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squid771 's review for:
Around the World in Eighty Days
by Jules Verne
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
i... don't know what to make of this!
at times silly and heartwarming but also at times really shows its age with very obviously colonial-styled flat caricatures of the cultures fogg comes across (mainly thinking of the section from india through japan here; i was also particularly grossed out by the scene with the sioux). it feels like genuine respect is only given to the anglo-american types (thinking of a scene where a guy tells fogg that he has a little bit of yankee in him and is played as a very high compliment-- compare with the ritual in india or opium dens in hong kong, etc. it was the 1870s so yeah standard for the time and i doubt this is the type of book to expect a colonial deconstruction from but it still irked me)
i like passepartout well enough, and fogg to an extent but verne always has to make a point about how impassive or indifferent he is to every single misfortune even as the book nears the end. perhaps if it wasn't for that reinforcement he would come across as a completely blank character? i guess? he's a standup guy other than that but i don't have any strong feelings towards him, much like he does towards anything in the book. much like i do this book. funny how that happens
aouda is a victim of that earlier mentioned colonial mentality (indian in name but dressed up and presentes as european adjacent-- don't really know how to get across what i was feeling) and doesn't really do anything after being rescued, just exists as someone who is in love with fogg. nothing else
the writing itself is just rather... flat? very info-dumpy at times which i happen to like but it goes between that and ranging from pleasant to lukewarm descriptions of the places they go through (which is to say, i liked it at times but not a particularly high mark of quality)
feels like a book i should have read when i was 15, i would have enjoyed it a lot more then. oh well
at times silly and heartwarming but also at times really shows its age with very obviously colonial-styled flat caricatures of the cultures fogg comes across (mainly thinking of the section from india through japan here; i was also particularly grossed out by the scene with the sioux). it feels like genuine respect is only given to the anglo-american types (thinking of a scene where a guy tells fogg that he has a little bit of yankee in him and is played as a very high compliment-- compare with the ritual in india or opium dens in hong kong, etc. it was the 1870s so yeah standard for the time and i doubt this is the type of book to expect a colonial deconstruction from but it still irked me)
i like passepartout well enough, and fogg to an extent but verne always has to make a point about how impassive or indifferent he is to every single misfortune even as the book nears the end. perhaps if it wasn't for that reinforcement he would come across as a completely blank character? i guess? he's a standup guy other than that but i don't have any strong feelings towards him, much like he does towards anything in the book. much like i do this book. funny how that happens
aouda is a victim of that earlier mentioned colonial mentality (indian in name but dressed up and presentes as european adjacent-- don't really know how to get across what i was feeling) and doesn't really do anything after being rescued, just exists as someone who is in love with fogg. nothing else
the writing itself is just rather... flat? very info-dumpy at times which i happen to like but it goes between that and ranging from pleasant to lukewarm descriptions of the places they go through (which is to say, i liked it at times but not a particularly high mark of quality)
feels like a book i should have read when i was 15, i would have enjoyed it a lot more then. oh well