I finished The Time Machine by H. G. Wells which is a brief 140-page snack. This book won neither the Hugo nor the Nebula, but that isn’t too surprising considering that the book was written before those awards were in existence. The Time Machine was first printed in 1957 and the back of the book reads: “H. G. Wells’ THE TIME MACHINE is universally regarded as a prototype of all science fiction stories.”
I had been avoiding this book because I figured it would be full of the tired time traveling cliches found in most modern sci-fi (I’m thinking Star Trek here). But to my surprise, the book isn’t like that at all. It doesn’t exactly feel like sci-fi, but it is – I can see how this would be considered one of the first sci-fi novels. One of the things that struck me about this book is the rich language in which it is written. The Time Machine definitely feels like an older book; it has almost flowery prose and uses vocabulary in somewhat unfamiliar contexts.
The Time Machine is told from the Time Traveller’s point of view – he relates his fantasic story to a group of gentlemen. Basically, he travels forward in time to the year 802,701 A.D. and finds that humanity has undergone a profound change. We’re not talking about laser guns, nanotech, and lightspeed here; this story is much more subtle and low key than that. At its heart, The Time Machine is a thoughtful commentary on humanity and class distinction.
The book is engaging and rewarding to read. Plus it is good to see the origins of the Morlock/Eloi cultural reference. Probably the next book I’ll comment on will be the latest Harry Potter!