I'm not sure I have much to add to my original thumbnail review, so here it is in it's entirety and un-edited:
While clearly a science-fiction classic, and groundbreaking for it's time, I found it to be a little thin compared to many of it's contemporaries. For the first part of the book I struggled to muddle through the pigeon English of the towns people who are supposed to add humor and character to the story. When we finally meet someone we can actually relate to, Kemp, the story turns to endless exposition and an abrubt end. Kudos to Wells for some extremely original and brilliant ideas of invisibility, which still largely shape the concept today. My favorite part: That Griffin is an albino- never knew that, and it adds some great villiany to the character!
While the original has been re-done and re-booted in the movies many times, the character of Griffin mostly remained dead and the idea of the Invisible Man was largely relegated to the Fantastic Four and Kevin Bacon.
Like many of my other characters of focus, Griffin is wonderfully brought back to life in the League of EG. In that series he takes part in a series of exciting adventures, proves to be a lecherous gentleman, and (NOT THE FIRST SPOILER OF THE BLOG) dies a fantastic death.
Anyway, I don't suggest running out to read the book, or even watching the classic Claude Reins movie version
. But I do suggest you google images of the Invisible Man, 'cause a lot of them are really cool.Next Up: I actually review the LoEG so we can move on with our lives.
