Scan barcode
A review by sch91086
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
4.0
I have very mixed feelings about The Time Machine. On the one hand, it's an important book, being one of the first literary ventures into science fiction. But I just don't know if this novel(la?) stands up to the test of time.
The idea of time travel is one I have obsessed over almost all my life. I'm a little bit of a history nerd, and for that reason, if I ever had access to a time machine, the first place I would go would be the past. Much like Wells, my idea of the future is that it will be a bleak one.
I liked how the time travel was explained in the beginning. It almost made the subject graspable by my tiny brain. But I wasn't crazy about how the story was written. It's mostly a monologue from the Time Traveller (we are never told his name) with no interruptions or interjections from the Medicine Man or the Editor or the completely unnamed narrator.
I found the world he traveled to kind of unimaginative and bland. I suppose in the period this was written it was probably very imaginative, but in a world of Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, it just felt kind of lame. Cannibalistic monkey men? Silly men- and women-children? The lesson HG Wells was getting at, I think, was also an important one. What if the caste system (in present day, I guess socioeconomic status) leads to the decline of the human race? Communism (true communism- not the evil dictator kind) could be great but to what end? Everyone is happy in the upper world. With beautiful clothes and vegan diets and and beautiful architecture. But they are also stupid (uneducated?) being likened to happy cattle in a happy field. Which brings us to another point, is ignorance truly bliss? You decide.
This is a very short book but in that time Wells gives the reader a lot to think about.
"And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers—shrivelled now, and brown and flat and brittle—to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man."
This one line kind of redeemed the book for me. It seemed like he spent the whole book saying: "We're killing our selves! It will all end badly! Change your ways! Don't end up like stupid cattle!" and then suggested that perhaps these things don't matter so much. What makes us human is our ability to feel for others. What separates the surface dwellers from subterranean cannibal ape men was their capacity for caring. While the story itself doesn't make me feel anything, nor do the characters, I know I'll have plenty to think about for a long while.
The idea of time travel is one I have obsessed over almost all my life. I'm a little bit of a history nerd, and for that reason, if I ever had access to a time machine, the first place I would go would be the past. Much like Wells, my idea of the future is that it will be a bleak one.
I liked how the time travel was explained in the beginning. It almost made the subject graspable by my tiny brain. But I wasn't crazy about how the story was written. It's mostly a monologue from the Time Traveller (we are never told his name) with no interruptions or interjections from the Medicine Man or the Editor or the completely unnamed narrator.
I found the world he traveled to kind of unimaginative and bland. I suppose in the period this was written it was probably very imaginative, but in a world of Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, it just felt kind of lame. Cannibalistic monkey men? Silly men- and women-children? The lesson HG Wells was getting at, I think, was also an important one. What if the caste system (in present day, I guess socioeconomic status) leads to the decline of the human race? Communism (true communism- not the evil dictator kind) could be great but to what end? Everyone is happy in the upper world. With beautiful clothes and vegan diets and and beautiful architecture. But they are also stupid (uneducated?) being likened to happy cattle in a happy field. Which brings us to another point, is ignorance truly bliss? You decide.
This is a very short book but in that time Wells gives the reader a lot to think about.
"And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers—shrivelled now, and brown and flat and brittle—to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man."
This one line kind of redeemed the book for me. It seemed like he spent the whole book saying: "We're killing our selves! It will all end badly! Change your ways! Don't end up like stupid cattle!" and then suggested that perhaps these things don't matter so much. What makes us human is our ability to feel for others. What separates the surface dwellers from subterranean cannibal ape men was their capacity for caring. While the story itself doesn't make me feel anything, nor do the characters, I know I'll have plenty to think about for a long while.