When the Sleeper Wakes

I have a couple of book wrap ups to do. I finished When the Sleeper Wakes by H.G. Well several days ago. I have read a lot of Wells lately, including The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, and The First Men in the Moon. When I read the introduction of the last of these, it mentioned the book so I decided to look into it.

The library had the novel in an edition called The Collector's Book of Science Fiction H.G. Wells. The Collector had three complete novels and many additional short stories by Wells. This book had illustrations that appeared in magazines when the stories were published around the turn of the century. I enjoyed looking at the art and reading the captions for the novels I had already read. It was great to see the world of the Moon illustrated.

Before I go any further, I must say I will not nor do I ever plan to spoil major plot lines or the ending of any book I talk about. I will not let my desire to talk about a book destroy the experience of reading it for another person.

My first impression is When the Sleeper Wakes is not as good as Well's better known novels. The first half of the book is the title character running around trying to figure out what is going on. It got repetitive and almost boring. When I thought about it, running around trying to figure out what is going on happens in Well's other books too.

I liked Well's world of an anti-utopia (or dystopia might be the better term). It is set 203 years in the future from around 1900. It is a time before flight and the aeropiles descried are wondrous devices that seem ridiculous by today's standards. The babble machines, moving walkways, and huge dinning halls of the future would make a great cinema experience. Then there were the couple of lines in the middle of the novel where the narration style suddenly acknowledges the reader before returning to following the Sleeper.

I would recommend the book most for its interpretation of the future. As for storyline, any of the more classic books of Wells are better. On my list of books to still read include Shape of Things to Come to finish my Wells reading as well as Brave New World to look into the future again.

When the Sleeper Wakes
H.G. Wells
8/2 - 8/4