8. The War of the Worlds
Title: The War of the Worlds
Author: H.G Wells
Synopsis:(from amazon.co.uk) here
My thoughts: I picked this up at the library recently, after remembering how much I used to be terrified by the 1970's adaptation when I was a child. (Why my parents agreed to let a very easily scared me listen to something like this while in the back of car in the middle of a traffic jam in the Pyrenees, I'll never know.) Anyway, I thought it would be nice to refresh my memory after having to sit through the shocking 2005 film adaptation.
Not being 7 years old any more, I think this novel works really well as a comment on colonialisation: the complete helplessness of the humans when subjected to the advanced technology of the Martians is quite chilling. (The images of a silent London is disturbing, even for someone who has never been there.) I love that Wells speculated for the reasons for the martian's actions, but that this didn't take away from the horror of the War. Also, the opposition of Dawin and Theology in the two characters the narrator meets along the way is very well written.
However, I can't help but feel outnumbered. Everyone I've spoken to can gush for an age about how utterly and endlessly gripping this novel is. I can't help but disagree: I found myself varying between gripped and uninterested. I couldn't put the book down when the Heat Ray was first used, and yet was uninterested in the fate of the Thunder Child.
One thing holds true: this book is HUGELY ahead of it's time. It seems so odd to think Wells is a contemporary of Dickens and Hardy. I'm hoping to read The Time Machine soon, having read his short story The Red Room for English and really enjoying it.
Up Next: On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Author: H.G Wells
Synopsis:(from amazon.co.uk) here
My thoughts: I picked this up at the library recently, after remembering how much I used to be terrified by the 1970's adaptation when I was a child. (Why my parents agreed to let a very easily scared me listen to something like this while in the back of car in the middle of a traffic jam in the Pyrenees, I'll never know.) Anyway, I thought it would be nice to refresh my memory after having to sit through the shocking 2005 film adaptation.
Not being 7 years old any more, I think this novel works really well as a comment on colonialisation: the complete helplessness of the humans when subjected to the advanced technology of the Martians is quite chilling. (The images of a silent London is disturbing, even for someone who has never been there.) I love that Wells speculated for the reasons for the martian's actions, but that this didn't take away from the horror of the War. Also, the opposition of Dawin and Theology in the two characters the narrator meets along the way is very well written.
However, I can't help but feel outnumbered. Everyone I've spoken to can gush for an age about how utterly and endlessly gripping this novel is. I can't help but disagree: I found myself varying between gripped and uninterested. I couldn't put the book down when the Heat Ray was first used, and yet was uninterested in the fate of the Thunder Child.
One thing holds true: this book is HUGELY ahead of it's time. It seems so odd to think Wells is a contemporary of Dickens and Hardy. I'm hoping to read The Time Machine soon, having read his short story The Red Room for English and really enjoying it.
Up Next: On the Road by Jack Kerouac