20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Rating:
Summary: A Flat, Unimaginative Story
Review: A fantasy written long ago in 1887, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea started almost an entire genre of fantasy with submarines like the Tom Clancy novels. In this story ships all over the world claim to have seen a mysterious shifting black reef. Many thought it was just a rumor until it bore a hole into the hull of a steamer that had been able to make it back to shore. Pierre Arronax, a French biology expert, and his servant are invited on a ship going to hunt this creature. When the ship sunk, they found themselves captive on the creature that turned out to be a submarine, and it captain, Nemo, a genius who despised human society, showed them the wonders of the depths.

Slow and plodding, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea does not match the excitement of more contemporary fantasy fiction. One reason that this book did not appeal to me is that, compared to the other fantasy book that I am reading, The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan, the characters and events are dull and boring. For example, a protagonist in The Fires of Heaven, Mat Cauthon, has two intriguing aspects. One is his incredible luck in games of chance. The other, most fascinating aspect, is that he has vivid memories of lives lived in the distant past. there is no character in the Jules Vern novel that can compare to such a riveting figure.

Jules Vern's novel is flat and unimaginative in contrast to Robert Jordan's work. I was told it was a classic, but I was disappointed by its quality of creativity. I would not recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy fiction.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic "Must-Read"
Review: This book is simply a "must-read" for every literature lover. Not reading it truly means a hole in the education. It might seem a bit old-fashioned to the "MTV-Generation" (Which I personally a part of.) but yet, it is a very interesting book. The thing that I remember the most, from the first and last time I read it in the 3rd or 4th grade, is the food. In a world where submarines are a regular part of our lives, there was nothing unique for me in the idea of a sub. Yet, the food facsinated me, they were eating things that I've never heard of, and they seemed so exotic, that I still remember them: The sea Cucamber, the squid, the sea-weed, the fruites of the bread-tree. I think that this book is a great gift for your child. However, buy it for him or her when they are still very young, before they are 'corrupted' by the TV and the idea that reading is "not-Cool". This book would also make, in my opinion, a great bed-time story for a kid that is old enough to understand complex and sometimes scary storylines, and yet young enough to be charmed by the wonders of technoogy and nature, and sit with mouth and eyes wide open when the giant squid is catching the Nautilus.

Rating:
Summary: You'll get wrapped up in it
Review: The legendary *Twenty Thousand Leaques Under the Sea* is magic realist Jules Verne's greatest work. Who can forget the sardonic Captain Nero, fiddling with his tools while Rome drowns? The jovial Ishmeal, cloven-chinned English tar with a finger in every pie, and his morose, moon-eyed sidekick, Quickkeg? Nero's dreams of world domination, with his imagined army of 20,000 facing the hardened veterans of the Civil War, the Crimea, and the Teapot Dome Incident are only a handful of the great imagines that will flood your senses.

Enjoy. You'll never eat calamari afterward without a pang of angst.

Rating:
Summary: Rejecting the human race
Review: It's indeed ironic that great works of literature are censored, not only prior to publication, but also after the books hit the shelves. Depending on a period and country, even a incontroversial author like Jules Verne suffered from closed-mindedness. That totalitarian regimes see fit to burn books, or to actively block publication and distribution of some books, in hope that the nation will not see the uneasy point of view often expressed in books - that fact does not surprise anyone anymore nowadays. But that such practices have been utilized in the land of the free and the brave - makes us wonder how different these two systems are. What had poor Verne done to deserve censorship? "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" was censored prior to publication, and the original manuscript never saw the day during Verne's lifetime. Against his will the author had to cut the social commentary from his trilogy, of which this novel is the first volume. By today's standards, the punishment was incomparable to the guilt, but even then it was disturbing that a work of fiction, a splendid tale of adventure written for the purpose of entertainment and education of the reader, not a political pastiche, mind you, had to have been censored. In particular, the crucial part of the novel had been cut, one in which we learn what were the origins of Captain Nemo, his motivations and heritage. Only years later, after Verne's death, the original manuscript was published, to reveal that Verne originally intended Nemo to have been a Polish nobleman, who escaped his Vaterland after the failure of the 1863 uprising against the Russian Empire. Nemo decided to remove himself from the society, literally from human view - by constructing the famous Nautilus, a submarine, in which he cruised the tranquil abyss of the oceans, where no hand would touch him, and where he wouldn't have to stand the pettiness and cruelty of his fellow human beings.

Thus, if you happened to have read the censored version, you would be genuinely puzzled as to the motivations of the Captain. Today, many abridged versions of Verne's novels appear in print, where most of the content is done away with, and what is left is the bare-bones action storyline. To mutilate the book in this way is to commit an unforgivable crime in general, and to hurt the author and readers in particular. "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" deserves to be widely read just as it had been intended by the author, with its wealth of scientific and prophetic information left untouched, with the commentaries and philosophical musings intact. Only then, within the grand context, the adventure makes sense, only then it is art. I have read this novel circa twenty times; I have admired Captain Nemo for years; I have held my breath in the depths of the Golfström in the Norwegian Sea during the storm, and during many thrilling moments in the book, not to mention the unforgettable conclusion of the novel; I have tried to solve the mystery of the waterborne ship made of steel, with its many complicated instruments; I have followed the arguments hurled between the Captain and the involuntary passengers of the Nautilus; and finally, I was trembling all over whenever I reached the culmination of the adventure. Verne was a genius, and Captain Nemo was his most original character creation, one I am very fond of for personal reasons, as is I am sure the case with many other readers of the prophetic French author.

Rating:
Summary: True Sci-Fi Classic
Review: This whirlwind adventure story/geography lesson holds up as one of the best and most imaginative of the early sci-fi novels. The 'hero' is a biologist whose undersea narration is worthy of Rachel Carson's "The Sea Around Us". The infamous Capt. Nemo is never really portrayed as a true villian and the central plot - would the Professor and his two companions escape the Nautilus - is effectively burried for most of the book.

Verne fails to delve as deeply into the enigmatic but fascinating Nemo as he might have (which might have elevated this from a mere sci-fi classic to a true character study a la Stephenson or Conan Doyle) and the ending, where he employs the "I've-run-out-of-time-so-this-will-end-things" sort of ending, left me feeling jipped, but still this is a highly enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Technical Technical Technical
Review: Adult reader here. Skimmed over lots of the science. Made my imagination rock! Loved it! Awesome book. My fourth grader read it at the same time. Claimed to have understood it, also loved it.

Rating:
Summary: The Mysterious Captain Nemo and the Struggle to Escape
Review: This book is one fantastic read! The scientist Monsier Arronax, his faithful assistant Conseil, and a stubborn Canadian named Ned Land find themselves "prisoners" aboard a submarine too advanced for even our era. To my pleasure, this book kept my blood flowing and didn't even allow me to blink. The only fault with this book is how the main character continually rambles on about the classifications of the species of the ocean. I found it odd how he would somewhat drift off into the sub-class, genera, etc. of a cod during some of the most exciting parts of the book. Nevertheless this is a great read. I wouldn't recommend it though for any individual who is either not into science or wants just excitement out of a book

Rating:
Summary: 20,000 leagues under the sea
Review: In the year of 1866 a mysterious creature from the water was attacking ships all over the world. The creature was believed to be 100 feet long with a long thick, sharp, and strong tusk that could break a steal hull. The group finds out that the creature is a submarine called the Nautilus. The group along with Captain Nemo went on many adventures such as visiting Atlantis. The Famous Maelstrom hits the Nautilus and the submarine can't escape. The group tries to escape from the Nautilus. The group gets knocked unconscious, when they wake up they find themselves on land.
I first heard of this book when one of my friends gave me the book along with many other classics. I think that this is one of my favorite books. Some other books I like are Robin Hood, Mutiny Aboard the HMS Bounty, and Kidnapped!. I like this book because it has so much adventure. I like anything that concerns with the ocean. I also like Mystery stories.
My favorite part was when the group asked Captain Nemo if they could go and hunt on land. To their surprise he allowed them. When they landed and were cooking their meat a bunch of cannibals came and started to attack. When the group returned captain Nemo opened the hatch and kept it open. The cannibals then tried to enter, but then every time one tried to enter they would run away screaming. Then the professor finally understood; the ladder, hatch, the hull, and most of the rooms were electrical, so the captain could stop anyone he did not want there.

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece of science fiction and literature
Review: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a masterful science fiction classic and the crowning achievement of Verne's impressive literary legacy. While the story itself is absorbing, it is the character of the enigmatic Captain Nemo that makes this novel so successful. Many of the characters we meet in Verne's fiction are one-dimensional; while eccentric, a man like Professor Lidenbrock in Journey to the Centre of the Earth is easy to understand, seemingly driven by science and nothing else. In contrast, Captain Nemo is an incredibly complex man whom neither the reader nor the protagonist is ever really able to understand. He has forsaken all of humanity and retreated beneath the sea, yet he shows great compassion to his crewmen and to the poor on earth; he is generally self-absorbed and emotionless, yet we see glimpses of an emotional trauma that constantly afflicts him and is capable of destroying him. He has suffered a great loss at some point in his life, and his sorrow is matched only by a drive for vengeance against his unnamed oppressors. Captain Nemo is one of the most interesting, delightfully mysterious characters in all of literature.

As for the story, a naturalist, his assistant, and a harpooner join a party in search of a giant sea creature which has attacked a couple of ships. They are knocked overboard and find themselves saved by the monster, which turns out to be a submarine manned by a mysterious crew of sailors. Captain Nemo requires them to stay on board the Nautilus permanently because he wants to keep the existence of his submarine a secret from the world. The three men sail on the Nautilus for ten months, exploring the world's oceans and seas. They marvel at the animal life under the waves; explore underground forests, oyster beds, deep trenches; gaze with somber eyes at great numbers of sunken vessels; fight off giant squids and dangerous sharks; cast their eyes upon the sunken continent of Atlantis; and burrow underneath the polar ice caps to emerge at the South Pole. All the while, they hope to escape and return to their homelands, although the naturalist hesitates to leave his traveling laboratory until such a time as Captain Nemo's emotions become dangerously unbalanced.

All in all, this is an incredibly rich, fascinating novel with a poignant yet powerful conclusion. Contemporary readers must have been overpowered by Verne's descriptions of this unknown sailing vessel and the exploits the sub was capable of. That magical element is missing from modern reader's reactions, but this does little to hinder the overall effect of the story. There is one negative aspect to the book--the naturalist and his assistant go out of their way to name and catalogue virtually every animal, mineral, and plant they discover. This is interesting to a point, but the plot often finds itself bogged down for a couple of pages while the reader is bombarded with a veritable encyclopedia of scientific names which are virtually unpronounceable and largely meaningless to his/her ears. These interludes are the only things slowing down the story, however. It is a joy to read the adventures these men have under the sea, and it is even more fascinating to ponder the mind of Captain Nemo. Even the unseen depths of the sea cannot offer the reader a mystery as deep and powerful as that of the Nautilus' exceptional captain.

Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed it
Review: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a masterpiece that should not be missed by anyone. In this book, the reader is taken on an unbelievable journey aboard the Nautilus, an ingeniously built submarine, venturing the mysterious waters of the world. Jules Verne chooses to describe marine life in incredible detail (or maybe even overboard in detail) in this fictional novel. One may wonder how much research Verne did on the ocean in order to write this story. I believe readers who find life under the sea interesting will best enjoy this book, but the rest may still be fascinated. Not only is this novel a great learning experience of the sea, it is also packed with surprises, which includes a visit to the legendary, sunken Atlantis. Verne even decides to include a bit of mystery in the story. During the sea-voyage, the submarine undergoes a mysterious collision that the captain refuses to tell. I found myself dreading to speed through the pages to complete the book, hoping the author would reveal the solution to this mystery towards the end. Even though I was greatly fascinated by this novel, I still admit that I was disappointed in some ways after completing it. After finishing the book, I had discovered that the title of this book might have been a little misleading. Instead of descending a total of twenty thousand leagues under the sea, the Nautilus actually travels a total of twenty thousand leagues submerged in the sea. One may even find the ending of the story a little too spontaneous and shortly written. As a conclusion, I must say that, even though I did encounter some disappointments, I enjoyed reading the book and I do not regret reading it.