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Apocryphal
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Jurassic Park was the first one to spring to my mind as well. It does seem like a re-make, though it doesn't capitalize on all the themes present in Moreau. You also mentioned Lord of the Flies, which I also wondered at being, if not a re-make, at …
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I agree the the book didn't sustain the tension of the beginning. I wonder what you guys think the climax was? I'd put it at the death of Moreau, with everything after that being denouement. But the death of Montgomery and Prendick's killing of his …
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I agree the end of the book lacked the tension that propelled us through the first half, both the dramatic and the horific tension. Prendick seems to spend his last weeks on the island in an uneasy peace with the creatures, and there are no new deve…
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Though Satire is often funny, it's not exclusively so. It's more frequently absurd, I think. Wikipedia describes it as a genre in which the "vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, with the intent of shaming individual…
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There are tons of religious references in the book. The Shmoop entry even identifies it as a major theme: https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/dr-moreau/analysis/religious-allegory I think the clue to Well's view is in the last paragraph …
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(Quote) Yes, for sure. I think those are all questions Wells is asking. Apparently there was a lot of scientific debate at the time about vivisection.
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One thing that occurred to me on after I posed the question, is that Prendick died in The Lady Vain. So the story takes us through 4 stages: 1. The Lady Vain, in which which all civilization breaks down. Prendick dies here - of dehydration, I assume…
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I think an attempt to justify colonialism would have showed positive results with the animals, wouldn't it? What I see here is colonialism backfiring. The book is usually described as a satire, using the animals to send up our own sense of self impo…
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@NeilNjae Would you mind making an announcement thread that I can pin, please?
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Discussion topics are up and can be found here, for those who like to bookmark: https://www.ttrpbc.com/categories/100-%28may-2021%29-the-island-of-dr-moreau-by-h-g-wells
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(Quote) Interesting catch.
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The only thing noteworthy for me was that in this version she encounters some kind of blood mist in the bedroom, that is a literal ‘trace of him’, whereas the trace in the other version was more just a metaphoric memory of cheroot smoke or something…
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Here's an interesting review of Piranesi: https://www.tor.com/2021/05/12/susanna-clarke-piranesi-tbr-stack-book-review/
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Priest does like to play with physics, so the idea of two particles colliding rings true. There was definitely a coming together of the characters. I tend to write the summaries hours after I finish the section, so they might sometimes reflect my me…
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Hammurabi wasn’t the first to codify laws, though his stelae are more complete and well preserved than others. Furthermore he didn’t create the law - that was done long before his time. Most scholars think the ‘code’ isn’t really a list of proscribe…
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No reason to feel guilty. People can come as go as they please. But that doesn’t mean your friends won’t miss you while you’re away!
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Technically we discuss books at the end of the month, but in practice the start dates are always a little late.
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@RichardAbbott So, in saying ‘it would be arrogant of an author to impose a statement on the reader’ Priest isn’t trying to tell us what he thinks, because he doesn’t believe he should tell us what he thinks? Did I understand that correctly?
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Interesting, and well reasoned as always! Thanks so much. Looking forward to the next instalment, whenever that may be.
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Yes, precisely.
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Yes, exactly.
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Some additional notes from my reading: * Kaine explains: "There have always been walls, Dik. Two sides to everything." This recalls the dualities we encountered in The Islanders, and the panes of glass, and the yin and yang, too. * Dik re…
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Yes, exactly.
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Yes, exactly.
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@NeilNjae would you mind posting a more formal thread introducing this pick that I can pin to the top? Thanks!
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I thought the 'human sacrifice' angle worked as an imagined red herring fear, kind of the way PizzaGate does in the states. I wonder, though, if ultimately the book did fall into the trap of 'othering' the Aztecs at the end, when our main relatable …
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The world is quite gamble, though it would need a lot of work to develop it. I'd scale back the Aztec empire a bit, and I'd set the action in North America. I liked how iconic cultural elements like McDonald's Restaurants were supplanted by Aztec ve…
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I'd find it hard to pick an event - there are so many to choose from! But I do enjoy when authors explore these things. Another book I read recently - The Years of Rice and Salt - I thought was an excellent exploration of what the world might have b…
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As I mentioned elsewhere, this felt like an unnecessary intrusion into an otherwise fine book. But that said, the feeling of oppression at the very end - of being trapped in another world that was similar to, but clearly not, your own - was an inter…
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I thought the political situation in North America, with the various smaller states in balance against the behemoth Aztecs, to be the most interesting part of the world, and much more interesting than an Aztec occupied Britain. So I would have liked…