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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book is a hard one. Its awesome and then its terrible and all you want to do is get through it. The actual story points are captivating but sometimes it gets lost in all the classifications of fish and plant life. Seriously lost in Latin classifications for pages .... so I don't think I'd recommend it to just anyone but I am glad I read it.
It was good. I'd give it 3.5 stars. Someone described it like you're reading a science journal disguised as a travel novel. The descriptions would be tedious if one actually read them all, but they are really there to enhance the image of this world that Verne created *in 1870* !!!
What would be really great is if a professional fiction author redid this book as a short story.
What would be really great is if a professional fiction author redid this book as a short story.
As a kid I had an amazing "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" pop up book and I watched the 1954 Disney movie many many times, so oddly this story was a big part of my childhood, but I had never read the book until now. It's a great adventure story and intriguingly advanced in its presentation of science/technology - hard to believe it was written in 1870! It bogged down a little in the excessive description and classification of fish throughout, but the crushing icebergs/giant squid/hostile natives/whirlpools/etc make up for it. Anthony Bonner's very adept translation seems to make all the difference, so I'd definitely recommend that version over others (which those in my book club said were very dense and hard to read).
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I love the story and the animated movie of this book was one of my favorites as a kid. Of course I know a lot has been changed for the movie, but the main storyline is the same. However on this book the tempo was so slow and the level of detailed description of different species was a bit much for my patience.
I mean, I feel like this is the classic adventure novel, you get to explore the world and read about amazing sights like sprawling coral reefs, sandy pits strewn with sunken treasure ships and coves full of oyster pearls (with the odd giant squid attack here and there). So that's lovely. But it also left me wishing there was more of an overarching plot throughout, rather than a collection of separate discrete "outings." As nice as it was to see the "heroes" overcome all the different challenges, I felt like the story was kind of static. (Lol, ironic since they travel 20,000 leagues under the seas, as the title indicates). I feel like reading this as someone in the 1860s would definitely be much more impactful and sci-fiesque, for us now i guess it feels quaint, but it's something that I actually enjoyed about it, like the Nautilus has an actual organ built in, isn't that amazing?
adventurous
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
I was really looking forward to taking a deep dive into the work of Jules Verne, but I don't think I'll touch another book of his because this was such a chore to read. Once the main cast joins up with Nemo, the book ditches the idea of having an over-arching plot for just going on crazy trips around the ocean. And you know what? That's fine. I'm cool with reading a simple adventure story and 20k has some pretty cool locations/settings. Unfortunately 20,000 Leagues is a science-fiction book from the mid 20th century AND IT READS LIKE ONE. Long winded descriptions of fauna, entire chapters where characters do nothing but mope around the Nautilus; it's too dry and too long for it's own good. Sorry Nemo, I'm headed back to the surface.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated