H. G. Wells - La isla del Dr. Moreau

Title: The Island of Dr Moreau

Author: H.G. Wells

Publisher: Penguin English Library

Year: 1892 (edition: 1992)

Pages: 143

ISBN-13: 9780141389394

PVP: 7.78€ (Paperback) Amazon

Mark: 6.5/10

SYNOPSIS

Adrift in a dinghy, Edward Prendick, the single survivor from the good ship Lady Vain, is rescued by a vessel carrying a profoundly unusual cargo - a menagerie of savage animals. Tended to recovery by their keeper Montgomery, who gives him dark medicine that tastes of blood, Prendick soon finds himself stranded upon an uncharted island in the Pacific with his rescuer and the beasts. Here, he meets Montgomery's master, the sinister Dr. Moreau - a brilliant scientist whose notorious experiments in vivisection have caused him to abandon the civilised world. It soon becomes clear he has been developing these experiments - with truly horrific results

‘Hunger and a lack of blood- corpuscles take all the manhood from a man.’

PERSONAL ASSESSMENT

I bought this book in Tallinn, during one of the first trips I did when I was doing my Erasmus. Since the beginning I decided that I was going to buy a book every time I visit another country (And I’m doing it!)

I looked for a bookshop and found an affordable one with lots of books of this beautiful edition (Penguin English Library).

When I wanted to buy it, I was influenced by the name of the author because I did not know nothing about the book, furthermore, I read the blurb and said to myself ‘well, it looks like an ordinary book but, being written by H. G. Wells it cannot be bad’. And thus I did. I bought it.

Then, when I had more free time, I looked for the summary and it turned out that it was parodied by ‘The Simpsons’. I realized that I knew the plot and it was going to be so funny!

The book starts with the shipwreck of ‘Lady Vain’. Because of that, Edward Prendick was adrift in some kind of raft. When he is about to starve, a ship passed close and took him. There he is cured by a doctor called Montgomery. When he recovered, he went to check the ship and finds it full of animals and people with a strange aspect. The ship was heading to Callao and meanwhile they are going to deliver those people in an island. After a while, the relationship between the captain and his crew, and Montgomery, his companions (those with the strange aspect) and his animals turns very tense.

Upon arriving on the island, Montgomery and the captain refuse to take Prendick with them and left him adrift on a raft. But after a while, the natives took pity and came back for him.

They took him and went to the island, where more strange people will help them to unload the ships.

They agree to allow him to stay (and he agrees to say). It was the only solution because there passed a ship once every 12 months.

Then he met Dr. Moreau that, even though the name rang a bell it is not until later in the story when it is revealed who he truly is.

They allow him to live in an enclosed compound with two doors, the only condition was that he could not open the door to the enclosure.

Thenceforth, he discovers what is going on in the island and what Montgomery and Moreau are doing to those animals.

And… what happens from then on, you have to discover it by reading the book!

I like this book, even though I read it when I started to read in English again, so it took me a bit more to finish it because I had to look up for some words in the dictionary (it has lots of words related to the sailing world that I did not know). I read the whole book in a week more or less, so I guess that in Spanish it would have took me 3 or 4 days.

It is quite interesting Well’s narration that it surrounds you and you feel lost in the story, you somehow feel the anguish, the fear, the despair that Prendick feels. You end up the book with a sour taste of misanthropy and mistrust in the human race.

It is a book so short and enjoyable, and I recommend it those that are not bookworms, those that do not know what to read, or those that do not have much time given that it is almost impossible to lose the track of the story. Anyway, it is a pleasure to read such a story talking about morbid experiments, a topic quite popular during the 20^th century.