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jgelmini's review against another edition
4.0
What an amazing imagination Jules Verne had! It was impressive to see how he integrated his knowledge of science and was able to explore the interior of the Earth with his imagination. My only complaint was that the ending was very abrupt.
lgpiper's review against another edition
3.0
This is the most faithful English translation of Verne's masterpiece. Many editions published under the more familiar title, Journey to the Center of the Earth, are actually re-writes of the Verne work, in which the character's names are changed, some events are deleted from the story line, while others have been added.
To find this on Gutenberg, you have to query by the French title, Voyage au Centre de la Terre. English. Searching on the English title results only in an audio book. Gah!
I started out reading the other version, but stopped because in the redactor's introduction, I was essentially told, "don't read this piece of crap, get the faithful translation". So I did. So far (30% done), so good.
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Anyway, as for the book itself, I have mixed feelings. I liked it well enough at the beginning, but the ending made no sense to me, and seemed rather rushed. Verne took great pains, for a while, to have the book be more-or-less scientifically plausible, then, toward the end, just let things happen willy nilly, things which were obviously implausible under any possible sets of assumptions. I don't much like when that happens. I prefer my fantasy to make sense within the context of its assumptions. I also found the main character, Axel, to be a bit overly emotional, but I suppose that is par for the course for mid-19th century people. They seemed to wallow excessively in melodrama.
Once again, I wish one could give +s and -s to * ratings. In my reckoning, a 3-* book is worth reading, but this one would be ***-, if I could label it so. My previous book, The Magnificent Ambersons would have been a ***+. Which is to say, this book is better than a ** book, which is pretty awful, but not so bad that one can't plow through it. A * book, on the other hand, is such garbage that one should immediately throw it down. A **** book, would be one that is really good, but not, perhaps, one of the best books one ever read. That last category is reserved for ***** books, such as Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or Great Expectations.
Anyway, Journey into the Interior of the Earth is worth reading for historical context if nothing else. If one never gets around to it, however, one's life won't be significantly less full.
To find this on Gutenberg, you have to query by the French title, Voyage au Centre de la Terre. English. Searching on the English title results only in an audio book. Gah!
I started out reading the other version, but stopped because in the redactor's introduction, I was essentially told, "don't read this piece of crap, get the faithful translation". So I did. So far (30% done), so good.
---------------------------------
Anyway, as for the book itself, I have mixed feelings. I liked it well enough at the beginning, but the ending made no sense to me, and seemed rather rushed. Verne took great pains, for a while, to have the book be more-or-less scientifically plausible, then, toward the end, just let things happen willy nilly, things which were obviously implausible under any possible sets of assumptions. I don't much like when that happens. I prefer my fantasy to make sense within the context of its assumptions. I also found the main character, Axel, to be a bit overly emotional, but I suppose that is par for the course for mid-19th century people. They seemed to wallow excessively in melodrama.
Once again, I wish one could give +s and -s to * ratings. In my reckoning, a 3-* book is worth reading, but this one would be ***-, if I could label it so. My previous book, The Magnificent Ambersons would have been a ***+. Which is to say, this book is better than a ** book, which is pretty awful, but not so bad that one can't plow through it. A * book, on the other hand, is such garbage that one should immediately throw it down. A **** book, would be one that is really good, but not, perhaps, one of the best books one ever read. That last category is reserved for ***** books, such as Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or Great Expectations.
Anyway, Journey into the Interior of the Earth is worth reading for historical context if nothing else. If one never gets around to it, however, one's life won't be significantly less full.
berlinbibliophile's review against another edition
3.0
This book started out slow and frustrating, then gathered steam to become really fun to read and interesting once they came to the Inland Sea, and then the last few chapters were too much for my suspension of disbelief and threw me out of my enjoyment of the story. I enjoyed reading probably a third of this. That doesn't mean the rest is bad, just that I found the Professor very annoying in his selfishness and manipulation. The descriptions of nature and fossils were amazing, though, and the adventures they had on the Inland Sea were thrilling.
theoliveprincess's review against another edition
5.0
First, there are so many versions of books on here this may not be the exact version, but it's close enough. The version where the nephew is Axel, not Harry. (The two different versions confused me at first) I don't stop often to write a review, but I absolutely loved this book. I've been reading old literature lately and while much of it bores me and I give up, this one kept me interested. I love the characters, I love the descriptions of everything that happened, and I wasn't ready for the adventure to come to an end, but like all adventures it had to.