So we’ve all had that conversation, “what would you take,
invisibility, or the ability to fly?” The subtext always being, which of us are
perverts and who has road rage? What—that isn’t how everyone else thinks about
it? Oh, it’s just me. Yinz guys are just a bunch of liars! I’m sorry—I let my
Pittsburgh show there for a moment. Anyway, today’s review is “The Invisible Man” by H.G. Wells, a classic in science fiction and a bit of horror too.
***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***
What I love about
this book:
One of the reasons I
love Science Fiction is because often it can help you look at some topic in a
new and novel way. Sometimes, though, exactly what you think would happen is
what happens, and that’s satisfying too—such as in this novel—a guy finds a way
to become invisible and quickly becomes a criminal. Despite what Harry Potter
might argue, let’s be real, there are very few applications for the power of
invisibility that are moral.
That said, this is
one of those unusual books where the plot’s protagonist is also the story’s
villain, which certainly isn’t unheard of, but it’d be hard to argue that most
protagonists aren’t the heroes of their stories. I like this uncommon form of
plotting, simply because it isn’t used all that often. My favorite book to do
this is Richard Matheson’s “I am Legend,” and don’t you go thinking that the
Will Smith movie can work as a substitute. That movie misses the whole point of
the novel.
Griffin, the
Invisible man himself, pioneered this particular character of “The Invisible
Man,” and the concept remains popular even today. Certainly, Hollywood has
created several movies inspired by the character. There is a certain amount of
fun to be had imagining for a moment if you could be invisible.
What I don’t love
about this book:
Griffin is also a mad scientist, something that was popular
in the era H.G. Wells was writing, and again is still popular today. I don’t
like the “mad scientist” archetype. You know what scientists are mostly? Nerds
who just want to figure out how things work. They aren’t generally nefarious
people seeking to destroy or conquer the world—not to say that there haven’t
been examples to the contrary.
To build on this point, I’m generally not a fan of any plot
device that rests on the existential fears that can be summed up as, “look at
what the evils of SCIENCE have brought down upon us!” I don’t like this because
that’s what real anti-science people are always arguing, sidestepping the
history that before we approached life and society from a more scientific
approach, most of us tended to live short and miserable lives. So while a
classic science experiment gone amok story, like “The Invisible Man” can be
fun, it also has that unpleasant odor of, “see, if that man was less curious
about the mysteries of the universe, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
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***The Spoiler part of this review***
***Ye be warned to turn back now***