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qas242m 's review for:
The Machine Stops
by E.M. Forster
The Machine Stops is a tiny little story, reaching only 12,300 words, but might just be the best thing I’ve read all year.
Written in 1909, the digitised future it describes feels so startlingly accurate that it could have been released this very year. At over 100 years old, I’m genuinely shocked at how well this novel describes the computer age, despite it being released decades before even the most basic of computers was invented. Saying that, not only does the world feel like a looming yet magnified version of the current one, the core point of it all applies now more than ever before too.
This is the perfect kind of short story, where, while there aren’t quite as many words here as in a full-length novel, every word put to paper is impactful. E.M. Forster knows how to write well, and having never read anything by Forster before, The Machine Stops made me want to dive into more of what he’s published.
Considering it doesn’t take long to get through, and leaves a lasting impression, this is something I’d recommend in an instant.
5/5
Written in 1909, the digitised future it describes feels so startlingly accurate that it could have been released this very year. At over 100 years old, I’m genuinely shocked at how well this novel describes the computer age, despite it being released decades before even the most basic of computers was invented. Saying that, not only does the world feel like a looming yet magnified version of the current one, the core point of it all applies now more than ever before too.
This is the perfect kind of short story, where, while there aren’t quite as many words here as in a full-length novel, every word put to paper is impactful. E.M. Forster knows how to write well, and having never read anything by Forster before, The Machine Stops made me want to dive into more of what he’s published.
Considering it doesn’t take long to get through, and leaves a lasting impression, this is something I’d recommend in an instant.
5/5