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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I peaked at some reviews before reading this book and quite a few referred to it as boring. I thought, how can a classic novel of undersea adventure be boring. Well, I found out. You do by choking your novel with information about the geography, animal and plant life of the aquatic world that modern folks are either already familiar with or thought they were until confronted with a myriad of Latin terms. I’m sure many of his 1800’s audiences were as mind blown by these descriptions as they were by the action—but that just doesn’t translate. I was inspired to condense the novel to one phrase:
YOU CAN’T SEE THE STORY FOR THE SEAS!
This would be a cracker jack novel if it were 150 pages shorter—or if the interesting segments that pass all too quickly were fleshed out. The potentially fascinating Captain Nemo is too often off the page, as is the entire crew of the Nautilus. I appreciate not being told everything, but reading over 300 pages I deserve to be told something. Thinking of another equally vengeful sea captain, disappointed that Nemo didn’t get anywhere close the fleshing out of MOBY DICK’s Ahab. Of the other characters I most identified with the Canadian harpooner who almost from the start resents his captivity. Perhaps it’s the translation, but naming a character who longs to escape the sea Ned Land was a bit much. It’s his captivity I feel most keenly—after an interesting start the book really bogs down and I became captive myself.
I did learn one thing. I was always puzzled by the title because 20,000 leagues equals over 60,000 miles. How can they be that far under the sea. But the title refers to the number of miles traveled by the Nautilus during the course of the novel. This mystery solved just became another disappointment.
Takie to o wszystkim i o niczym, wyciulane w ciul.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Completely agree with the other review: “if i had read this in 1847 I would have given it five stars”. It is definitely a book that responds to the needs of its time, readers needed to be entertained via long and beautiful descriptions of things they would never see. This book is definitely a reflection of that. It has a loose structure with no real plot, just small adventures in different scenarios that liven the reader’s imagination. I was definitely able to picture myself in these scenarios and really feel the excitement of the adventures, ehich is not easy to do! So kudos for that.
Overall, im feeling complicated feelings over this book. It had an unsatisfying and lazy ending, leaving a lot of questions unanswered. It also had almost no plot line and barely any character development. However, it was a very immersive and exciting experience to read this book.
Overall, im feeling complicated feelings over this book. It had an unsatisfying and lazy ending, leaving a lot of questions unanswered. It also had almost no plot line and barely any character development. However, it was a very immersive and exciting experience to read this book.
Woof. This was pretty boring. But I’m sure I would have been super into this if I read it in 1870.
This one wasn’t for me. Too many lists of what the characters were seeing but without any care put into building the world. It droned on and I zoned out, probably only absorbed 45% of this book in total. That being said I will always appreciate knowing the blue print for a trope that has been recreated and referenced over and over again. Would have been a 1 star but I enjoyed the ending so I bumped it up.
A leggerlo ora dimostra i suoi anni nello stile enfatico e un po' pesante, ma nonostante questo la storia resta sempre avvincente e il capitano Nemo mantiene il suo fascino. Le descrizioni che ci appaiono ora a volte pedanti e un po' ingenue, dimostrano però la grande preparazione e il dettaglio maniacale che Verne ha messo nello scrivere questo classico, oltre al grande intuito nell'immaginare situazioni, soluzioni tecniche e luoghi a quel tempo sconosciuti e inesplorabili. Credo che per i contemporanei il racconto deve essere parso meraviglioso e molto godibile. In definitiva la riscoperta di questi grandi classici mi affascina proprio perchè rappresentano un viaggio dentro il tempo in cui furono scritti, regalandomi un doppio piano di lettura, quello del racconto stesso e del mondo a cui era rivolto.
I feel like I learned a lot about the sea while reading this.
Falls somewhere between a 3 and 4.
PopSugar 2015 Challenge: A book more than a 100 years old (x)
Falls somewhere between a 3 and 4.
PopSugar 2015 Challenge: A book more than a 100 years old (x)
adventurous
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This one was a struggle for me to get through. There were some parts of the book that I really enjoyed, but so much of it was just like slogging through a 1950's encyclopedia. I didn't really understand Captain Nemo's character..I just don't think we were given enough background information or even much character development. Yeah, this one just wasn't my cup of tea.
If I hadn’t read and enjoyed Andy Weir’s novels, there’s no way I would have stuck with this. Very similar style, except less funny and more boring!