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verosnotebook 's review for:
The Time Machine
by H.G. Wells
How is it that I didn't read this sooner? I saw and loved the 1960 film, and although this is a great adaptation, it is of course not the same.
Once more, the book has a framed narration, typical element to impart more credibility to the central story. An unnamed narrator explains the nature of the events about to take place, setting the scene. He seems to be the only one who even considers the possibility that the Time Traveller is in earnest, which leads us the reader to think in the same manner.
And what a fantastic tale it is! The Traveller (we never know his name) recounts his adventure, creating the machine, explaining his theory, going to the far future, meeting two new People, the Eloi and the Morlocks, and trying to make sense of this new world. His narrative is full of observations (social, evolutional, psychological, etc.) and science. He is a scientist after all. We experience his thought processes and indeed errors in judgement, again making him and his story more believable. Between this and the action scenes, all told in a very English and dry fashion, I found myself totally engrossed. I may have had some scenes from the film running in my head, but still, the scenes with the Morlocks were even creepier.
The novella can be enjoyed as an entertaining scifi read or analysed to your heart's content. There is literally tons of material that could be used for discussion, and this is something Wells often did. He liked to stir things, make you look at the world in a different way, pushing you to reconsider your opinions. Leaving the end of the story ambiguous and open further enhances this by making us wonder what is going to happen next. :0)
P.S. - I've just found out Stephen Baxter has published a sequel to Wells' famous story, [b:The Time Ships|62992|The Time Ships|Stephen Baxter|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1300997637s/62992.jpg|61184], and I cannot wait to read it
Once more, the book has a framed narration, typical element to impart more credibility to the central story. An unnamed narrator explains the nature of the events about to take place, setting the scene. He seems to be the only one who even considers the possibility that the Time Traveller is in earnest, which leads us the reader to think in the same manner.
And what a fantastic tale it is! The Traveller (we never know his name) recounts his adventure, creating the machine, explaining his theory, going to the far future, meeting two new People, the Eloi and the Morlocks, and trying to make sense of this new world. His narrative is full of observations (social, evolutional, psychological, etc.) and science. He is a scientist after all. We experience his thought processes and indeed errors in judgement, again making him and his story more believable. Between this and the action scenes, all told in a very English and dry fashion, I found myself totally engrossed. I may have had some scenes from the film running in my head, but still, the scenes with the Morlocks were even creepier.
The novella can be enjoyed as an entertaining scifi read or analysed to your heart's content. There is literally tons of material that could be used for discussion, and this is something Wells often did. He liked to stir things, make you look at the world in a different way, pushing you to reconsider your opinions. Leaving the end of the story ambiguous and open further enhances this by making us wonder what is going to happen next. :0)
P.S. - I've just found out Stephen Baxter has published a sequel to Wells' famous story, [b:The Time Ships|62992|The Time Ships|Stephen Baxter|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1300997637s/62992.jpg|61184], and I cannot wait to read it