Jack Finney
The Body Snatchers (1954)
Author: Jack Finney
Genre: Science Fiction (Storyteller)
Plot Summary:
In a small town in California, Dr. Miles Benell works as a general practitioner. Several patients start come into the doctor's office and complain that their loved ones are not themselves. He refers his patients to a psychiatrist and the complaints stop. However, when a friend finds a body in his basement with no fingerprints, he begins to wonder if something more is happening in this sleepy town. Soon, he finds himself and his friends in deep trouble. Duplicates growing out of seedpods are replacing the townspeople. Miles and his friends must race to save themselves from this strange menace as the pod people continue to move throughout the town and quite possibly, the world. SPOILER: Miles stumbles upon a pod farm and uses gasoline to kill a number of the pods. The rest leave earth to float to another planet. The day is saved.
Geographical Setting: Mill Valley, California, USA
Time Period: mid-20th Century (1954)
Appeal Characteristics:
Paranoia and fear drives this book and creates the suspense that compels the reader into the story. This book is easy to read, with no difficult scientific jargon throughout. The pace begins slowly and escalates into a powerful ending climax. Written in the 1950's, the setting of the story is reminiscint of the time-period. Throught the story, Finney's writing undertones the fear Communism and the importance of individualism. The use of the 1950's setting makes the story easily relateable, even for those not accustomed to the science fiction genre. The main character, Dr. Miles Benell, is likeable and sensitive. His main purpose is to protect his love interest, Becky Driscoll. Speaking in first person, Miles delivers this story, as if it were unbelievable, making it seem as if he were speaking to the reader personally. This title has been changed from its original title, Body Snatchers after the movie was created using the longer nam e. Both the book and several movies that have spawned from it are classics in the science fiction genre.
Read-alikes: Readers who like the fear, paranoia and aliens that was woven into the story of The Body Snatchers will also enjoy reading the light-toned, Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell. Written in 1938 for ASTOUNDING magazine, this book became the basis for the 1951 cult-horror hit, Thing From Another World. In this story, a group of scientists find an alien frozen in Antarctica. Soon they find themselves fighting against something that has telepathic and shape-shifting powers. Another easy to read science fiction alien invasion story is Puppet Masters, by Robert Heinlein. While often compared to The Body Snatchers, Puppet Masters is a story that is more action-oriented and has a setting in the near-distant future. In this story, aliens are taking over the Earth and it is up an intelligence officer to stop the invasion while it takes over communications, government and people's minds and bodies. Readers who enjoy alien take over of human bodies and a contemporary setting, but would like a more serious toned story, may be interested in reading Dreamcatcher, by Stephen King. Finney's work later inspired King, which shows in this book. In this story, four child-hood friends reunite twenty-five years and become thrusted into a fightening struggle with an alien invasion. These aliens take over the bodies of humans and use them as zombie hosts. Readers who enjoy a plot that is faced paced, full of paranoia and suspense might also enjoy Crawlers, by John Shirley. While published in 2003, this book gives readers an updated version of The Body Snatchers by using technology, not organic pods, set out to destroy the human race. In this book, a secret military research outfit creates an out-of-control nanotechonlogy experiment. Once loose, this experiment combine with humans and turn them into killing machines, out to take over the world. If readers enjoyed Jack Finney's strong main character and descriptive setting prose in The Body Snatchers, they might be interested in reading Time and Again, by him as well. Instead of an alien invasion, the main character becomes a part of a secret government agency that helps him go back in time. He falls in love with a woman in New York, during the 1880's while testing Einstein's theory of the past co-existing with the present. While different from The Body Snatchers, Time and Again takes fan's of Finney's writing on a journey that will be not soon forgotten.
Red Flags: Vague references to sex and death.
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