There was supposed to be an earth-shattering 'ka-boom' (War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells)

Member Name: DancingCopper

Product:	War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells
Date:	29/11/08 (183 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Totally immersive, terrifying, short

Disadvantages: Short

It was 1986 when I first heard Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds - one hundred years exactly since Wells wrote the novel. I was ten years old, and Richard Burton's opening monologue stuck deeply into my brain. The unfolding plot combined with the eerie music to have a profound effect on me - I had nightmares, I couldn't listen to it if I was on my own and I absolutely had to read the novel.

Since then, it's one of only a handful of books I've read several times, and I still have the same battered copy twenty years later. To feel passionate and enthusiastic about H.G. Wells' novel is easy but I don't want my over-excitement to lead to a gushing, hyperbole-laden critique. I'll try to keep it real.

Herbert George Wells wrote The War of the Worlds in 1896. At the time, around Europe, there was an interest in and fear of invasion which led to the writing of stories playing out 'what if...' scenarios. Wells, an early craftsman of the science fiction genre, took this idea of invasion in a more Sci-Fi direction.

His main character in The War of the Worlds is a journalist with a particular interest in science. The story is told retrospectively with a first-person narrative, making it sound like an interview in many places. Frequent references to 'what we now know...' give an added dimension to the story.

The story itself is simple. Something amazing happens, which turns into something very bad. Whilst running for safety crises occur which must be overcome, until everything is reduced to a futile attempt at survival. This template could be applied to any number of stories, Ian Serraillier's 'The Silver Sword' for example.

There are a number of reasons why Wells' novel can be regarded as a classic. First of all, we are given the story first hand by a character caught up in the events as they unfold. We share his fear, lack of understanding and incredulity. We sigh with relief as he overcomes one obstacle, only to catch our breath on the next page, when he encounters something worse. The concerns that affect him are the most basic human needs, survival, safety and fear for the people you love. Everyone can relate to these needs and this resonance draws us into the narrative.

The setting is also wonderfully parochial. Wells doesn't need the annihilation of the White House, or the genocide of 90 per cent of the species. He is able to communicate the same terror without ever leaving the south east of England, and I can relate more to his character than a USAF fighter pilot or member of COBRA. I do smile as I read about people being sent to Leatherhead for safety.

The unfolding events are described with superb credibility, even now seeming like they could possibly happen. We may only understand a tiny fraction of what is going in, but then so does the narrator - that's part of what makes it frightening.

To add to the fear is the seeming irrationality of the invasion. In the TV series, V, the aliens come for our water; in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, they want to use us as hosts; the Martians just come because they can, they have no emotion so we can't even say they did it because they don't like us. With an antagonist so relentless and aimless there is no possible hope for survival.

But survive we do. I'm not giving anything away by saying the main character survives. The whole structuring of the narrative is based on this occurrence. What you don't know is what he has to overcome and how he does so and how much he is changed by the experience. For that, you have to read the book, and don't even think about watching any of the film adaptations. They do not do justice to Wells' book. They are about special effects and Hollywood egos and the simple, terrifying pleasure of that 1896 story is lost.

Twenty years later, there are still parts of the book I have to read through before I put it down to go to sleep. If I didn't, I would be too scared to sleep, looking into the night sky, imagining I was 'being scrutinized, as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water...'

Summary: Green flash, cylinders crash, Martians pop out, cue chaos