Journey To The Center Of The Earth (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
I have had a ridiculous amount of fun this year listening to classic novels as audiobooks. When Audible offered a freebie (I think it was a freebie) of Journey to the Center of the Earth read by Tim Curry, I was excited – Tim Curry! Come on. It almost didn't matter what it was; I kind of place Curry in the same class as Tom Baker – love the actor, adore the voice, will listen to literally anything read by him. (Though Tom Baker wins by having been The Doctor, of course.)And I was right. Curry was fabulous. His performance – and it was in every way performance – was incredibly enjoyable, and accounted for a good part of my rating. The voices he gave to the characters were dead on; the emotion with which he invested some scenes elevated them; it's purely because of his voice that I don't completely loathe the two main characters of this book, Axel and his Uncle/Professor Otto Liedenbrock. Not completely … I do dislike them intensely, though. Even Tim Curry couldn't prevent that. I will absolutely grant that part of my dislike for the book was some inability to separate myself as a 21st-century woman with a (very) basic (high school) education in geology from myself as reader of a book published and I assume set in 1864. From the former point of view it's an absurd figment of science fantasy. I know, I know – I have no problem accepting vampires (as long as they don't sparkle), werewolves, thousand-year-old druids and 932-year-old Time Lords. I never said I was consistent. Still, despite the initial head-meets-desk reaction I had to a forest many leagues below the surface of the earth, not to mention a life-filled ocean and the mastodon-herding giants – still, it was fun. It felt like a Disney version of science, crossed with Lewis Carroll – fall down the universe's biggest rabbit hole, and land in an impossible, improbable wonderland. I was able to enjoy some of the fantasy. The parts I could enjoy were simply outweighed by the stupidity of the characters. The two so-brilliant scientists, Axel and his uncle, were textbook examples of book-smart vs. street-smart. I mean, what moron goes on any expedition into the unknown with only a little water? Good God, people, don't you watch Les Stroud and Bear Grylls? Well, no, obviously not, but – common sense, men! "Oh, don't worry, we'll find fresh-water springs": probably the last words of many a dim adventurer. And the subject of stupid adventurers brings me straight to Axel. Good grief. In my Goodreads updates I referred to him as a damsel in distress, and also TSTL: Too Stupid To Live. Bringing that boy on an expedition (I keep wanting to write a Winnie-the-Pooh-esque "expotition") is like taking a penguin to the Bahamas. I lost count of the number of times he fell or got lost or otherwise needed rescuing – and every single time there was poor old Hans, probably thinking "ach du lieber (or the Icelandic equivalent thereof), we should just put the fool on a leash." I can't imagine why his uncle brought him in the first place, unless he didn't realize what a Moaning Myrtle the boy would become, in addition to being a hazard to himself and all those around him. Every step of the way he complained and protested and fretted and despaired. The fact that he happened to be right in some of his complaints – as, for example, when he protested the minimal amount of water they were toting – doesn't make his constant whingeing easier to tolerate. And the Professor … a more overbearing, pompous, irritating, foresightless windbag I don't remember in my reading. Did I mention it was his decision to bring only a little water with them? And also to chuck most of their gear down an apparently bottomless hole, confident that they would catch up to it in the climb. And also to set off across an apparently limitless ocean in a boat I wouldn't sail in a bathtub rather than try to trek the shoreline. And then to pause at random intervals and pontificate as if in front of an audience. Oh, and to take few or no specimens of their discoveries. "Center of the earth, eh, Liedenbrock? Riiiight." My list, made early on in the read/listen, for tips on a hypothetical Journey to the Center of the Earth:1. Bring water2. Lots3. Be sure to pay guide/servant/lifesaver weekly, even if he can't spend the money4. Give guide/etc raise after he saves your butt after you disregarded 1 & 25. Do not bring nephew; he is prone to both hysterics and despair6. Do not bring uncle/professor, as he confuses humans with camels (also: twit)7. Do bring Tim Curry, because he just makes everything sound good. I don't think the uncle and nephew actually did give Hans any kind of monetary reward for saving their rear ends, on several more occasions than just the water situation. The uncle paid him promptly every week – not that he was able to spend or bank or otherwise appreciate said payment, miles below the surface of the earth – and probably lost it all in their adventures. The translation used by Audible was an odd one. The only example I noted was this: "His absolute silence increased every day." If it's absolute, it can't increase, though, can it? The Goodreads edition has it: "But his habit of silence gained upon him day by day" - which works. I would be interested in either reading or listening to another version, to see if anything improves … but no. The language wasn't the problem. The problem was that I spent over eight hours alternately smiling happily at Tim Curry's performance and wanting to reach through my iPod and shake Axel and Otto until their ears flapped. It's another of those "could-have-been" books. It could have been so much fun. It just wasn't.
I wish I could say this classic is as thrilling as it was when first published, but some books remain cultural milestones for their historical importance, even though more recent, imaginative, and better successors have come along, and this is true of most of Jules Verne's works, I think. He is the grandfather of "hard science fiction," and his books were notable for their rigorous attention to the laws of physics as they were understood at the time. Everything about Journey to the Centre of the Earth has the ring of plausibility about it (backed up by a great detail of technical explanation of instruments and measurements and physical science), even though we now know the "internal fire" debate is settled.But with the help of this outflow the thickness of the crust of the island increased materially, and therefore also its powers of resistance. It may easily be conceived what vast quantities of elastic gases, what masses of molten matter accumulated beneath its solid surface whilst no exit was practicable after the cooling of the trachytic crust. Therefore a time would come when the elastic and explosive forces of the imprisoned gases would upheave this ponderous cover and drive out for themselves openings through tall chimneys. Hence then the volcano would distend and lift up the crust, and then burst through a crater suddenly formed at the summit or thinnest part of the volcano.To the eruption succeeded other volcanic phenomena. Through the outlets now made first escaped the ejected basalt of which the plain we had just left presented such marvellous specimens. We were moving over grey rocks of dense and massive formation, which in cooling had formed into hexagonal prisms. Everywhere around us we saw truncated cones, formerly so many fiery mouths.After the exhaustion of the basalt, the volcano, the power of which grew by the extinction of the lesser craters, supplied an egress to lava, ashes, and scoriae, of which I could see lengthened screes streaming down the sides of the mountain like flowing hair.Such was the succession of phenomena which produced Iceland, all arising from the action of internal fire; and to suppose that the mass within did not still exist in a state of liquid incandescence was absurd; and nothing could surpass the absurdity of fancying that it was possible to reach the earth's centre.The plot, in brief: Otto Liedenbrock, German Professor of Mineralogy, discovers a Runic code in an ancient Icelandic text which, when deciphered, indicates that a 12th century Icelandic traveler named Arne Saknussemm found a passage to the center of the Earth down a volcano. (Journey to the Centre of the Earth is notable also for featuring one of the earliest use of cryptography in fiction, as several chapters are spent on the deciphering of this code.) Liedenbrock immediately resolves to follow the footsteps of Saknussemm, and drags along his nephew, Axel, the narrator, and eventually a taciturn Icelandic guide named Hans.This is a great book for kids who are still fascinated by anything to do with secret codes, volcanoes, prehistoric creatures, and fantastic journeys and haven't been jaded by exposure to countless books and movies based on such concepts. Yes, Jules Verne was the granddaddy of them all. However, this novel is basically a travel epic, written at a time when the journey to Iceland alone would have been considered quite daring and exciting. Professor Liedenbrock and his nephew, Axel, encounter darkness, lava, near-starvation and dehydration, an underground ocean, giant mushrooms, the remains of prehistoric fauna, and a battle between an ichthyosaurus and a plesiosaurus. But the whole book is just an account of their journey, with the reader expected to marvel at these fantastic sights.It was interesting to me more for its historical context and to compare with imitators that have followed in the "fantastic voyage" genre than for the story itself. Three men travel to the center of the Earth, see a few interesting things, and come back, the end. Jules Verne's prose (as translated into English) conveys the breathless wonder of the characters, as well as their trials when they find themselves without food or water deep underground, but it's quite an arid narrative for all its meticulous details. I find Jules Verne to be readable but rather unexciting, as he seems to feel no emotion about his tale and doesn't inspire the reader to feel any.A book to be read for the sake of having read it, but I suspect few modern adult readers will really find it thrilling or memorable.
What do You think about Journey To The Center Of The Earth (2006)?
Before reading this book, I had taken a glance at some of the reviews posted by others. To my surprise, there had been a lot more negative reception than I had expected, even though at some time or another, any novel will find its detractors.One of the criticisms I came across was that of this novel "being too descriptive, and long-winded", and comments of that nature.Now, after having just finished the book, I feel at liberty to respond to these statements as being misguided or unwarranted. By reading only a fraction of Jules Verne, it shouldn't take too long to recognize that his style of writing is of the 'hard-science fiction' approach. That is to say he has a greater focus on approach of scientific explanation, theorem and objective analysis of the conditions to which the characters are exposed.Rather than having a storyline more driven by plot and a character's reactions and observations. In other words, this "long-windedness" that people are criticizing is more of a self-deflecting mechanism of their inability to accept and/or comprehend this style of writing.I will sound biased by saying this, but I truly believe there is nothing you can criticize of this book or Verne's style and approach. He was ahead of his time and is just as impressive and remarkable 145 years later. To criticize him is really to ignore criticism of yourself for having found incompatible material to your liking, or for having little patience.ALL OF THIS, is to stress to others who may be interested in this to definitely give 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' a chance, at least once in your lifetime. It is 'science-fiction' that deals with extraordinary situations that occur to characters during their time periods which they lived in. Not during some futuristic-imagined reality(not to say those books aren't good either).It's all the more reason to be fascinated, in addition to the fact that the adventures within deal more with the past than with the future.I would venture to say this is 'historic-science-fiction'. It involves the history of the world, and having said that, it is relevant to everyone existing.I for one am humbled to have had the experience, not to mention it has opened new doors for learning and discovery.
—David Shaw
The Journey did not hold my attention well, and I picked up other books before finishing it.Acrophobia, Achluophobia, Cleithrophobia, Claustrophobia, Antlophobia, Astraphobia, Thalassophobia ...this adventure story has them all! I know, I know, after looking up the word for "Fear of Darkness", I went overboard on the phobias. (view spoiler)[List of phobias (hide spoiler)]
—Almeta
It wasn't bad, per se, but it was a little boring. And certainly there is not enough to discuss for two hours! Oh well.I was surprised at all of the legit (though outdated) science in it. I thought this was going to be more like The Time Machine, and that they were going to discover an entire civilization under the earth or something. I'd've been interested in an annotated version that talked about all the science presented, in terms of a) what was thought to be true at the time it was written and b) what is known to be true now. Some stuff is obvious, but some (at least to me) isn't.It's funny, I read this right after I finished Les Miserables. Both were written in French within two years of each other, but they couldn't be more different.At one point in the very beginning I thought the girlfriend was going to get to come along, but then she didn't. Because she's a girl. And I was a little disappointed.Hans was awesome.I'll save the rest for the book club.
—Kerry
