Despite accurately predicting the feasibility of a submarine, I don't think Verne had actually spent much time in the water. Reading science fiction that describes a future long past is also a hoot, especially if you're a huge goddamn nerd. Adventure under the sea! Laconic yet cordial sumbarine übermenches thirsting for vengeance and whale milk! Canadians! Well, a Canadian. I occasionally review field guides on Goodreads, and yet I actually preferred George Eliot's tangents about political economy and local gossip. Literally half this book is a taxonomic listing of every plant and animal Arronax observes! I mean, even I was bored. ![]() As I've learned from my more erudite sister, 19th century novelists are all about digression, and Verne, despite being very solidly camped outside Greatliterarynovelopolis in the growing shantytown of Genreville, is no exception. However, if you did? Well, then that's good, too. It may be hard to tell but I didn't actually like this very much. Name another volatile Canuck in literature.Īnyway. Just the fact that he is the ONLY surly Canadian I've ever read about was almost worth the price of admission. The only fun thing about this was Ned Land. They were literally the ONLY submarine in the world at that point and the oceans are HUGE.Īgain, I would have overlooked that with pleasure if I weren't so pissed off with this boring time-suck. It's not as though anyone could track them down even if those guys spilled the beans! Why keep Aronnax, Conseil, & Ned prisoner just because they had seen the Nautilus? <-made no sense! Oh, and their stupid secret language that they spoke on board? It was probably Pig Latin, because everything else they did seemed like something thought up by a 10 year old. It would be waaaaay easier and ultimately less time-consuming. I mean, really? Why the hell would anyone go to all that trouble of building this masterpiece of a submarine just for revenge? Just track the fuckers down and shoot them in the head. Since it wasn't, that was just ONE MORE THING that I found annoying. On the was also ridiculous but I could have easily given it a pass if this were a remotely engaging story otherwise. If a really tedious nature show fucked a 5th grade word problem and didn't use a condom - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea would be their bastard child. So, between those factors, I thought this would be a complete winner.Īlright. Plus, I usually have better luck when it comes to these older novels if I listen to the audiobook instead of trying to wade through all the crunchy dialogue with my eyeballs. It's supposed to be a classic action/adventure sci-fi book, right? And it's not an overly long book, which made me assume it was a pretty compact story. I was actually looking forward to listening to this. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is definitely the latter. I mean, there's boring and then there's mind-numbing. ![]() Hands down the WORST book I've read all year. ![]() Jules Verne’s novel of undersea exploration has been captivating readers ever since its first publication in 1870, and Frederick Paul Walter’s reader-friendly, scientifically meticulous translation of this visionary science fiction classic is complete and unabridged down to the smallest substantive detail. Thus begins a journey of 20,000 leagues-nearly 50,000 miles-that will take Captain Nemo, his crew, and these three adventurers on a journey of discovery through undersea forests, coral graveyards, miles-deep trenches, and even the sunken ruins of Atlantis. After months of fruitless searching, they finally grapple with their quarry, but Aronnax, Conseil, and the brash Canadian harpooner Ned Land are thrown overboard in the attack, only to find that the “monster” is actually a futuristic submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by a shadowy, mystical, preternaturally imposing man who calls himself Captain Nemo. ![]() When an unidentified “monster” threatens international shipping, French oceanographer Pierre Aronnax and his unflappable assistant Conseil join an expedition organized by the US Navy to hunt down and destroy the menace.
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