A Slip Under The Microscope

These two short stories are by H.G. Wells, so of course I was expecting science fiction. But they were not. The first, "The Door in the Wall," contains some magical, fantastic elements, but they are in a story told to the narrator who never quite decides whether or not he believes them. The second is the title story, and is about class and distinguishing oneself at a prestigious university. Both feature "but what do you really want in life?" kind of decisions. Both feel very true in their understanding of human nature. I'm not normally fond of short stories, but for some reason I ended up fond of both of these.

An interesting pair of stories. I've seen people complain about how they aren't science fiction (and they're not) but authors often write beyond their core genre, and it's unfair to be disappointed when they do.
The first story might be classed as fantasy, the second is a real world character study. I enjoyed the first more, but both are interesting.

I enjoyed the first story more than the second. A mystery door that appears to tempt a man only when he absolutely must be elsewhere. The second story really was not what I expected from Wells. It was very firmly "real world". But what did surprise me was how modern the class room interactions where between the male and female characters. The fact that there were female characters studying science at a university also surprised me given the story was originally published in 1896.

Two short story form Wells. A mystic one about missed opportunities and a maybe a bit too didactic moraliy story. Not his bests of course, but still an interesting read.

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

Over the summer I've collected all the Little Black Classics that were published by Penguin to celebrate their 80th birthday! Every now and then I'm reading one of them, and my reviews are mostly some thoughts about each of the books.

I only knew H.G. Wells from his science fiction stories, and then only what I've heard about them. At this point I haven't read any of them. I was a little bit surprised when I was reading this booklet and the two stories featured are no science fiction, the latter which is also the title story doesn't even have any mystery element to it. This said, I didn't think they were bad stories, just not what I had expected from it.

Will I try something show more else from this author? I'm certainly planning to, but I think I will go for some of the more famous stories next. show less

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

Over the summer I've collected all the Little Black Classics that were published by Penguin to celebrate their 80th birthday! Every now and then I'm reading one of them, and my reviews are mostly some thoughts about each of the books.

I only knew H.G. Wells from his science fiction stories, and then only what I've heard about them. At this point I haven't read any of them. I was a little bit surprised when I was reading this booklet and the two stories featured are no science fiction, the latter which is also the title story doesn't even have any mystery element to it. This said, I didn't think they were bad stories, just not what I had expected from it.

Will I try something show more else from this author? I'm certainly planning to, but I think I will go for some of the more famous stories next. show less