Not the Disney movie at all. But enjoyable nonetheless. The basic storyline is that three men (one scientist, one assistant, one Canadian whaler) are taken on board a high-tech (even for 1870) submarine captained by Nemo. They are held captive (but are free to roam about the sub) while the ship travels around the oceans of the world. Their adventures include hidden tunnels, icebergs, giant squid, and escaping from cannibals. They finally escape and live to write about their escapade. All in all, a very fun read.
Having just recently read Moby Dick for a BYU class, I couldn't help but see the parallels between the two books. Both Nemo and Ahab are obsessed with the idea of revenge and it ultimately destroys them both emotionally (and in Ahab's case physically too). With Ahab, however, Melville does a better job of explaining why he is so angry and obsessed. In 20,000, the reader kind of has to guess the reasons behind Nemo's actions.
Verne (who really was a remarkable and imaginative writer) takes on many topics that resonate today, including
- the idea that technology makes the world better
- attitudes about rampant consumption of animals
- killing for the sake of killing
- revenge as any kind of healing solution
- the unique beauties of the natural world
- removing one's self from society
A word of caution for younger readers. The book is full of scientific classifications and descriptions of sealife, many of which I found boring as an adult reader. Bill read a really nice abridged Scholastic version which gave him the full storyline without all the details that might discourage a young reader. As a general rule, I dislike abridgements, but in this case it seemed the right way to go. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have made it through the book at all.
I can now see why so many science fiction novels and movies use themes from Verne's works. I used to love the submarine ride at Disneyland. It's gone now. Alas and alack, how the world changes!
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