2005 books
Feb. 3rd, 2005 06:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peteryoung
Jack Finney, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1954
We all know the story, but this kind of first-person narrative seems to define a good old-fashioned tale of alien invasion, and in that sense it is a direct descendant of War of the Worlds and The Day of the Triffids but necessarily given a distinctly 'small-town America' slant. Finney always denied the Body Snatchers were meant as an allegory for Communism, an interpretation he blamed on Hollywood; I'm inclined to believe him too because Finney's story is clearly devoid of any direct hint of politics. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is also on my own list of books I'd like to see on the Gollancz 'SF Masterworks' series, not just for its undeniable influence on twentieth century pulp SF but for the fact that Finney's writing still comes through fresh, loud and clear.
