Very cool ideas for when the book was published, fascinating detail about sea life and ocean floors, but written in a very dense and boring manner. Could not bring myself to finish it. ( )

Read for group: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/109465-the-evolution-of-science-fiction October 2019. SFFBC also discussing it. Good discussions both places. If you do read it, choose the Butcher translation that I did. Or, at least, not the most common and default and lousy Mercier. ( )

Wow, what an amazing book! This science fiction adventure, so thoughtfully written that even the fantastical elements seem almost plausible, tells of an underwater journey that is grand in scale and full of excitement and danger. Although it is long, full of detail and digression, it is never the least bit dull. That is due, at least in part, to the care with which this underwater world is crafted; even the long descriptions serve to build excitement for this magical voyage. Another element that works well is the cast of characters. The distinctive personalities play off each other well, and the two supporting characters—the passionate and courageous Canadian and the calm Frenchman—appeal to different facets of the main character's personality. Even the mysterious Captain Nemo, who is perhaps the nearest thing this book has to an antagonist, still has enough nuance and depth to inspire empathy. A powerful tale from a man lauded as the father of science fiction. ( )

Book 272 - Jules Verne - 20000 Leagues Under the Sea

Another early childhood memory was awakened by this book. Back in 1978 the BBC showed ‘The Return of Captain Nemo’ - a mini series very loosely adapted from Verne’s original. Loved it as I have been ‘Around the World’ I felt it apt to journey beneath the waves…I think I will have to ‘Journey from the Earth to the Moon’ in the near future.

Anyway, as usual I digress…written in the late 19th century…we come across a ship trying to track down the reason for several ships being attacked…allegedly by some kind of sea monster. The three main characters Professor Aronnax - the narrator and French natural world scientist; Ned Land - a Canadian harpooner and the aforementioned Captain Nemo…Nemo being the Latin word for nobody but in another language …simply meaning The Man.

The beautiful and wondrous descriptions of the deep blue showcase all the brilliance of Verne as our cast of characters face death from the creatures within the waters and death from the ice that surrounds them.

Nemo’s raison d’etre is to get away from the excesses and horrors of humanity as well as exploration of that undiscovered watery country.

The toing and growing between Nemo and his guests lead to an incredible climax as the Nautilus gets caught up in a maelstrom and threatens all aboard.

Who lives and who dies is the final mystery and even after 150 years I don’t want to ruin the ending.

Definitely worth a read ( )

Wow, what an amazing book! This science fiction adventure, so thoughtfully written that even the fantastical elements seem almost plausible, tells of an underwater journey that is grand in scale and full of excitement and danger. Although it is long, full of detail and digression, it is never the least bit dull. That is due, at least in part, to the care with which this underwater world is crafted; even the long descriptions serve to build excitement for this magical voyage. Another element that works well is the cast of characters. The distinctive personalities play off each other well, and the two supporting characters—the passionate and courageous Canadian and the calm Frenchman—appeal to different facets of the main character's personality. Even the mysterious Captain Nemo, who is perhaps the nearest thing this book has to an antagonist, still has enough nuance and depth to inspire empathy. A powerful tale from a man lauded as the father of science fiction. ( )

When I started reading this, my expectations were very different from what I found. I have never seen any of the film adaptations of this novel, but still, there must be some cultural heritage that planted images in my head that made me expect a novel full of adventure and excitement. Instead, I found a Victorian travelogue chronicling fish and other marine life, days at sea, and an exciting incident only from time to time. I struggled to continue. While I see its worth (the topics of ecology and humanity, Verne's inventive mind, the question of abandoning the world), I was still bored for long stretches and only found it to be a really engaging read for the last 20% or so, mainly the chapters in Antarctica and the ending.
This novel was published first in serialized form and I think that then it might have felt less repetitive and more exciting. I tried reading one chapter at a time myself, but it didn't work because I simply forgot to pick it up or was more eager to return to my main read. Another thing I tried to keep in mind was that it must have had much more impact on its contemporary audience who did not know submarines, who had not seen documentaries of marine life, who had maybe not even seen the sea and who had no access to snorkeling equipment or glass bottom boats. It was another time and the novel must have been marvelous to them.
So while reading it was hard for me, I am glad I did not give up. ( )

A dramatised audio of the novel - it was a lot of fun - maybe one day I'll read the whole novel. ( )

Boring ( )

The sixth novel in Verne's Voyages Extraordinaires is probably the best-known, slightly ahead of Around the World in Eighty Days and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

I'm reading the Voyages using unabridged Spanish translations. If you read this novel in English, the most extended English version is Mercier's 1873 translation, which is abridged and rather inaccurate. There are several modern translations, and I'd recommend looking for one of them (to see some options, read the wikipedia entry for this novel). If you must have a free ebook, your best option is F.P. Walter's 1991 translation ([url]https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2488[/url]).


What is it about? (from Goodreads): When an unidentified “monster” threatens international shipping, French oceanographer Pierre Aronnax and his unflappable assistant Conseil join an expedition organized by the US Navy to hunt down and destroy the menace. After months of fruitless searching, they finally grapple with their quarry, but Aronnax, Conseil, and the brash Canadian harpooner Ned Land are thrown overboard in the attack, only to find that the “monster” is actually a futuristic submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by a shadowy, mystical, preternaturally imposing man who calls himself Captain Nemo. Thus begins a journey of 20,000 leagues—nearly 50,000 miles—that will take Captain Nemo, his crew, and these three adventurers on a journey of discovery through undersea forests, coral graveyards, miles-deep trenches, and even the sunken ruins of Atlantis.


This is widely regarded as one of Verne's best, but reading goodreads reviews, I see a number of complaints about boring passages about the types of fishes inhabiting each part of the ocean. Both of those opinions have a point, as I'll comment in this review. I do think that this novel gets more than its fair share of criticism about those descriptive passages. The reason is that when people read only one Verne novel, it's often this one, so you get a lot of reviews from readers who are not used to his style.

The beginning is very interesting, with the hunt for the "sea monster" that is threatening the international sea routes, but the main part of the story, of course, begins once the adventurers get into the Nautilus, which turns out not to be a giant cetaceous animal but a submarine.

So this is one of those Verne novels where a futuristic vehicle plays an important role. But it's not his style to jump wildly ahead. The first submarine had just been invented when Verne wrote this novel, although of course it was far more primitive than the Nautilus. From there, Verne rigorously extrapolated what could be accomplished, and in some ways the Nautilus is surprisingly similar to modern submarines. He also described diving suits quite similar to modern ones. In his descriptions, Verne shows a good understanding of the effects of pressure under a deep layer of water, and also how apparent weight decreases inside the water due to Archimedes' principle. However, it seems to me he overestimated the visibility range you can get underwater. Also, he tends to have divers walking on the sea floor, when it seems that swimming would be easier.

In any case, this book is another example of Verne being good at extrapolating from existing technology. It's also another novel where the sense of wonder plays a huge role. Unfortunately, this is something that many modern readers are going to miss, since nowadays submarines and divers are quite common. It's only when you put yourself in the frame of mind of someone from 1869 that you can gaze in wonder at how this story opens the underwater world to people who had no access to it.

One problem this novel has is that the plot is a bit unfocused. After being saved by the crew of the Nautilus, the adventurers are treated well, but are basically prisoners. They are forced to accompany Captain Nemo and his crew in their exploration of the oceans. That makes the story rather episodic, as we contemplate some of the wonders of the underwater world. This episodic structure reminds me of Five Weeks in a Balloon, but that one was a faster story, being only one volume versus the two volumes of this novel (in the original edition of Verne's work, one volume typically was around 65K words). Also, the point of view characters were in charge, while here they can only go where they are taken. In the second half of the novel, the pace improves, and the plot focuses on the adventurer's planning a way to to escape. However, until then the story can be a bit slow, particularly for readers who are unable to appreciate the sense of wonder in these adventures. In these episodic chapters we get some moments which are more contemplative, like the visit to the submerged remains of civilization, and others which are more exciting, like trying to get to the South Pole and getting trapped under the ice.

Another enjoyable element of this novel is Captain Nemo, possible Verne's most intriguing character. In this novel we do not learn his true identity (Nemo just means "nobody", and it's the pseudonym the sea-faring hero Odysseus used in Greek mythology to outwit the Cyclops Polyphemus, in the Latin translation of The Odyssey). This character, however, would be revisited in a future Verne novel (The Mysterious Island). What makes him interesting is his complex and ambiguous nature. He's a well-educated and civilized man, but has also a dark side and a tragic past. He is a misanthrope, resentful of the human race, but at the same time he can't disengage completely from it, and gets involved in supporting groups of people who fight for their freedom. I can not describe him as an ecologist in the modern sense, but for the first time in a Verne novel there is some conscience in this character that nature's resources, seemingly unlimited, can actually be exhausted by human depredations.

Among the other main characters we have Professor Pierre Aronnax, who narrates the story. He is a French marine biologist (as I have said in other reviews, at this point it was normal for Verne to have a French character in his novels). This is the second novel of the Voyages told in first person, after Journey to the Center of the Earth, and once again the narrator is a scientist, allowing Verne to explain through him the scientific aspects of the story.

We also have his servant, Conseil, who seemingly knows the scientific classification of all animals, but is unable to distinguish one from the other in practice. Like other Verne characters with a similar role, Conseil is faithful to his employer to a fanatical extent.

Finally, we have Ned Land, a highly skilled Canadian harpooner, who is the man of action and feels particularly constrained by his imprisonment.

Before we finish, we have to talk about the scientific info-dumps. As I mentioned before, reviewers who complain about them have a point. It's Verne's style to educate his readers about science and the wonders of the world as he tells his adventure stories. It's a feature of his writing, but I found the scientific info-dumps rather dry here (pun not intended), as we often get enumerations of sea-life that take several pages. As I'm not into marine biology, I confess that I sometimes skipped them, jumping a few paragraphs ahead, which was easy to do without missing any part of the story.


Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it. In the first half of the novel, the pace was not as good as in Verne's most dynamic stories, but it was compensated by the sense of wonder and by the enigmatic Captain Nemo. Do not get the impression that nothing exciting happens here, though. Despite the slower parts there is still plenty of adventure and danger.


See all my Verne reviews here: https://www.sffworld.com/forum/threads/reading-vernes-voyages-extraordinaires.58... ( )

I had a completely different impression of Twenty Thousand Leagues prior to reading it (I’d been imagining battles with sea monsters very deep in the ocean). I’m glad I read this, but could have done without so many descriptions of fishes. Part were funny, and parts were exciting; overall I see why it’s good but I don’t think it’s one I’ll return to. ( )

I was probably about 8 years old when I watched the 1954 movie based on this book (mind you, I'm not saying I 8 in 1954!). I was wrong to allow the boredom it inflicted on me to influence me against reading it for so long. It wasn’t until Marie Laure’s enthusiasm for it in, “All the Light We Cannot See” that I reconsidered---and now, having read it, or rather, listened to the marvelous narration of Michael Prichard, I completely understand how it has stood the test of time, AND I’ve gained a greater understanding of “All the Light We Cannot See”.
(I'm not certain this is the translation I listened to because Tantor Media doesn't indicate the translator.) ( )

I've always been fascinated by the ocean world, and reading this for the first time as an adult was a delightful trip. Thale characters were lovable and grating in equal measure. It fits well in the "diary" narrative alongside Melville's Moby Dick, Poe's Arthur Gordon Pym, and Lovecraft's Mountain if Madness. ( )

A French marine biologist named Aronnax narrates his journey to capture a mythical sea creature called a narwhal. What he and his shipmates discover is that the creature doesn’t exist. Instead they find a submarine call the Nautilus, which has been created secretly and travels around the world beneath the surface of the water. The sub’s Captain, a man who calls himself Nemo, tells his new captives that they must remain on the Nautilus so they won’t have a chance to revel his secret to the world.

I love the premise, but the execution didn’t work for me. There are so many details that’s the plot gets lost in the minutia. Verne was certainly a visionary, but he must have been on some oceanic kick while writing this one. The descriptions of each individual sea creature go on for pages and it was incredibly hard to stay interested.

The amazing thing about the book is that it was published in 1870, long before submarines of the Nautilus’ stature were invented. I also thought it was interesting that the 20,000 leagues in the title refer to how far they travel in the sub. I always thought it was talking about how deep they went. Sadly these tidbits weren’t enough to really make the book work for me. I don’t regret reading it, because sometimes I’m just curious about classics, but I wouldn’t read it again. ( )

I must have read an abridged version when I was younger, because I didn't realize how much of this was literally just rattling off various species of animals and plants they observed. ( )

What would you do if you were trapped in a submarine that never wished to contact humanity ever again? Would you try to escape back to land or would you be content to live comfortably under the waves and never see land again?

This book is about exploration of the sea which was a very difficult task at the time of the writing of this book and much of the sea remains unexplored today. The main characters are Professor Aronnax, Ned Land, Conseil, and Captain Nemo. The Professor who is a marine biologist and his servant Conseil were invited to travel on a voyage with Ned Land who was hired to kill a large sea monster that had been causing many unexplained collisions with ships. The monster was determined to be a submarine after Professor Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned Land were thrown overboard and they were taken captive. The submarine was operated by Captain Nemo who swore off humanity and never wished to see land again.

The theme of this book is freedom and that everybody has a price on their freedom. The theme is displayed through the conflict between Professor Aronnax and Ned Land who have different lifestyles and are suited differently to their confinement with the professor not worrying too much about trying to get his freedom back because he is content to to live under the waves and study the ocean but Ned Land grows more homesick every day and will do whatever it takes to get his freedom back and return home. This conflict also involves Captain Nemo who wants to keep them captive to keep his submarine a secret but he knows that keeping them captive goes against his morals.

I recommend this novel because the scenery of the ocean is very well described in good detail and the plot has a very important message about freedom and what that can mean to individuals and how high or low it is valued, but at times the text can get a little too scientific for those who don’t care about that so much, however, the classification of the different species of fish and other animals adds to the central conflict of the story to show why the professor wants to stay, so this book would be very good for people who like the sea, sciences, a little bit of mystery and some action. ( )

This rating is a childhood rating. Hooked me on Science Fiction when I read it. ( )

A really good sea adventure book. It especially drew me in with the scuba diving parts, to which I can now happily relate! This particular version has a chronology of historical events, giving readers some context for the scientific/technological aspects of the book. For example, to us a fully electric submarine is a fact, but this was written twenty years before the first modern submarine - putting it firmly in the realm of fantasy for its time.

What I didn't like about this book was the over-detailed descriptions of sea animals and plants. Whole pages were devoted to simply listing off the types of creatures seen by the narrator, and sometimes it was upwards of five pages before the writing returned to the plot. Another complaint is that the narrator conveniently lost consciousness during tricky plot twists, so that "unavoidable" disasters were actually avoided but with no description of exactly how.

Verdict? Still a good read. ( )

A barely recalled classic book, but recalled as being enjoyable. It took a while to realized that the 20,000 leagues were not about the, impossible, depth that Nemo reached, but the distance from place to place the craft traveled while under the sea. ( )

Good adventure story. I'm not really sure when I read it. ( )

A classic 19th century science fiction novel about a journey around the world and under the sea. The story follows French Oceanographer Pierre Aronnax, and his assistant Conseil, as they join the US Navy in the search for an unidentified “monster” that is threatening international shipping.

The two men along with a Canadian Harpooner come to find out that the monster is in fact a submarine, The Nautilus, commanded by the eccentric Captain Nemo. Captain Nemo takes the men on a year long journey across the globe during which they encounter enchanting undersea forests, coral graveyards, the ruins of Atlantis, and even giant squids. Jules Verne’s undersea adventure has captivated readers since its first publication in 1870 and continues today to be one of the most famous science fiction novels of all time. ( )

Low 4/5

An neatly-written adventure story around the world that my 10-year-old self would probably enjoy. So well-researched and intricate. If there's anything we need more, it's characters with fierce vengeance that cut ties with society, building lifelong machinery creations.

Keep in mind this book occasionally talks about every damn sea animal and plants the protag encountered, so it's kind of boring in those parts. Moreover, the novel ends in an anticlimactic manner; it's like Mr. Verne here had wanted to tell more of the story but decided to fuck it and rushed it with no satisfying conclusion. (I mean c'mon. The protag group managed to get out from the eddy, saved by a random fishermen and that's that? No coda? Anything?)

And I wish I had seen the movie's portrayal of Ned Land. I had always imagined him as a mid-age sailor guy with sideburn and mustache (not sure if he's described that way in the book directly or not). Him being a surly brawny Navy boy guy would probably increased my experience lol because he's the only guy besides Nemo who is not boring. ( )

How did I escape reading this for so long? Well, I didn't really miss anything! I don't know what I expected, but "more" would be an appropriate word. The discussion of pressure and latitude and longitude made me drowsy. The real clincher for putting me to sleep with the very lengthy and never ending taxonomy of sea creatures! There is a lot of potential for a great story, but I feel it was missed in the details. 256 pages ( )

This book is one of the best by Jules Verne as far as I am concerned.
Not a fast read and I am not sure if all the sea creatures he had in the book are real as well as some ot the details but still a very interesting read.
A great read about history, the sea, countries, sea animals and sea plants.
Captain Nemo has taken Professor Aronnax, the faithful servant of the Professor, Conseil, and the Canadian harpooner, Ned Land, as prisoners on his ship the Nautilus.
The word league refers to distance and fathom is depth.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is the distance the book takes us on less than a ten month journey.
At one point, Professor Aronnax says "I end here this catalogue, which is sometimes dry perhaps, but very exact, with a series of bony fish that I have observed..." ( I have ended the rest of what he wrote but he continued to write more about sea creatures and fish.)

This book was published on 1870.
I gave it a 5 star rating. ( )

90% info dump. 10% plot ( )

Para mim, esse é o pior dentre os livros mais famosos de Verne. Viagem ao centro da Terra é tão descritivo quanto esse, mas é curto; A volta ao mundo em oitenta dias é perfeito; A Ilha Misteriosa é o maior deles mas a parte da divulgação científica é bem feita e bem balanceada com a aventura. Aqui não, em 20 mil léguas submarinas nós temos parágrafos inteiros recheados com nomes de espécies, só nomes, nada mais, o que isso vai ter de interessante se não conhecermos essas espécies? Eu me vim do meio para frente do livro, simplesmente pulando esses trechos, só assim para conseguir terminar esse livro.

O capitão Nemo também não é lá um excelente personagem, tem suas esquisitices, seus mistérios, mas em nenhum momento eu me senti super intrigado para descobrir mais sobre ele.

O livro não é um desperdício completo por conta de seus trechos de aventura, mas ele somem nas mais de 400 páginas do romance.

Podem ter algumas discussões interessantes durante a leitura, mas não consegui pegar quase nada, porque só queria terminar logo essa leitura. ( )