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A review by travelgirlut
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne
3.0
First of all, make sure you get a good translation of this book! I had one version and found out before reading it that it was missing whole chapters that were edited out because they were too "sciency." This is Verne, you can't edit out the science. This particular translation by William Butcher is considered one of the best, so that's what I chose to read.
I didn't enjoy this near as much as [b:Journey to the Center of the Earth|32829|Journey to the Center of the Earth (Extraordinary Voyages, #3)|Jules Verne|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389754903s/32829.jpg|1924715]. There was not as much humor and the plot was broken up more by the sciency stuff. And there's a lot of sciency stuff: lists of scientific fish names and descriptions, depths and measurements, etc. I would skim through these parts, because I really don't care about fish.
There are adventurous moments in the book, but they are spaced out between sequences of travel and more science, which makes it difficult to really get into the story and feel like it's a full-on adventure. The characters in the book occasionally complain about being bored on the submarine, and the reader will find they share the sentiment.
Captain Nemo is supposed to be this great enigma with a tortured past, but honestly, I figured that out more from the spoiler explanatory notes [see below] than from the book itself. Only the events in the second to last chapter give any clue to him being anything more than just an eccentric loner scientist.
It may be an artifact of the times, but as with Journey, I again didn't appreciate how the companions to the main character get shoved aside and treated as nobodies. Conseil is the faithful servant who would die for his master, and Ned Land is just a savage whale hunter. Neither of them are ever treated as equals. They don't get to spend time reading and studying in the library. It seemed like they spent most of their time in their shared cabin. No wonder Ned was going crazy! Even at the very end of the book, as Arronax is looking back over their trip, he ends by quoting scripture and saying, "'[H]ast thou walked in search of the depth?', two men, amongst all men, now have the right to reply. Captain Nemo and I." What arrogance! Like Conseil and Ned and all the rest of the crew weren't there too.
As for this particular edition, I had gone into this book not knowing much of the plot, and I was disappointed after reading a few of the explanatory notes in the back of the book to find that the translator had no problems giving away all sorts of major plot points long before they happen in the book. I also found that I didn't agree with many of the translator's analyses of the personalities and motives of the characters. He would interpret things definitively one way when I could clearly see how it could be interpreted another. So if you choose to read this version, I would advise avoiding the explanatory notes until you are done (though the extra large asterisks spread liberally throughout the text make them really hard to ignore).
I didn't enjoy this near as much as [b:Journey to the Center of the Earth|32829|Journey to the Center of the Earth (Extraordinary Voyages, #3)|Jules Verne|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389754903s/32829.jpg|1924715]. There was not as much humor and the plot was broken up more by the sciency stuff. And there's a lot of sciency stuff: lists of scientific fish names and descriptions, depths and measurements, etc. I would skim through these parts, because I really don't care about fish.
There are adventurous moments in the book, but they are spaced out between sequences of travel and more science, which makes it difficult to really get into the story and feel like it's a full-on adventure. The characters in the book occasionally complain about being bored on the submarine, and the reader will find they share the sentiment.
Captain Nemo is supposed to be this great enigma with a tortured past, but honestly, I figured that out more from the spoiler explanatory notes [see below] than from the book itself. Only the events in the second to last chapter give any clue to him being anything more than just an eccentric loner scientist.
It may be an artifact of the times, but as with Journey, I again didn't appreciate how the companions to the main character get shoved aside and treated as nobodies. Conseil is the faithful servant who would die for his master, and Ned Land is just a savage whale hunter. Neither of them are ever treated as equals. They don't get to spend time reading and studying in the library. It seemed like they spent most of their time in their shared cabin. No wonder Ned was going crazy! Even at the very end of the book, as Arronax is looking back over their trip, he ends by quoting scripture and saying, "'[H]ast thou walked in search of the depth?', two men, amongst all men, now have the right to reply. Captain Nemo and I." What arrogance! Like Conseil and Ned and all the rest of the crew weren't there too.
As for this particular edition, I had gone into this book not knowing much of the plot, and I was disappointed after reading a few of the explanatory notes in the back of the book to find that the translator had no problems giving away all sorts of major plot points long before they happen in the book. I also found that I didn't agree with many of the translator's analyses of the personalities and motives of the characters. He would interpret things definitively one way when I could clearly see how it could be interpreted another. So if you choose to read this version, I would advise avoiding the explanatory notes until you are done (though the extra large asterisks spread liberally throughout the text make them really hard to ignore).