The explanation of invisibility and how it is achieved seems rather unconvincing to me. Certainly, such an imagined explanation is hard to put forth, but I felt Wells could have delved more deeply into the subject. I was glad to see that only the man's body, and not his clothes, achieved invisibility, and I also liked the notion of his ingested food and drink being visible until such time as they are adequately digested. As for the action, the characters all seemed to run around like Keystone cops throughout the story, an impression only intensified by Wells' use of dialect in the words of the less educated men and women. There was an air of unbelievability inherent in the actions of both believers and nonbelievers in the invisible man. The whole thing seems like a comedy of errors performed by wooden, puppetlike characters who did nothing to capture my attention. Even the plot is rather unimaginative, culminating in a less than surprising ending. I am a great admirer of H.G. Wells, but I just can't offer many praises for this particular novel. If you want to read Wells, though, you almost have to read The Invisible Man at some point. I would not start out with this book, but I would certainly put it on a short list of Wells novels to read simply because it is recognized as one of his more famous half dozen or so novels.


A Great Book for Mystery and Science Fiction Lovers!   November 26, 2000
 3 out of 11 found this review helpful

The characters in the story The Invisible Man were Mrs. Hall who was the owner of the inn Coach and Horses. Also there was a stranger whose name was never told in the first three chapters, they called him the stranger. There relationship was that Mrs. Hall was the owner of the inn and the stranger staggered in there one day. As you read on you realize they didn't like each other. You also meat someone name Mille who seems to work at the inn for Mrs. Hall. Then you hear about Mrs. Hall sister's son Tom in a story where he hurts him self. Then you meat Teddy Henfrey, who is a clock-jobber, who seems to be a friend of Mrs. Hall. Then you meat Fearenside and his dog that again seems to a friend of Mrs. Hall, you also meat his dog who attacks the stranger.

The Setting takes place in Iping an English village near a train station called Bramblehurst Station, during the month of February. It also mentions a place called Sidderpoint junction that might be important later in the story. It takes place in an inn called Coach and Horses.

The story starts as a wintry day in February when a stranger walks in wrap up from head to toe in except his nose into an inn called Coach and Horses and meets a lady called Mrs. Hall, who let him in. The stranger seems to be polite in the beginning of the story. After lunch the stranger starts acting a little weird by looking around on the floor and picking up something while trying to stay out of sight from everyone. Then while the stranger was sitting in front of the fire Mrs. Hall describes him as looking like he has a huge mouth that takes up half his face. Then you find the stranger tries to stay out of sight from the other people. They all then engage in a long conversation, and then the stranger goes to bed. The next day you meet Fearnside and his dog, then his dog attacks the stranger. After being bitten by the dog, a little while later he got his luggage and there were a ton of bottles one was labeled poison. Then outside Mrs. Hall and her friend's talk, except the stranger of course, where saying that the person is black as a top hat but Mrs. Hall points out his nose was pink. I think the theme is that you shouldn't judge people when you first meet them you should get to know them better. I got this because, he is polite in the beginning but then gets a little mean and has a potion labeled poison. So when you meet someone take the time to get to know them.

I recommend this book to people who like mystery stories because you don't know a lot of things about the story and I think the pros of the book are that it is suspenseful, mysterious, creepy, and interesting. The cons are that the book could have been more descriptive, and should have took the suspenseful part and worked on it a little more then they did. All together I think the book is a good book and is a good book to read.


All the way!   April 20, 1999
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

Having read other reviews, I could not hold back. The actors take you into their recreated world of H.G. Wells and make it possible for you to forget where you are completely. One warning however, do not listen to this wonderful tale alone in the dark (especially not while playing it on your walkman), b/c it might frighten you. (as you can see, that was my mistake ;-))


Alien Voices have done it again   August 2, 1998
 0 out of 1 found this review helpful

What can I say? I'm a lover of the classics. H.G. Wells' THE INVISABLE MAN is one of the greatest sci-fi/horror stories of all times. Alien Voices brings this great piece of literature back to life with their version of it. John de Lancie and Leonard Nimoy bring their characters (Giffin and Kemp) a certain realistic quality which only they can do. Bravo!!!! Another Alien Voices success.