The Island of Dr. Moreau - The Classic Tale by H. G. Wells [Paperback]

H. G. Wells (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2008

The classic tale by H.G. Wells. Also contains a bonus selection (excerpt) as well as an absolutely free download offer of the complete text of "The Invisible Man" by H.G. Wells. Visit www.PhoenixPick.com for more great science fiction by this and other great authors and for downloads of books and excerpts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Phoenix Pick (May 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1604502452
• ISBN-13: 978-1604502459
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( W ) > Wells, H.G.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "I hope, or I could not live", January 16, 2010

By 

bernie "xyzzy" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Island of Dr. Moreau - The Classic Tale by H. G. Wells (Paperback)

As with many of H.G.'s stories, it is a tail told by a narrator. Also at first, you may not notice his slipping in of social underpinnings.

Pendrick, our narrator starts out trying to tell how he was disenshipped and disappeared at sea for a year to turn up alive. His explanation is so fantastic that no one believes him. However after we read his account, we do.

He spent the bulk of his time on an isolated island with the mysterious Dr. Moreau, Moreau's right hand man Montgomery, and a menagerie of unique people. Where did they come from and what are they doing on this island? As the story unfolds, Pendrick realizes he is the next either on the operating table or for supper or maybe something more sinister.

This story has shades of William Golding's "Lord of the Flies". However, I can swear that I work with the very same creatures every day. Moreover, I will never look at my cat in the same way.

Somehow, I missed the movie version of this book, so I cannot compare them.

5.0 out of 5 stars What is the Law?, December 19, 2008

By 

W.W. (Detroit, sucka.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Island of Dr. Moreau - The Classic Tale by H. G. Wells (Paperback)

The doctor's God-complex thinly parables Victorian England's colonizing and civilizing of "savages." Moreau creates men out of animals only to treat them worse than animals; and is obsessed with cruelly "correcting" their instincts.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A classic of its day but has not stood the test of time, June 28, 2009

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Island of Dr. Moreau - The Classic Tale by H. G. Wells (Paperback)

H. G. Wells predates Sci-fiction. Most of his books in the field were written before the term was coined in the 1930s. Along with Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, and Robert Louis Stevenson, his work laid the foundation for almost every major form of Science Fiction. Just as many other books written since Wells share elements with THE INVISIBLE MAN or THE TIME MACHINE or THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, so numerous novels, short stories, movies, and television episodes have been influenced by THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU. It also has been made into three films, an absolutely god-awful one with Marlon Brando in the title role, another bad one (but not as bad) with Burt Lancaster in the lead role, and a 1932 version starring Charles Laughton and retitled ISLAND OF LOST SOULS. While not a perfect film, it is easily the most intriguing of the three films, not least because of Bela Lugosi's unforgettable portrayal as The Sayer of the Law. In fact, both of the later films are more in the way of remakes of the first film rather than versions of the novel.

Nonetheless, like with Wells's other novels, reading THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU will feel familiar to modern readers. So many elements have been appropriated that we've all seen this time and again. That is also the problem with his books: so many elements have been appropriated that we've all seen this time and again. There are a few interesting scenes, but the truth is that a sense of familiarity runs throughout the book. This is not really a criticism of the book. It is more an acknowledgment of how successful it has been.

Still, the fact that the book can no longer feel unfamiliar and given the otherwise relatively minor literary qualities of the book (Wells is not an especially skilled prose stylist and his characters are rather cardboardish), this book is a somewhat tedious read. Its virtues at this point are primarily historical. This is a book that we read to find out how the mad scientist portion of the Sci-fi genre developed as it did. I personally find it less interesting than many of Wells's other Sci-fi works.