The Invisible

by Mats Wahl
The Invisible
book data
50 ratings, 2.92 average rating, 17 reviews (more data...)
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published
January 23rd 2007 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

binding
Hardcover, 192 pages

isbn
0374336091   (isbn13: 9780374336097)

description
One ordinary Monday morning in May, Hilmer Eriksson walks into his high school classroom and discovers that he has become invisible. No one can see hi...more






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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 82)



Jennifer Wardrip
Jennifer rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/05/08

bookshelves: trt-reviews
Reviewed by Karin Perry for TeensReadToo.com

Hilmer walked into school on Monday morning like normal, but quickly discovers that this isn't going to be a normal day.

No one can see him. No one can hear him. Hilmer is invisible. Being invisible is a big enough problem on its own, but what makes it worse for Hilmer is the fact that he has no idea why he is invisible.

It doesn't take long for Hilmer to find out that everyone thinks he has disappeared and that many people suspect foul pla...more
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Kelly
Kelly rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
02/05/08

bookshelves: mysteries
Read in February, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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  3 comments

Karin
Karin rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
01/06/08

bookshelves: youngadult
Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in April, 2007
recommends it for: People who enjoyed Lovely Bones or Elsewhere
Hilmer walked into school on Monday morning like normal, but quickly discovers that this isn't going to be a normal day. No one can see him. No one can hear him. Hilmer is invisible. Being invisible is a big enough problem on its own, but what makes it worse for Hilmer is the fact that he has no idea why he is invisible.

It doesn't take long for Hilmer to find out that everyone thinks he has disappeared and that many people suspect foul play.

Detective For is in charge of Hilmer's disappe...more
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Marya
Marya rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
04/15/08

bookshelves: teen-mystery
Read in April, 2008
The title refers to a boy who becomes invisible as his body lays dying. While that sounds totally cool, the execution really isn't. For the most part, this is a traditional mystery/what's-wrong-with-kids-these-days story. We follow the detective around as he tries to unravel the gang of skinheads who most likely lead to the boy's disappearance.

And yes, you heard that right. Skinheads. Very much used for shock value.

As for 'the invisible' himself, he only pops up once or twice a ch...more
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Jenny
Jenny rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
03/20/08

Read in March, 2008
After watching the American movie version of this Swedish book (which there is also a Swedish movie version) I decided to read the book to see if it was any better than the movie. The movie left so many unaswered questions.
I didn't know what I expected from the book but it didn't answer my questions. If anything it made me have more question. Only the basic storyline is the same in the American movie version vs. the book. The ending isn't even the same yet it's stupid in the book and the movi...more
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Lexie
Lexie rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
02/18/08

Read in February, 2008
I was insipired to read this book from the movie that came out last year. I liked the movie (though it had flaws) and I found that it was based off a Swedish play, which was based off this original story by Swedish author Mats Wahl. After reading this, I can see lots of unsound additions to the movie to adapt it to American audiences. However, the book isn't much better. Interesting, but not stellar. No happy ending here: this is definetly not an "American" story (and that's okay).
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Kimberly
Kimberly rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
01/03/08

bookshelves: mystery, young-adult
Read in January, 2008
I haven't seen the movie, and I only vaguely remember hearing about it, so my view of the book was completely untainted by expectations from the movie. I really enjoyed this book. I was intrigued by the author's writing style. The inclusion of random details throughout the book were curious and I wonder if the tone of the book is typical of Swedish authors or due to the translation process. I thought that the ending was predictable.
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Trevor
Trevor rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
08/03/07

bookshelves: young-adult
Read in May, 2007
recommends it for: Teens looking for a different kind of mystery book
The pain of invisibility. The pain of the tormented body. The nightmarish pain of powerlessness. The Invisible is a taut suspenseful, poignant novel, where prose is used as sparingly as mercy is by those who attacked Hilmer Eriksson. Hilmer's "ghost" follows a detective as he tries to solve the mystery of the boy's death and uncover the secrets a small band of Neo Nazi teens are hiding. Very sad, very powerful.
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MountainLaurel
MountainLaurel rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
03/19/08

I expected more from this book. The idea was really neat and it had the potential to be an awesome story, but maybe something was lost in the translation because the writing was not very good at all. The things people said just weren't realistic and I felt like I barely got to know the protagonist -- Hilmer -- at all. I wish I could read a book with the same story, but written completely differently.
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Kara Jean
Kara Jean rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
05/28/07

bookshelves: my-reads
Read in May, 2007
Interesting novel. Much better then the movie. The book tells the story about how the story should have been written. It is much more of a tragedy/mystery. It is a young adult novel and it was translated from the Swedish language. So the text and grammar is very simple but a very intersting that is worth it. Don't see the movie.
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Kiely
Kiely rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
02/11/08

Read in February, 2008
A fairly quick but intense read. It's hard to say I enjoyed this book because it is quite heartbreaking and chillingly (is that a word?) honest. There is so much truth in the characters the author has created; it's not always the positive kind of truth we like to hear about but it's truth just the same.
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Tessa
Tessa rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
10/11/08

recommended to Tessa by: Mary-Louise Parker. o.O
recommends it for: Swedish people...
Books lose a lot of their original points and thoughts when they're translated, and since I really don't speak Swedish, I was a bit underwhelmed. However, I did really like the movie. GO THE GUY FROM WEEDS!
Weeds power, man. It always triumphs.
Plus, Swedish people are pretty cool. No, really.
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Tatiana
Tatiana rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
03/23/08

Read in March, 2008
recommended to Tatiana by: paul
uh, so this starts as something possibly mystical and intriguing and immediately turns into a dark law & order episode in book form. so i'm really not sure what i should be taking away from this, except for maybe some forensic how-to, but, really, that's why CSI exists.
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Severa
Severa rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
06/12/08

Read in June, 2008
This was pretty good, the only thing I didn't like was that the author didn't have the story on the invisible's perspective and I really wish we could have heard from his side more, and more about how it was being a ghost(sort of).
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Marisa
Marisa rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
12/09/07

Read in June, 2007
this book was pretty good, but i read it before i saw the movie, and i didnt think they would be close to being the same, because usually books differ alot from movies, but this book followed the plot of the movie almost exactly.
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Elyse
Elyse rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
03/12/08

This book is very captivating. It was made into a movie but looking at the description of the movie after having read the book the movie sounds like it is loosely based on the book.
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colin
colin rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
12/09/07

Read in October, 2007
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Boldlygo
Boldlygo rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
11/22/08

Read in April, 2007

Rose
Rose marked it as to-read
11/13/08

bookshelves: to-read

Mardel
Mardel rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
11/02/08

Read in June, 2007


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