In the late nineteenth century, a strange sea monster prowls the oceans of the world. Those who see it claim it is immense and glows with a blinding
light, while sending sprays of water hundreds of feet into the air. Suddenly, the monster becomes more than a curiosity - it becomes a danger, sinking
ships in raging, unprovoked attacks.
Professor Pierre Arronax and his faithful companion, Conseil, are visiting America from the Museum of Paris, and end up on a warship bound to hunt and
destroy the beast. With them travels the famed harpoonist Ned Land, who is reluctant to admit such a bizarre beast exists, that can ram through a
steel-hulled ship like tissue paper. After months of fruitless searching, the ship finds the impossible beast. The monster attacks, and the three are
thrown overboard into the ocean - only to find themselves rescued and captured by the "monster" itself! It is actually an underwater vessel, led by the
mysterious Captain Nemo. Now that they know of him and his ship, Nemo refuses to let them leave, to tell the rest of the world of him and his plans. He
takes Pierre, Ned, and Conseil on an unforgettable journey around the world in his magnificent submarine, the Nautilus.
Review
I originally read a hacked-up version that was published as part of the cheap Great Illustrated Classics series. I then read the real version. No contest
on which was the better story... Though Verne's writing is from a different age, it can still be appreciated today for its foresight and descriptiveness. I
admit that parts grew tedious, not just from the archaic English but from Verne's insistance on throwing out so many scientific terms that lay readers (like
myself) weren't familiar with offhand - and not in any particular context, but in long, dry lists. But, then, half the point of sci-fi - or any good
literature - is to ask the reader to step up up to the tale now and again, rather than consistently watering it down. On the whole, it's a decent tale, still
well deserving its reputation as a classic.
Henry recounts a story from his days as a young man with Professor Hardwigg, a German geologist who stumbles upon the secret to a passage to the center
of the Earth. Tracing the route mapped out by an earlier explorer, Henry, the professor, and an Icelandic guide named Hans enter the crater of an extinct
volcano... and descend into a lost world beneath the planet's crust.
Review
Verne's stories are considered classics, often categorized as science fiction because, at the time, they predicted many things that had not yet been
invented. This particular story only counts as sci-fi because of the lost world aspects. It was written for a much earlier era, where much different things
were expected of stories. Verne takes the reader on a rather simplistic trip through the wonders beneath the world and a series of somewhat thrilling
adventures and encounters before returning the characters to the surface. Some of the explorers' adventures are almost comical in their improbability,
especially in light of modern research on preshistoric lifeforms, but on the whole it provides some nice imagery.
In late September of 1869, Mr. Kazallon sought passage from South Carolina across the Atlantic to Liverpool - and, on a whim, decided to
forego the newer steam liners in favor of an older sailing ship. He had a favorable impression of the vessel Chancellor in the
harbor, and though Captain Huntly might not have been the most inspiring leader, First Mate Curtis seemed more than capable. Thus, on the
27th, Kazallon and seven other passengers, as well as a crew of twenty, set forth to cross the ocean.
They would not see land again for over seventy days... and some would never see land at all.
From the start, a dark star seems to hang over the voyage when Huntly inexplicably steers the Chancellor south, toward the
Caribbean, rather than northeast toward England. From there, troubles compound through fire, storm, mutiny, and worse, until Kazallon's
whim in the harbor seems more like a curse, or even a death wish.
Review
It's been a bit since I tried a classic, and I do try to vary my reading diet (audiobooks count as reading), so I figured I'd try this
title. Jules Verne is known more for his classic titles that are considered foundational science fiction, but this has little of the
fantastical about it, being a straight-up, if harrowing, tale of a disaster at sea.
It starts a trifle slow (not unusual for its era) as the narrator Kazallon describes the ship and names his fellow passengers and some of
the more notable crewmen. From the start, it forebodes trouble with his less than favorable impression of Captain Huntly, a man who seems
listless or perhaps on the verge of some mental collapse; his decision to sail a ship bound for England south from South Carolina is but
the first in a string of questionable decisions, though First Mate Curtis refuses to step in unless the vessel is actually endangered by
the captain. At first, it seems like Huntly's unusual navigational choices aren't enough to do lasting harm, or might actually be part of
some real agenda by the man; they're almost to a port in the Caribbean when the first disaster - a fire in the cotton bales that form the
bulk of the cargo - flares up, quickly followed by a storm, and things only get worse from there. Throughout the disasters, Kazallon
records the events and how the various people - crew and passenger alike - either rise to the occasion or sink into their own despair.
The pacing is, as mentioned, of its era, and between bursts of high drama and action things slow down somewhat as everyone is forced to
deal with the aftermath and brace for whatever is to come next... and there is indeed always something else coming next, either from the
world at large or from fractures forming among themselves.
For all that things move reasonably well, Verne's prose bringing to life in fine detail the terror and the misery of the ill-fated
voyage, it can't help being of its era. There are a total of two women on board, a wealthy oil magnate's wife and a young attendant, who
embody the too-common ways women in older fiction are so often reduced to caricatures or icons - the petty, spoiled and shrewish "demon"
versus the young and comely and endlessly faithful and patient "angel" - rather than actual people, to the point where I wonder if Verne
or other authors actually conversed much with those beyond their own gender or saw them as some vaguely related other species whose ways
and minds were unknowable. A few other unfortunate stereotypes permeate the cast, too. Toward the end, Verne seems to be mostly twisting
the knife as the situation becomes more and more dire among the dwindling number of survivors, and a few elements had a touch of illogic
or plot convenience about them (which I won't venture into because they might constitute spoilers). I also found the very ending and
wrap-up a touch rushed, all negatives enough to shave a half-point off the rating.
