Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

This thread is for general discussion of our October 2014 Old School Read, The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Please do not post spoilers in this thread.

Happy reading! :-)

If anyone loves this book and wish to lead this discussion or even if you plan to read along with everyone else and feel you could help us on the discussion, please message me!

Thanks!

Wonderful choice, I don't think I've read this since middle school! (Don't ask me how many years that's been! Let's just say none of my classmates had a cell phone!)

I thought I'd really enjoy this one, but I mostly just found it really boring. I listened to the audiobook and the performance was really good so I can't blame that. I think if I'd been reading it instead of listening I probably wouldn't have finished. Safe to say, this one wasn't for me. :/
But I enjoyed Wells' The Time Machine and, especially, The Island of Dr Moreau!

Nicole wrote: "I thought I'd really enjoy this one, but I mostly just found it really boring. I listened to the audiobook and the performance was really good so I can't blame that. I think if I'd been reading it ..."

I agree! I also expected more of this novel.
And I absolutely didn't expect such a violent (which in my opinion wasn't necessary in his situation; I'm sure his science colleagues would have understood him and helped him) and unsympathetic protagonist.

My thoughts exactly. Well, I'm only halfway into it, but I can see already that there's probably not going to be much more to him other than hostility and violence. How could this book become so famous while having such a boring brute for a protagonist?

Well, I'm up to chapter 14 and I think that The Invisible Man by HG Wells is better as a movie than as a book. I may have to bail.

I concur and am glad to hear the other opinions. I thought it was me but was underwhelmed and expected more from this book.

@Badger

I think that once the food enters the invisible man's mouth, it is not seen. I don't think that he is transparent that way. The author did not say so. This is my opinion.

Didn't he say (when talking to the doctor and explaining his story) that when he ate he was somehow visible? That the food needed time to become imvisible?

"I was fasting; for to eat, to fill myself with unassimilated matter, would be to become grotesquely visible again." (In Drury Lane)

I think he is truely transparent and one should be able to see the food inside him floating through the air until it's fully digested and has left his system.
That makes sense, because the waves he treated himself with to become invisible went and affected all of his cells and not simply his skin cells. Thus, every cell of him is transparent and thus one should see "untreated" matter aka food inside of him.

Yes, only his own cells are transparent.
As much as I didn't care for the first half of the book, I simply loved his conversation with Dr Kemp where he explains the technicalities of the change and the days right when he turned himself invisible. I found that part to be so good that it made me want to read the rest.
Bear in mind that the book was published in 1897! Well done, Wells!

Do you think that him being an albino has had anything to do with the success of turning himself completely invisible?

@Kristina

You have inspired me to finish this book. I was thinking of DNFing it!

Maybe we should transfer this conversation into the SPOILER chat....

@Kristina:
Yes, being albino is important. Remember the cat he treated with his waves? The eyes of it remained visible. His waves didn't manage to alter the eye colour pigments. As albinos have no colour pigments (this is why their eyes are read; one can see their bloodvessels) in their eyes, he managed to become 100% invisible.

@Badger:

A paste applied to his skin would be most unpractical! He would have to reapply it every day for the growth of his hair and nails.

I don't think anything is spoiled (yet), really. We made two readers continue with the book when they thought of ditching it. Yes, it's proper science fiction!

@ Phil (I'll include the spoiler tag just in case and from now on will not be as specific as up to now, promise!):
(view spoiler)[Yes, that's what I thought! I didn't know about red albino eyes but I remotely remember it being mentioned in the novel that his eyes were pink-ish, so it's all clear now. Thanks for the clarification. :) (hide spoiler)]

@Kristina:
Yes, we are good ;-) ! Professional SciFi cheerleaders!
You are most welcome (see spoiler tags).
I do hate those tags since you cannot see their content with the mobile app.

Phil wrote: "Maybe we should transfer this conversation into the SPOILER chat....

@Kristina:
Yes, being albino ..."

Ah! That makes sense - (view spoiler)[I was wondering why in the world Wells chose to give this character the seemingly random characteristic of albinism. (hide spoiler)] Now I understand why!

The protagonist is just despicable and mean.

There is nothing about him that inspires any pity for his "problem."

The protagonist is just despicable and mean.

There is nothing about him that inspires any pity for his "problem."

Well, finished the book, and must admit my reaction to it is just 'meh'. Not my thing... I read The Time Machine first as it I had a joint copy of the two stories, and found that much better, so I think I still might give some of his other books a chance

Kristina wrote: "Yes, only his own cells are transparent.
As much as I didn't care for the first half of the book, I simply loved his conversation with Dr Kemp where he explains the technicalities of the change and..."

I agree Kristina, the first half of the book was a bit dull, but once Kemp was introduced I found it much more interesting

@Suzi

At several points in the book I thought about throwing in the towel. As you said, the introduction of Kemp to the story things started to get interesting.