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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Great Illustrated Classics)

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Title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Great Illustrated Classics)
by Jules Verne, Malvina G. Vogel
ISBN: 1-57765-806-X
Publisher: Abdo & Daughters
Pub. Date: January, 2002
Format: School & Library Binding
Volumes: 1
List Price(USD): $21.35
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Average Customer Rating: 4.17 (129 reviews)

Customer Reviews

Rating: 5
Summary: 2O,OOO Leagues Under the Sea
Comment: This is actually my favorite book of all time next to Ivanhoe, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The War of the Worlds. I read this book in fourth grade and absolutely loved it. Now that I'm 3 years older, I appreciate it even more. Though there were some hard words, I loved the dialogue. There is even humor when Professor Aronnax explains how pearls are made and says, "Yes, my boy, oysters can produce many sharks" because he is scared to go shark hunting. Captain Nemo is a mysterious yet interesting character. My favorite parts are when they are at the sunken ship in the Mediterranean Sea, when they fight the giant squid, and when they are at Ceylon. Some of their other travels take them to the lost continent of Atlantis, a tunnel under the Suez Canal, and through the Great Ice Barrier. This is my favorite Jules Verne book, though it has some competition from Around the Moon and Journey to the Center of the Earth. This book is a must-have for science lovers. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves adventure and the ocean. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Rating: 4
Summary: Classic Sci-Fi
Comment: This is Jules Verne at his best, creating the enigmatic character of Captain Nemo.

The setting is the mid-nineteenth century. Deadly and mysterious calamities continue to befall ocean-going vessels, with wild reports by survivors that the culprit is a sea monster large enough to ram and sink ships. French professor M. Aronnax finds himself aboard the Abraham Lincoln, a ship charged with finding and destroying the beast. Accompanying him is his loyal servant, Conseil. The ship succeeds in locating the leviathan, but it, too, falls victim to a deadly attack. Aronnax, Conseil, and a Canadian harpooner named Ned Land are the sole survivors--rescued by none other than the "monster" itself, which turns out not to be flesh and bone, but the world's largest and most technically advanced submarine.

They meet Captain Nemo, the owner, inventor, and sovereign leader of the flag-less ship, Nautilus. He explains that they're now his prisoners for life, though they will be treated well and are free to roam the ship. Thus begins an underwater tour of the planet, narrated by the fascinated Aronnax. With today's knowledge of the seas, some of the action is laughable, but at the time this was leading-edge science fiction. Verne's vision of submarine technology, the use of electricity, scuba operations, and various other things is uncanny and typical of great science fiction writers' ability to foretell the future. The ridiculous episodes include traversing an underwater tunnel beneath the Suez to the Mediterranean; a visit to Atlantis; and a trip to the South Pole under the ice, where they break through the surface for a look-see. This would be difficult, considering that the ice is more than a mile thick with a continent of solid rock below. But remember that when Verne wrote the book in 1869, Antarctica had not been explored and remained a virtual myth.

The enduring lure of 20,000 Leagues, though, is Verne's Captain Nemo. It takes the entire book (and then some) to learn who this genius Nemo really is. What horrible ordeal has produced such a cynical man, one driven to build the self-sustaining Nautilus, to swear off all contact with the "civilized" world, never to touch land again, and to ruthlessly and brutally defend himself against any perceived threat? At one glance we see a maniacal scientist worthy of a James Bond thriller. But at closer inspection, Verne has captured the timeless personification of angst over the errors and excesses of Man's interminable war against Nature and himself. Aspects of this same character can today be found in political and environmental activism throughout the world. Actually, it strikes a cord with us all; everyone wants at some time to build what today would amount to a spaceship and shove off from this screwed up planet, saying, "Adios, idiots. It's your mess now." --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Big Ice.

Rating: 4
Summary: Under the Sea
Comment: This is Jules Verne's most famous novel, and it still holds up pretty well. It has a slower, more deliberate pace than today's readers are probably used to, but it is still a good read. I don't think I need to say much about it, because the story is pretty well known. But I will say that Captain Nemo is a very intiguing character, and people interested in Victorian Era fiction should definitely get this book.

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