Classic Double Challenge: Transparent and Invisible Man

This challenge is hosted by One Librarian’s Book Reviews.  My goal for this challenge was to compare a modern re-telling to the original and see how much was the same or different.  I don’t know for sure if Transparent by Natalie Whipple was meant to be a retelling of The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, but they did have a lot of similarities that I found really interesting.

*There are mild spoilers for both of these books*

 

Read my review of Transparent | Read my review of The Invisible Man

Similarities

• Getting naked just comes with the territory of being invisible sometimes.
• Crime (specifically murder) is the best use for invisibility.
• They both discuss the drawbacks of being invisible.  In Transparent, Fiona talks about how no one will call her pretty. In The Invisible Man, he  can’t sleep with invisible eyelids
• The cause of invisibility in both books was drugs but in different ways.  With The Invisible Man it was through chemistry that he deliberately created based on how we see light. In Transparent, it was radiation drugs that caused different kinds of mutations.
• In both books, the invisible person was not seen as a person with feelings because they don’t show on their face.

Differences

The Invisible Man

• Told from the perspective of outsiders watching him
• He becomes invisible on purpose
• He wants to take over the world

Transparent

• Told from the invisible girl’s perspective
• Wants to be seen and normal
• Wants to be accepted and runs away from a gang that is trying to rule the world.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• Classic Double Challenge 2013