The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

On the recommendation of a friend, I decided to read The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. I have to admit, science fiction as a genre is normally one of which I steer clear, but I felt that as one of the seminal time-travelling stories in fiction, I ought to get round to reading it. I have to admit, I wasn't particularly impressed. Whilst I loved the initial description of the Time Traveller and his companions discussing the possibilities of time travel, and indeed, the novella's closing chapters following the Time Traveller's return, I felt that as soon as the narrative turned to the Time Traveller's journey into future, it began to seem a little tedious - at times, I found myself skim-reading pages (which in my opinion, is never a good sign!)

This aside, I enjoyed and appreciated Wells's underlying social commentary, with the Morlocks (the gollum-like creatures who live underground) representative of the working class, and the Eloi representative of the more "leisured." I also found it particularly interesting that on his escape from the future, the Time Traveller provides us with a haunting vision of what civilisation will become; as the sun dims with each shift forwards through time until he returns home, the Time Traveller indicates that humanity - rather than evolving and progressing - will eventually do exactly the opposite - it will degenerate until everything has died out.

Whilst I think The Time Machine is certainly worthy of 3 out of 5 stars for its contribution to the genre of science fiction, I think my next book choice - that is, Cranford by Mrs Gaskell - shall certainly prove to be a much lighter form of entertainment!

Thoughts and opinions are welcome :)