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elementarymydear 's review for:
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Wow, this book was a treat! Classic sci-fi adventure mixed with scathing anti-imperialist commentary and a heavy dose of pro-environmentalism? Yes please!
Find this and other reviews on my blog!
You can’t underestimate the impact this book has had on our popular consciousness, from the very concept of a submarine to the deep-sea monsters such as the giant squid. The story follows a French scientist who finds himself carefully toeing the line between ‘guest’ and ‘prisoner’ on an underwater ship under the command of the mysterious Captain Nemo. While you don’t have to look particularly hard for the political themes of the text, the story and premise is a fantastical underwater journey around the whole world. It’s impossible not to sense Verne’s excitement about the ocean, the natural world and the plethora of scientific breakthroughs of the time. A personal highlight was the crew of the Nautilus discovering the bio-diverse ecosystem at the South Pole; it was the part of the journey that was farthest from our current understanding of the ocean and its inhabitants, and clearly a passage where Verne had a lot of fun! The marine lover inside me couldn’t help but get swept up into these great adventures under the sea.
Captain Nemo is known for his mysterious character, and I will admit I ended up googling him partway through reading just to see if I was missing something because it didn’t quite add up. After reading about the history of the writing process – and its translation into English – it started to make more sense, how this staunchly anti-imperialist man of unknown origin ended up as a sympathetic anti-hero in an 18th Century French novel. Perhaps one day when I run out of new books to read (ha!) I will read a different translation as I suspect my copy is the original which removed most of the explicitly anti-British empire sentiment. Science fiction is inherently political and so it shouldn’t have been a surprise to read such a character, yet it was.
Speaking of political messages, I was also surprised by the ecological position taken by Captain Nemo and, presumably, Jules Verne. As our main character thinks to himself:
“...the captain was right. The barbarous and inconsiderate greed of the fishermen will one day cause the last whale to disappear from the ocean.”
This was written a century before major conservation efforts really got underway, proving – not for the first time in this book or, I’m sure, in any other – that Jules Verne had a remarkable understanding of human nature and its flaws as much as its assets.
I’ve always been slightly intimidated by Jules Verne books, but not anymore! 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea was a rollicking adventure with plenty of food for thought.
Find this and other reviews on my blog!
You can’t underestimate the impact this book has had on our popular consciousness, from the very concept of a submarine to the deep-sea monsters such as the giant squid. The story follows a French scientist who finds himself carefully toeing the line between ‘guest’ and ‘prisoner’ on an underwater ship under the command of the mysterious Captain Nemo. While you don’t have to look particularly hard for the political themes of the text, the story and premise is a fantastical underwater journey around the whole world. It’s impossible not to sense Verne’s excitement about the ocean, the natural world and the plethora of scientific breakthroughs of the time. A personal highlight was the crew of the Nautilus discovering the bio-diverse ecosystem at the South Pole; it was the part of the journey that was farthest from our current understanding of the ocean and its inhabitants, and clearly a passage where Verne had a lot of fun! The marine lover inside me couldn’t help but get swept up into these great adventures under the sea.
Captain Nemo is known for his mysterious character, and I will admit I ended up googling him partway through reading just to see if I was missing something because it didn’t quite add up. After reading about the history of the writing process – and its translation into English – it started to make more sense, how this staunchly anti-imperialist man of unknown origin ended up as a sympathetic anti-hero in an 18th Century French novel. Perhaps one day when I run out of new books to read (ha!) I will read a different translation as I suspect my copy is the original which removed most of the explicitly anti-British empire sentiment. Science fiction is inherently political and so it shouldn’t have been a surprise to read such a character, yet it was.
Speaking of political messages, I was also surprised by the ecological position taken by Captain Nemo and, presumably, Jules Verne. As our main character thinks to himself:
“...the captain was right. The barbarous and inconsiderate greed of the fishermen will one day cause the last whale to disappear from the ocean.”
This was written a century before major conservation efforts really got underway, proving – not for the first time in this book or, I’m sure, in any other – that Jules Verne had a remarkable understanding of human nature and its flaws as much as its assets.
I’ve always been slightly intimidated by Jules Verne books, but not anymore! 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea was a rollicking adventure with plenty of food for thought.