The First Men In The Moon (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
"I assisted him to screw in the glass cover of the manhole, and then he pressed a stud to close the corresponding blind in the outer case. The little oblong of twilight vanished. We were in darkness.For a time neither of us spoke. Although our case would not be impervious to sound, everything was very still. I perceived there was nothing to grip when the shock of our start should come, and I realized that I should be uncomfortable for want of a chair.'Why have we no chairs?' I asked.'I've settled all that,' said Cavor. 'We shan't need them.''Why not?''You will see,' he said, in the tone of a man who refuses to talk.I became silent. Suddenly it had come to me, clear and vivid, that I was a fool to be inside that sphere. Even now, I asked myself, is it too late to withdraw? The world outside the sphere, I knew, would be cold and inhospitable enough to me -- for weeks I had been living on subsidies from Cavor -- but after all, would it be as cold as the infinite zero, as inhospitable as empty space? If it had not been for the appearance of cowardice, I believe that even then I should have made him let me out. But I hesitated on that score and hesitated, and grew fretful and angry, and the time passed.There came a little jerk, a noise like champagne being uncorked in another room, and a faint whistling sound. For just one instant I had a sense of enormous tension, a transient conviction that my feet were pressing downwards with a force of countless tons. It lasted for an infinitesimal time.But it stirred me to action. 'Cavor!' I said in the darkness, 'my nerve's in rags.... I don't think---'I stopped. He made no answer.'Confound it!' I cried; 'I'm a fool! What business have I here? I'm not coming, Cavor. The thing's too risky. I'm getting out.''You can't,' he said.'Can't! We'll soon see about that!'He made no answer for ten seconds. 'It's too late for us to quarrel now, Bedford,' he said. 'That little jerk was the start. Already we are flying as swiftly as a bullet up into the gulf of space.''I---' I said, and then it did not seem to matter what happened. For a time I was, as it were, stunned. I had nothing to say. It was just as if I had never heard of this idea of leaving the earth before. Then I perceived an unaccountable change in my bodily sensations. It was a feeling of lightness, of unreality. Coupled with that was a queer sensation in the head, an apoplectic effect almost, and a thumping of blood-vessels in the ears. Neither of these feelings diminished as time went on, but at last I got so used to them that I experienced no inconvenience.I heard a click, and a little glow lamp came into being.I saw Cavor's face, as white as I felt my own to be. We regarded each other in silence. The transparent blackness of the glass behind him made him seem to be floating in a void.'Well, we're committed,' I said at last.'Yes,' he said, 'we're committed.''Don't move,' he exclaimed, at some suggestion of a gesture. 'Let your muscles keep quite lax -- as if you were in bed. We are in a little universe of our own. Look at those things!'He pointed to the loose cases and bundles that had been lying on the blankets in the bottom of the sphere. I was astonished to see that they were floating now nearly a foot from the spherical wall. Then I saw from his shadow that Cavor was no longer leaning against the glass. I thrust out my hand behind me and found that I too was suspended in space, clear of the glass.I did not cry out nor gesticulate, but fear came upon me. It was like being lifted and held by something -- you know not what. The mere touch of my hand against the glass moved me rapidly. I understood what had happened but that did not prevent my being afraid. We were cut off from all exterior gravitation -- only the attraction of objects within our sphere had effect. Consequently everything that was not fixed to the glass was falling -- slowly because of the slightness of our masses -- towards the centre of gravity of our little world, which seemed to be somewhere about the middle of the sphere, but rather nearer to myself than to Cavor on account of my greater weight.'We must turn round,' said Cavor, 'and float back to back, with the things between us.'It was the strangest sensation conceivable, floating thus loosely in space, at first indeed horribly strange, and when the horror passed, not disagreeable at all, exceedingly restful! indeed the nearest thing in earthly experience to it that I know is lying on a very thick, soft feather bed. But the quality of utter detachment and independence! I had not reckoned on anything like this. I had expected a violent jerk at starting, a giddy sense of speed. Instead I felt -- as if I were disembodied. It was not like the beginning of a journey; it was like the beginning of a dream."
tIn this novel Wells is incredibly detailed in his descriptions of the locations and events. It is as if you were there. It is no wonder that when his “War of the Worlds” was performed on radio many decades ago the folks listening on the radio show had taken the radio performance as reality. tMr. Wells builds incredible sentences that build upon themselves until the reader has no choice but to imagine the content so very precisely. That makes it “artsy” in my book and who would imagine an ancient science fiction novel would be classic literature? Another confession of inadequacy … Mr. Wells’s vocabulary is miles beyond my meager college augmented education. While I’m primarily listening to a LibroVox audio rendition I’m also following along in an ebook and if I were to pause the recording when I needed to look up each word I need look up I would necessarily lose track of the genuinely interesting story that develops. tNow as to the content: Really? There is a concept in consuming science fiction, and fiction in general, that is “suspension of disbelief”. It may take reading 40% of this novel before you’ve dropped your resistance entirely to the ridiculous premises and obvious errors in science and fact but once you do… there is a great little story going on here.t Mr. Wells could not have imagined more incorrectly for the time the novel is written. Some of it is still thought provoking. At the first, devising an apparatus to travel to the moon…, I can sincerely see how those imaginings were not fantasy but science fiction in that day. Naturally today it is fantasy and we know how ridiculous his imaginings were, but we have to give Mr. Wells credit for provoking the ideas of traveling to the moon and the great adventures that may be upon us there. In the reality going to the moon was a great adventure that we are still learning from more than 40 years later.tOne writer’s work doesn’t become a classic just by being old. It also has to be good. While I’m dishing out 3 stars, the story could easily be given 4 stars, and if it was 90 or 100 years ago I would be excited to hand out 5 stars.. My reluctance primarily is in that 100+ years that has passed. I can see from that era how the scientific ideas could hold some water, but reading it today it is just too big a stretch. Mr. Wells tells a pretty good story just the same. There were a few extremely tense moments where you realize you do care for these characters, shallow as they may be. And it is difficult not to like or dislike some of the characters. If you pay attention you can also see the references to the cutting edge science of the day, including the social sciences, politics, manners, etc. that all add color to this novel.
What do You think about The First Men In The Moon (2005)?
Selenites, Craters, Bluish outward atmosphere; name a lunar feature and there is a mention of it in this scientific romance, first published a year into the turn of the previous century, 1901 to be precise. H.G.Wells has left no stone unturned in describing a clear cut notion of the Lunar atmosphere and features. The classic novel recounts the turn of events that are slated to happen, when a penniless businessman Mr Bedford meets by chance, the brilliant absent-minded scientist Dr Cavor. Together, they embark on a journey to discover the unknown. The unknown, is nothing short of an expedition to the Moon. Both Bedford and Cavor set themselves up for a tumultuous adventure on Cavorite, a sphere made up of antigravity metal. On reaching the Moon, they are vary of an ambush from Selenites - 'the Mooneys'. The proceedings then on is intriguing. The fantastic story presented in this book is ahead of its times. And, not surprisingly, we see an anecdote referring to Mr Nikola Tesla in this book. These are some of the highlighting points of a book which keeps us occupied till the last line is read. An admirable feature about H.G.Wells's writing is his attention to details and precision with which he has authored the compilation. An amazing read which literally takes you to the Lunar world. A high five for this gem!
—Roshan B
This book was most interesting and quite an adventure. Two men, namely Bedford and Cavor, travel to the moon in a sphere designed by Cavor. When they arrive there, they are most amazed at what they see, something like snow, plants growing at alarming rates, and strange beings called Selenites among others. The adventure actually takes place 'inside' the moon after Bedford falls into a crevice as the two explore the surface, after the 'snow' lures them out of the safety of thier sphere.Well after an entire range of adventures, including a fight with the moon beings, eating moon plants, having to endure a disgusting blue light, and finally separating, Bedford finds the sphere, tries looking for and signalling to Cavor but never finds him, and finally heads back to earth.After many months elapse and Bedford gets his earthly life back in order, he receives a message from a Julius Wendigee regarding messages being received form space in english. Well the messages actually emanate from Cavor who day by day has been and continues to send messages regarding his experiences. This continues until one day the messages stop. This is the last that Bedford hears of Cavor.Well in the usual Wells style, a great adventure.I've left out too much detail, so hear what, JUST READ IT!
—Marts (Thinker)
Such a disappointment! I expected so much more from this. I was waiting for some philosophical discourse and musings on some enduring, unalterable and inalienable Truth,as is usually the case in wells' works, but nope. Nothing of the kind in this book. I'm giving it two stars instead of just one because this story was highly imaginative and VERY unpredictable (I liked that I couldn't foresee what would happen about 50 pages before it actually does).I think my main issue with this particular story is that it didn't make me care about the two main characters at all, or any other secondary characters. A good story makes the reader feel some emotion, positive or not. I didn't have any emotional connection with anyone in the book.
—Po Po
