A Critic's Meta-Review: 4/5
This is bigger than science fiction. Science fiction is beautiful. But labels are too confining. So we will not call it science fiction - we will simply call it “exploring the endless possible realities that exist for us to sift through from the comfort of our own toilet seats.”
There we go; now that is a much better name. I really think it will last. Here’s hoping so!
Anyhow.
In this book, H.G. Wells does not just essentially introduce the entire world to the way in which they currently view the concept of time travel - he even provides a framework, a reference point, for one to even be able to consider at all that such a feat would even be possible. As one of the main characters of this story (the time traveller himself, I believe, come to think of it) sagely points out, any time one’s attention is drawn away from the present moment and shifts into thoughts of yesterday or today are, in many regards, transferring one’s consciousness into a new dimension with each non-present though. They say time is a linear thing, but clearly, they have not read Slaughterhouse Five.
This is why, rather than becoming “unstuck” in time, the “they” being referred to in sentences that begin with “they say” remain stuck in the tick-tock of the seconds hand on the clock - trapped in the tip tap of the spilled mass in the hourglass. I will be honest with you, that second one took a lot more time to nail down than I thought it would.
We did it, though. We got through it. Together.
Teamwork makes the dreamwork.
And Dreamworks makes Shrek.
And Shrek makes...waffles?
No; that’s donkey.
Ah. What does Shrek do?
Make love.
To?
Fiona.
Who is Fiona?
Some fiery redhead that is actually secretly an ogre.
Wait...what?
Yeah, dude. You haven’t seen Shrek?
My grandmother wouldn’t let me watch it. Said there was something that just wasn’t right about it.
Did she ever read any H.G. Wells?
Not really. She did read this one, though. I enjoyed this one, myself.
Why did you like it?
Honestly, really just for that last line in the epilogue. It ties the story together so well.
That it does, that it does.
Was H.G. Wells related to Orson Welles?
No. He was not.
“Even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man.”
