About this title: Jim Hawkins, who narrates Stevenson's classic tale, is rewarded for his assistance to an old pirate, Billy Bones, with a map showing the way to buried treasure. He and his associates set sail for the island on a ship manned by a band of pirates--a fact they discover en route. The pirate king is the notorious one-legged cook Long John Silver, one of Stevenson's most delightfully conceived villains. The pirates are vanquished, the treasure is retrieved, and Stevenson's novel is widely loved, and admired as one of the great adventure novels of all time.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. 280 p. : ill.; 24 cm. Translation of: Voyage au centre de la terre. read more
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Good general condition. Pages clean and unmarked. Some cover wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 258p. audience; General. Juvenile Fiction/Adventure Classics All scientists know Earth is a thin crust of land and ocean surrounding a vast globe of molten lava, poison gas, hellish heat and ungodly pressure. But Professor Von Hardwigg doesn't believe it. Armed with only ancient directions from a medieval alchemist, Hardwigg, his nephew Harry and the Icelandic ... read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Watermill Classics, Mahwah, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1980
Description: Good. No Jacket. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. The book is very solid with lightly browned pages. A name is written on the first end paper. The cover has minor shelf wear & moderate edge wear with a 2 inch tear at the upper back corner of the spine. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Scholastic, New York
Date Published: 1965
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. 316 p.; 16 cm. SBS; T618. Audience: Children/juvenile. Translation of Voyage au centre de la terre. Second printing. read more
"This book was nothing like what I had expected. I picked it up because I was in the mood for something fast-paced and action-packed, and I figured this was the perfect book (going off of the movie). It wasn't at all. This book was all science. There were no dinosaurs (though there were prehistoric giant sea-monsters at one point) and *SPOILER* they never made it to the center of the earth. They didn't even get one third of the way there before a volcanic eruption spurted them to the surface again after weeks of traveling.
I gave this books 4 stars.
Why in the world would I do that? Because I like the way Jules Verne writes. He kept me interested in the story even when there was no adrenaline-rush happening. I admit, if this book had been 400 pages rather than 200 I probably would have given it 1 or 2 stars. Verne can't keep me interested with science facts alone forever!"
"This wonderfully breezy, picaresque novel is the perfect antidote to a surfeit of Sartre or Camus. It is like slamming the dusty old books shut and getting out for a walk and some fresh air. It goes along at a rattling pace that keeps you breathless, and if you accept it on its own terms it has the realism of a very vivid dream, and one that you wouldn't mind staying in a bit longer.
Professor Otto Lindenbrock, the archetypal absent-minded one, unearths a manuscript by the 16th century Icelandic explorer Arne Saknussemm that details his own journey to the centre of the earth, and together with his nephew/assistant Axel and an Icelandic guide called Hans they set off to retrace his steps.
Entering the earth's crust from the dormant Sneffels volcano in Iceland, they enter a world of fantastic rock and gem formations, strange lights, subterranean forests and vast seas, inhabited by the inevitable dinosaurs, and catch a glimpse of twelve-foot humans herding mastodons.
The professor is a single-minded bully of a scientist, Hans is the ultimate stoical guide from whom the temper-tantrums and scenery alike wash as from a duck's back, and Axel (who narrates) fusses and worries and records his impressions.
They manage to get a fair way down but don't actually reach the centre; instead, after a hair-raising, roller-coaster descent into a watery abyss they are ejected from an active volcano and end up in Sicily.
You catch a breath of the heady atmosphere of mid-nineteenth-century optimism in this book, the sense that the world has opened up and that all things are possible. There is no navel-gazing or search for meaning, and Verne deliberately goes for straightforward adventure, eschewing the complications of realism in favour of a Candide-like approach. Yet this is not just a tale for children. If you suspend your disbelief and join in the ride, you'll feel by the end that you've been down there yourself and come back to tell the tale. It really does leave a happy smile on the face, and you can't say that about many classics."
"Before reading this book, I had taken a glance at some of the reviews posted by others. To my surprise, there had been a lot more negative reception than I had expected, even though at some time or another, any novel will find its detractors.
One of the criticisms I came across was that of this novel "being too descriptive, and long-winded", and comments of that nature.
Now, after having just finished the book, I feel at liberty to respond to these statements as being misguided or unwarranted. By reading only a fraction of Jules Verne, it shouldn't take too long to recognize that his style of writing is of the 'hard-science fiction' approach. That is to say he has a greater focus on approach of scientific explanation, theorem and objective analysis of the conditions to which the characters are exposed. Rather than having a storyline more driven by plot and a character's reactions and observations. In other words, this "long-windedness" that people are criticizing is more of a self-deflecting mechanism of their inability to accept and/or comprehend this style of writing.
I will biased by saying this, but I truly believe there is nothing you can criticize of this book or Verne's style and approach. He was ahead of his time and just as impressive and remarkable 145 years later. To criticize him is really to ignore criticism of yourself for having found incompatible material to your liking, or for having little patience.
ALL OF THIS, is to stress to others who may be interested in this to definitely give 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' a chance, at least once in your lifetime. It is 'science-fiction' that deals with extraordinary situations that occur to characters during their time periods which they lived in. Not during some futuristic-imagined reality (not to say those books aren't good either). It's all the more reason to be fascinated, in addition to the fact that the adventures within deal more with the past than with the future. I would venture to say this is 'historic-science-fiction'. It involves the history of the world, and having said that, it is relevant to everyone existing.
I for one am humbled to have had the experience, not to mention it has opened new doors for learning and discovery."
"I read this because it was the Book Club choice for July '09. Did not enjoy reading it. The two main characters, Professor Lidenbrock and his nephew, Axel irritated me most of the time. Lidenbrock seemed to be completely oblivious and self-centered. Axel was a whiner. He could and should have stayed home in Hamburg with his dear Grauben and permitted his uncle to take his journey on his own, and I suspect the Professor would not have missed Axel's presence. My favorite character in the story was Hans, the stoic Icelander. He seemed to be the only one of the 3 that had his "feet on the ground" and kept his eye on surviving this journey. I was grateful for this particular edition of the story because of the notes included in back and can't imagine reading this without those. They were a great help and aided me in making my way through the story. I have enjoyed the movie versions of this more than the written version."
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