The Time Machine

H.G. Wells’ book The Time Machine can really only be described as okay by me. The story was not all that bad, but it was just a slow read and had some dull parts. In the book, the Time Traveller tried his hardest to get back to his own time period after traveling years into the future.

Although I was not such a fan of the book, it was cool to read a book written in the style that The Time Machine was. Most books written in today’s age use common language and quite a bit of slang. This novel, written years ago, is recorded in a totally different style. There were countless allusions to things I had never heard of and a hardcore vocabulary. There were several words in the book that I had to look up in the dictionary. It was neat to be able to observe how much writing has changed in just a short time. It is weird to think that when this novel was brand new that the style it was written was what was common then.

The Time Traveller was an odd character in my opinion. It really annoyed me that he was never called by name. I do not understand why the author would want to do that, because it does not really make him seem any more magical, mystical, or mysterious. It just seemed kind of like a weird thing to do. In fact, there were not very many characters in the entire book mentioned by name. The only person I recall to be mentioned by name was Weena. Weena was probably my favorite character. It was easy to picture everything she did throughout the story, from her near death to the countless dances she performed for the Time Traveller.

Based on the description by the author of the future, I would not like it that much. The book said the future was considerably warmer and that the entire Eloi race greatly resembled each other. Also, the idea of a great rift between groups of people and an inhabited underworld is just creepy. The time of the Time Traveller and his friends seemed like a much more enjoyable place to live.

In this story, the Time Traveller invents a machine to take him into the past and future. He thinks his plan has worked perfectly until he finds himself stuck in the future, due to the fact that his time machine has been hidden. He quickly locates the hiding spot but cannot gain entry to reclaim his machine. Throughout the book, the Time Traveller is struggling to find tools to help him get his machine back, while also warding off and fighting the Morlocks, the inhabitants of the underground.

I would not recommend this book for anyone who hates a slow read, or for anyone who hates being delayed by a big vocabulary. Actually I probably would not recommend this book at all, mainly because I did not enjoy it that much.