Review of 'The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, Fiction, Classics' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Brilliant.
taschenbuch, 106 pages
German language
Published Jan. 5, 1979 by Diogenes.
Der Zeitreisende, ein Träumer besessen von Reisen durch die Zeit, baut sich selbst eine Zeitmaschine und reist, sehr zu seiner eigenen Überraschung, über 800.000 Jahre in die Zukunft. Er landet im Jahr 802701: die Welt wurde von einer Gesellschaft neu geformt, die offenbar in Harmonie und Glückseeligkeit lebt. Doch als der Reisende in der Zukunft bleibt, entdeckt er eine barbarische und verderbte unterirdisches Volk.
Wells transparenter Kommentar über die kapitalistische Gesellschaft war ein sofortiger Bestseller und hat das Genre "Zeitreisen" ins Leben gerufen.
Brilliant.
Obviously, The Time Machine is a well-known classic. And from the 4 (of 5) star review, it's clear that I enjoyed it. So I'll skip that and go to some random thoughts...
I could not believe how short of a story it was. Calling it a novella is, in my opinion, a stretch. Having seen two movie versions, I thought myself familiar with the ins and outs of the story and couldn't believe how much of both movies is made up for the screenplays. I understand that an 80-page short story would need to be fleshed-out to be made into full-length movie, but WOW so much of the movies was changed and molded by the filmmakers. For starters, none of the Eloi or Morlocks speak. To be honest, I still have no idea how the time traveling main character learned their names. And the relationship between the female Eloi (Weena, …
Obviously, The Time Machine is a well-known classic. And from the 4 (of 5) star review, it's clear that I enjoyed it. So I'll skip that and go to some random thoughts...
I could not believe how short of a story it was. Calling it a novella is, in my opinion, a stretch. Having seen two movie versions, I thought myself familiar with the ins and outs of the story and couldn't believe how much of both movies is made up for the screenplays. I understand that an 80-page short story would need to be fleshed-out to be made into full-length movie, but WOW so much of the movies was changed and molded by the filmmakers. For starters, none of the Eloi or Morlocks speak. To be honest, I still have no idea how the time traveling main character learned their names. And the relationship between the female Eloi (Weena, the only named character) is more of a parent/child or babysitter/child than a love affair and seen in several adaptions, like the Guy Pearce movie.
Overall, it is definitely a fantastic novel. And one can easily see how it shaped and changed science fiction forever. I think everyone should forget the story of The Time Machine that they know from TV and movies and read this novella. A game changer.
An old classic, but surprisingly good.