And it is the literal situation from which the novel draws most of its power. Invisibility sounds attractive--but what if you were to actually become so? How would you cope with the ordinary details of every day life? Griffin does not cope well at all, and although Wells suggests that his madness have arisen from a number of sources, he also implies that it may arise from the fact of invisibility itself, again twisting the context back into the social criticism on which the novel seems based.

First published in 1897, THE INVISIBLE MAN is one of Wells earliest novels, and for all its charms it creaks a bit in terms of plot and structure. Some may disagree, but to my mind the most effective portion of the novel are the chapters in which Griffin relates his adventures to fellow scientist Kemp--but regardless of its flaws remains extremely influential and it has tremendous dash and style throughout. Short enough to be read in a single sitting, it is a quick and entertaining read and it is also quite witty in an underhanded, subversive sort of way. Extremely memorable!

GFT, Amazon Reviewer


Science gone wrong yet again in Wells novel   July 12, 2003
 4 out of 5 found this review helpful

Just as the foreword says, the wonders of invisibility does have its pros and cons. Or put it this way, it can be used for both bad and good, but given human nature, more to the former. Shoplifting, sneaking into movies for free, robbing a house, even murder or rape. It's that element of surprise that gives invisibility its appeal, that sense of being powerful and thus invulnerable. However, imagine someone looking around to make sure nobody's around, sees nobody, pulls out a gun and shoots at nothing, hitting an invisible person. Moreover, what if one couldn't revert to visibility? Both assets and disadvantages are experienced by the title character, who during the course of H.G. Wells's immortal 1897 novel, goes around the bend.

The Coach and Horses country inn in Iping gets a mysterious visitor on 29 February 1896-the year's not mentioned, but I say this because 1896 is the closest Leap Year-and this person isn't exactly hospitable. He's brusque, reclusive, demanding, and temperamental, as he breaks things but is willing to have them put on his bill.

Iping being a small-town and all, it isn't long before people learn about the "damned rum customer" at the inn. Rumours start flying. One is that he's an escaped criminal in disguise. The most amusing comes from Mr. Fearenside, whose dog bit the stranger's leg. "He's a kind of halfbreed, and the colour's come off patchy instead of mixing." The only thing patchy here is Fearenside's theory, but let's not go there. A burglary and an event the inn's proprietress Ms. Hall attributess to spirits occur, before the stranger's secret is unveiled, to reveal... nothing. But that's only the beginning, as the stranger's hot temper eventually becomes his undoing.

Wells' writing in this novel is more journalistic. He writes from the POV of someone having heard this account from other sources, like the characters in the story. The account of a murder that takes place reads out partly like a police report, but also a detective yarn. And he gets the dialect of the Iping folk down pat--imagine people talking like Hagrid (Harry Potter).

There are also interesting bits of writing, as when he describes Mr. Huxter yielding to unconsciousness: "The world seemed to splash into a million whirling specks of light, and subsequent proceeded interested him no more."

Like its predecessor The Island Of Dr. Moreau, Wells' novel is another portrayal of science gone wrong under misguided scientists.


People forget the touch of humor...   November 23, 2003
 4 out of 6 found this review helpful

Yes, the book is one of the best science-fiction stories H.G. Wells wrote, it is very detailed, with very well formed characters, seems believable (if you don't get too nitpicky) and even the Invisible Man seems interesting to the reader, being smart, yet slightly mad and even unhappy with his new discovery.
But let us not forget the humor within the pages - the reactions of the common masses, the problems the Invisible Man has with just dealing with every day life and the fact that he seems to have more problems being invisible than he ever did being visible.


"Cover his face! For Gawd's Sake, Cover That Face": The Terror of the Visible and Invisible   June 19, 2006
 4 out of 5 found this review helpful

H.G. Wells' _The Invisible Man_ (1897) recounts the horror of a scientist condemned to invisibility due to an ill-advised choice to ingest potions that make him disappear. After conducting secret experiments for almost four years while living in London slums, scientist and provincial professor Mr. Griffin sees invisibility as a means to escape from poverty and obscurity. What motivates him is a desire for power and a wish "to transcend magic." In the middle of the novel, Griffin recounts, "I beheld, unclouded by doubt, a magnificent vision of all that invisibility might mean to a man--the mystery, the power, the freedom. The drawbacks I saw none." Of course, the story dwells on the drawbacks of both invisibility and of scientific investigation that lacks an awareness of consequences.

One irony of the novel is that Griffin is, in many respects, already invisible by the time that he literally becomes invisible. The structure of the book reinforces this idea, as Griffin is invisible when the novel begins. His own story only emerges later. Through a reckless desire for "his magnificent vision," Griffin alienates himself from his family and society as a whole in a profound way. As he seeks invisibility and immateriality, his impoverished background becomes repugnant to him; it is what he labors to abandon. For example, he describes his father's funeral with a bitter attention to the material circumstances and emotional dissociation: "I remember the funeral, the cheap hearse, the scant ceremony, the windy frost-bitten hillside, and the old college friend of his who read the service over him--a shabby, black, bent old man with a sniveling cold." His literal invisibility leads to further alienation, which in turn precipitates violence. Wells offers a psychologically astute picture of the pathology of violence.

Wells' construction of the science behind invisibility reveals his own deep fascination with science as well as a suspicion of its applications. Just as in _The Time Machine_ and _The Island of Dr. Moreau_, Wells' explanations of scientific experiments and inventions are ingenious and terrifying. Griffin develops a process to discolor his blood vessels and remove his pigmentation. Such a pursuit, however, lacks any intrinsic merit. Wells suggests that when science exceeds the limits of nature and is undertaken as a form of monomania, danger inevitably ensues.

One of the novel's strengths is that it presents the predicament of Griffin's particular form of invisibility empirically. In other words, the practical challenges that Griffin faces as he moves about the world are described vividly. To be fully invisible, for instance, requires that Griffin be completely naked, since only his physical person, not his clothes, is invisible. This is especially entertaining because Griffin's physical attributes are withheld from the reader who sees only what the characters themselves see, which his thin air. The reader, like the characters, must imagine the antagonist, Mr. Griffin, in order to know who he is.

In the final chapters, Mr. Griffin assumes the role of the most feared agents in contemporary society--the terrorist. Unseen in the midst of civil society, the invisible man strikes with vengeance, using his invisibility as a weapon. Griffin desires to make his presence felt and feared: "That invisible man must now establish a reign of terror [...] He must issue orders. He can do that in a thousand ways [...]." The end of the novel, particularly the chapter "The Hunting of the Invisible Man," describes how the English town of Burdock attempts to apprehend an invisible threat.

The Invisible Man is surprisingly relevant in terms of its discussions of social invisibility, science, and violence.


H.G. Wells The Invisible Man y A Must Read   October 10, 2003
 3 out of 5 found this review helpful

"The stranger came early in February, one wintry day, through a biting wind and a driving snow, the last snow fall 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." This quote describes the stranger of Iping. There is a lot of foreshadowing going on in this quote. "Walking as it seemed" give the allusion that he could barely be seen. H.G. Wells, in The Invisible Man, describes the setting and the characters very well. The dialect used throughout the book is typical of the era this novel is set in. The main plot in this novel is really very short, but is stretched out with creative descriptions of the setting and the current actions of the characters and their surroundings.

In this book, Wells starts off having a stranger coming into town. He finds a local hotel to stay at; Mrs. Hall, the owner of the small hotel, treats him very well. She notices the stranger has bandages all over his body, and soon there after the whole town notices. He was very weird. Staying at the hotel he always did experiments in his lab that he set up. Test tubes were everywhere and explosions happened frequently. Mrs. Hall asked him to take off his bandages one day and he did, and he was invisible. The whole town goes into shock, and the "Invisible Man" runs away. Through out this book, it tells of his story how he finds old friends and gets help to become visible again.

The setting is consistent though out the book. It is all in the same little town of Iping. This is very effective in the book because the reader gets to know all the people in the book. When H.G. Wells talks about the characters in the novel and how they act, readers of this book remember the characteristics are of each person.

Also the characterization is prepared very well. H.G. Wells gives the Invisible Man some wonderful description of how he walks and how the clothes look when he has his bandages off and just wearing a robe. The descriptions of the characters are excellent. All of this detailed descriptions also takes away from the plot. Sometimes Wells goes into deep detail, and pulls away from the main point of the story.

The plot of this book travels a lot slower than most other books. H.G. Wells gives such great attention to everything and everyone else that the plot seems to be slow. The descriptions of the setting and how the weather is in Iping is described in such detail. The whole novel itself could have been a lot shorter or a lot longer. If he would take away some of the details it could be a lot shorter. He could also add more to the main plot and make the book longer and more intense.

The language in the novel is very native to the time period. The setting of this book is before London had electricity. There are slang words of the time like "nigger" which relates to the period. English language is also used in this book which ties into the setting of the book.

H.G. Wells', The Invisible Man, is a very well written novel. This book deserves four stars. The plot is very interesting but the book as a whole is very lengthy. The plot should have less description, and more to the actual plot. Overall this book is suited for most reader and enjoyable to nearly everyone.