I Almost Got Lost in the Darkness!

H.G. Wells' The Island of Dr Moreau was extremely weird - there's no other way to describe it. I had heard of this classic and knew it was a bit dark, but I was not expecting this. As Kelly said - it's just plain creepy! As such, I enjoyed the book, but was also happy when it ended. It is about a man named Edward Prendick who is shipwrecked and ends up on a small island in the middle of nowhere with two other men and a lot of other creatures that look a bit like men. We come to find out that the creatures are Dr Moreau's creations - animals that have been vivisected and put back together to resemble humans.

As Kelly explained, the reader learns about Moreau's experiments as Prendick does...and we become increasingly nervous and concerned along with him too! Moreau has essentially pulled animals apart and then put them back together using parts of other animals to make them look human. He even wires them to speak and think like humans - brainwashing them with a set of rules to follow called "The Law" - so that they will not rise up against him.

Like I said before - I liked the book, but am not sure I would recommend it as readily as Kelly did. I had moments where I needed to put it down because I couldn't stomach what I was reading. I realize it's a science fiction (emphasis on the fiction part!) but I would only suggest it if you're into darker themes as well.

The Island of Dr. McWeirdo

I have often heard people refer to The Island of Dr. Moreau and had no idea about what it really meant. Well...now I know. Cree-pee. It's told from the perspective of a man who is essentially shipwrecked and ends up on this island with Dr. Moreau and his helper. He has no idea what to make of these really strange-looking "locals" who have very animalistic features. As he learns more about the island and Moreau, we learn more. The novel is a short, descriptive and entertaining book. I enjoyed it a lot actually.

Here was the super creepy part for me though. Dr. Moreau would, for example, take a bear (as a whole) and start cutting it up, stretching its muscles, graphing its skin, shaving its hair, breaking its bones and then adding/graphing/surgically implanting in parts of a lion's body (to which he did the same) and MOLD this animals into a human form. He would make it so it could walk upright, mess with its brain so it could speak English and brainwash it with preset mantras know and feared as "the Law". I find it totally disturbing that Dr. Moreau chose the human form for his experiments. It wasn't just the head of a bear sewn onto the body of a giraffe with the legs of a hawk and the tail of a lion. It was more unnerving than that. They were made to imitate man and surpress thier animal instints to walk on four legs and above all to hunt. At one point the narrator talked about how lonely he was...yea...gross...and how he confused the animals with people because they walked uprights, spoke and...well...he was lonely. That, among other things, was very awkward to read.

I just finished The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells right before reading this book and have decided that I really like his creativity and imagination and just hope he hasn't given any nutty doctors nutty ideas. I recommend this book to anyone who is missing a little oddity in their life.

~Kel

A Quick and Fun Read

I loved this book. I loved that it was a quick and easy read with a little suspense (I’m not saying it was an intense thriller, but there was a bit of suspense!) and fabulous writing. Kelly and I often check in with each other while we are reading our books, and in one such discussion we agreed that you can definitely tell this book was not written recently. This 1940s “thriller” felt like a collection of short stories that were tied together at the very end.

Cornell Woolrich’s The Bride Wore Black is about a woman on a methodical killing spree. The victims are clearly singled out and researched by their killer, but we have no clue what their relationships are to one another. The killer is smarter than the police for most of the journey – she even calls upon the detective to explain the innocence of a detained suspect and orders him to release her. But in the end, the “bad guy” is caught and we learn the story behind the murders, including a little twist!

I was happy to put in a few days—for that was all it took—to read The Bride Wore Black. The book was laid out with a chapter dedicated to each victim and each chapter is really just a quick character sketch. The plot isn’t particularly complex, but it was an enjoyable read for me nonetheless.