The Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Very fun and exciting read. It really does "grab hold of you" from the beginning and doesnt let go. Jack Finney is an amazing writer, and it almost seems like such a "campy" horror story is beneath his skills, but it just works so well. It's fast paced and thrilling, but it also has that 50's "black and white detective story" flare to it.

This is a fun and easy listen... the production was good and the narration was especially well done. The reader does a great job capturing the mood of the characters....something that might be lost in a straight read.

Do not start this audiobook unless you have 6hrs free to sit and listen! You'll be snagged in the first 5 minutes and it won't let you go. Finney's writing style is fluid and captivating. The narrator must also be commended...phenomenal job! My favorite audiobook thus far.

I like these old-fashioned science fiction stories, and this was entertaining, but not repeatable. The main character didn't thrill me that much.

If you like this, try Day of the Triffids, and War of the Worlds, both even better than this one.

While writing this review, I would be amiss to not mention Heinlein’s “Puppet Master’s” which preceded it, or the 3 direct interpretations that followed it in the late 50’s, 70’s and 90’s. Not to mention the uncountable knockoff’s, the good and bad, and homage’s that this book and the aforementioned titles, inspired. They gave voice to a growing paranoia that was beginning to be understood in the 50’s with the cold war heating up. It asked such questions as, can you trust your neighbor? Can you trust your family and friends? Are they who they say they are? Are YOU who you say you are? Deeper than McCarthyism and the Red Scare, in spite of itself or with full intention, this pulp novel dug its heels into its subject matter and tackled such ideas the only way good sci-fi can, through speculation.

In listening to 6 plus hours straight through I was impressed with this overall. There are minor quibbles that must be mentioned, that it does have some weaker moments and may drag a little. It must also be said this was published in 1955 and is dated a bit, in tone, (the same can be said of "War of the Worlds" for example). One must expect that. The characters can be seen as being 1 dimensional and the main character makes leaps in logic that make little sense, or the opposite and not putting 2 and 2 together faster. These are very minor narrative criticisms, despite these, the novel flows well and has a surprisingly fast pace to it. The Narrator also is spot on and keeps your attention riveted. A very minor complaint is that he can, momentarily, be “overenthusiastic” and can be quite excitable, but still a very good narration.

I would recommend this as a paranoia suspense sci-fi thriller and a study of the Pulp 1950’s era that is still with us today and just as relevant but keep in mind the minor flaws
Enjoyable listen overall.

I wasn't too sure about this book at first... I'd seen bits and pieces of the movie and thought if it was anything like that I probably wouldn't like it. But I took a chance and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The book hooks you from the very first sentence and wraps you in a blanket of mystery. It was very hard to put this one down and I recommend it to any and everyone.

A well written good old fashion story. Well read and keeps you interested from start to finish. If you like a horror story without blood and guts, this is it.

As I listened to this delightful, highly-entertaining science fiction thriller, it struck me how this 1955 story has suddenly taken on stunning new relevance after 9-11. The Communists of the Cold War era have been replaced by Muslim extremists, as America has tightened its borders and turned inward, seeking out hidden "sleeper cells" among us. This novel is about an insidious infiltration of our cherished way of life by a cold, calculating alien menace that sprang up among us without warning. A highly recommended read from the author of Time and Again, another fabulous sci-fi novel.

When I was a boy driving somewhere with my father I sometimes tormented myself by wondering, ???What if he???s not my Dad? What if he???s a stranger who only looks like him???? Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney hair-raisingly exploits such moments of doubt. Finney steadily raises the Creepiness Quotient of his tale the farther we get into it, playing with our inability to ever really know another person. At the same time, his novel features an appealing romance, interesting questions of perception, and disturbing implications of the instinct for survival???as well as a clever use of a set of his and her skeletons. Compared to the movie versions, the ending of the novel is a little unconvincing but finally satisfying.

The reader, Kristopher Tabori, does a fine job. I haven???t heard a voice quite like his before in the many audiobooks to which I???ve listened: deep, gravelly, a little nasal, and full of wit and character and flavor. And he changes his voice just enough to draw out the different personalities of the different characters to enhance rather than distract from the story.

As an added bonus, the novel is followed by a short interesting interview with Tabori, the son of Don Siegel, who directed the original movie version. Tabori reveals that his father said that he was not thinking of McCarthy-ism or Communism when making the movie adaptation of the novel and was just trying to make a scary movie. One of the virtues of the novel is that it is open to different interpretations, all the while being a scary story featuring appealing normal people caught in an abnormal nightmare, doing their best to survive it with their humanity intact.

I saw the 1978 version of this film when I was in my formative teen years. It scared the bejebus out of me. I have since seen both other versions of it (the original was too sedate and the remake had characters that were too bimbo-y).

This is the first time I've read the original story and I have to say that I think I like it better than even my favorite film version. The narration was very good.

The only negative thing I have to say about it is that it was a little bit moralizing - i.e. the "moral" of the story, hidden in alien effigies, was the withering-away of small town U.S.A. complete with people losing their humanity in the face of progress, etc... and it was none too subtle. I loved it as an alien-invasion end of the world type book, I didn't like it as a commentary on modernization.

we were so pleasantly surprise be how good this book was, and the narator was great! I had seen the movie decades ago, but the book was so much better and creepier! My 10 year old son loved it as well.