I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday, whatever it may be that you celebrate. For my family, we celebrate Christmas and everyone had a wonderful and relaxing time opening presents and eating wonderful food. The last few days of the year will find me tying up loose ends here at the blog, posting my final reviews, and completing my reading challenge (hopefully). What better way to follow up a Holiday that celebrates cozy goodness and cheer than to talk about a seriously disturbing book!

The Island of Dr. Moreau was published by H.G. Wells in 1896. At the time, it wasn’t exactly welcomed by many sectors of society, many finding it blasphemous and too horrendous for print. (Wonder how those people would have felt about The Human Centipede.) In my words, that’s called being “ahead of your time.” This story of an eccentric doctor who has hidden out on his private island in order to enact some horrific experiments on all forms of living creature, including humans, was certainly shocking in its day, but he certainly wasn’t the first to question the ethical boundaries of scientific research. The people pissed about this one had been pissed for the whole of the 19th century at that point, so nobody really cared what they thought.

This one does pack a punch, however. It is grotesque, violent, and it certainly didn’t age well in some respects. There are some notable blatantly racist passages to the point that the audiobook version inserted a disclaimer just prior to one particularly bad section asserting the publisher’s apologies for what Wells put into print all those years ago. Then again, anyone who is a frequent reader of classic fiction must have a thick skin when it comes to exposure to the bad ideas of our predecessors in history. I will forever be in the camp that we can’t forget about or censor history lest we be doomed to repeat it. We are protecting no one, especially our children, if we deny the ugly parts of our history.

Overall, I think this is an important book in the classic science fiction canon, if only for its place as a subversive text that dared to challenge the delicate sensibilities of polite society.

Yeah, I’m here for that.

It’s a quick read despite being a little difficult to digest at times. I wouldn’t say any character is particularly likeable, but that is somewhat the point in addition to being a reflection of the time. There are certainly some eras I enjoy reading about, but I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to exist within them. *shudder*

Overall, I would give this one 3 stars. It’s important, yes, but it’s not a book I will read again.

Published originally January 1, 1896. Edition published 2023 by Findaway Voices. ISBN
9798868639975. Runtime 4 hrs. 12 mins. Narrated by Mike Cuellar