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Title: Journey to the Center of the Earth
Author: Jules Verne
Translator: Frederick Amadeus Malleson
Series: Extraordinary Voyages
Series Number: 3
Genre: Science Fiction, Classic, Translation
Audience: Adult
My Review:
Eh.
Axel was a whiny wimp who complained endlessly about having to go on the trip. The minute his uncle, Professor Liedenbrock, started to get the least bit angry with him over his dithering, Axel would cave and blithely go along with whatever ridiculous plan the professor has in mind. Axel was generally the one with the most sense but he didn’t have a backbone at all.
I’ve decided the professor must be going through a mid-life crisis. Or maybe a career crisis. Or maybe both. Why else do you plunge yourself, your nephew, and your hapless guide into a volcanic crater, not even carrying a supply of water but rather only a supply of gin? My guess is that you’re feeling your age and you’re out to prove that you’re just as virile–no, more so!–than your 20ish-something ward. He’s a tyrant but I think I was supposed to like him after one or two incidents where he shows that he does actually care about Axel. Too little too late is all I have to say about that.
Hans, the poor guide, is really the hero of the story but since he’s a barbaric Icelander (If that’s not a description directly from the book, it’s at least implied), he doesn’t really count. He’s just there to carry stuff. Lots of it. And build things that the two intellectuals can’t. Oh, and save their useless asses multiple times. But he’s barely educated so he doesn’t matter.
There is so much potential for this plot but it mostly went nowhere. There are a couple of well-developed scenes and adventures but the things that would have interested me even more are cut drastically short. Like, “I think I saw this but I’m not entirely sure. And does this other thing I saw mean what I think it means?” short. There was too much buildup for not enough payoff.
This is a classic for a reason but it’s not something that I’ll remember. I don’t regret reading it but the details will probably fade within a week. Other readers obviously disagree since this thing has been around since…1864.
My Synopsis:
Axel’s uncle comes home one day with a rare Icelandic manuscript. In perusing the pages, they discover a coded message from a famous scientist living in the 1700s. They eventually crack the code, realize that they’ve been given directions for how to reach the center of the earth, and set out to accomplish it themselves.
Similar Books:
If you liked Journey to the Center of the Earth, you might also like my reviews of
- The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Reading Challenge:
Purchase:
Buy Journey to the Center of the Earth from Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville, NC.
2 Comments
I have on hand one book by Jules Verne about people living in the future (from his point of view, certainly), and I have not read the book past the first two pages. In my opinion it's understandable if some people in our era find his works not so exciting or long-lasting. On that note, I think I may challenge myself to finish reading that book.
You know I've never read this and I probably won't, for the reasons you cite. I'd probably feel the same way and have trouble with it. Classics are classics but that doesn't mean we have to like them LOL. I read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea a while back and was lukewarm on it, and a few people were surprised I didn't like it. Couldn't help it, I was just bored. 🙂
Having said that, I loved the movie version of this when I was kid. It would be pretty silly though as an adult, I'm sure. 🙂