Jack Finney - The Body Snatchers - 8 {unrated}

[Meredith]

I just finished reading The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. As you may have already guessed, this is the book that inspired the film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and its remake. The original 1956 film is considered a science fiction classic. The 1978 remake is not so great.

Once again the book is a better story than either film. Seed pods from another planet drift through the cosmos and land on Earth. In order to survive, they duplicate the dominant lifeform on the planet they land. The duplicates are perfect to the original humans they emulate, except they do not have true emotions. One by one the townsfolk of a small California town are replaced by the seed pod duplicates. Eventually there are only two people left in the town who have not been duplicated, Dr. Miles Bennell, and his girlfriend, Becky Driscoll. The story deals with their struggle to remain human and warn the rest of the unweary world.

Finney does a great job telling this tale. The book is told in first person through Doctor Bennell. He really creates a strong feeling of isolation for the reader. You can feel just how alone Doctor Bennell and Becky are in a town slowly losing its humanity. Living in a small town myself, it wasn't hard for me to put myself in their situation. From my own experience, I have to say Mr. Finney really gets the small town thing. To sum it up, there's a reason why this story is considered a science fiction classic by many other authors of the genre. You may find the story hackneyed but that's only because you are reading it from a contemporary view where dozens of alien imposter plots have been done since The Body Snatchers. You have to keep in mind that Finney did it first and what came after are the trite plots. I loved the book and will probably read it many times. By the way, Mr. Finney's ending is different from both films. In fact, I understand that Mr. Finney thought the conclusions of both films were ridiculous.

The only thing I not did like about the book is the introduction written by Stephen King. He addresses the reader like he's telling you about the book from his stool in a seedy bar (pardon the pun). He actually uses the F-word. There's no need for that. When you are asked to introduce a wonderful piece of literature, I would hope you would have the respect to not use cuss words. I think he is trying to come off as cool but it only sounds low class and cheap.

[clong]

Welcome, Meredith. Nice review

[Zybahn]

While not a huge science fiction fan and not terribly knowledgeable on the subject I really enjoyed this book, which I read a number of years ago. I also liked both movie versions you mention (yes, even the 1978 version I think is excellent - I thought the 1993 version ended up a joke, though it actually started off well).

Apparently Finney had trouble publishing his original manuscript and only part of it was serialized in Collier's in 1954. It appeared as The Body Snatchers in 1955, but the full version was not published until the 1978 film was released, and it was then re-titled Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This is the version usually in print now. I'm not too sure how the two differ, or why some of it was deemed un-publishable. Perhaps the discussions on reproduction (as it was the mid-1950s)?

I read all this in a article a few years ago so I can't recall all the details. I think I have the article somewhere or other in this firetrap I call an office, and if time permits... Meanwhile, anyone care to enlighten?

Too bad about the King intro, he might’ve taken advantage on these interesting historical anecdotes rather than swearing from a barstool. I guess it was written for the new movie tie-in edition?

(I will also second Clong’s comment: Very nice review. Articulate and clear. Welcome.)

[tollbaby]

The thing is, Stephen King *is* the typical seedy guy on a barstool He's not a big society player. He's a simple guy who puts on no pretenses. If you read anything he's ever written... articles, intros, etc., there's usually at least one f-bomb involved, or sh*t, or something of the sort. He is what he is, and you can't expect him to be something he's not.