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10-24-2011, 09:12 AM | #16 | |
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I read a lot of Wells this year after having never read anything by him. He can get a bit preachy at times. I really liked the story in The Island of Dr. Moreau despite being a little grossed out by all the vivisection. Overall not so scary for horror, but quite disturbing at times. The horror would have been more effective if Wells hadn't used what is his usual schtick -- relate a person writing a memoir about an event. It would have been far creepier if we didn't know the protagonist survives when we start the story. I'm left puzzling over Prendick and how he fits in with the usual themes in other of Wells' books. Prendick comes to the obvious conclusion that in order to keep himself safe he needs to be the alpha dog on the island after Dr. Moreau is gone. But does Prendick believe this? Does he believe in Christianity and one God? More generally, in a montheistic regime? A dictatorship over the collective? |
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10-28-2011, 07:18 PM | #17 |
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I agree with this. It really distanced me from what was going on. Didn't prevent me from enjoying the book, but I think I could have enjoyed it more had it been written with a different perspective.
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10-28-2011, 08:37 PM | #18 |
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Finally.....
I'm done!
My immediate reaction (which I also posted on GoodReads): "Ugh! I hated this book...not because I did not like the story, but becuase I could not put it down permanently, which is what I wanted to do on numerous occasions. It was a raw, disturbing and distressing train wreck." Reading the other responses, I can see the religious aspects mentioned, but I think it loses the theme at the end. |
10-28-2011, 09:06 PM | #19 | |
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10-28-2011, 09:15 PM | #20 | |
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10-28-2011, 10:36 PM | #21 |
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I don't think this book gave me a ringside seat and that was what I was getting at. It read like someone's recollections. This was deliberate of course, but I would have preferred another way of telling the story - whether first person or third person.
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10-28-2011, 10:48 PM | #22 | |
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I had a distinct feeling at the beginning of the book that he was going to end up in an insane asylum, but that did not come across at the end of the book, other than his seeing a therapist. |
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10-28-2011, 10:56 PM | #23 |
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I actually skipped the introduction that let us know that Prendick had definitely survived (I read it after the rest of the story). Many essay-type introductions to books ridiculously give spoilers away, so I usually skip them and then read them at the end. I didn't realise this introduction was actually part of the book.
So, I didn't know he'd survive. I assumed it was more than likely he would, since he's now writing about it, but there's been plenty of narrative tricks in first-person-written books with people writing as ghosts and such, and this was a "horror" pick, so I wasn't sure. I spent the first half of the book thinking that people were used in the experiments and that animal parts were transplanted onto them to make an animal-human, and I was imagining the book might lead to Prendick eventually getting captured and turned into a puma-man, and then maybe he would lead the other animal-people in a revolt against Moreau. I was a little upset after the book was done and I read the intro and realised it was part of the story. But now, reading these posts, I think I was better off skipping it; it made the story more unpredictable through the first half. |
10-29-2011, 02:19 AM | #24 | |
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10-29-2011, 07:36 AM | #25 | |
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Last edited by Hamlet53; 10-29-2011 at 10:07 AM. |
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10-29-2011, 09:54 AM | #26 | |
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10-29-2011, 04:19 PM | #27 | |
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2) Why does my spell-checker insist that "recollective" is a misspelling? |
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10-29-2011, 05:37 PM | #28 |
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Loving the Pumpkin Head, T!
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10-29-2011, 05:40 PM | #29 |
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Thanks, Nyssa, and have a Happy Halloween!
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10-29-2011, 05:43 PM | #30 |
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