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Post by jeffwaynefan on Apr 25, 2006 8:36:40 GMT
Is there any parts of the novel that effect you, scare, stir emotions within you still to this day?.
One that has always stayed with me and for reasons I cannot explain other than that it still sends the biggest shiver down my spine is this - from chapter 13 How I Fell In With The Curate
"What is that flicker in the sky?" he asked. abruptly.
I told him it was a heliograph signalling - that it was the sign of human help and effort on the sky.
"We are in the midst of it," I said, "quiet as it is. That flicker in the sky tells of the gathering storm. Yonder, I take it, are the Martians, and Londonward, where those hills rise about Richmond and Kingston, and the trees give cover, earthworks are being placed. Presently the Martians will be coming this way again."
And even as I spoke he sprung to his feet and stopped me by a gesture.
"Listen !" he said
From beyond the low hills across the water came a dull resonance of distant guns and a remote, weird crying. Then everything was still. A cockchafer came droning over the hedge and past us. High in the west the cresent moon hung faint and pale above the smoke of Weybridge and Shepperton and the hot, still splendor of the sunset.
"We had better follow this path," I said "northward".
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Post by Stewymartian on May 6, 2006 21:39:30 GMT
It is the in the seemingly quiet moments like this that Wells really manages to pile on the tension. You know something is going to happen, you know that the narrator can do nothing but run or hide. The small details that he mentions, the roosting bird, the moon in the sky, help you to picture the scene in intimate detail, which really pulls you into how it must feel to be in that terrifying situation.
I find Dead London quite disturbing, especially when the narrator describes walking through the empty streets of London as the dusk is falling, with the sound of the dying Martian filling the air. Subtle but creepy.
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Post by malfunkshun on May 9, 2006 19:24:14 GMT
what remains with me to this day is when they narrator and the curate are trapped under the house. the narrator is looking through the peephole and see's the sillhouette of a man being lifted by the tentacle of the handling machine. you can breifly see the features of this man... he is well dressed, and his pocket watch glints in the green light. this mental image haunts me to this day.
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Spleen
Full Member
It's bows and arrows against the lightning.
Posts: 114
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Post by Spleen on May 14, 2006 15:52:36 GMT
I think Wells has mastered the art of playing with your imagination in this book. I agree with all the examples above, in every case Wells does not provide you all the details but gives you just enough to activate your imagination. For example "a dull resonance of distant guns and a remote, wierd crying" as quoted by H.C. When I read a line like that my mind will just drift off, what sort of short violent battle took place? was a Martian destroyed/wounded? Where did it happen? I wish I bloody knew!!! Genius!
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Post by Topaz on May 26, 2006 23:03:37 GMT
The scenes that did it for me were also 'background' scenes - one of them even implied. They were the ones where fighting machines were stalking across open fields and villages, gathering up the little people fleeing at their feet. Gathering them and tossing them into the 'shopping basket' for dinner. They did a scene like that near the ferry sequence in the Spielberg WOTW and I got that same 'people being hunted' creepy feeling. One of the scariest sequences in the movie as well, to me.
The 'implied' scene in the book was the death of the landlord of the Spotted Dog. Running in terror from the newly emerged fighting machines that walk amongst the houses, cursing himself as three kinds of fool for giving away his dog-cart to that crazy man from up the road. Crying out as one of the Machines spots him through the rain and strides easily up behind as he runs, snatches him up in a steely tentacle and tosses him headfirst into the trunk of the next tree down the lane.
Frightening.
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Yami
Junior Member
You thought you would never see it with your own eyes!!!
Posts: 8
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Post by Yami on Jun 8, 2006 14:22:04 GMT
part of the book that scared me, is the part i like the most. it the part where he is discribing how the martians drain the blood of people and injecting into their own veins!
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Post by Leatherhead on Jul 1, 2006 4:21:27 GMT
I remember the scene with the narrator under the ruined house. He's just kiiled the Curateand the Martians finally come to check out the comotion. The narrator hides in a cupboard and in come the tenticles. At one point a tenticle touches his boot, and he has NOWHERE to run. Still makes me squirm.
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Post by wastedyuthe on Jul 20, 2006 11:57:29 GMT
Yes I agree about the boot bit! That gave me the willies. The Spielberg film replicated that quite well with the basement scene- even had the boot reference with Rachels shoe being spotted by the machine. I agree about all the others on this list so far, too. The whole idea of there being no-where to run gives me the eebie-jeebies - even more so than a weekend staying with my Mum.
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Post by Killraven on Aug 4, 2006 13:07:03 GMT
The 'implied' scene in the book was the death of the landlord of the Spotted Dog. Running in terror from the newly emerged fighting machines that walk amongst the houses, cursing himself as three kinds of fool for giving away his dog-cart to that crazy man from up the road. Crying out as one of the Machines spots him through the rain and strides easily up behind as he runs, snatches him up in a steely tentacle and tosses him headfirst into the trunk of the next tree down the lane. Frightening. Yes, same for me - definitely the section describing the narrator's journey back to Woking in the dark and the rain when you KNOW he's heading towards trouble... then he is thrown from his buggy and stumbles across the body of the innkeeper "his neck had been broken"... ugh! goosebumps! KR
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Post by ArmoredTrackLayer on Dec 14, 2006 16:43:33 GMT
Is there any parts of the novel that effect you, scare, stir emotions within you still to this day?. One that has always stayed with me and for reasons I cannot explain other than that it still sends the biggest shiver down my spine is this - from chapter 13 How I Fell In With The Curate"What is that flicker in the sky?" he asked. abruptly.
I told him it was a heliograph signalling - that it was the sign of human help and effort on the sky.
"We are in the midst of it," I said, "quiet as it is. That flicker in the sky tells of the gathering storm. Yonder, I take it, are the Martians, and Londonward, where those hills rise about Richmond and Kingston, and the trees give cover, earthworks are being placed. Presently the Martians will be coming this way again."
And even as I spoke he sprung to his feet and stopped me by a gesture.
"Listen !" he said
From beyond the low hills across the water came a dull resonance of distant guns and a remote, weird crying. Then everything was still. A cockchafer came droning over the hedge and past us. High in the west the cresent moon hung faint and pale above the smoke of Weybridge and Shepperton and the hot, still splendor of the sunset.
"We had better follow this path," I said "northward". Any scene like that. The implication that something bad is happening is often times worse than actually seeing it
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Post by captjim on Jan 1, 2007 6:56:32 GMT
I agree with Topaz. Like the 2005 Spielberg movie, the implied parts of the book (really the whole invasion) casually gave off vibes of "we are so screwed".
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Post by Killraven on Jan 2, 2007 1:15:56 GMT
I agree with Topaz. Like the 2005 Spielberg movie, the implied parts of the book (really the whole invasion) casually gave off vibes of "we are so screwed". Except of course that the book does it so much better! KR
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Post by broton on Jan 15, 2007 13:27:29 GMT
Similar to the quoted section with the heliograph above, is the part where the journalist and curate are trapped and they hear distant guns - "That night was a beautiful serenity; save for one planet, the moon seemed to have the sky to herself. I heard a dog howling, and that familiar sound it was that made me listen. Then I heard quite distinctly a booming exactly like the sound of great guns. Six distinct reports I counted, and after a long interval six again. And that was all."
It's that switch from calm description of beauty to stark reminder of what is happening that makes it powerful to me.
[glow=orange,2,300]broton[/glow]
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Reppu
Junior Member
heatraying the crap out of mankind?cooollllaaaa!
Posts: 33
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Post by Reppu on Jan 17, 2007 11:34:04 GMT
The whole London panic chapter. I almost feel the desperation everytime i read it.
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Post by Thorgrimm on Jan 22, 2007 23:04:26 GMT
A portion of the book I liked the best was this;
"for out of the tumult, drove something long and black, fire streaming out it's middle parts, it's funnels and ventilators spouting fire. SHE WAS ALIVE! the steering gear and engines were still working, she headed straight at the second Martian, and was within 100yards when the heat ray came to bear. Then with a blinding flash, her decks, her funnels leapt skyward. The Martian staggered with the force of the explosion, and in another moment the flaming wreckage, still driving forward with the impetus of it's pace, had struck him and crumpled him up like a piece of cardboard. Two shouted the captain!"
The reason i like this passage is because even though they knew they would die, the crew of the Thunder Child still took on the Martians to protect the refugees in the transport. As the saying goes about humanity, " when things are at it's worst, we are at our best."
Cheers Thorgrimm
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