A review by kurtwombat
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 
Only because I love THE WAR OF THE WORLDS & THE TIME MACHINE & THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU so much do I consider THE INVISIBLE MAN a disappointment. A startlingly original concept at the time, and I think still an idea of unrealized potential, Wells execution is good not great. You could choose two paths for the main character to ultimately follow: either murderous rage or existential acceptance along the lines of Richard Matheson’s THE SHRINKING MAN. I would have been happy with either. Wells chose murderous rage with some inspired staging and carnage but the man who became invisible appears to have been a serious jerk from jump so his going nuts is not much of a turn of events. Though it is a pretty wild ending—bravo. Also didn’t care for the overall structure—there is a long portion in the middle where the Invisible Man tells much of his back story and things start to drag. This portion does allow his counterpart to come to an important decision about him but this could have been handled more efficiently. Definitely worth a look for classic literature sake, but read the others mentioned above first.