Reviews with content warning for Child death - The Time Machine

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

4 reviews

xabbeylongx's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Spoilers Ahead:

Time Machine was recommended to me by my university professor. We were discussing books in the science-fiction, and were given two to read. I’m a keen writer of science-fiction, but I haven’t actually read too many books in that sort of genre, so this was sort of a new territory for me to explore. That being said, although it was a short book, it took me a very long time to get into. I’m not really sure why, I think sometimes I didn’t really understand the language used, and it made it difficult for me to follow along. However, it was written in a different era, and so that isn’t really a fault of the book.

We follow the Time Traveller as he returns from his travels, interrupting a dinner party. After he has rested, he returns for food, and he begins to tell his guests about his adventure. He tells them all about how he made a time machine, and it took him into the future. He finds a land of weird creatures, which he calls the Eloi, and although he can’t understand them, he starts to get along with them. He goes exploring, but when he returns, he finds his time machine has mysteriously vanished. He looks around for it, trying to get help from the Eloi, but because of the language barrier (them being different species) they’re not much help. He finds one of the Eloi, called Weena, and she is small, and child-like, and she follows him, so he looks after her. They go everywhere together, as he’s trying to figure out where his time machine is so he can get home. They find some more creatures, Morlocks, only these ones aren’t as nice. They try to attack him, and they end up taking Weena. Eventually, he finds his time machine, and he travels back home, to where he is now in the moment. There’s a bittersweet ending, however, as one of the party guests tries to find the Time Traveller, only to find out that he’s gone into the future again. However, three years pass and he hasn’t been seen since, and the readers are left wondering what happened to him, whether he is still alive, or he’s been lost to the future.

First of all, I’d like to say that yes, this book is quite short – as was normal for the time it was written in – but to be honest, it could have been a lot shorter. I thought a lot of the events that happened were somewhat repetitive, and it seems a little pointless (in the nicest way possible) that he’d go through all of that, only to find the time machine exactly where it was, untouched. I know he was explaining his travels, and not everything has to be exciting, but sometimes it dragged on for too long, and it often made it a little boring at times. I don’t think any of the characters are particularly favourable either, but I do like the child, Weena. I think she’s described so cutely, and she deserves justice for not getting the ending she deserves. That being said, I don’t like that there isn’t a lot of input from the other characters. Although it feels like the Time Traveller’s stream of consciousness, which I actually quite liked, sometimes I’m reminded that he is talking to other people, and I find it hard to believe that no one would interrupt him during his monologue, especially if he’s claiming to have travelled through time. He doesn’t even seem to stop to catch his breath, or take any water or anything – which I imagine he needs, after talking all the time – and it would have been nice to have the little breaks to break the information up a bit. Otherwise, it’s just pages and pages of either information-dumping or nothing happening, which doesn’t make for an exciting read.

That being said, however, I do think that it was written quite cleverly. I like the fact that it was written as a constant train of thought, the stopping and starting and the digressing felt like a conversation you’d have with yourself in your mind, and, despite the lack of breaks, I did find it quite a clever thing to try and do. I also like the fact that no one is named throughout the book. Gives a detached feel to it, as if these people could be anyone, and I think that’s a really nice touch to it. Also, I do really like the character Weena, I thinks he’s a real sweetie.

Overall, it’s not even a bad book, I actually quite enjoyed it at some points, but there are a few things that I think could have made it a whole lot stronger than it was. But yeah, for one of my first science-fiction books, I cannot complain!

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