Let me preface today's blog with a quick note. I am hoping that next school year I will be able to create a blog -- I think it will be in conjunction with our school library-- where I can blog about books that I have read. Essentially, I would like to offer a mini-book review about what I read, while still allowing a forum for students to react and share as well as post their own reviews. We'll see. . . With that said, I am trying out the review format here!
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was a book recommended to me by a unique student who doesn't usually recommend books to me. Intrigued, I dove right in!
The story launches with these men hunting a mammoth creature of the sea, thinking it was some kind of giant whale. Soon, through a series of wild circumstances some of these men fall off of their boat and end up on the creature, which they quickly learn is a submarine powered by electricity. The submarine has glass panels where they can view sea life, it has the ability to "launch" men into the ocean to view plant life while wearing dive suits, and it can replenish its air supply daily. While all of this does not sound shocking, it is vital to note that this book was written in the 1880's. WOW!!
The men soon meet Captain Nemo (I just couldn't get the Disney picture out of my mind after that!) who is this great stoic villain working to exact revenge on society. This sci-fi book introduces the reader to places like the South Pole, the city of Atlantis, and a plethora of famous shipwrecks.
I will confess that I skimmed many sections. I felt as if I were drowning in pages about species of plants and animals that used the scientific genus names. I stopped reading those after the first two times. Science has never been my forte!
Ultimately, I felt that the end of the book was abrupt. You follow these characters through an epic journey and it ends with only a page explanation. I wanted more. I wanted to hear exactly what happened to our protagonists as well as our antagonists. Captain Nemo serves as an awesome villain who kept me captivated and left me with more questions than answers. Maybe that is the sign of a good book. . .
Would I recommend the book? Yes! It is on the list of classics and proclaims itself as a science fiction book much ahead of its time!
1 comment:
Are you sure mom didn't read that to us? I remember it floating around the house... but no clue about the story.
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