Showing posts with label jules verne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jules verne. Show all posts

Around the World in Eighty Days (Bantam Classics) Review

Around the World in Eighty Days (Bantam Classics)
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Around the World in Eighty Days (Bantam Classics) ReviewFor some reason, I always envisioned a hot air balloon when I thought of Around the World in Eighty Days; in point of fact, a hot air balloon is about the only means of transportation not employed by Phileas Fogg in his circumnavigational sojourn (though it is given a fleeting thought by the hero at one point). Fogg is an interesting character, a man who takes punctuality to an unheard of degree. Basically, his whist partners at the Reform Club tell him there is no way to go around the globe in just 80 days, notwithstanding the fact that a detailed itinerary involving specific boats and trains promises to make it possible. Fogg immediately bets half his fortune that he can do it, setting out on his journey that very night. Passepartout, his newly hired manservant, finds himself dragged along on this historic journey. It so happens that someone matching a description of Fogg has just robbed the Bank of England of 55,000 pounds, and a detective named Fix "discovers" his robber when Fogg arrives in Suez. He wires England with the news and asks for an arrest warrant to be issued; before it arrives, Fogg is off again. Fix finds himself joining in on Fogg's epic journey, waiting for the warrant to reach him on his way, then waiting to arrest Fogg when he steps back on English soil. The travelers face many perils and stumbling blocks along their way, many brought about by Passeportout's naivete and later on by his selfless act of heroism. At every turn, Fogg finds himself in need of alternate transportation methods; he employs, among other vehicles, an elephant, a bridge-jumping train, and a wind-propelled sled. A series of uncommon adventures unfold, involving damsels in distress, Indian attacks, matters of honor, etc. All these events come to a climax the day on which he is due back at the Reform Club.
There is not really much science in this fiction; instead, there is a good bit of geography; the stretches of text explaining the route from one place to another is rather boring to me personally. Luckily, most of the book is full of action. Throughout, the interesting Mr. Fogg remains as calm and placid as a cucumber while Passepartout provides some comic relief by continually finding himself in some sort of trouble. Most of the actors come across as rather wooden and artificial, but the story is good and the ending is quite satisfactory. The reading of this book led me to conjecture that this was one of Verne's earlier works because the characters here are rather drab compared to those in From the Earth to the Moon and because the pages are not weighed down by scientific terminology as in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; actually, it is one of his later novels.
Around the World in Eighty Days would well serve the purpose of introducing a Verne newbie to his writing. If you want to see glimpses of Verne's prophetic scientific ideas, though, this is probably not the book for you; it is best suited for recreational reading.Around the World in Eighty Days (Bantam Classics) Overview

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From the Earth to the Moon (Bantam Classics) Review

From the Earth to the Moon (Bantam Classics)
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From the Earth to the Moon (Bantam Classics) ReviewThis translation, one of the Barnes and Noble "Classics Editions", is the 1874 English translation by Edward Roth, a Philadelphia school-teacher. In no sense a translation, it is more a parody or retelling of the French original with many embelishments and additions by the author. The editor is Aaron Parett, an English professor from Montana. In an appendix the editor mentions that for furthur reading one might try the complete translation by Walter James Miller, "The Annotated Jules Verne: From the Earth to the Moon" published by Crowell: 1978 and reprinted by Gramercy: 1995. (In reading reviews, make sure the review applies to this ISBN: 07060765197)From the Earth to the Moon (Bantam Classics) Overview

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Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Bantam Classics) Review

Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Bantam Classics)
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Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Bantam Classics) ReviewYes there are different versions, The best one is the original in French. There are more than one translations into english, one with the Main character's name as Harry, the other as Axel.
I read the 'Harry' version first, but only partway through as it was terrible! I thought Verne was a bad writter or something. But, when I was older, I found another copy (Puffin Classics btw), and I thought I'd give it another go. That was one of the best books I had ever read, it funny and imaginative. The characters even had character!
Well, I looked into it, and compared my new version with the first book I had read and both of them with the original. Mine was pretty close. The names were kept the same, most of the sentences were similar in structure (so that someone like me who can't read french could tell that they were the same book).
The 'Harry version' however, invented entire chapters out of thin air, discarded others and changed significant plot points. I hope this helps some of you decide which one to get, and that there is more than one translation.
If the book starts with:
"ON 24 May 1863, a Sunday, my uncle, Professor Lidenbrock, came rushing back towards his little house at No.19 Konigstrasse, one of the oldest streets..."
You know you have the good version.
Otherwise, I love this book and would recomend it to anyone, whether a science fiction fan or not.Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Bantam Classics) Overview

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