Friday, March 30, 2012

Around the World in 80 Days - Review

book cover art of Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne Around the World in 80 Days
by Jules Verne
Genre: Classic

     I may have been a little harsh when I'd said this book wasn't very exciting. It does start off a little slow, as different countries and cities are mentioned in succession. I'm geographically challenged, these names are lost on me. I may have heard of them, but I have no clue where they are.

     There are several plot twists as different obstacles get into Phileas Fogg's way that made me wonder if he would make his journey in the allotted time. I had always assumed he does succeed, I've never heard contrary, but does he? I'm not going to tell and ruin it for you, you'll just have to find out for yourself.

     One thing that I find amazing, or possibly completely unbelievable is that Phileas Fogg just picks up and takes off on his trip. There was no planning whatsoever and it isn't like he has a smart phone with GPS. I suppose we could assume that Phileas is perusing the newspapers while on one train looking for his next connection and the book glances over this fact. There is one instance where Phileas asks the steamboat captain if there is another boat scheduled to leave the harbor when he realizes he has missed his intended connection. I could picture the captain shrugging and saying "I dunno". I guess customer service was a lot better back then, as Phileas actually received an intelligent response.

     I'm not going to proclaim this as a new found favorite that I look forward to reading over and over. It WAS worth the read, but I usually think all classic books are as they are classics for a reason. I would read it again.

I give it 4 star review graphic 4 stars!

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