Padfoot - Sixth Review - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
(a.k.a 20,000 Seconds Wasted on This Book)
By Jules Verne

So If you could not tell, I am a little disappointed by my recent reading of the Jules Verne novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Apparently I was ignorant to the real plot of the story, because going into it I assumed the whole thing would be an adventure story of a couple of hairy men in a submarine fighting off a giant squid. Sure, you get some of that, but only A FEW PAGES. The rest of this excruciatingly long novel is mainly about a Professor of marine biology; all this guy does is list classes, species, genders, hair color, should I go on?

The beginning of the novel does this cute thing where it tricks you into thinking this will be a good story. I cannot, however, put a number on the amount of times you are given lists, categories, useless descriptions of things nobody cares about. For example, while submarinin' round the world, the sub's captain, Captain Nemo (who is supposed to be a "villian" in the story, but is really just a cute old man who wants to be a hermit) takes the Professor underwater on an excursion where they find ATLANTIS!!!! Exciting right?! NO. JUST NO.

Here's a timid example so you don't get too scared:

"These various types of shrubbery were as big as trees in the temperate zones; in the damp shade between them, there were clustered actual bushes of moving flowers, hedges of zoophytes in which there grew stony coral striped with twisting furrows, yellowish sea anemone from the genus Caryophylia with translucent tentacles, plus anemone with grassy tufts from the genus Zoantharia; and to complete the illusion, minnows flitted from branch to branch like a swarm of hummingbirds, while there rose underfoot, like a covey of snipe, yellow fish from the genus Lepisocanthus with bristling jaws and sharp scales, flying gurnards, and pinecone fish."

All I can say is, if Verne would've cut out half the story, you would get a fun adventure on the high seas. But he didn't, so we are left with 300 pages of complete crap, and about 70 pages of great story-telling. So there you go, if you are on a classics binge like me, then read it, it's not the worst thing in the world. But if you were actually excited to read this, your life is over.

Should I mention I have never seen the movie adaptation? I should have done my research beforehand.
I feel robbed. That's the end of my overly-dramatic rant. Look for some happy things next time! :)

-mischief managed-