Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney is all about what the title sounds like, an invasion, of body snatchers. Doctor Miles Bennell discovers something is off in the town of Mill Valley, California. He is frightened, and concerned, as well as intrigued. Learning that several of his patients have concerns about loved one being different, he visits one, and notices that nothing seems amiss, that is until he is called to the house of a few of his other patients. What he finds there is something he doesn't understand, nor does he know what to do. With the help of his patients, Jack and Theodora, and a recently divorced woman he used to, and still does, love, Becky, they see answers and learn secrets about pod people taking over their town, with aspirations to take over the world.
This book first appeared as several stories in a magazine in 1954. The story takes place in 1976, and the reader can see some of the way life was in the 1950's in the 1970 version. The way the women react and are treated, like fainting flowers, is the way women were looked at often in the 1950's. This was the most disturbing part of the story.
The book was interesting in regards to the idea of the pod people. They had no emotions, because they weren't needed. They came down and counted themselves as parasites that wanted to survive, like all lifeforms. The alien pods do have issues, they don't last long, and they can't reproduce unless they are cloning something else, and they can't clone something they have already cloned. Once the pod people realize that the lifeforms on earth, ie the humans, don't want to die, the alien lifeforms realize they may not be able to take over the world as easy as they thought they would.
It is an interesting book, and it does make one wonder how humanity would survive, or what the survival instinct of humans would be. How far would we go and how hard would we fight. I enjoyed the sneaky way that the pod people inserted themselves into the lives of others, or took over the lives of others. It was also interesting because if one thinks about it, what if there are aliens here right now, and we don't know because they have been slowly taking over. It reminds me of the movie They Live.
I should add, I have only recently seen one the original two movies, although I have seen The Invasion (Not great) and The Thing (which is the same type of story). The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) is not the same movie as the book, although there are some things about it that are the same. For example, there is a main man, who is in love with his female counterpart. There is a doctor who says it is all mass hysteria. And there is a couple who find they are being cloned and taken over. I think the original movie might be the one that is closest to the book, so if you read the book, you might want to start there.
This book first appeared as several stories in a magazine in 1954. The story takes place in 1976, and the reader can see some of the way life was in the 1950's in the 1970 version. The way the women react and are treated, like fainting flowers, is the way women were looked at often in the 1950's. This was the most disturbing part of the story.
The book was interesting in regards to the idea of the pod people. They had no emotions, because they weren't needed. They came down and counted themselves as parasites that wanted to survive, like all lifeforms. The alien pods do have issues, they don't last long, and they can't reproduce unless they are cloning something else, and they can't clone something they have already cloned. Once the pod people realize that the lifeforms on earth, ie the humans, don't want to die, the alien lifeforms realize they may not be able to take over the world as easy as they thought they would.
It is an interesting book, and it does make one wonder how humanity would survive, or what the survival instinct of humans would be. How far would we go and how hard would we fight. I enjoyed the sneaky way that the pod people inserted themselves into the lives of others, or took over the lives of others. It was also interesting because if one thinks about it, what if there are aliens here right now, and we don't know because they have been slowly taking over. It reminds me of the movie They Live.
I should add, I have only recently seen one the original two movies, although I have seen The Invasion (Not great) and The Thing (which is the same type of story). The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) is not the same movie as the book, although there are some things about it that are the same. For example, there is a main man, who is in love with his female counterpart. There is a doctor who says it is all mass hysteria. And there is a couple who find they are being cloned and taken over. I think the original movie might be the one that is closest to the book, so if you read the book, you might want to start there.
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