My Pre-Reading
Paul's Review
I haven't read a classic novel in a really long time, and so this was a little hard to get into at first. I mean, the premise is really interesting, and the story is great, but it's just... a classic. And after reading so much fast-paced YA, it was just really slow for me.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy it once I finally did get into it. I think for the time period it was written it, it was definitely a book that pushed limits and made the people of that generation really think. It has so many moral implications, and it kind of presents science as a really scary thing. In the 1800s, I'm sure it was scary.
I really love the way that H.G. Wells is able to bring science fiction to the masses. He did it with The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, and pretty much all of his other books too. But this book takes place on Earth, with no alien invasions or anything. So it hits a little closer to home, and I can imagine that there were people who actually thought this was happening. Props, H.G. Wells, for making something that sounds so crazy seem so real.
I really enjoyed seeing everything from Prendick's point of view, because you can really see how Moreau and Montgomery change over the course of the novel. Moreau goes from being a crazy man to being more of a hero, and Montgomery devolves into a crazy man. And of course the beast creatures, who seem so human at first, revert back to their bestial natures and become more dangerous the longer they live. I thought it was really interesting that Wells would choose to give that characteristic to them; it's almost a social commentary on how, no matter how humanized people may seem, they can always become more beast than human.
I would definitely recommend this to any fan of H.G. Wells, and fans of science fiction. Even if you don't really read classics, I think this is an important novel for anyone to read. Especially with science progressing as much and as fast as it has. I would give this a 4/5.
--Ashley
No comments:
Post a Comment