Jules Verne: Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea

Hi everyone

I finally read the Jules Verne’s most famous work; twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea.
My copy has 244 pages and a 6-page introduction and I got it at De Slegte.
You can find all my Jules Verne reviews here.

 “An American frigate, tracking down a ship-sinking monster, faces not a living creature but an incredible invention -- a fantastic submarine commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo. Suddenly a devastating explosion leaves just three survivors who find themselves prisoners in Nemo's death ship on an underwater odyssey around the world, as Captain Nemo -- one of the most horrible villains ever created -- takes his revenge out on society.”

I quite enjoyed this book.

First of all, what I didn’t know before reading the book is that the twenty thousand leagues of the title do not refer to the depth but to the distance traveled.

The story is captivating and thrilling. It’s a true adventure story and I understand why so many boys love these books. Even as an adult woman it’s fun to read.
The characters are great and I liked their interactions though I did get annoyed with Conseil and how he worships his master. Sends shivers down my spine, someone acting like that.
Same goes for the portrayal of some of the natives in the book. Very, very racist.
I liked the plot too. A lot happens and most of it seems unimportant but because the central plot is so simple (Cpt. Nemo versus our three heroes) it makes the story go by really fast. Verne builds up to the final chapters, but all in all, it is a pretty unexciting book. Fun to read, certainly, and a lot of interesting, different things happen, but I was never on the edge of my seat.

Part of that is of course due to Verne’s tendency to go on and on and on about too many details. There’s list after list of fishes, plant life and other utterly boring stuff. It honestly made me yawn from time to time; they are so tedious and boring.

The science in the book is both impressive and hilarious. It’s a great experience reading science fiction that describes something (anything) in a future now past. There are plenty mistakes in the way The Nautilus works and other events but at the same time it’s amazing how detailed and accurate other ‘predictions’ are.

In short, it’s a very enjoyable book if you can see past the tedious lists and the racist characters.

3.5 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena

Jules Verne: Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Hi everyone

Journey to the Centre of the Earth is my third Jules Verne though it is only my second book.
You can find all my Jules Verne reviews here.
I got my copy at the Boekenfestijn.
It has a 6-page introduction and 185 pages story.

“The intrepid Professor Lindenbrock embarks upon the strangest expedition of the nineteenth century: a journey down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the Earth's very core. In his quest to penetrate the planet's primordial secrets, the geologist - together with his quaking nephew Axel and their devoted guide, Hans - discovers an astonishing subterranean menagerie of prehistoric proportions. Verne's imaginative tale is at once the ultimate science fiction adventure and a reflection on the perfectibility of human understanding and the psychology of the questor.”

The only female characters in the book are a maid and the Axel’s fiancée. Aside from being a maid or a fiancée they play absolutely no part in the story. Very disappointing.
The two main characters are great though. They are perfect together and they have a lot of depth.

The story is rather boring and slow and there isn’t a lot of action.
I really didn’t care for ‘the compass mystery’.
But the sense of wonder and excitement throughout the story made it a lot of fun.
The book contains a lot of details about the world and about what the characters see and experience.

Verne’s style is great. It reads fast, it’s interesting and I liked the travel log format.
I love the amount of details and the scientific thought that has gone into the novel. Most of it is dated or plain wrong now but it makes for a very absorbing novel with a perfect end to the story.

3 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena

Jules Verne: From the Earth to the Moon & Around the Moon

Hi

Believe it or not, but this is my first experience with Jules Verne.
I chose this bind up of From the Earth to the Moon & Around the Moon to start with.
It has 418 pages and I got it at Standaard Boekhandel.

“Jules Verne (1828-1905) was internationally famous as the author of novels based on ‘extraordinary voyages.’ His visionary use of new travel technologies inspired his readers to look to the industrial future rather than the remote past for their dreams of adventure. The popularity of his novels led directly to modern science fiction. In "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Around the Moon," Jules Verne turned the ancient fantasy of space flight into a believable technological possibility – an engineering dream for the industrial age. Directly inspired by Verne’s story, enthusiasts worked successfully at overcoming the practical difficulties, and within a century, human beings did indeed fly to the Moon. Curiously, however, Verne is unlikely to have thought it possible that a manned projectile could actually be fired out of a giant cannon, rising higher than the Moon, swinging around it, and then landing safely back on Earth. He had used the science of the day to construct a literary conjuring trick, a hoax, one of the most successful in all history. By skilful misdirection he drew the attention of readers away from weaknesses in the project. Read the book and you, too, will be fooled into accepting the realistic possibility in Verne’s time of that dream of flying to the Moon.”

I really needed this after finishing Oorlog en Terpentijn.

Both stories are captivating, well thought out, very detailed and really entertaining.
The characters are all very distinct and funny, everyone certainly serves a certain purpose to the story. They are all there for a reason and they are a bit caricatured but it works that way.
Considering the age of these stories (over 150 years) the plots really stand up to time. I mean, they are obviously dated and wrong but it doesn’t read that way. The book reads like it really could be possible so you wonder whether it will all work out or not.

But the stories are rather boring in places because of all the science the characters tell us about. It’s just too much. I’m really not interested in the distance between the different planets and stuff like that.
Around the Moon especially suffered from this and I enjoyed that one less.

I do want to read more of his works because it was so relaxing and entertaining. 

4 STARS

Happy reading.
Helena

Enjoying a big mug of tea and a relaxing book.