At only about 100 pages, The Time Machine is a fast, easy read. The narrator is writing a story that has been verbally told to him, and the narrative has no more detail than you might expect from a story told to you by a friend.

Adapting to the Movie?: The Time Machine

Although the movie elaborates on the story, filling in gaps with details such as names, better developed characters, and a more in-depth analysis of the society the Time Traveler finds. For instance, the only people that are given names in the book are Weena, the Time Traveler's female companion in the future; Mrs. Watchett, the Time Traveler's briefly mentioned housekeeper; and Filby, one of the Time Traveler's friends. Naturally, the main character is called the Time Traveler, and the others who listen to his story are known by similar titles: the Editor, the Journalist, the Psychologist, and so on.

The book included all of the scenes of the movie that made such an impression on me: The rapid passage of time that was done so beautifully in the movie was described in similar detail in the book, and the description of the time machine in the book conjured my memories of how it looked in the movie. Even the premise of the movie--that the human descendants below the earth's surface fed on the people who lived on the surface, rather like keeping a flock of sheep--was original to the book.

How the Original is Different: The Time Machine

Wells uses the division of the species to make a political comment on the division between the rich and the poor. That the upper class had lost their ability to reason because of their laziness, and they subsequently became helpless to the appetites of the working class.

Another interesting observation is the scientific elements of the book. The Time Traveler's description of duration (time) as a fourth dimension is completely logical and believable. Likewise, his description of the end of the world--when he accidentally travels even farther forward in time while escaping the Morlocks--seems perfectly believable the way Wells tells it. For example, he describes the sun as becoming much bigger and redder, which (as I remember from my childhood astronomy obsession) actually happens to stars as they age. He also describes the air as getting thinner--even though the ozone layer had not yet been discovered in 1898, when the book was published. Thus, The Time Machine demonstrates how early science fiction has the ability to anticipate future scientific advancements.

Despite the fact that H.G. Wells wrote The Time Machine more than 100 years ago, this short novel is an interesting read. Like many classics, The Time Machine has many facets: It represents extremely well written science fiction and uses allegory as a vehicle for social commentary, all the while telling an entertaining story.