A review by kjjohnson
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

4.0

I really liked that Griffin wasn't an intelligent, logical mad scientist type, though he definitely was convinced of his own superiority. He was impulsive, rude, had a nasty temper, and was prone to making spur-of-the-moment decisions that often included unnecessary violence.

The book did a very effective job of showing just how awful truly being invisible would be. Having to be either naked or so covered up that none of your skin was visible to accomplish anything sounds incredibly frustrating and inconvenient. There was also some arresting imagery, such as visible smoke being inhaled by invisible lungs and showing the pattern of the lungs and trachea. The actual scenes when Griffin was hunting/being hunted were quite tense as well. I thought it was clever the strategies they used to hunt him down (dogs, working in groups, not letting him rest by constant patrols, crushed glass on the roads).

I also thought that this book shows, once again, that humans are pretty much humans everywhere and time, what with the range of reactions to the invisible man - distrust, fear, thinking the whole thing is made up, etc.

The 'science' was ridiculous nonsense, so I'm glad Wells didn't spend an overly long time on it. I also had to laugh at the American who showed up at a bar with a revolver, immediately fired all its bullets at Griffin, and then was never in the book again.

Lastly, I didn't expect the humor of the book - particularly in conversations between Griffin and the man he coerces to be his servant of sorts, there is a fair amount of dry, dark humor and clever turns of phrase.

Overall I had a pretty good time with the book, though it had a fairly thin plot.