Book Nook

[cathepsut]

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have seen the movie with Tom Cruise, so I was cross-referencing the book against that while reading. Didn't want to, but it just kept running in the background. A fairly slow pace in the beginning, it picked up nicely towards the end. It felt emotionally distant, I had a hard time sympathising with the main character. The description of the aliens was great, reminded me a little of Lovecraft. There was a lot of descriptions of who was going where, which made it feel a little like a Geography lesson of the Greater London area at times. It didn't captivate me, but all things considered it wasn't bad.

Comments

[fionnulaharp]

The movie had little or nothing to do with the book.

This book is a classic of science fiction and literature that no one should miss. Try reading it again without the overlay of that impossibly stupid movie. Better, Orson Welles created a much more faithful version of War of the Worlds in his radio-play. It terrified the entire United States. If you must have a mass-media version of the story, look up that one to cross-reference.

Additionally, keep in mind that late-Victorian, Edwardian fiction does start slowly -- primarily to set the visual picture. It presumes that the reader has not been to a place and has probably not seen pictures of it. Wells is not always an easy read.

[cathepsut]

I'm not a Tom Cruise fan, but ended up watching the movie anyhow. I don't think that it had little or nothing to do with the book. Transported into our present I think they did a decent job of catching the feel and 'look' of the book.

Reading the book again without the overlay is not possible, I can't switch off my brain. The movie stopped intruding as I progressed further into the book though. Every now and then something would happen that would remind me of a scene in the movie. Now I actually want to watch the movie again, to see where they stayed close or tried to and where they strayed completely.

>Orson Welles created a much more faithful version of War of the Worlds in his radio-play. It terrified the entire United States.
I know, I heard part of it, although never the whole play.

>keep in mind that late-Victorian, Edwardian fiction does start slowly
That's what kept me reading. Any present day fiction with that slow a start would have gotten thrown out. Also I do love The Time Machine, I was willing to give it some time.