|
|
|
|
+++
|
|
|
|
|
title = "The Island of Doctor Moreau (Unabridged) - H.G. Wells"
|
|
|
|
|
date = 2014-12-09
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[taxonomies]
|
|
|
|
|
tags = ["books", "h.g. wells", "fantasy", "scifi", "reviews"]
|
|
|
|
|
+++
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29981.The_Island_of_Doctor_Moreau):
|
|
|
|
|
While this riveting tale was intended to be a commentary on evolution, divine
|
|
|
|
|
creation, and the tension between human nature and culture, modern readers
|
|
|
|
|
familiar with genetic engineering will marvel at Wells’s prediction of the
|
|
|
|
|
ethical issues raised by producing “smarter” human beings or bringing back
|
|
|
|
|
extinct species. These levels of interpretation add a richness to Prendick’s
|
|
|
|
|
adventures on Dr. Moreau’s island of lost souls without distracting from what
|
|
|
|
|
is still a rip-roaring good read.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- more -->
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
{{ stars(stars=4) }}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What brought me to "The Island of Doctor Moreau" was the movie with Marlon
|
|
|
|
|
Brando. Yup, you read that right: It was the catastrophic (by IMDB comments)
|
|
|
|
|
movie that made me read the book.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For all that I can remember, the movie goes to explore the fact that some
|
|
|
|
|
people want to be Gods of others. It explores much of our egocentrism, how we
|
|
|
|
|
find outselves better than anyone else and such (but my memory could be fading
|
|
|
|
|
after all this time).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The book, on the other hand, goes in a way more simpler and way more
|
|
|
|
|
interesting concept: our intellect vs our instincts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Moreau turns animals into anthropomorphic beings, including changes in the
|
|
|
|
|
brain to allow them talk and understand most basic stuff. But something keeps
|
|
|
|
|
bringing their instincts back, to the point that they lose their "humanity"
|
|
|
|
|
and revert to... animals. From that point, from that basic premise, Wells
|
|
|
|
|
explores what it is to be a human and what it is to be a beast.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The best way to surmise the whole thing is this little gem in the very end of
|
|
|
|
|
the book:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
> I, Moreau (by his passion for research), Montgomery (by his passion for
|
|
|
|
|
> drink), the Beast People with their instincts and mental restrictions, were
|
|
|
|
|
> torn and crushed, ruthlessly, inevitably, amid the infinite complexity of
|
|
|
|
|
> its incessant wheels.
|
