- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Arrow Books; paperback / softback edition (1975)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099100800
- ISBN-13: 978-0099100805
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 14.9 x 1.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,330,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
vivid reading of sinking ships, survival and vile creatures in the night. Thoroughly enjoyable read.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is from 1938 and is an adventure story following a group of shipwreck survivors as they encounter evil natives, gigantic creatures and a deadly labyrinth of choking weed.
Unfortunately, I didn't like this. All the Wheatley books I have read have been a bit on the racist side. Not to mention sexist, snooty, class -ridden and opinionated. But this one is just so tiresomely and unrelenting racist. He is obsessed with, and terrified of "negroes", not only making them the mutineers, In a moment of symbolic clarity he has evil black islanders chasing a golden-haired white girl. He uses the worst kind of skull -measuring psuedoscience to make his points, and sounds, unfortunately like a Nazi racial hygiene manual. If you could take the racism out of this book, it would be about 20 pages long.
Obviously this is of its time -74 years old now, but not all fiction from this era is as racist as Wheatley's. In the main, the modern reader can accept this as a distasteful product of the times and still enjoy the stories. These views can inform us of contemporary attitudes and help our understanding, but in this case, instead of entertaining us with a decent story, he hijacks another man's ideas and stinks it all up with his homophobia, making his racist ideas actually part of the overall story . I'm sure not all his stuff is as bad as this, and he has written some highly regarded historical fiction, but Wheatley seems to inject a certain venom into this book.
The central idea of the book is so close to William Hope Hodgson's The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" (The Original Version) published 30 years earlier, it is almost a poor sequel. This tells a story of weed-trapped mariners and gigantic and sinister creatures, but Hodgson does it so much better. Scary, wierd and unforgettable.
Give this one a miss. A pity. I would like to have liked it. Seek out Hodgson Instead.
Unfortunately, I didn't like this. All the Wheatley books I have read have been a bit on the racist side. Not to mention sexist, snooty, class -ridden and opinionated. But this one is just so tiresomely and unrelenting racist. He is obsessed with, and terrified of "negroes", not only making them the mutineers, In a moment of symbolic clarity he has evil black islanders chasing a golden-haired white girl. He uses the worst kind of skull -measuring psuedoscience to make his points, and sounds, unfortunately like a Nazi racial hygiene manual. If you could take the racism out of this book, it would be about 20 pages long.
Obviously this is of its time -74 years old now, but not all fiction from this era is as racist as Wheatley's. In the main, the modern reader can accept this as a distasteful product of the times and still enjoy the stories. These views can inform us of contemporary attitudes and help our understanding, but in this case, instead of entertaining us with a decent story, he hijacks another man's ideas and stinks it all up with his homophobia, making his racist ideas actually part of the overall story . I'm sure not all his stuff is as bad as this, and he has written some highly regarded historical fiction, but Wheatley seems to inject a certain venom into this book.
The central idea of the book is so close to William Hope Hodgson's The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" (The Original Version) published 30 years earlier, it is almost a poor sequel. This tells a story of weed-trapped mariners and gigantic and sinister creatures, but Hodgson does it so much better. Scary, wierd and unforgettable.
Give this one a miss. A pity. I would like to have liked it. Seek out Hodgson Instead.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
The novel "Lost Continent" was based on...
15 May 2006
Format:Hardcover
I sought this book out because I was a fan of the old Hammer film, "Lost Continent." I was surprised the book was so hard to track down since Dennis Wheatley's other books are more readily available and have been the basis for other films. I finally found the book overseas.
My first impression was that it was incredibly dry. What character development there is seems to be just another function of the plot, getting from A to B. Mr. Wheatley tends to tell rather than show, a device that may have been more appropriate at the time but makes for fairly dull reading nowadays, especially since this is supposed to be an adventure novel.
The differences between the book and the film that was made from it are numerous, the only similarities are some of the characters and the fact that a ship full of dubious characters runs into trouble in an uncharted area of the southern hemisphere, grapples with enemies and meets up with friends on a "lost" island and, for extra added fun, some monsters are thrown in.
Where things really diverge, and what makes the lack of availability of this book in the States more clear, is the incredible racism and sexism Mr. Wheatley displays in his book. Rather than the malevolent Spanish Inquisitors of the film, which gave it such a spooky edge, he has African "savages." There's a sort of Edgar Rice Burroughs appeal, I suppose, but the blatant use of words that are no longer acceptable to describe people of African descent (won't name them here but he uses several of the more common ones) as well as an apalling Chinese cook stereotype, left me pretty cold. It was almost humorous in a way, it's so offensive and outrageous to the eyes of a modern reader. Anyone with differently-colored skin is an ignorant non--human whose ethnic instincts are viewed as heathenism. All the women are for are to love their men, to provide them with unlimited sex.
Again, there was probably a time when this sort of thing made sense or was less offensive, especially to those around the age of 13. It just doesn't work anymore, and this coupled with the dryness of the writing style makes this one hard to get through and difficult to reccomend. Hopefully anyone doing a similar search for the roots of the fun late 60's movie will read this and be content to enjoy the movie for what it is. I gave the book more than one star because the idea is still pretty original and some of the (very brief) moments with monsters were genuinely exciting.
My first impression was that it was incredibly dry. What character development there is seems to be just another function of the plot, getting from A to B. Mr. Wheatley tends to tell rather than show, a device that may have been more appropriate at the time but makes for fairly dull reading nowadays, especially since this is supposed to be an adventure novel.
The differences between the book and the film that was made from it are numerous, the only similarities are some of the characters and the fact that a ship full of dubious characters runs into trouble in an uncharted area of the southern hemisphere, grapples with enemies and meets up with friends on a "lost" island and, for extra added fun, some monsters are thrown in.
Where things really diverge, and what makes the lack of availability of this book in the States more clear, is the incredible racism and sexism Mr. Wheatley displays in his book. Rather than the malevolent Spanish Inquisitors of the film, which gave it such a spooky edge, he has African "savages." There's a sort of Edgar Rice Burroughs appeal, I suppose, but the blatant use of words that are no longer acceptable to describe people of African descent (won't name them here but he uses several of the more common ones) as well as an apalling Chinese cook stereotype, left me pretty cold. It was almost humorous in a way, it's so offensive and outrageous to the eyes of a modern reader. Anyone with differently-colored skin is an ignorant non--human whose ethnic instincts are viewed as heathenism. All the women are for are to love their men, to provide them with unlimited sex.
Again, there was probably a time when this sort of thing made sense or was less offensive, especially to those around the age of 13. It just doesn't work anymore, and this coupled with the dryness of the writing style makes this one hard to get through and difficult to reccomend. Hopefully anyone doing a similar search for the roots of the fun late 60's movie will read this and be content to enjoy the movie for what it is. I gave the book more than one star because the idea is still pretty original and some of the (very brief) moments with monsters were genuinely exciting.
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