205. The Time Machine

The Time Machine
H.G. Wells
1895
Around 100 pages

I know I can't be the best judge for what qualifies as a "fun" read, as I observed firsthand the look of horror my sister gave me when I pulled out my vacation read for our Florida trip (Their Eyes Were Watching God, which was much more geographically relevant than her Sue Grafton novel). But I think most people could come to a consensus that this is a fun read.

A Victorian English scientist and gentleman is successful in building a time machine. So naturally, he hosts a dinner party. He decides to test his machine and winds up in 802,701 CE. He meets the Eloi, and at first thinks he has stumbled upon a blissful carefree society. It wouldn't be any fun if he was right.

It seems like only socialists are interested in writing science fiction during this time. But Wells, unlike William Morris for example, is actually a great storyteller. Yes, there is an agenda here, but there is also an exciting tale that was more reminiscent of Haggard's King Solomon's Mines than Butler's Erewhon.

Short and sweet. We could always use more of that around here.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Wells coined the phrase "time machine."

The word "Eloi" comes from the Hebrew plural for Elohim, meaning lesser gods.

Clip from the 2002 movie:

UP NEXT: The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells. Already read, so you won't have to wait long for another review. 

204. Effi Briest

Effi Briest
Theodor Fontane
1895
Around 250 pages

The fallen woman novel. It is a common trope that we have seen from a number of talented authors, including Zola, Hardy, Tolstoy, and Flaubert. I'll admit I have enjoyed the stories, but it is getting old. Also, it is irritating, obviously, that they are always written by men, but that's another topic for a different day (how's tomorrow work for you?).

Effi Briest is a young woman who can't get over how young she is. In a letter she writes to her mother, she writes something along the lines of "oh, how young I am! I should still be in a nursery!" Would a teenage girl ever possess or express this thought? I knew as soon as the book began Fontane was going to make her swoon at some point...I wasn't disappointed. But back to the plot. Effi is married off to some old guy and...well, you can probably guess the rest.

I know that this isn't meant to be an attack on women, and Fontane is criticizing the oppressive circumstances that allow Effi's fate to happen. But I still felt like Fontane was of the opinion that the most interesting thing a woman can do is cheat on her husband. I didn't relate to Effi in the slightest. The only thing I could tell you about her is that she likes to stretch in between doing housework. Oh, and she is young, ever so young.

The Book underestimated the hardness of my heart, and thought I would be in tears over this novel. Actually, I predicted everything that would happen to poor Effi, and kept wishing Fontane would just get on with it.

So if you've ever found yourself thinking "I wish Madame Bovary was German..." this is the novel for you! Oh and if you have ever found yourself thinking that, please explain yourself in the comments weirdo.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Thomas Mann said that if one had to reduce one's library to six novels (why six? Who would make someone do such an awful, arbitrary thing?), Effi Briest would have to be one of them. Shut up, Thomas.

UP NEXT: The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. I've read this one already, so expect a review up shortly!

203. Jude the Obscure

Jude the Obscure
Thomas Hardy
1895
Around 500 pages

Look, I love Thomas Hardy as much as the next dead English guy does. But it's a bit hard to justify having seven of his books on the List, when he isn't the most versatile author. This List has a tendency to favor male British authors, at the expense of the rest of the planet.

But...

I love Thomas Hardy and will probably read all his works at some point after my 44th birthday, which is when the 1001 Book app says I will finish with the List. I have a sneaking suspicion though that Jude the Obscure will always be my favorite.

Jude Fawley yearns to be a scholar and teaches himself Latin and Greek in his spare time. He even reads while steering his carriage, which is the nineteenth century equivalent of texting and driving. But his dreams come crashing to a halt when he is seduced by Arabella Donn. She uses the oldest trick in the book to get him to marry her. Jude is really in love with his cousin Sue (we have a good fifteen years to go before that gets creepy). But Sue is being courted by a schoolmaster twenty years her senior.

Much like The Kreutzer Sonata, this is less of a novel and more of a giant bitchfest about marriage. From everything I have read about Emma Hardy it sounds like she almost deserved it, although I guess there is no question about who had control of that narrative. I could spend hours gossiping about Thomas Hardy's love life, and probably will to my next unsuspecting date, but let's get back to talking about the novel.

There are certain literary scenes that stick with us for awhile, whether or not we love the novel. Sometimes this is because they were just super gross (the skinning scene in The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, for instance), or disturbing (the end of The Yellow Wallpaper). But some are just striking, in the description or the truth displayed there, beneath the fugacious plot.  Jude the Obscure contains two such scenes for me. One is super disturbing and is a spoiler, but the other is the moment when Jude can't bring himself to slaughter a pig, despite Arabella's cruel urgings. How many protagonists would be unable to do this? Jude is a special character and the subject of my literary crush.

I've blabbered enough, I suppose, but since this is the last Hardy on the List, I should give it a proper send off. Thank you Thomas Hardy, for the wonderful books. You are my second favorite long-winded Englishman. Sorry, but Dickens.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Critics were scandalized by the novel, with one dubbing the novel "Jude the Obscene." Nobody tell him about Fanny Hill.

Official Ranking of Thomas Hardy Novels, from best to worst:
1. Jude the Obscure
2. Far From a Madding Crowd
3. The Mayor of Casterbridge
4. Return of the Native
5. The Hand of Ethelberta
6. The Woodlanders
7. Tess of the D'urbervilles

UP NEXT: Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane. According to The Book, this one is going to have me crying my eyes out. It will be The Elegance of the Hedgehog breakdown all over again. Gird your loins.