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Title: The Mysterious Island (Wesleyan Early Classics of Science Fiction Series) by Jules Verne, Sidney Kravitz, Arthur B. Evans ISBN: 0-8195-6559-8 Publisher: Wesleyan University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 (63 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Textbook on How to Start A Civilization from Scratch!
Comment: A very difficult yet satisfying book to read, this build slowly from utter bleakness to an enthralling sense of wonder. Having seen the 1961 movie, I was astonished at how LITTLE of the book actually made it to the screen-- and there were NO monsters here! Ironically, the trained orangutan-butler that would have been at home in a Disney film was one of the things left out of the film version. Having been surprised that the book 20,000 LEAGUES actually left Captain Nemo's background a total mystery right to the end, Verne finally reveals his true identity here-- and one can tell nobody in Hollywood's been reading this book. While it basically stands on its own, Verne's MYSTERIOUS ISLAND is actually a sequel to 2 previous books: 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, and the more obscure CAPTAIN GRANT'S CHILDREN, the latter of which I believe served as the inspiration for the Disney film IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS! With Verne's interest in minute detail, I came away feeling this book could serve as not only a rousing adventure story, but as a wonderful manual for anyone wanting to start a new civilization completely from scratch.
Rating: 5
Summary: Remember MacGyver?
Comment: How he used to make an engine run with duct tape and a shoe string, or make a bomb from bleach and a rusty nail?
He kept coming to mind as I was reading this incredible book, as the characters, stranded on an island with absolutely nothing, accomplished such amazing feats as draining a lake, making a home, building a ship, making an elevator, and a great many other things. There is excitement, suspense (what IS going on on this mysterious island??), and wonderful, likeable characters. Not a real well-known Verne book, but fortunately still in print, and one of his best and most entertaining.
(Incidentally, if you want a children's version of the same story, try to find "A Long Vacation" by Jules Verne, which is extremely similar in plot, but with younger characters and for a younger audience - very charming!)
By the way, please do read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea first, if you have not already done so. Evidently, Verne assumed that everyone had when he wrote this novel.
Great reading!
Rating: 5
Summary: Mysteriously Readable
Comment: I'm at a loss to explain why I found this book so compelling. At 700-odd pages with flat characters, no dramatic conflict to speak of, no giant crabs or chickens (if you remember the movie), little action until the end, no humor, no sex, not even any mystery--since it's almost impossible to avoid spoilers--but plenty of tedious description, stiff dialogue and quaintly oversimplified scientific exposition, you'd think it'd be impossible to get through. Yet I stopped everything I was doing and breezed through it in only a few days. I guess it's a testimony to the power of a well-wrought adventure story, and this is one of the best of its kind. For some reason I highly recommend it.
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Title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne ISBN: 0812550927 Publisher: Tor Classics Pub. Date: 15 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title: Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne ISBN: 0140022651 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1965 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne ISBN: 0553214209 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 May, 1993 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne ISBN: 059043053X Publisher: Scholastic Pub. Date: April, 1996 List Price(USD): $4.50 |
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Title: The Time Machine by H. G. Wells ISBN: 0812505042 Publisher: Tor Classics Pub. Date: 15 December, 1992 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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