20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Puffin Graphics)

by Jules Verne

book data

6,813 ratings, 3.62 average rating, 470 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		21%
4		33%
3		32%
2		10%
1		2%

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published

2006 (first published 1869) by Puffin

binding

Paperback, 176 pages

characters

Captain Nemo, Pierre Aronnax, Ned Land

isbn

0142406643 (isbn13: 9780142406649)

description

Professor Aronnax and his team set out on a mission to rid the seas of a giant monster. Yet when they are captured by the "monster" itself, ...more

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07/26/08

Qt rated it:

(review of isbn 076072850X)

bookshelves: action-adventure, science-fiction

Overall, a good book, often exciting, and one I enjoyed; parts were a bit slow-moving or technical for me, and a few questions seemed to be left unanswered. Still, I see why Cpt. Nemo has become such a famous character!

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1 comment

05/05/08

Werner rated it:

(review of isbn 076072850X)

bookshelves: classics, science-fiction

Read in January, 2000

Verne's works are difficult for an English-speaking reader to evaluate fairly, because he wasn't well-served by the English translations of his day --which are still the standard ones in print, which most people read. The translators changed plots and character's names in some cases, excised passages they considered "boring," and generally took a very free hand with the text; so you never know how much of the plodding pacing, bathetic dialogue, and stylistic faults (for instance, what...more

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4 comments

03/28/09

Donna rated it:

(review of isbn 1853260312)

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in April, 2009

recommends it for: can't think of anyone!

I have just spent the best part of the last 2 weeks reading this, and I'm wondering why I bothered. I had completely the wrong impression of what this book was about, not having heard the story or seen any of the films (apart from Captain Nemo turning up in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen!). I thought that the 20,000 leagues under the sea meant that they literally went down vertically to 20,000 leagues below the surface and there found a land full of fantastical creatures a la Journey to the...more

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08/19/08

Chad rated it:

(review of isbn 0553211889)

bookshelves: classics, sci-fi---fantasy

Read in January, 2008

You can't be a serious science-fiction reader without delving just a bit into the genre's roots. To remedy an embarrassing lack of any Jules Verne on my reading list, last year I read "Journey to the Center of the Earth". I can see how to a young reader, it would be an instant classic. It's a pretty ripping adventure complete with hidden underground worlds and dinosaurs and gleefully wrong-headed theories about geology. What's not to love?

Maybe I was a little disappoint...more You can't be a serious science-fiction reader without delving just a bit into the genre's roots. To remedy an embarrassing lack of any Jules Verne on my reading list, last year I read "Journey to the Center of the Earth". I can see how to a young reader, it would be an instant classic. It's a pretty ripping adventure complete with hidden underground worlds and dinosaurs and gleefully wrong-headed theories about geology. What's not to love?

Maybe I was a little disappointed? I was hoping for more than just a corny adventure story. There wasn't a lot there send me searching the shelves for another Jules Verne novel. But, alas, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" sat there anyway, patiently waiting for me be curious enough to crack it open. Its prospects weren't too hot, but it did have one thing playing to its advantage, and that one thing was: Alan Moore.

You see, Alan Moore had written several years ago, a Victorian era literary adventure comic called "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen." In it, he collects literary characters from various eras and sends them off to save the world. For its base of operations, the team used The Nautilus, the otherworldly submarine of Captain Nemo. Moore's version of Nemo was about a million miles away from the James Mason version in the classic Disney movie, which was a lot closer in tone to the goofy peril invoked in "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Moore made Nemo dark and brooding and ambiguous and cryptic. There wasn't anything corny about it.

Okay then...what the heck. I gave Verne another chance, and plucked the novel off the shelve and had a look.

Unexpectedly, the first thing I read was a brief introductory essay by Ray Bradbury comparing "20,000 Leagues" to "Moby Dick", laying out a convincing arguement for how Nemo and Ahab are opposite sides of the same coin: Ahab evil in his pursuit to conquer the Great Whale and the sea, Nemo evil in his pursuit to become one with it. Now Ray Bradbury has always been a bit of a starry-eyed dreamer (which isn't a bad thing), so it wasn't too far fetched to think he was reading this Verne novel through rose-colored lenses, but quite frankly, nothing in "Center of the Earth" really lent itself to being compared seriously to any Great American Novels, so perhaps I'd be dealing with something different this time out. Equipped with a bit of optimism, it was time to let the book speak for itself.

And the novel spoke for itself. Where "Center of the Earth" was a slick popcorn action story, "20,000 Leagues" is dark and gritty and real. Rather than cartwheeling through flashy action-set-pieces, the story of Doctor Arronax and harpooner Ned Land's imprisonment by Nemo is a crawling, cryptic one. It moves very slowly and deliberately, taking its time to offer lavish descriptions not only of the expansive vistas of the world's oceans, but also of the Nautilus, the grand undersea palace constructed by Nemo in his self-imposed exile from society.

Some of the descriptions of sea life are almost tedious (okay, 'almost' nothing, they really are tedious). As our narrator is a marine biologist, we are graced with several encyclopedic descriptions of every possible creature you might find in the depths. Slowly, however, you begin to realize how much in love with the ocean Arronax is, and all the endless cataloguing of sea-life are really the doctor's love poems to the sea.

And via Arronax's great passion, Nemo slowly becomes less of a villain. How villanous is it exactly to offer an awe-struck marine biologist an opportunity to spend the rest of life studying things no other scientist could even dream existed. Which paves the way for Ned Land, the restless harpooner who keeps popping his grizzled nose into the room and reminding everybody that Nemo is a megalomaniac bastard. Which is basically true, but honestly, I only begrudgingly accepted Nemo as the bad guy, maybe because I, like Arronax, am a scientiest at heart.

Anyhow, the moral ambiguity of Nemo, the starry-eyed wonder of Arronax, the tough-as-nails grit of Ned (I honestly think Verne was picturing Kirk Douglas when he created Ned) gives the reader a host of characters with whom to get deeply invested. Combined with the intricate and luxurious descriptions of the world under the ocean, "20,000 Leagues" is a vastly different sort of adventure than "Center of the Earth".

Much to my surprise and delight, it is far more than a schlockly romp around the ocean. It may not be at the same level as "Moby Dick", but it definitely reads as a work of fine literature.(less)

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03/14/08

Jason Pettus rated it:

Read in March, 2008

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

The CCLaP 100: In which I read a hundred so-called "classic" novels, then write reports on whether or not I think they deserve the label
Book #8: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne (1870)

The story in a nutshell:
Writing in the same Victori...more

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08/24/07

Saman added it

bookshelves: novel

ناگهان توجه جهان به اعماق آ‌ب‌ها جلب می‌شود. مردم جهان متوجه موجود ناشناسی می‌شوند که در اعماق آب‌ها زندگی می‌کند. عده‌ای گمان می‌کنند او یک کوسه بزرگ است، عده دیگری هستند که معتقدند، او نوعی هیولای دریایی ناشناخته است. اما کمتر کسی می‌تواند تصورش را بکند‌ که آن موجود، و...more ناگهان توجه جهان به اعماق آ‌ب‌ها جلب می‌شود. مردم جهان متوجه موجود ناشناسی می‌شوند که در اعماق آب‌ها زندگی می‌کند. عده‌ای گمان می‌کنند او یک کوسه بزرگ است، عده دیگری هستند که معتقدند، او نوعی هیولای دریایی ناشناخته است. اما کمتر کسی می‌تواند تصورش را بکند‌ که آن موجود، وسیله‌ای‌ست ساخته دست بشر

پروفسور آروناکس به همراه ندلند که صیاد نهنگ است، و یک دوست دیگر، با یک کشتی تحقیقاتی به جستجوی این هیولای زیر آب می‌روند. اما کشتی در اثر برخورد با آن موجود آسیب می‌بیند و پروفسور آروناکس و همراهانش،‌از یک زیردریایی سر در می‌آورند. چیزی که تا کنون مانندش را ندیدن و حتا تصورش را هم نکرده‌اند

آنها با ناتیلوس سفر می‌کنند و شگفتی‌های دنیای آب را می‌بینند، ودر همین حین با کاپیتان نمو، ناخدا و مالک ناتیلوس آشنا می‌شوند. پرفسور در عین حال که کاپیتان را تحسین می‌کند، اخلاقیات او را رد می‌کند، و فکر می‌کند برخورد او با مسائل دنیا درست نیست. پرفسور و همراهانش متوجه می‌شوند، چون از راز ناخدا نمو آگاه گشته‌اند، در واقع در ناتیلوس اسیر شده‌اند و دیگر نمی‌توانند به دنیای روی آب باز گردند، اما آ‌‌ن‌ها حاضر نیستند، تا آخر عمر در ناتیلوس بمانند

در این داستان ناخدا نمو را بیشتر از زاویه دید و قضاوت پرفسور آروناکس و همراهانش می‌بینیم. آن‌ها کاپیتان نمو را مردی کمابیش دیوانه و دنیا گریز می‌بینند(less)

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08/22/07

Kanchan Gupta rated it:

(review of isbn 076072850X)

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne (1828–1905), published in 1870 under the title Vingt mille lieues sous les mers. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Edouard Riou. The novel is about the fictional Captain Nemo and his submarine, Nautilus, as seen by one of his passengers, Professor Pierre Aronnax.

The title refers to the distance travelled under ...more Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne (1828–1905), published in 1870 under the title Vingt mille lieues sous les mers. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Edouard Riou. The novel is about the fictional Captain Nemo and his submarine, Nautilus, as seen by one of his passengers, Professor Pierre Aronnax.

The title refers to the distance travelled under the sea, not to the depth, as 20,000 leagues is 20 times the radius of the earth. If the title is more literally translated from the French as "20,000 Leagues under the Seas", not "under the Sea", this becomes clearer.

The story was written before modern sea-going submarines were a reality. It is narrated by Professor Pierre Aronnax, a noted marine biologist, who is accompanied by his faithful assistant Conseil and by a Canadian harpooner named Ned Land. As the story begins, a mysterious "sea monster", theorized by some to be a giant narwhal, is sighted by ships of several nations; an ocean liner is also damaged by the creature. The United States government finally assembles an expedition to track down and destroy the menace. Since Aronnax happens to be in New York City at the time and is a recognized expert in his field, he is invited at the last minute to go along, and he accepts. Master harpoonist Ned Land and Aronnax's faithful assistant Conseil were also brought on board.

The expedition sets sail from Long Island aboard an American warship, the Abraham Lincoln, which travels down around the tip of South America and into the Pacific Ocean. After much fruitless searching, the monster is found, and the ship charges into battle. During the fight, the ship's steering is damaged, and the three protagonists are thrown overboard. They find themselves stranded on the "hide" of the creature, only to discover to their surprise that it is a large metal vessel. They are quickly captured and brought inside the vessel, where they meet its enigmatic creator and commander, Captain Nemo. ("Nemo" means "no one" in Latin)

The rest of the story follows the adventures of the protagonists aboard the submarine, the Nautilus, which was built in secrecy and now roams the seas free of any land-based government. Captain Nemo's motivation is implied to be both a scientific thirst for knowledge, and a desire for revenge on, and self imposed exile from, civilization. Captain Nemo explains that the submarine is electrically powered, and equipped to carry out cutting edge marine biology research; he also tells his new passengers that while he appreciates having an expert such as Aronnax with whom to converse, they can never leave because he is afraid they will betray his existence to the world. Aronnax is enthralled by the vistas he is seeing, but Land constantly plots to escape.

Their travels take them to numerous points in the world's oceans, some of them which were known to Jules Verne from real travelers' descriptions and guesses, while others are completely fictional. Thus, the travelers witness the real corals of the Red Sea, the wrecks of the battle of Vigo Bay, the Antarctic ice shelves, and the fictional submerged Atlantis. The travelers also go to expeditions under the sea, where they hunt sea creatures with special-designed guns and they make a funeral to a crew member who died when an accident occurred inside the Nautilus. Back in the Atlantic Ocean, a group of giant squid (cuttlefish in the usual English translation) attacks the Nautilus, and kills a crew member. Nemo is plunged into deep depression, and allows the submarine to wander into an encounter with the Moskstraumen whirlpool off the coast of Norway. This gives the three prisoners an opportunity to escape; they make it back to land alive, but the fate of Captain Nemo and his crew is not revealed.

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05/15/07

Andrew rated it:

(review of isbn 076072850X)

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: Everyone

A classic in every sense of the word, and well worth a read if you have never done so.

The particular copy I had (one of the Barnes and Nobles Classics Paperbacks, with notations) was doubly fascinating as a cultural barometer; Verne goes to a lot of trouble to work detailed explanations of the technology that Nemo has created (like electric lights and motors, the use of electricity as a weapon [think tasers], and the workings of a submarine and scuba gear) into the narrative, so that...more

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03/19/07

fatemeh alizadeh rated it:

(review of other edition)

bookshelves: literatrue-story-novel

Read in January, 2003

این رمان دنباله فرزندان کاپیتان گرانت است و پس از آن جزیره اسرارآمیز میآید. حیوان دریایی عجیبی با هیکل غولآسا در بعضی از سواحل دیده شده است. یک گروه تحقیق در کشتی امریکایی «آبراهام لینکلن» تشکیل میشود. آروناکس ، دانشمند طبیعیدان فرانسوی، و نوکر او، کونسی ، جزو این گروهند....more این رمان دنباله فرزندان کاپیتان گرانت است و پس از آن جزیره اسرارآمیز میآید. حیوان دریایی عجیبی با هیکل غولآسا در بعضی از سواحل دیده شده است. یک گروه تحقیق در کشتی امریکایی «آبراهام لینکلن» تشکیل میشود. آروناکس ، دانشمند طبیعیدان فرانسوی، و نوکر او، کونسی ، جزو این گروهند. کشتی برای شکار آن حیوان دریایی حرکت میکند. هنگامی که موفق به مشاهده آن نهنگ میشوند، موج عظیمی برمیخیزد و کشتی را تقریباً به تمامی زیر آب فرو میکشد و آروناکس و کونسی و ند لند ، نیزهافکن کشتی، را بر پشت نهنگ پرتاب میکند. ولی این شئ غول آسا نهنگ نبوده بلکه زیردریایی عظیمی به نام تاتیلوس است. سه مرد را به درون ناتیلوس میبرند و نزدیک ده ماه در آنجا میمانند. کاپیتان نمو ، که نقشه ناتیلوس را کشیده است، و نیز دیگر سرنشینان «ناتیلوس» ظاهراً از آمیزش با مردم به شدت احتراز میکنند. سه قهرمان ما در معیت این شخصیت مرموز از زیر برزخ سوئز میگذرند، قاره مفقود و اسرارآمیز آتلانتید و گنجهای مدفونش را میبینند، با آدمخواران و اختاپوسهای غولپیکر میجنگند، در جنگلهای زیر دریا به شکار میپردازند و در یک گورستان مرجانی در تشییع جنازهای حضور مییابند ولی همواره در حسرت بازگشت به روی زمین به سر میبرند، خاصه که نفرت از میزبان نیز بر این حسرت افزوده میشود؛ و آن از روزی است که میبینند چگونه او با کمال خونسردی یک کشتی را با همه سرنشینانش غرق میکند. آنگاه هویت حقیقی کاپیتان نمو را کشف میکنند: او شاهزادهای هندی است که انگلیسیها در روزگار گذشته خانه و ملکش را گرفته و او را از عزیزترین علایق زندگیش محروم ساختهاند و او از آن زمان دشمنانش را با کینه و نفرت تعقیب میکند. سرانجام ند لند و آروناکس و کونسی تصمیم به فرار میگیرند. سوار زورقی میشوند، جریان گرداب زورق را از تنه زیردریایی جدا میکندولی به شکل معجزه آسایی نجات مییابند و به یکی از جزایر لوفوتن میروند و از آنجا خود را به فرانسه میرسانند. این رمان، یکی از بهترین رمانهای ژول ورن است. شخصیت کاپیتان نمو، که دستور غرق یک کشتی را میدهد و خود با خونسردی به تماشای آن میپردازد و سپس در برابر تصویر زن جوان و دو کودک میگرید و برای شورشیان یونانی طلا تهیه میکند و پرچم سیاهش را در قلب منطقه قطبی مینشاند؛ در حقیقت قهرمانی رمانتیک است و تا اندازهای یادآور «ابرمرد»ی است که مورد علاقه ادبیات آن عصر بوده است.

ابوالحسن نجفی. فرهنگ آثار. سروش.

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12/15/08

Tom rated it:

(review of isbn 076072850X)

Read in October, 2008

recommends it for: anyone who enjoys classic science fiction.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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12/31/07

Chris added it (review of isbn 140272599X)

bookshelves: abandoned

Victorian sci-fi / thrilling adventure books are always better in one's imagination than when one finally gets around to reading them. There's only so much semi-prophetic/humorously off-base "future" technology that one can marvel at in retrospect, especially when all the characters save Nemo are laughably flat (though the loyal, stoic man-servant is always a nice touch). I was hoping for a bit more fiery anti-colonialism from Nemo, but the book is 90% a written version of a National...more

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01/09/09

fbuser636326116 rated it:

(review of isbn 0140621180)

bookshelves: literature

My favourite book as a kid. And of course it's still great. So many fantastic scenes and an ending that remains etched in my brain.

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09/22/07

David rated it:

(review of isbn 076072850X)

I love Jules Verne but there are too many boring parts in this book. He has a bad habit, which really bugs me, of trying so hard to make his heroes seem brilliant that he has them reciting dictionaries. It's not believable, and seems a little lazy. For example, the characters will see plants in the ocean and they will converse for several chapters on all of the menial trivia involving the plants and their close relatives. It's not interesting information, it's just show-off data. He falls i...more

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08/15/07

Quinn rated it:

(review of isbn 076072850X)

It's an amazing book but weirdly difficult to get through because of all the pseudo-scientific jargon he packs into it, which I seem to remember reading later Verne admitted to totally making up. So just when you're getting interested by Nemo, thinking what the hell ethnicity is this guy anyway? or what is this energy he can produce? you get swamped by thirty pages on the architecture of urchin skeletons. I'm tempted to make the rare call that the movie might be better, definitely more easil...more

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06/18/08

Nathan rated it:

(review of isbn 076072850X)

It has been said that Captain Nemo is the worst villain in classic literature. I disagree. I submit that Verne's intimate knowledge of marine biology, which he thrusts upon the reader in chapter after painful chapter, is TRULY the worst villain in classic literature, though it could be argued that Melville's familiarity with the whaling industry is right up there. Overall, too much of the book told me too little. I was hoping for a better character sketch of Captain Nemo, and I was left want...more

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03/19/09

Chance rated it:

(review of isbn 0866119698)

Read in March, 2009

A decent read.

Starts out as a sort of mystery story, but evolves into more character-centric story.

The downsides:
- The incessant scientific descriptions of the fauna. I mean seriously, telling me a fish's full scientific classification doesn't really do anything for me.

- Pacing is a bit weird.

- Ending felt abrupt and didn't really add to the story. It felt like Verne just got tired of writing and quickly thew together a "conclusion"...more

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02/09/09

Randall rated it:

(review of isbn 0870216783)

If you're going to read this book, make sure you get this translation or read in the original French. The other translations make egregious mistakes and remove a lot of the politics from what is essentially a political book. I read a ton of Jules Verne as a kid, so much so that he was my favorite writer. Back then, Journey to the Centre of the Earth was my favorite book. However, having re-read his books as an adult (and even writing a paper about this one in college), this one stands head-a...more

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12/05/08

Bonnie Oman rated it:

(review of isbn 076072850X)

It was exciting to read the book that inspired the movie which was one of my favorites as a little girl.

The book of course is tons better. In some parts overly descriptive but hey that how Jules Verne writes.

I really like that reading this book was a like reading a shortened history of ocean explorers and battles all entailed in a adventure of it's own. Plus it shares a lot amazing things about the life in all the different oceans and seas that are still accurate.
...more

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06/23/09

Lucero Calleo rated it:

(review of isbn 076072850X)

Read in June, 2009

It was a good story, but Verne was often meticulous when it came to locations, historical dates, and other details, including the exact latitudes and longitudes of the Nautilus's locations and the months, days, and years of historical events (Verne often included the histories of various ships and sailors). In addition, he often mentioned the underwater pressure, speed, and depth in which the Nautilus was traveling. Oh, and the characters (in practically every chapter) often classified the vario...more

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06/05/09

Helena rated it:

(review of isbn 076072850X)

bookshelves: gutenberg-project-ftw, read-for-pleasure

Read in February, 2009

I forgot to add this book when I read it! hahahaha...
So here's a belated commentary...without much commentary, just copy and pasted from another more casual forum.

"Reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Pretty fun so far. I do think I like Jules Verne.
I forgot that Nadia was based on this (albeit loosely?). It's fun reading it and comparing."

"Finished 20,000 Leagues. It was pretty cool, but I wanted to learn more. Nadia really did a good job wit...more