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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Lire "Vingt mille Lieux sous les Mers", c'est redécouvrir "La Belle et la Bête" de Disney, mais version steampunk.
Non, je ne plaisante pas(enfin, juste un peu). Oui, je sais que c'est complètement anachronique comme remarque, merci bien, mais les parallèles sont indéniables :
- Le personnage principal (professeur Aronnax) est capturé par un mystérieux individu (capitaine Nemo) / la Bête capture Belle ;
- L'entourage d'Aronnax est retenu captif par le capitaine Nemo / la Bête retiens le père de Belle ;
- Le capitaine organise de somptueux repas pour le professeur / 🎶🎼"C'est la Fête"🎼🎵 ;
- Le capitaine partage son immense bibliothèque avec le professeur / la Bête partage sa bibliothèque avec Belle ;
- Le capitaine n'arrête pas de trouver des excuses pour passer du temps avec le professeur / idem entre la Bête et Belle ;
- Le professeur est réticent à l'idée de quitter le capitaine, malgré les avertissements de ses proches / idem ;
- Le capitaine protège le professeur à de multiples reprises / IDEM ;
- Le professeur est fasciné par le capitaine et son passé, et cherche à se rapprocher de lui / I-DEM ;
- Etc.
Je pourrais continuer pendant des heures à ce sujet, et j'ai mes notes à l'appui.
Si "Vingt mille Lieux sous les Mers" était adapté aujourd'hui, je peux vous garantir que la tension homoérotique entre le professeur et le capitaine créverait le plafond.
Bon, je ne vais pas m'éterniser sur cette (b)romance(?). Le livre a aussi d'autres points positifs, tels que :
- Ned Land, l'unique Canadien grincheux ;
- Conseil, sans lui, le professeur aurait cassé sa pipe dès la fin du troisième chapitre. Ce qui fait de lui le véritableantihéros de ce livre ;
- Conseil et Ned Land. LE duo de ce livre, en plus d'apporter une dose d'humour et de légèreté inespérée ;
- Le concept même du livre.
Sans surprise, de nombreux éléments m'ont donné envie de jeter le livre par la fenêtre du RER :
- Les descriptions sans fin et incessantes du professeur. J'aime la biologie marine et je tolère la taxonomie, mais franchement, il y avait de quoi faire trois overdoses ;
- L'absence de personnages féminins. Pas une femme est nommée ;
- Le professeur. Non, je ne développerai pas.
PS : Il n'y a que moi qui n'arrête pas de se tromper sur le nom du personnage principal ? Je n'ai pas cessé de l'appeler "professeur anorak" pendant toute ma lecture.
Non, je ne plaisante pas
- Le personnage principal (professeur Aronnax) est capturé par un mystérieux individu (capitaine Nemo) / la Bête capture Belle ;
- L'entourage d'Aronnax est retenu captif par le capitaine Nemo / la Bête retiens le père de Belle ;
- Le capitaine organise de somptueux repas pour le professeur / 🎶🎼"C'est la Fête"🎼🎵 ;
- Le capitaine partage son immense bibliothèque avec le professeur / la Bête partage sa bibliothèque avec Belle ;
- Le capitaine n'arrête pas de trouver des excuses pour passer du temps avec le professeur / idem entre la Bête et Belle ;
- Le professeur est réticent à l'idée de quitter le capitaine, malgré les avertissements de ses proches / idem ;
- Le capitaine protège le professeur à de multiples reprises / IDEM ;
- Le professeur est fasciné par le capitaine et son passé, et cherche à se rapprocher de lui / I-DEM ;
- Etc.
Je pourrais continuer pendant des heures à ce sujet, et j'ai mes notes à l'appui.
Si "Vingt mille Lieux sous les Mers" était adapté aujourd'hui, je peux vous garantir que la tension homoérotique entre le professeur et le capitaine créverait le plafond.
Bon, je ne vais pas m'éterniser sur cette (b)romance(?). Le livre a aussi d'autres points positifs, tels que :
- Ned Land, l'unique Canadien grincheux ;
- Conseil, sans lui, le professeur aurait cassé sa pipe dès la fin du troisième chapitre. Ce qui fait de lui le véritable
- Conseil et Ned Land. LE duo de ce livre, en plus d'apporter une dose d'humour et de légèreté inespérée ;
- Le concept même du livre.
Sans surprise, de nombreux éléments m'ont donné envie de jeter le livre par la fenêtre du RER :
- Les descriptions sans fin et incessantes du professeur. J'aime la biologie marine et je tolère la taxonomie, mais franchement, il y avait de quoi faire trois overdoses ;
- L'absence de personnages féminins. Pas une femme est nommée ;
- Le professeur. Non, je ne développerai pas.
PS : Il n'y a que moi qui n'arrête pas de se tromper sur le nom du personnage principal ? Je n'ai pas cessé de l'appeler "professeur anorak" pendant toute ma lecture.
Classic Jules Verne science-fiction, this was written back before submarines came to be, and tells the story of Captain Nemo and his amazing submersible the Nautilus,a s seen through the eyes of three (unwitting, sometimes unwilling) passengers aboard.
The 20,000 leagues of the title refers to the distance traveled by that submarine, taking in such sights as Atlantis, the South Pole, Underwater Caverns and Giant Squids, with this novel also very much a product of its time in seeing nothing wrong with the hunting of Whales or other such denizens of the deeps, mostly as shown by the character of Ned Land with Nemo himself also occasionally showing that (to modern eyes) blood-thirsty side.
But, boy oh boy, are there lists ...
A good third of the book, or so it seems, appears to be simply list after list of classification of fish, or with lists of dates: after a while, those seems to simply merge together and you find yourself skimming those chapters looking for the story to get back on track - a common feature, I find, of 19th century literature.
The 20,000 leagues of the title refers to the distance traveled by that submarine, taking in such sights as Atlantis, the South Pole, Underwater Caverns and Giant Squids, with this novel also very much a product of its time in seeing nothing wrong with the hunting of Whales or other such denizens of the deeps, mostly as shown by the character of Ned Land with Nemo himself also occasionally showing that (to modern eyes) blood-thirsty side.
But, boy oh boy, are there lists ...
A good third of the book, or so it seems, appears to be simply list after list of classification of fish, or with lists of dates: after a while, those seems to simply merge together and you find yourself skimming those chapters looking for the story to get back on track - a common feature, I find, of 19th century literature.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I did not much like my reading experience with this book, but at the same time I consider it a masterpiece.
In my childhood, I've seen and read many adaptations and variations inspired by this story. As a consequence, I expected a great adventure. But what I got was an extremely knowledgeable exposition on all kinds of marine biology, geography, geology, engineering and physics, with some adventure mixed in.
It is obvious from every page how passionate Jules Verne was by the beauty of the world and the beauty of knowledge about the workings of the world. The immense joy of exploring the unknown or of confirming or rejecting existing hypothesis by sheer intimate observation, can be quite infectious in this book. It is also very clear (and partly I take this on the word of the editor who gave us some information at the start of the book) that Verne knows his stuff. It is uncanny how much of his descriptions is correct or even inferred correct as it may not have been validated or true when he wrote this book.
However, given all the knowledge and accuracy Verne tried to put in the book, it is riddled with numbers, distances (and yes my version had the inexplicable imperial system), coordinates, lists of descriptions of obscure Latin or old English names of sea creatures and so forth. I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion between M. Arronax (the first person narrator) and Captain Nemo about the mechanical and physics explanations of the Nautilus' working. The reason for that was that I am slightly knowledgeable in the area of physics. Overall, the endless descriptives kind of killed my enjoyment for a significant part of the book. Then again, if I had read this book to study, taking up amateur marine biology and plotting the travels on an actual world map using the coordinates, I might have enjoyed it a lot more. But it would have taken me 3-4 times the time to get throught it.
In the end I did find the story fascinating enough not to put it down. The actions with whaler Ned Land and Conseil are interesting and Captain Nemo does show some very interesting phenomena, historical locations and wonders of the undersea world. So my experience was a mixed bag. So a 2-3 stars for enjoyment but a deep bow for expertise and being ahead of the times. I see why this book is such celebrated classic.
In my childhood, I've seen and read many adaptations and variations inspired by this story. As a consequence, I expected a great adventure. But what I got was an extremely knowledgeable exposition on all kinds of marine biology, geography, geology, engineering and physics, with some adventure mixed in.
It is obvious from every page how passionate Jules Verne was by the beauty of the world and the beauty of knowledge about the workings of the world. The immense joy of exploring the unknown or of confirming or rejecting existing hypothesis by sheer intimate observation, can be quite infectious in this book. It is also very clear (and partly I take this on the word of the editor who gave us some information at the start of the book) that Verne knows his stuff. It is uncanny how much of his descriptions is correct or even inferred correct as it may not have been validated or true when he wrote this book.
However, given all the knowledge and accuracy Verne tried to put in the book, it is riddled with numbers, distances (and yes my version had the inexplicable imperial system), coordinates, lists of descriptions of obscure Latin or old English names of sea creatures and so forth. I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion between M. Arronax (the first person narrator) and Captain Nemo about the mechanical and physics explanations of the Nautilus' working. The reason for that was that I am slightly knowledgeable in the area of physics. Overall, the endless descriptives kind of killed my enjoyment for a significant part of the book. Then again, if I had read this book to study, taking up amateur marine biology and plotting the travels on an actual world map using the coordinates, I might have enjoyed it a lot more. But it would have taken me 3-4 times the time to get throught it.
In the end I did find the story fascinating enough not to put it down. The actions with whaler Ned Land and Conseil are interesting and Captain Nemo does show some very interesting phenomena, historical locations and wonders of the undersea world. So my experience was a mixed bag. So a 2-3 stars for enjoyment but a deep bow for expertise and being ahead of the times. I see why this book is such celebrated classic.
adventurous
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Pretty good characters, Nemo especially. Hard not to find him curious and intriguing. Ned was the character I felt for most, trapped and never enjoying the time onboard. Aronnax himself being torn between the magic of the Nautilus and wanting freedom is at times interesting to. Conseil is just a worse version of Passporteut.
At times the idea of the Nautilus was captivating to me, even though the book is as old as it is.
I enjoyed the weirder bits (kraken creature attack, Atlantis being real) and this book seemed less racist than around the world in 80 days, the only other Verne book I have read.
I enjoyed the ambiguity of the ending too, i guess I hope Nemo and his crew found somewhere on earth that could offer them peace.
At times the idea of the Nautilus was captivating to me, even though the book is as old as it is.
I enjoyed the weirder bits (kraken creature attack, Atlantis being real) and this book seemed less racist than around the world in 80 days, the only other Verne book I have read.
I enjoyed the ambiguity of the ending too, i guess I hope Nemo and his crew found somewhere on earth that could offer them peace.
Unfortunately I couldn't finish this. Jules Verne doesn't age well.
Set in Victorian times, the story begins with the discovery of a sizeable unknown aquatic beast, presumably a whale, playing havoc with the shipping lines and disrupting trade. The obvious solution is to hunt it down and kill it.
The none-too-likeable professor keeps company with a harpoonist and a manservant whose characters are very poorly drawn and their interactions are very classist. The implication is that only rich and educated people can be interesting or intelligent.
We encounter Captain Nemo and his ship the Nautilus which is entirely self sufficient through harvesting sea life and ocean materials.
Captain Nemo, is quite a surly and objectionable character who keeps our professor and friends captive on the ship.
We then got stuck in groundhog day with constant expeditions and the wonders of turning algae into electricity or food, etc.
I got half way through but disliked the characters so much I didn't care how, or even if, they would escape. I had some interest in how Captain Nemo was going to meet his fate but only that couldn't keep me going.
Life if too short - I abandoned. H.G.Wells is far more diverting reading from a similar period and genre.
Set in Victorian times, the story begins with the discovery of a sizeable unknown aquatic beast, presumably a whale, playing havoc with the shipping lines and disrupting trade. The obvious solution is to hunt it down and kill it.
The none-too-likeable professor keeps company with a harpoonist and a manservant whose characters are very poorly drawn and their interactions are very classist. The implication is that only rich and educated people can be interesting or intelligent.
We encounter Captain Nemo and his ship the Nautilus which is entirely self sufficient through harvesting sea life and ocean materials.
Captain Nemo, is quite a surly and objectionable character who keeps our professor and friends captive on the ship.
We then got stuck in groundhog day with constant expeditions and the wonders of turning algae into electricity or food, etc.
I got half way through but disliked the characters so much I didn't care how, or even if, they would escape. I had some interest in how Captain Nemo was going to meet his fate but only that couldn't keep me going.
Life if too short - I abandoned. H.G.Wells is far more diverting reading from a similar period and genre.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced