Bibliophile: Adios, Invisible Man.

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Reading of "The Invisible Man" was finally completed! Things could be so much better in today's world of information overload and instant gratification, if one were locked up in a room with nothing but a book, that man would read, reread and even memorize that book.

Something similar occurred with me. I was on a two and a half hour flight, yesterday, from Delhi to Bangalore, to resume my job hunt here. I was allotted a window seat and, surprise, I didn't have any travelling companion on my side. No sir not even one! I was free to move up the side arms and sprawl on that three seat couch. Cheers! I still had the distraction of my laptop but, as I've not got it's battery replaced, this repaired junk would barely run a few minutes. Hence, no more distracting laptop.

All options snatched away from my hands. All distractions muted in my mind. I was finally free to do some quality work - Crack open a book and read it.

The Invisible Man: My review -

The Invisible Man was a good book. Though parts of it were prolix and a bit dated as are most classics. Some pages are full of unneeded imagery. Now, onto the finer points of the story. The story shows in small glimpses the psychological effects of Invisibility on a man. His effort to handle this new found advantage (power) and finally, his downfall.

A lot of questions comes to my mind. "Where is the blame?" Is the society or these mundane and average
people to be blamed in the crime of not understanding a man's achievement or their mistreatment of him just
cause he was invisible? The first part of the blame I believe is on the society. Unwilling to agree and sympathize with the protagonist.

This mistreatment (discrimination?) of the invisible man by the society may have been the prime cause of
his insanity, I'd argue. But, then, "Are we inherently evil (or good) only a moment away to show our true nature and color?"

A quote comes to mind about blame:

"The superior man resolves to walk alone, and is caught in the rain. He becomes bespattered and people
murmur against him. Where is the blame in this?" - I Ching

And as is custom, here is a quote from The Invisible Man -

"Hitherto I have gone on vague lines. We have to consider all that invisibility means; all that it does not mean." - The Invisible Man.

Now, I'll be off to reading 1984 and job hunting. Wish me luck.

Books Discussed:

1. The Invisible Man by H.G Wells (Science Fiction, Classic, Tragedy, Thriller)

Books Mentioned:

1. 1984 by George Orwell (Dystopian Future, Society, Science-Fiction, Psychology)

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• Bibliophile: 1984, The Invisible Man, Frankenstein. (mdnaseemashraf.wordpress.com)