The Invisible Man, Week 2

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Invisible Man.

Did you enjoy reading this book this week? I felt like the chapters were really short, so the reading went really quickly. Short, little chapters definitely help me read books more quickly. Do you feel that way, too? When I was researching about this book, I read that it was first serialized in a periodical called Pearson's Weekly. That definitely helps to explain the short chapters. If you'd like to see a page from Pearson's Weekly, check out this link. I love looking at old newspaper headlines. They are just so interesting. 

The Invisible Man is incredibly unpleasant in this first section. He was so rude to the woman at the inn, and he was increasingly rude to everyone as the story progressed. I understand that he was frantic and upset because he's unable to stop being invisible, but that didn't endear me to him as a character at all. I wasn't rooting for him in this first section. It was pretty obvious that he's the one breaking into houses and causing trouble, right? Why is he always sneezing? Is that just H.G. Wells's way of letting the reader know that the Invisible Man is around? I can't really see any other reason for him to be sneezing so much. 

What did you think of the part where he threw his fake nose at Mrs. Hall? That was definitely a surprise. I can't imagine how scared and surprised she was when she was expecting to see a disfigured and injured face but then saw no face instead. His invisible form must have some sort of weight and definition, right? How else could clothes and fake hair and a fake nose stay up in the air? I wonder how that works. I'm interested to learn more about the experiment that made the Invisible Man invisible. I'm assuming we'll learn more about that as the book progresses. 

At the end of this section, the Invisible Man convinces Mr. Marvel to work with him. It seems like Mr. Marvel will be helping the Invisible Man do daily tasks. I wonder how that will work out. I can't imagine it will work out very well. When he's trying to convince Marvel to work for him, the Invisible Man says that an invisible man is a powerful man. Does that make you wonder if the Invisible Man really wants to give up his ability to be invisible? I bet he wants to keep the ability to be invisible, but he wants to be able to change back and forth more easily. 

Check out the video clip before if you'd like to see a clip from the 1933 movie adaptation. I think it's a pretty true to the book account of when the Invisible Man first took off his bandages. Aren't you impressed by the special effects, too, since this version came out in 1933? 

I hope you enjoyed this first section and are excited to keep reading! Read the next 10 chapters for next time! I hope to hear from you in the comments section.