Book Review: The Invisible Man and The Country of the Blind

The Invisible, The Country of The Blind
Both by H.G. Wells


It is shocking that i have never read H.G. Wells before. I cant believe how it happened. But i am glad that i have done so now. I loved both The Invisible and The Country of The Blind. In addition i read The Start which i found it to be so-so and finally i started The island of Dr. Moreau but have not been able to finish it so far.

The premise is awesome and so superbly set in The Invisible and The Country of the Blind. The invisible is a story of a man who has become invisible by his experiments. Invisibility to many would be a super power, people may wish for it in their dreams. But in Wells version, all is not well for the invisible man. It is only his body that is invisible. If we wears a coat, which he has to in order to protect against the harsh weather, his outline is visible. The Chinese proverb "Beware of what you wish, it may come true" is beautifully illustrated in this book as the invisible man struggles to survive. The reaction of society to invisibility is fascinating.

In the country of the blind, the one eyed man is the king. So goes the proverb, but is it so? Wells takes up this question and addresses it in his masterpiece story of The Country of the Blind.  In the country, people have been blind for ages, so much so that their language has no words for "see" and "sight". The visitor with eyesight has a hard time in explaining them that he can see and is eventually considered to be delusional.

Wells' writings fall under science fiction genre, but for Wells sci-fi is just a means to break our beliefs and rules. Sci-fi just gives him tools to create the what-if scenarion, what follows after that is a sheer analysis of human beings and their actions. Both these books are very highly recommended.