Skip to main content

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells


This was my first H.G. Wells. After The Caine Mutiny I was looking for something entirely different to read and science fiction was the obvious choice. Flitting through Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, I came across this. And I think it was OK. 


The premise of the story was far too mundane for today; in fact it even surpasses today's thought-processes - it is, after all, about Martians attacking the earth. Nevertheless, there is something attractive about the way the book starts. It is a first person narrative, and hence is a slightly rambling, personal account, with plenty of digressions and explanations. There are negligible dialogues and a few flitting characters besides the narrator himself.

What holds the story together, is however, the timelessness of the concept of chaos. I have always scoffed at what a good friend calls 'apocalyptic doomsday scenario' plotlines, but The War of the Worlds brings out very accurately, the repercussions of mass panic in the face of the said scenario. It is disconcerting to read, all the while, fully realising that all this is true to a great degree. We have read of true accounts which are not very different from what H.G. Wells has described in this book, except in the fact that the former involved calamities like the war or flood or famine and the likes.  

The descriptions are beautifully vivid. I was especially caught by one nightime scene, when the narrator was sneaking out of reach of the Martians, and he comes across an upturned cart, whose wheels were turning idly against the backdrop of the moon. The death and destruction were put in a way which made it complete, without robbing them of the stunning factor. 

The story is punctuated with scientific discussions, which come as quite a delight. It is all mostly basic, but necessary and would certainly appeal to someone with the background information the topic. All the intricacies have been however put forth in as colloquial terms as possible, which does not make them very difficult to grasp. However, in view of all the effort that went in making the book scientifically accurate, I was not convinced about the imagination of the physical appearance of  the Martians. In all honesty, they reminded me of a bit of the aliens in the movie Independence Day

All considered, it was a light, enjoyable read, though it would gain better responses if it were read out aloud to a younger audience. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Side Reads - A Book of English Essays - Edited by W.E. Williams

Remember our school days? Remember those dreary passages we had to read and read again - between the lines and over and under them? Remember wondering how could the study of language be so dry? Well, it turns out, what we were served was high in protein, but pretty much devoid of spice and juice. Let me set the record straight. Essays are fun. Read A Book of English Essays to see if I'm right.  As the name says, it is a collection of small essays on a multitude of topics by the who's-who of English literature - Francis Bacon, Joseph Addison, Charles Lamb, Leigh Hunt, A.A. Milne, R.L. Stevenson - honestly the list is quite scary. But once you pull your head out of the table of contents, it's a treasure mine. Most essays are short, possibly the length of a newspaper article (which is how they must have been originally published I think). What is interesting though, is the topics they are on. So there are absolutely gorgeous ones like 'Getting Up on Cold Morni

Man-Eaters of Kumaon - Jim Corbett

Genre: Non-fiction Rating: 5/5 This one is decidedly a classic, so there is little point in reviewing this book. It is a beautiful one, without doubt.  Personally, I avoid any form of entertainment (books, movies, plays, anything) which features cruelty - either directly or tacitly - towards animals (I have not yet seen any of the Planet of the Apes movies, Ant Man  was uncomfortable too). So deciding to read this book took a certain degree of convincing.  Much credit goes to the beautiful cover of the book. This one is an Aleph Classics  (co-founded by David Davidar of The House of Blue Mangoes fame, and Rupa Publication) edition. In terms of sheer elegance, the cover design is unmatched. The palette concept of jungle green coupled with the late afternoon sun creates an ambiance even before you delve into the pages. I picked out the book from a thin pile on a shelf in the little HigginBothams book-store near Charing Cross in Ooty, one biting winter evening (more

My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell

Image courtesy: www.durrell.org Genre: Autobiography (may be a bit fictionalised, but who cares!) Rating: 4.5/5 When you are down and out and in need of some form of strong restorative, My Family and Other Animals is the medicine to resort to. Contrary to popular belief, you need not be in love with animals (though it certainly helps if you are) to read this book. It is a slap on the face of turmoil and a reminder that when life is down in the dumps, there are always a few cicadas around to marvel at (or whatever catches your fancy).  My Family and Other Animals is not the first of Gerald Durrell's writing expeditions, but it sure is his masterpiece. By the time he had begun writing this book, he was a reasonably seasoned hand at mounting expeditions and collecting animals all over the globe. In 1956, recovering from a bout of jaundice, Durrell penned this sweet little piece of work about his life as a child on the Greek island of Corfu.  My Family and Oth