The Time Machine

1895/104 pgs

About the Book: The story starts with a man known only as The Time Traveller having a dinner party with friends. They are discussing existence and the various planes and dimensions things can exist on. The Time Traveller then shows his guests a small machine and claims it is a time machine. He mentions that he has a larger machine that would allow a human to travel through time. He sends the small machine off, but the guests believe it was a simple parlor trick. The next week the guests gather again for a dinner party, but The Time Traveller is not there. Soon he appears, looking bedraggled and hungry. He claims he has traveled through time and been to the year 802,701 A.D. He invites his guests to listen to his tale.

The traveller explains that when he first arrives, he comes across a group of people he calls the Eloi. They eat fruit and are easily tired and distracted and he describes them as childlike. The world they live in is very peaceful and paradise-like. He meets one called Weena that becomes a companion to the traveller. He notices that Weena grows fearful in the darkness. The traveller than discovers another race, the Morlocks. The Morlocks live underground. The Morlocks have stolen the traveller’s time machine and he is determined to get it back.


Sarah Teenlibrarian Says: I read this for my SF pick for my reader's advisory class. I enjoy science fiction movies and TV shows, so I thought I would enjoy this book, but I wasn’t a big fan. It was good, but not my favorite. I found it a bit boring and dull. It’s mostly the traveller talking about his theories of how the future formed, how the races came to be, etc. It didn’t have much characterization or dialogue which I like in a book. It was interesting to read though to see what early science fiction was like. I think I would enjoy it better as a play or movie.