Livre classique qui vieillit bien.

Le sentiment d’être pris sur une île et celui d’être impuissant devant la force de la nature résonnent énormément avec les sentiments que provoquent la crise climatique actuelle.

Il faut se montrer patient lors de la première moitié du livre, mais l’on est lourdement récompensé dans la seconde. Les scènes contemplatives laissent place à des scènes d’actions captivantes qui s’enchaînent merveilleusement.
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In the midst of the US Civil War, five prisoners escape by commandeering a hot air balloon, in hopes that the wind will guide them to freedom. Many days later, the aeronauts crash-land on a remote Pacific Island with no food or supplies and must scramble for survival.

In contrast with some "classic" works which tend to the dry, The Mysterious Island was delightfully entertaining and readable, including even its introduction. My recommendation, however, would be to first suspend one's disbelief. Though an adventure/survival novel, it is also in many ways fantastical, gleefully and continuously wavering across the line between the meticulously realistic and the laughably implausible. The detailed descriptions of how they built their habitat and provided for their needs was reminiscent of Robinson Crusoe, which I also read earlier this year. The castaways are resourceful and conveniently skilled — indeed, among the first technologies developed from scratch by Harding, the engineer, was essentially dynamite. (Really?!) They are at times wise and conservation-minded, and at others seem to just enjoy slaughtering the native fauna with abandon. Credit to Verne himself for being surprisingly knowledgeable about worldwide ecologies, though I had to chuckle when a dugong was referred to as "a dangerous animal." It was also fun to read about current theories in late-1800s cosmology. Not so fun was the casual racism cropping up suddenly from time to time and the way Neb, an adult Black man, was portrayed as childlike, which was cringeworthy to say the least. Among the curious and least believable aspects of the novel were the manner in which all obstacles were easily overcome, interpersonal relationships among the castaways were perfectly harmonious, and not for a moment do any of the men miss female companionship or even mention women at all. Finally, with an eye toward future editions, with so much focus on the geography of the island, as a reader I would have appreciated a map. Recommended! ( )

This one is very special. My granddad used to read it for me at my young years when I didn't like reading books at all. So I mostly rememmber it as the first and last book that was read aloud just for my childlish amusment. That changes many things and that gives it four stars even if it very usual and little bit draging like all Vern's sci-fi works.

P.S. But I also remember it as the book with descrition of how to make nitroglycerine on unibhabited island :). ( )

Five civil war POWs escape their incarceration in, of all things, a hot air balloon, only to get caught up in a massive storm and blown off somewhere in the pacific. They find themselves stranded on an unknown island, which they proceed to make their home for as long as needed. They have run-ins with pirates, befriend an orangutan, and get help from a mysterious benefactor, who turns out to be a crossover hero from another of Verne’s tales.

A fun-enough story, although a little long in the tooth in several places. Plus, well, casual racism. And not a female character in sight. All in all, a very male-centric playing-out of the Could You Survive on a Desert Island fantasy, which may be why, ultimately I didn’t love it – it was certainly not written with me in mind. ( )

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