Review for You - The Island of Dr. Moreau

The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G Wells
4.5 stars

This short novel is the eerie story of a man named Edward Prendick who is lost at sea and finds himself rescued by a man named Montgomery aboard a large ship en route to an unnamed island. Prendick is utterly grateful to Montgomery although right away he can tell that something is not quite right. There’s an unsettling feeling aboard the ship. It is carrying lots of animal cargo on board that is bound for the island and the animals wail and wail. Then there’s Montgomery’s manservant, M’ling, who looks very odd to Prendick’s eye. But what exactly is wrong with him Prendick cannot quite grasp.

When they arrive at the island the drunk and abusive captain has decided that Prendick is not allowed to travel with the ship any further. Although Montgomery and his employer Moreau, who has met him at the ship, at first tell Prendick that he is not welcome on the island, eventually they take pity on him and set him up in a room.

Moreau is very cold to Prendick and constantly reminds him that he is an unexpected and unwelcome guest so he has to be prepared to accept the secrecy in which he is kept. Prendick is told that they do scientific work on the island, but what exactly that is is kept from him. Moreau constantly escapes behind a door where a large puma is caged and locks the door behind him. The screams of the beast chill Prendick.

One of his first nights on the island, Prendick searches his brain for he remembers the name Moreau, but how and for what? Finally it comes to him! Dr. Moreau was a famous scientist in England but was exposed for his gruesome experiments in vivisection! All of a sudden Prendick is terrified for he chances to see behind that locked door and finds, not a puma, but a half-puma, half-man monster. He runs for his life away from the enclosure and tries to hide out in the wilderness only to be greeted by more man-beasts. When Montgomery and Moreau finally catch up with him they must finally explain the purpose of this island of theirs. No, they do not wish to splice him with an animal, as he had feared; Moreau is trying to turn animals into humans, and the puma will be his greatest achievement yet!

I will end my summary there because that is only about halfway through this wonderfully scary tale. Even though I knew the “secret” of Dr. Moreau’s island before I started reading the book (as I’m sure most people do), that didn’t diminish any of the story for me. Wells’ novel is exciting and nerve-wracking from start to finish. Right away when Prendick meets Montgomery you get a sense that things are going to take a turn for the worse very soon. And then once you finally come into contact with the man-beasts Wells only gives you just enough description to let your own mind run wild. There is one scene where Prendick is being chased by something but you don’t know exactly what, and it was truly scary. At the end my heart was pounding. And I thought with such an unrealistic concept as this it would be hard to actually instill fear in me, but I was wrong.

The true mastery of this book is what it represents, the message if you will. Wells was a master of social commentary and this science fiction novel was no exception. The premise of what Dr. Moreau was trying to do with these animals was turn them into humans so that they could flawlessly fit into the human world. First he would make them look human and then give them a set of rules to follow:

“Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men? Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not Men?” Not to eat First or Flesh; that is the Law. Are we not Men? Not to claw the Bark of Trees; that is the Law. Are we not Men? Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not Men?”

Then he sent them out into the wild to live abiding by these rules he pounded into their heads. If they messed up they’d be punished. But the problem was they were still animals. You could not just give them some silly rules and change the way they looked and expect it all to go as planned. As Prendick stated,

“Now they stumbled in the shackles of humanity, lived in a fear that never died, fretted by a law they could not understand; their mock-human existence, begun in agony, was one long internal struggle, one long dread of Moreau--and for what? It was the wantonness of it that stirred me.”

These principals can be applied to many things but what stuck in my mind the most, whether Wells intended this the most or not, was race relations. The book was written during the time when slavery had come to an end in most parts of the world and black people were expected to integrate flawlessly into the rest of society, basically given society’s pre-existing rules and expected to have no problems at all whatsoever, not taking into account what problems society would have with them and how difficult it might be overall. When things did not go flawlessly it was all their fault, not a fault of the system, and they were the ones punished.

I would recommend this book to anyone because whether you’re looking for a book with a message or one that is just a sci-fi thriller, you can find both here, and I think that’s a rare trait. I cannot wait to get my hands on some more of his work!

A Quote to Ponder

From Persuasion by Jane Austen:

“Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.”

I was a history major in college and I cannot tell you how true this is. I’m also reading Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen and the evidence is obvious. It seems the only really important people in history, according to most textbooks, are white men. Throw in a few comments about Sacajawea (of course not her whole story because we wouldn’t want to get carried away) or Helen Keller (but leave out that whole Socialism thing, gosh would that put a bad spin on things!) and you’re good to go!

And of course it’s not just women that get left out of the conversation. Other races and ethnicities weren’t allowed to tell their own story much either and are also left out of many history books today, unless it’s in that little sidebar pop-type window Ah what fun those were. They gave you an entire biography of someone in just a few short sentences (and a picture of course, we’re all very visual people). Did you know Crispus Attucks was the first casualty of the American Revolution? The end.

Thankfully by the time I got to college (and also a bit before thanks to some pretty awesome history teachers in high school) those textbooks were a thing of the past and primary source material became much more important, as did essays written by real researchers that seemed to care to try to get as much of the story as they could. Yet still, as people say, the conquerors are the ones that write the history books, not the conquered. So when it comes to actually finding a lot of primary source material from, oh let’s say African American slaves in the 1800s, it’s trickier than one would expect since many slave owners didn’t want their slaves to be able to read or write. They kept these specific tools out of their hands so they couldn’t tell their story.

So, that was my quote to ponder for the day. Trust me, I could ramble on and on about this topic. How women not too long ago were not supposed to go to college. Higher education was for men. But they were expected to learn all the ways to manage a proper household and paint pretty pictures or play piano. That was how women became accomplished. Not by writing their own histories.

Darnit…I started rambling…

Reviews in Twos!

Alright, after this installment I’ll be up to date with all my reviews (yay me!). That doesn’t mean that Reviews in Twos is gone for good though because who’s to say I won’t get lazy posting my reviews in the future and will have to mush them together again to catch up?

This time around I read what I’m almost positive will be seen as a modern classic in a few decades: The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Can’t believe it took me so long to get around to that one. It had been on my shelf since it was published! Next was the ACTUAL classic (which I’ve already talked a bit about in my January 31, 2011 post): The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

And here they are for your reading pleasure…

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

5 stars

This is the lovely story of three women living in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. Two are African-American maids, Minny and Aibileen, working for white families and the third is a young white woman, Skeeter, that has just returned home from college. Skeeter has aspirations of becoming a writer and while Minny aspires to get through the day without getting fired or beaten by her husband and Aibileen tries not to overstep her bounds while raising a white woman's daughter to not see color. They aren't civil rights activists but in their own ways they push the limits and each try to earn their own type of freedom along the way.


This was a wonderfully moving story that gripped me from almost the very beginning. It was really hard to believe that this was Kathryn Stockett's first novel because she wrote so beautifully. Each woman in the story has her own unique voice which I thought was very interesting and unique and pulled me in more. Even if Stockett had not entitled each chapter with which woman was narrating it would’ve easily been clear. And though these were fictional characters, I really ended up caring immensely for them and it felt like I was reading true parts of history. And it was tied in to the history of the South and Jackson. It could definitely be described as a historical-fiction. There is a whole part on Medger Evers’ murder. It’s an interesting tie-in. But it was not all depressing and sad, as one would actually expect to find in a novel that deals with topics as heavy-handed as this. Stockett mixed just the right amount of humor in so that it wasn't too horrible. There were parts where I definitely remembering smiling and laughing. There was just the right balance in my opinion. I would recommend this book to anyone.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

3 1/2 stars

Oscar Wilde's only published novel is the tale of a beautiful young man, Dorian Gray, who, in posing for an artist, Basil, becoming his muse and meeting his good friend Lord Henry has his life changed forever. Lord Henry is a very witty yet completely self-absorbed character who Dorian finds himself immediately drawn to. Lord Henry points out to Dorian how sad it is to have beauty fade and how youth is really the most important thing in life. Agreeing with this, and having just seen the beautiful portrait Basil just painted of him, Dorian becomes horribly upset and wishes that the picture would be the one to age and become ugly while he could live out his life always young and beautiful. Little does Dorian know that when his wish comes true, his life changes in ways he had never imagined and it starts an inner struggle within himself for years to come.

I thought this story was very intriguing but unfortunately took a while to get going for me. In the beginning I appreciated many of Wilde's witticisms, most of which were uttered by Lord Henry, but that was about it. However, after the twist came where Dorian realized the portrait was aging instead of himself it definitely got much better and the meaning much deeper. I felt Wilde really got into the psychology of the double life and he was able to elicit quite a response out of me (I was literally screaming at Dorian sometimes he made me so furious). I wondered if Wilde was not at all influenced by the book I had read a bit earlier this month, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

However, I felt that just when the novel was picking up steam Wilde decided to throw in Chapter 11. It was a very tedious and, in my opinion, almost completely pointless chapter. It took me completely out of the pace of the story. Had it not been for that chapter I would've been able to give this 4 stars instead of 3.5. Otherwise, very good indeed.

Sexist or Not Sexist? That is the Question.

So how does one come to define a book as sexist? Or the author writing it? It can sometimes be hard to decide. At first you get that little tickle in your spine, maybe your cheeks start to flush. You think to yourself, “I don’t like where this is going.” But then you have to stop and ask yourself: is this just the character being a sexist jerkface? Or is the character actually relating to us the author’s true feelings? Am I supposed to relate to this character? Think they’re a stand-up person? Are they the hero? Someone to be idolized? Sometimes the lines can be tricky.

Like in The Picture of Dorian Gray, which I just recently read, Lord Henry espouses many sexist ideas and presents them in a humorous light. Haha, funny funny, let’s all laugh along, right? Well sure, Oscar Wilde was presenting a delightful bit of humor into the story but was I supposed to be agreeing or wringing my hands at how full of himself Lord Henry was? I think the latter. Sure, Dorian Gray, the main character, seemed to idolize Lord Henry at first but then also seemed to despise him at times. And I wouldn’t call Dorian a character to look up to at all as well. My review of this book is to come but it’s fair to say that Oscar Wilde was not in fact showing his true colors through the voice of Lord Henry and that the whole book was a commentary on class and image and beauty. Touche Wilde!

Then there’s a book like The Human Stain by Philip Roth. Arg, where do I begin. It almost pains me to talk about this book to be honest. I finished this one several months ago and it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I remember the tingling feeling in my spine when the sexist talk began (and racist too, what fun!). And then I kept waiting for some part of the book to seem to refute the main character in a way. To make it known that he was NOT a good guy. Sure, it was known right from the beginning, maybe the opening sentence even, that Coleman Silk is going to die, but then the rest of the book it’s like Roth is trying to prove to you that he’s really not an awful person (literally screaming out loud now). Is he perfect? No. Is he a jerk? Sure. But he had his reasons for being such a horrid *insert profanity here* (also insert eye roll). I’m not buying it Mr. Roth. Coleman Silk was a sexist, racist self-absorbed *that profanity we talked about before* and I couldn’t wait until I got to the point in the book where he was dead. The main problem I had though while reading was that I could tell I wasn’t really reading about a character’s sexist thoughts, I was reading about the author’s own thoughts, and that made my skin crawl. It’s hard to describe but it was there.

I’ve since talked to many others about Philip Roth’s novels and many have understood and agreed with what I’m talking about. Needless to say, I won’t be reading another Roth novel anytime again in the near future. But so what about the rest of you? Have there been books where it’s hard for you to tell if it’s the author’s personal POV or the character? What are some books/authors that you think do a good job in distinguishing between the two?

Reviews in Twos!

Time for the next installment of Reviews in Twos (I know you’re all very excited)! The last two reviews were both of wonderful classics. I was so glad to have read both of them. This time it’s a bit different. One’s a classic book, but unfortunately in my eyes it was a huge disappointment, and the other isn’t a classic at all but the latest of the Pendergast books by Child and Preston.

So here we go!