Young Classics: 20000 Leauges Under the Sea - Vol. 250

by Team Book Matrix

48 pages, Hardcover

Reviews

[Rex Peverill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that was full of adventure.

[Amanda Den Dulk · Rating 2 out of 5]

i read this solely because it was a classic and i enjoy reading old books because of their vernacular, but this book really had no climax, and was almost just a marine biology textbook. throughout the story, captain nemo is extremely mysterious in his reasoning for abandoning society, and it’s led on that we would learn why, but it’s never exposed. when m. aronnax is escaping the nautilus, the way the author sets up the event and the last encounter with nemo would have made for a great time to lead into some insight about nemo. furthermore the passengers on the nautilus made absolutely no sense to me, they acted as if they didn’t know any outside language, leading on that they were from a fictional land or only knew life on the nautilus, but it’s revealed in one of their last moments they actually knew french?? there were just so many untied ends and plot holes with the passengers of the nautilus, the construction of the nautilus, the immense wealth nemo claims he has, and nemo himself it was hard for me to relate and sympathize with the characters. moreover, conseil and ned were poorly characterized, especially conseil. i just find it hard to believe that conseil, a 30 year old man, was obsessed with and completely 100% loyal to m aronnax on his own volition. one thing i will give the book is the fact that ned was very steadfast and almost arrogant in his want to leave the nautilus, even if it meant death. to me, it made for a good character, even if he wasn’t as complex as m aronnax was; granted, it makes sense we would understand the internal conflict m aronnax felt within the nautilus since he was the main character.

all in all, the book was alright. it was a nice adventure book and just barely held on to my attention for its entirety, but it was much like the makioka sisters by junichiro tanizaki in the fact that there was no real climax of the plot. it was really just a recollection of events. i wouldn’t recommend the book, but i don’t regret reading it. the vocabulary was intriguing and the way the characters spoke pulled a laugh at me at times. i will admit i laughed every time ned called conseil a cabbage. while i read it for the poetic aspect of the writing, which was present, i was also hoping for a good fantasy/sci fi story. in that aspect, i think the story is lacking, despite the pretty unique adventure m aronnax and his compainions were (forcefully) brought on.