Product Description

Prendick, a naturalist, is shipwrecked on the island retreat of notorious vivisector Dr Moreau. In a laboratory called the House of Pain, Moreau manufactures 'humanised' animals known as the Beast People, whom he controls through fear - until the terrifying day when one of his degraded victims destroys him. Prendick is then alone with the bloodthirsty survivors. A sombre fantasy in which Wells issues a resonant warning against scientific obsession and the pursuit of evolutionary control.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16459 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-31
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Synopsis
Adrift in a dinghy, Edward Prendick, the single survivor from the good ship Lady Vain, is rescued by a vessel carrying a profoundly unusual cargo a menagerie of savage animals. Tended to recovery by their keeper Montgomery, who gives him dark medicine that tastes of blood, Prendick soon finds himself stranded upon an uncharted island in the Pacific with his rescuer and the beasts. Here, he meets Montgomery's master, the sinister Dr. Moreau a brilliant scientist whose notorious experiments in vivisection have caused him to abandon the civilised world. It soon becomes clear he has been developing these experiments with truly horrific results.

About the Author
HG Wells was born in Bromley, Kent in 1866. After working as a draper's apprentice and pupil-teacher, he won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science in 1884, studying under T H Huxley. He was awarded a first-class honours degree in biology and resumed teaching but had to retire after a kick from an ill-natured pupil afflicted his kidneys. He worked in poverty in London as a crammer while experimenting in journalism and stories. It was with The Time Machine (1895) that he had his real breakthrough.

Customer Reviews

Wells' finest hour.
I will always maintain that the consistently underrated "The Island of Dr Moreau" is Wells' finest novel. The observations on human nature are razor sharp, and are much clearer for the fact that they are caricaturised through his "animal" characters.

Mercifully short, ultimately boring book
The Island of Doctor Moreau has the misfortune of having a couple of really bad movie adaptations smearing its legacy. Since I was intrigued by Wells' War of the Worlds I thought I would give this book a bash. What a let down, it's almost as chaotic and incomprehensible as the movies it spawned.

The story is told by Edward Prendick, a man of science with a background in biology. He is shipwrecked somewhere in the Pacific and rescued by a man called Montgomery who has a half-man, half-cat for a best pal. They arrive on some remote island and meet a delusional mad doctor who has been conducting brutal, evil experiments on animals in an attempt to make then near-human.

The fact that Wells managed to involve pre-DNA science quite extensively in this story is commendable. But it's so meandering and unfocused that I got quite bored. But since it's not too long I stuck with it and by the end I felt like it was kinda worth it.

The characters are dull and never really come to life and it lacks any definitive action or horror scene. But I couldn't help but think that it might, one day, make for a very good video-game.

HG Wells's classic dialouge on social and scientific development.
In "Moreau", Wells surpasses other authors of the time in the depths of his discourses on politics, science and social development. From his understanding of classical sociology, with perceptions of "the wild" and "othering", to his scathing attack on branches of science wishing to control nature, he demonstrates the huge range of his political and social knowledge. He even dives, sublimely successfully, into the great literal discourse of femininity, being both voluptuous, sexually charged and dangerous: Moreau's nemesis being the "humanised" female puma. Prendrick's revulsion not only with the process but of the presence of the beasts (demonstrating "othering") but his final admission into their ranks is in its self a great social discourse. Wells builds an unstable, false rural idyll that is torn apart by the needs, lusts and suffering of the beasts, who replace the monarchical, tyrant with a social anarchy; removing the constraints of the "word", a restrictive "human" code.

Wells, again, shows that spooky ability to predict changes in both science and philosophy. His writings pre-date many of Le Corbusier's conceptual predecessors (Le Corbusier being only 9 when this book was published) but clearly indicates sociological maxims and concepts beyond both Le Corbusier and his followers. He also predicts genetic manipulation, calling it a branch of vivisection. Although many Wellssian scholars disagree with this interpretation; it is clear from the text that Wells was delving into the world of the direct manipulation of life for human ends and it does not take an enormous leap of knowledge and imagination to jump from one to the other.

All of this philosophical discussion contained in one book, which manages still to be a cracking read. Both, wonderful and incredible. Read it.