The Island of Doctor Moreau

What a weirdly wacky book!

From the way it's written and the strangely formal and antiquated tone, to the bizarre encounters with creatures on the island.

Okay, so you're marooned and cast off in the mould of Robinson Crusoe, but instead of finding coconuts and Man Friday, you come across strangely furtive beasts that defy accurate description, as well as mad whip-bearing scientists and drunken subordinates.

Life is mostly hell on the island as you're unable to fully relax, settle down or find suitable explanations and harmony.

Doctor Moreau conducts vivisections on animals to turn them into crossbreeds of various new creations with human characteristics, with the puma-man, the hyena-swine and various other bizarre concoctions putting in appearances, some friendlier than others, who live in tribal communities with no flushing toilets or modern creature comforts.

And that's where it gets bonkers. Animals have been engineered to talk and follow rulesets, with morals, inhibitions and some frightening behavior. They recite religious commandments and act like human beings.

The only trouble is, these human-animals are still beasts inside, on the precipice of returning to their primordial state.

This book encompasses science fiction because of its abstract technical elements, with a smattering of horror because of the strangely deformed beasts with atrophied limbs and claw-like hands who walk upright and furtively hide and spy in the bushes, probably due to their ugly countenances and wild instincts.

The message is that we're all essentially the same: beasts with deep cravings for blood and murder when you take away humanity, which is what keeps us in check.

This is a strangely comical, quaint and bizarre book, while also a little bit sad, haunting and frightening at the same time.

I recommend all four of H.G. Wells' novels published from 1895 to 1898, with The Time Machine and The Invisible Man being equally bizarre, and the incredible The War of The Worlds being the best of the lot.