Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea

 

I read this book through a book club a few years ago and thought it was interesting so I decided to do a blog post about it. I liked how the author created an almost modern sci-fi world all the way back in 1870. I think that the author’s imagination is truly incredible. 


The story begins in 1866 when scientists report discovering a giant unknown creature in the water. At first, this unknown object is not taken seriously. Rather, it is a huge source of gossip for people. However, people start taking it more seriously when two ships, the Moravian and the Scotia, sink near where the creature was first seen. 


Pierre Aronnax, the main character, claims that this object is either a huge narwhal-type creature or a submarine. To find out what it really is, he goes on an expedition with the US Navy to explore this phenomenon. Upon getting close to this creature, Aronnax thinks that the creature is indeed an electric narwhal. When they finally catch sight of the creature, the navy tries to shoot it, but the bullets bounce off the hull. The creature attacks the ship and Aronnax falls into the water. After swimming for a place to stay, he reaches the huge creature. Upon climbing up the creature's shell, Aronnax gets kidnapped by the creature. When he wakes up, Aronnax finds the creature to be an enormous submarine, with a dedicated crew and a captain. The people on the ship are fed from plates with “Mobilis in Mobili” engraved on them. I found out that this roughly translates to moving in moving, which I believe represents the submarine that the characters are in. 


After some time, they meet Captain Nemo, the antagonist and captain of the Nautilius. He offers Aronnax freedom on the Nautilius (the name of the submarine, revealed by Nemo), but they are not allowed to leave. 


I loved this book because of the way that the author slowly unravels the details of the Nautilius and the world that this story takes place. This book, unlike most books written at the time, has little bits of science-related information that make the submarine feel realistic. While reading the book, it is easy to imagine being in the submarine and actually seeing all the fascinating creatures described in this book. The author also uses cliffhangers for each chapter, leaving the reader curious and eager for more.


I think that this book would be great for casual readers who like reading light sci-fi novels. 


Rating: 4.5/5 (Since I personally think the ending is a bit random, comment down below what you think!)


-Jay


Comments

  1. MahdiSeptember 25, 2022 at 10:48 AM

    Hey Jay, I read this book too and also enjoyed it. I do wonder though what made you give it a 4.5/5

    ReplyDelete
  2. Olisa AllanahSeptember 26, 2022 at 11:17 AM

    Jay, good description of the Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea. Sounds interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kaylee ZhengOctober 6, 2022 at 4:23 PM

    Great post Jay! Your review was fun to read. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea sounds like a thrilling book. The setting seems quite interesting; I don’t think I have ever read a novel located in a submarine under the sea before. In addition, I do wonder how Aronnax will face the antagonist, Captain Nemo. So, I definitely would like to read this book sometime in the future to find out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. GusOctober 13, 2022 at 10:57 AM

    Hi Jay! Your post about Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is very compelling. I can't believe that this book was made back in the 1800's, given all of the detail and imagination. I didn't really expect a sort of sci-fi novel from back than. This book sounds interesting and I might read it some day.

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