The daughter of Doctor Moraeu (a review)

I don’t know how many years it has been since I read the Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells, but it has been a long time. Other than the basic premise (mad scientist creates human hybrids with a predictable bad outcome) I don’t remember much. But I was intrigued by seeing The Daughter of Doctor Moreau in the library. It was written by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, who wrote Mexican Gothic which I read last year and found satisfyingly creepy.

This one, I would say is less creepy. It is told from the point of view of two characters: Carlotta, the doctor’s “natural” (bastard) daughter, and Montgomery, the doctors hired mayordomo. Montgomery comes to the doctor’s ranch with demons of his own: alcoholism, debt, and relentless bad luck. Carlotta has lived a sheltered life. She is sweet and innocent. Montgomery is far from innocent, but he knows right from wrong, and usually chooses right, even at his own expense. The doctor himself is not an evil man, but he is self-centered and egotistical. He seems to care only for his experiments, not for his experimental subjects. He has set himself up as the god of his little domain. He asks absolute obedience.

There are plenty of other creatures at the ranch, hybrid creature created by Moreau. Some are horribly misshapen and have severe health problems. Two of the more successful experiment were raised with Carlotta, and she came to see them as her brother and sister, even though they have fur. They are smart and spirited, and I would have liked to see even more of them in the story.

The biggest flaw for me was the slow pace of the fist part of the book. It took a while to get moving. But once it did it kept my interest. The villains developed slowly, but were well-drawn: The land owner who has lost patience with Moraeu, and his son who woos Carlotta. We don’t trust either of them for a minute. It might be tempting to say this story is a metaphor for racism, but I don’t really think that was what the author was going for. It is a story about treating people with respect. The biggest flaw of Dr. Moraeu is that he refuses to see what his daughter has known all along, that the hybrids are people.

Star Liner

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