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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A very quick review:
A solid novella, that is as pertinent now as it was over a 100 years ago.
The novel predicts the onset of what is arguably a contemporary fear of originality:
"Beware of first-hand ideas!"
The onset of a global capitalist, homogenous commercial society:
"What was the good of going to Peking when it was just like Shrewsbury? Why return to Shrewsbury when it would all be like Peking?... All unrest was concentrated in the soul."
etc.
It's worth a read, if only to realize and accept that we often accept things as good enough when given the easier option.
A solid novella, that is as pertinent now as it was over a 100 years ago.
The novel predicts the onset of what is arguably a contemporary fear of originality:
"Beware of first-hand ideas!"
The onset of a global capitalist, homogenous commercial society:
"What was the good of going to Peking when it was just like Shrewsbury? Why return to Shrewsbury when it would all be like Peking?... All unrest was concentrated in the soul."
etc.
It's worth a read, if only to realize and accept that we often accept things as good enough when given the easier option.
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
dark
informative
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fast-paced
the first time i read the machine stops i absolutely loved it, but on a reread i found myself a little bored, and close to DNFing, which is a little shocking for a novelette under 50 pages. while it's incredibly impressive and inventive and eerily similar to our present day, it was also dull and lacked the extra political oomph i like from my dystopias. it has and will continue to stick with me, but i will always prefer something more fleshed out and with slightly deeper commentary than 'technology bad' - which is gonna be tricky to achieve with a book written in the 1900s. on the other hand, i enjoyed the celestial omnibus more on a reread (i think it went over my head the first time!) but it definitely still struggles from the quite obvious and somewhat shallow moral commentary. but hey, that's my fault for wanting more depth from two tiny short stories written a hundred years ago
The story has three parts. The first introduces you to their world. The second shows the desolation outside and how uninhabitable the world is. The third appropriately titled The Homeless is when the machine fails, and everyone dies. In The Machine Stops, I felt worried and concerned for the people who lived their lives depending on a machine and a book that is used to control their area of the machine and gives them everything they need. I find it funny the way people in the story revere the book as some do the holy bible. The author alludes to the importance of the machine and the committee that controls it by using capitalization for their names. Even before the Machine started to fail I was sad they never were able to experience nature. I was confused that Vashti, the main character, kept claiming there were no ideas that she could gain from looking at the sky or the mountains when so much inspiration has been drawn from them in the past. There is a change in the society where they no longer wish to go outside. They are content only living within the machine and begin to worship the machine itself. I believe this could represent people becoming too dependant upon the government to take care of them and becoming unable to see the failures within the system. Towards the end of the story, their “utopian” society turns dystopian and people die in a horrible death. People refused to question the Machine or anything that could go wrong Kuno was the only one who noticed the machine was breaking down. I am amazed it took so long before others realized something was wrong. I am reminded of a frog being slowly boiled in hot water and when it happens slowly enough it doesn’t notice it is dying. At least at the end the son Kuno gets to have human contact with his mother as they die in each other’s arms. The part that stood out to me most was an instance at the end when they are trying to convince people that firsthand experience is bad and try to dissuade people from going above ground. No one has any personal experience anymore they just learn from others who have learned from others and no one has any true understanding of the world anymore, they just believe what they are told by others. My favorite quote from this story is “Seraphically free from taint of personality.” This two-line rhyme shows that individuality has been lost and everyone has become apart of the machine. When the machine stops so do they.
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
reflective
slow-paced