be bad if he betrays Griffin.

18:
Griffin is so careless! He needs to get a handle on his temper. He’d lose his only hope.

19:
I loved the logic behind his invisibility. I knew most of this like Kemp did but still very good work! So he robbed his father? Is he haunted by guilt?

20:
This was so good! Poor cat though. That wasn’t right. I did not think of him being able to see even when he closed his (transparent) eyes. It must be so unsatisfying. I didn’t like what he did to the house.

21:
He’s always stark naked. I would have made my clothes invisible too! Maybe he would have too if only his apparatus was still intact. The bandages (at the beginning of the book) were a good idea after all he’s been through. Yet his temper is so out of control and he is so careless. It’s weird that he didn’t learn from it.

22:
Spectacular writing! I’m loving this so much! He definitely went through an awful lot. I have this weird feeling that Kemp will betray him.

23:
It’s obvious that Kemp is tired of him. He’s judging him too. I think I would too. After all, Griffin didn’t do everything in the most decent way. I wish he had loosen the knots at the very least. He didn’t even leave any gold or silver behind. He’s so selfish. I really did not want Kemp betraying him (for reasons I do not understand), but alas. I reckon Kemp is scared. I do despise Griffin but I also want him to get some help. Moreover, If I were Griffin, I wouldn’t have told Kemp everything. Guess he was too desperate to spill his secrets to someone who’ll listen.

24:
Griffin, you lost me with your insanity. You indeed belong in an asylum.

25:
And that is why I wouldn’t have told Kemp everything. But it’s good. He needs to be caught.

26:
I was so sad about Mr. Wicksteed. He has gone off the rails. I understand where Griffin is coming from but I also know this book will end when he ends up killed.

27:
Oh God! I wish Adye isn’t dead. I think he isn’t. By the way, what just happened in the last para? Did Kemp escape with the maid?

28:
Had to happen. I suspected he’d become visible when he died. I quite enjoyed Kemp running especially when he always had something ill of speak of others walking/running towards his home.

Epilogue:
Glad Adye is alive. So the landlord is only curious? I feel bad anyway. But this is a fitting end.

This was spectacular.

As much as the idea of being invisible sounds catchy and exciting, after seeing the reality of it, it was quite shocking.
This is not what I expected or thought of whenever I think about being invisible.
The idea excits you and will bring your demons up, but after a while, you'll realize that you'll be deprived from the very basic human needs and feelings.
You'll be left in nothing but a very lonely and dark space where no one will feel you , care about you or even acknowledge your existence. It's almost as If you got out casted from the humans' world . And now you're living in your own world, where you can't trust anyone, you're suffering on your own and when you die no one will feel you cause simple no one knows about your miserable existence.
This was so tense.
Gifts can be indeed courses , so careful from what you wish for.
The ending was quite devastating, I kinda felt bad for him, he was so passionate about his work until his passion destroyed him.

The Invisible Man published in 1897 is a great sci-fi Classic!

Born an albino, Griffin has always been an outcast, and as a young chemistry student, his experiments lead to "invisibility" tried first on small objects, then a poor cat and eventually himself as he flees for his life from a suspicious landlord.

At first, our scientist has a little fun with his deceptive existence, but his life of dread soon begins in earnest when he discovers the difficulties of survival in his present condition. (naked) His repeated failures to find a cure or even an ally to assist him enrages him so..... and thus begins his "Reign of Terror".

In the end, unfortunately, Griffin is finally caught and bludgeoned to death by a massive crowd of town folk, and I, for one, could not help but feel compassion for him.

This is my first ever H. G. WELLS novel, but not my last!

Although having enjoyed other H G Wells novels and stories, I somehow expected this one wouldn't measure up, the mere premise...an invisible man? Could disbelief be suitably suspended for such a story..? Clearly it could and how wrong I was; this is a great story and so well written by Wells.

For any fans of H G Wells and classic science fiction - this is one not to be missed.

Griffin, an optics researcher invents a way to change a body's refractive index and become invisible, but is unable to reverse it, rendering himself permanently invisible to the society as also blind to the bestiality of the deeds he undertakes.

I grew up on films and tele series and adaptations and re-adaptations of Well’s classic so much that when I actually took up the book, it felt so bland, TBH. But once I got into the plot, and the music and acted out tension and suspense and the atmospheric soundtracks were snipped out of my mind I really, really loved the reading.

The narrative is surprisingly fast considering the era it belongs to. The telling has a breathless quality and the gratuitous violence, if appalling, is delicious for the genre. Four stars for me.

There are some semi-spoilers in this review. However none of them can describe the experience of actually reading this book and the language used and mainly refer to generally commonly known elements of this book.

This is perhaps my favourite of H.G.Wells' books that I have read. This in itself is interesting as it has slipped into a sort of obscurity when compared to the fame of The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. However what I love about this book is its greater grounding in human affairs and ideas. Personally I feel it is one of H.G.Wells' more profound books in that it touches on human identity.

The premise is fairly well known and in today's era of pseudo-science and knowledge may seem somewhat old fashioned and certainly unscientific. It follows one man who covers himself in bandages and escapes to an isolated town to perform experiments only for the townspeople to find out that he is completely invisible. This however forms the groundwork for an intriguing premise which brings several curious ideas to the foreground.

Firstly and most prevalently is the idea of the link between human identity and the human body. As the invisible man cannot percieve himself he slowly drifts into a sort of madness, an insanity triggered by the fact that as he no longer is visible he no longer recognises himself as human. Thus like with Gregor Samsa in Kafka's The Metamorphosis the whole idea of self-invalidation is explored.

Secondly there's the idea of how others perceive the individual. In this novel many people shun or are afraid of the titular invisible man. He represents a character who, because he cannot be seen, they cannot trust. And in many ways he is the perfect example of an alien character, a being who represents many common human fears about the other. As a result the invisible man is the source of prejudice and other characters respond to him out of hatred and fear. In this way the novel questions the common way in which human bigotry is channelled onto others, turning them into the abject.

On top of all of this this is an interesting novel that's great to read. I loved the fact when I read it that it was different in how it focused around a more villainous character and also how the novel built up suspense. I further like the fact that while this is a science fiction novel it reads a lot like a mystery or crime novel and was a departure from the style adopted in other H.G.Wells' novels.

Wells is an incredible writer. The way he uses words is astonishing and although there are apparent flaws in this work at times it is still very much worth the read. I fully recommend it as a significant part of the science fiction genre.

Come se la conoscenza potesse appagare pienamente un uomo..

Brusco, perentorio, sgarbato, l’uomo che chiede una stanza nella locanda “Carrozza e Cavalli” non ispira certo simpatia. Intabarrato nel suo cappotto e con il cappello in testa, le mani inguantate, gli occhialoni blu e le folte basette sopra il colletto del cappotto a nascondergli le guance e il volto. Costui è l’uomo invisibile costretto ad un travestimento carnevalesco per esser visto. Siamo nelle pagine iniziali e già viene tirato in ballo il problema dell’invisibilità: non vieni visto neanche quando vorresti. Il racconto è favoloso nel vero senso della parola, ossia ha i contorni della favola per linguaggio e situazioni che non sono mai orrifiche o ansiogene. Il ritmo non è quello del thriller, regna una compassatezza british, fatta di lealtà e signorilità estranee ai latini chiassosi, irruenti, opportunisti. Qua e là qualche accenno dell’humor per il quale i sudditi di sua maestà vanno famosi. Scene teatrali con malintesi e superstizioni: una favola troppo ardita per leggerla da bambini e troppo inverosimile per sorbirsela da adulti. L’uomo è invisibile, ma non è che non si veda l’ora di leggerlo..
Fortunatamente le cose migliorano parecchio quando dalla terza si passa alla prima persona e la parola viene data a Mr. Griffin (The invisible man) che racconta ad un ex compagno di scuola i passi che l’hanno portato all’invisibilità. Il rigore scientifico forse andrebbe rivisto al VAR ma quei passi sono assai più interessanti dei precedenti tafferugli da comiche mute o da episodio di Doraemon
Griffin-Muffin in prima persona è più attendibile e meno cinematografico.
Matheson è il prodotto finito, Wells la materia prima. Io non sono un lettore di fantascienza, questa la è? La è nella misura in cui solleva interrogativi sulla natura umana come più tardi hanno fatto Dick, Matheson, Bradbury, Tevis, Asimov.. più tardi appunto. Il ventaglio di implicazioni legate all’invisibilità è notevole ed arriva a toccare il libro omonimo (l’invisibilità in quel caso è sociale) di Ralph Waldo Ellison, che potrebbe aver ripreso appositamente il titolo scelto da Wells.
Nell’introduzione alla mia edizione il curatore si domanda se non si tratti anche di un libro poliziesco e conclude
Le etichette si confessano insufficienti a descrivere la portata di questo libro, a rendergli omaggio. E' romanzo riuscito, e l'opera riuscita è leggibile a qualsiasi livello, da qualsiasi punto di vista.
La parte finale del libro mi ha evocato la storia di Igor il russo (che poi russo non era) nel momento in cui si attendeva ogni giorno la notizia della sua cattura
https://www.adnkronos.com/fatti/crona...

Apprezzo maggiormente il prodotto finito ma è stato interessante palpare la materia prima.

احتمالا 123 سال پیش که این داستان نوشته شده انقدر ایده ی جدید و جالبی بوده که اچ.جی ولز رو تبدیل به پدر ژانر علمی تخیلی بکنه
!ولی الان نه
به هیچ وجه نمیشه تاثیر این کتاب و این کاراکتر دانشمند دیوانه ی بد ذات رو در فیلم ها و کتاب های علمی تخیلی بعد از خودش دست کم گرفت. اگر اسم این کتاب رو نشنیدید، به احتمال زیاد تصویر این مرد بانداژ شده با کلاه و کت رو یک جایی دیدید

نصف داستان رو می تونید از اسم روی جلد با کمی تخیل حدس بزنید. یک مرد نامرئی! گریفین یک دانشمنده که در حین تحقیقاتش کشف می کنه که چطور خودش رو نامرئی کنه و درست مثل هر انسان احمق و ذوق زده ی دیگه ای به مشکلات دیده نشدن اصلا فکر نمی کنه. فقط دنیایی از کارهای فوق العاده ای رو می بینه که یک مرد نامرئی می تونه انجام بده. و واضحه که، بیچاره میشه

لیست مشکلاتش از بی پناهی و گشنگی کشیدن شروع میشه تا اینکه باید وسط سوز سرما لخت وسط خیابان راه بره تا دیده نشه. تا اینکه به خیال خودش یک ایده ی محشر دیگه به سرش می زنه و داستان کتاب از این جا شروع میشه. گریفین مرد شرور و بی رحمیه و شاید به نظر بیاد که بدبختی های نامرئی شدن اون رو به این روز انداخته ولی می بینیم که در واقع از اول هم عوضی بوده. داستان بیشتر از این ها چیزی برای من نداشت و شوخ طبعی صدساله اش هم برام آنچنان جالب نبود. ولی خوندن این کلاسیک و ملاقات با ورژن اصلی این کاراکتر الهام بخش برای من به عنوان یک طرفدار علمی تخیلی از واجبات بود

حالا وقتشه برم فیلم اقتباسی سال 2020 از این کتاب رو ببینم که انتظار دارم دیدنی باشه

99.1.6