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rbreade's review against another edition
Of the six stories presented here, the title story struck me as very good, "Co-ordination" as all right, two others, "Mr. Andrews" and "The Story of the Siren," as so-so, and the first two in the collection--"The Machine Stops" and "The Point of It"--as entirely too obvious in their separate purposes and almost tiresome.
"The Machine Stops" is one of those dystopian tales that can't get out of its own way, telegraphing both meaning and conclusion from almost the first page. In the far future, humanity has rendered the Earth's surface uninhabitable and so humanity has built cities underground, with a nearly omnipotent machine responsible for every aspect of life. In this way, it prefigures the Matrix movies, except that here humanity has come to worship the Machine. People have fallen out of the habit of direct interaction, a point which leads to one of this story's characteristically heavy-handed moments:
Forster should have stopped at "…let her fall," and allowed the reader to infer the rest. Instead, he hammers away, here and elsewhere in the story, as if the light touch he displays in his novels has abandoned him here.
He's back on his game with "The Eternal Moment," writing about an elderly novelist visiting an Italian village made famous by her first, most successful novel, documenting her increasing dismay at the changes she inadvertently wrought there, particularly in the case of a man who had once worked for her as a porter. In fact, an early description of this man, in his role as porter long ago to the novelist, is classic Forster:
The wry turn of phrase, verging on the epigrammatic, that conveys information about both the speaker and the one spoken of, this to me is vintage Forster.
"The Machine Stops" is one of those dystopian tales that can't get out of its own way, telegraphing both meaning and conclusion from almost the first page. In the far future, humanity has rendered the Earth's surface uninhabitable and so humanity has built cities underground, with a nearly omnipotent machine responsible for every aspect of life. In this way, it prefigures the Matrix movies, except that here humanity has come to worship the Machine. People have fallen out of the habit of direct interaction, a point which leads to one of this story's characteristically heavy-handed moments:
When Vashti swerved away from the sunbeams with a cry, [the air-ship attendant] behaved barbarically--she put out her hand to steady her.
"How dare you!" the passenger exclaimed. "You forget yourself!"
The woman was confused, and apologised for not having let her fall. People never touched one another. The custom had become obsolete, owing to the Machine.
Forster should have stopped at "…let her fall," and allowed the reader to infer the rest. Instead, he hammers away, here and elsewhere in the story, as if the light touch he displays in his novels has abandoned him here.
He's back on his game with "The Eternal Moment," writing about an elderly novelist visiting an Italian village made famous by her first, most successful novel, documenting her increasing dismay at the changes she inadvertently wrought there, particularly in the case of a man who had once worked for her as a porter. In fact, an early description of this man, in his role as porter long ago to the novelist, is classic Forster:
"Hitherto he had known his place. But he was too cheap: he gave us more than our money's worth. That, as you know, is an ominous sign in a low-born person."
The wry turn of phrase, verging on the epigrammatic, that conveys information about both the speaker and the one spoken of, this to me is vintage Forster.
jgwc54e5's review against another edition
4.0
This was an intriguing collection. The first story “The Machine Stops” seemed familiar and yes, I had read it before (probably a couple of decades ago!) in [b:The Science Fiction Century|914487|The Science Fiction Century|David G. Hartwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389748235l/914487._SX50_.jpg|253461] and it’s a prophetic bit of scifi very timely in our recent isolation experience. It’s ultimately about the increasing reliance on technology and the neglect of nature. Quite amazing for a story written in 1909!
The next three stories concern the point of life and the nature of religion, heaven and hell. “The Story of the Siren” was probably the weakest story for me, a dark fantasy of the effects of a sea siren on those who see her. The last and title story is not fantasy at all, but a musing on the effects of tourism on a town popularised in a book, very clever and also the only story that really touches on class. An interesting read.
The next three stories concern the point of life and the nature of religion, heaven and hell. “The Story of the Siren” was probably the weakest story for me, a dark fantasy of the effects of a sea siren on those who see her. The last and title story is not fantasy at all, but a musing on the effects of tourism on a town popularised in a book, very clever and also the only story that really touches on class. An interesting read.
tamzinlittle's review against another edition
2.0
All pretty boring except for ‘the machine stops’ which was just exceptional
jgwc54e5's review
4.0
This was an intriguing collection. The first story “The Machine Stops” seemed familiar and yes, I had read it before (probably a couple of decades ago!) in [b:The Science Fiction Century|914487|The Science Fiction Century|David G. Hartwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389748235l/914487._SX50_.jpg|253461] and it’s a prophetic bit of scifi very timely in our recent isolation experience. It’s ultimately about the increasing reliance on technology and the neglect of nature. Quite amazing for a story written in 1909!
The next three stories concern the point of life and the nature of religion, heaven and hell. “The Story of the Siren” was probably the weakest story for me, a dark fantasy of the effects of a sea siren on those who see her. The last and title story is not fantasy at all, but a musing on the effects of tourism on a town popularised in a book, very clever and also the only story that really touches on class. An interesting read.
The next three stories concern the point of life and the nature of religion, heaven and hell. “The Story of the Siren” was probably the weakest story for me, a dark fantasy of the effects of a sea siren on those who see her. The last and title story is not fantasy at all, but a musing on the effects of tourism on a town popularised in a book, very clever and also the only story that really touches on class. An interesting read.
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