I've always been fascinated by the ocean world, and reading this for the first time as an adult was a delightful trip. Thale characters were lovable and grating in equal measure. It fits well in the "diary" narrative alongside Melville's Moby Dick, Poe's Arthur Gordon Pym, and Lovecraft's Mountain if Madness. ( )

A French marine biologist named Aronnax narrates his journey to capture a mythical sea creature called a narwhal. What he and his shipmates discover is that the creature doesn’t exist. Instead they find a submarine call the Nautilus, which has been created secretly and travels around the world beneath the surface of the water. The sub’s Captain, a man who calls himself Nemo, tells his new captives that they must remain on the Nautilus so they won’t have a chance to revel his secret to the world.

I love the premise, but the execution didn’t work for me. There are so many details that’s the plot gets lost in the minutia. Verne was certainly a visionary, but he must have been on some oceanic kick while writing this one. The descriptions of each individual sea creature go on for pages and it was incredibly hard to stay interested.

The amazing thing about the book is that it was published in 1870, long before submarines of the Nautilus’ stature were invented. I also thought it was interesting that the 20,000 leagues in the title refer to how far they travel in the sub. I always thought it was talking about how deep they went. Sadly these tidbits weren’t enough to really make the book work for me. I don’t regret reading it, because sometimes I’m just curious about classics, but I wouldn’t read it again. ( )

A mission to rid the seas of a monstrous creature becomes a terrifying nightmare when Professor Arronax, Conseil and Ned Land are thrown overboard. The huge marine animal which has haunted the water is no living beast, but a spectacular man-made vessel, and the three men find themselves the helpless prisoners of Captain Nemo. Resigned to their fate, they begin a miraculous journey on the submarine ship which can travel through waters never before explored. For the Professor, at least, this voyage is one he would not have missed for the world.

I must have read an abridged version when I was younger, because I didn't realize how much of this was literally just rattling off various species of animals and plants they observed. ( )

What would you do if you were trapped in a submarine that never wished to contact humanity ever again? Would you try to escape back to land or would you be content to live comfortably under the waves and never see land again?

This book is about exploration of the sea which was a very difficult task at the time of the writing of this book and much of the sea remains unexplored today. The main characters are Professor Aronnax, Ned Land, Conseil, and Captain Nemo. The Professor who is a marine biologist and his servant Conseil were invited to travel on a voyage with Ned Land who was hired to kill a large sea monster that had been causing many unexplained collisions with ships. The monster was determined to be a submarine after Professor Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned Land were thrown overboard and they were taken captive. The submarine was operated by Captain Nemo who swore off humanity and never wished to see land again.

The theme of this book is freedom and that everybody has a price on their freedom. The theme is displayed through the conflict between Professor Aronnax and Ned Land who have different lifestyles and are suited differently to their confinement with the professor not worrying too much about trying to get his freedom back because he is content to to live under the waves and study the ocean but Ned Land grows more homesick every day and will do whatever it takes to get his freedom back and return home. This conflict also involves Captain Nemo who wants to keep them captive to keep his submarine a secret but he knows that keeping them captive goes against his morals.

I recommend this novel because the scenery of the ocean is very well described in good detail and the plot has a very important message about freedom and what that can mean to individuals and how high or low it is valued, but at times the text can get a little too scientific for those who don’t care about that so much, however, the classification of the different species of fish and other animals adds to the central conflict of the story to show why the professor wants to stay, so this book would be very good for people who like the sea, sciences, a little bit of mystery and some action. ( )