{"id":950,"date":"2018-01-31T15:00:52","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T22:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/?p=950"},"modified":"2023-10-24T21:30:56","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T03:30:56","slug":"book-the-body-snatchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/31\/book-the-body-snatchers\/","title":{"rendered":"BOOK: The Body Snatchers (1955)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><u><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/images.gr-assets.com\/books\/1294664835l\/10176010.jpg\" alt=\"The Body Snatchers\" width=\"318\" height=\"424\" \/>The Body Snatchers<br \/>\n<\/u><\/strong>Year: 1955<br \/>\nAuthor: Jack Finney<br \/>\nLength: 400 minutes \/ 6.67 hours<\/p>\n<p>Most people know this book by its numerous film adaptations, including\u00a0<em>Invasion of the Body Snatchers<\/em>\u00a0(1956 and 1978),\u00a0<em>Body Snatchers<\/em>\u00a0(1993), and\u00a0<em>The<\/em>\u00a0<em>Invasion<\/em>\u00a0(2007). In fact, I like to think that many facets of this story have become a part of popular culture, including the replication \u201cpods\u201d and Donald Sutherland\u2019s scream in the 1978 film version. While the source material is inherently pulpy, a result of the genre and the era in which it was published, there is an entertaining quality to the story that has allowed it to survive for so long.<\/p>\n<p>Simple in its execution, but brilliant in its reveal,\u00a0<em>The Body Snatchers<\/em>\u00a0builds up an inherent distrust of the people surrounding the main characters as they investigate why everyone seems \u201coff\u201d in this small, California town. While the full explanation of the aliens\u2019 presence and purpose is relegated to an enormous information dump more than half-way through the book, it nevertheless contains some interesting ideas and concepts that could be plausible given the circumstances. I would have preferred better integration of this information into the plot, but sometimes the characters just need to sit down and explore these ideas in depth.<\/p>\n<p>In the end,\u00a0<em>The Body Snatchers<\/em>\u00a0has plenty of strong moments in its plot. Sure, there\u2019s the weaker section or two, and the more upbeat ending didn\u2019t have much explanation other than the aliens\u2019 annoyance of humanity\u2019s persistence. Still, it\u2019s a fun story, and even decades later it\u2019s clear why\u00a0<em>The Body Snatchers<\/em>\u00a0is a timeless classic, even if it\u2019s not \u201con par\u201d with more significant literary titans. Maybe that\u2019s its charm, though. By making it about the \u201ceveryman,\u201d the horror and terror of everyone around them being replaced by emotionless beings is much more relatable on a visceral level.<\/p>\n<p>A timeless pulp classic, I give\u00a0<em>The Body Snatchers<\/em>\u00a04.0 stars out of 5.<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-647\" src=\"http:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/255px-Five-pointed_star_svg-150x150.png\" alt=\"255px-Five-pointed_star_svg\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\" \/>\u00a0<\/strong><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-647\" src=\"http:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/255px-Five-pointed_star_svg-150x150.png\" alt=\"255px-Five-pointed_star_svg\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\" \/>\u00a0<\/strong><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-647\" src=\"http:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/255px-Five-pointed_star_svg-150x150.png\" alt=\"255px-Five-pointed_star_svg\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\" \/>\u00a0<\/strong><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-647\" src=\"http:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/255px-Five-pointed_star_svg-150x150.png\" alt=\"255px-Five-pointed_star_svg\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\" \/><\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Body Snatchers Year: 1955 Author: Jack Finney Length: 400 minutes \/ 6.67 hours Most people know this book by its numerous film adaptations, including\u00a0Invasion of the Body Snatchers\u00a0(1956 and 1978),\u00a0Body Snatchers\u00a0(1993), and\u00a0The\u00a0Invasion\u00a0(2007). In fact, I like to think that many facets of this story have become a part of popular culture, including the replication [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,54],"tags":[1079,1076,55,1075,1078,8,1074,1077],"class_list":["post-950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4-0-stars","category-book","tag-1079","tag-body-snatchers","tag-book","tag-invasion-of-the-body-snatchers","tag-jack-finney","tag-review","tag-the-body-snatchers","tag-the-invasion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=950"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3715,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950\/revisions\/3715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}