Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

This review contains spoilers.

I started off 2016 by reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I thought it would be a nice throwback to start off 2017 reading another one of Jules Verne's science fiction classics, Journey to the Center of the Earth. This novel follows the adventures of Professor Otto Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel, and their faithful guide Hans on an expedition down the mouth of a volcanic crater in an attempt to reach the center of the earth. The journey is fraught with danger as the group must navigate through difficult and unforgiving terrain, deal with hunger and thirst, cross a dangerous and stormy ocean, and escape from the jaws of prehistoric megafauna. The professor and his team soldier on through all of these difficulties in the name of science and end up learning some fantastic things about what is going on in the world under our feet.

I can't help but compare this novel to 20,000 Leagues. They both featured a young scholar being taken on an impossible adventure by an eccentric and highly intelligent man. Both featured a common sense "everyman" type character to help guide them. Both explored regions of the earth that are mysterious due to their impenetrability. Between the two novels, I am sorry to say that 20,000 Leagues was superior. While I did enjoy Journey enough (it IS a giant of the science fiction genre after all), I found the characters to be somewhat annoying and the journey itself to be...well...boring.

My biggest issue was with Axel, who is perhaps the world's biggest coward. He doesn't want to go on the journey in the first place, and has to be dragged along by his uncle. On the way to the volcanic crater, he worries endlessly and has to be "cured" of a crippling fear of heights by being forced to climb to the top of a tall tower over and over. Once they scale the crater and start their exploration in earnest, he breaks down multiple times and cries, faints, somehow manages to get lost and needs to be rescued, and complains endlessly. When water runs short he is the first to fall. When food runs short he is the first to faint. It's amazing that the boy has made it to young adulthood. As Axel is the narrator of the novel, the reader is privy to his thoughts throughout the entire plot, and they run to the dramatic and whiny. I didn't enjoy him very much as a character, which impacted how much I could enjoy the book.

Professor Lidenbrock is a bit better. Mercurial, highly intelligent, and very enthusiastic about science, he weathers the journey much better than Axel does, despite his advanced age. He isn't as interesting or mysterious as Captain Nemo, but he was serviceable. Hans, their imperturbable guide, was probably my favorite of the group. He has amazing survival skills, doesn't talk much, and just gets on with things. He saves Lidenbrock and Axel's lives too many times to count throughout the story. If I were ever going on a dangerous journey, I'd definitely want Hans by my side. I'd probably kill Axel for food if the going got rough.  

The journey itself was bogged down by a huge amount of scientific exposition. Pages and pages are taken up with geological information, history lessons, and theories about the earth's composition. As is usual in a Verne novel, scrupulous attention is paid to scientific detail in an effort to make the fictional parts of the text more believable. This didn't hold my interest as much as the descriptions of the group's adventures, so I struggled in these sections. I also struggled a bit with the sameness of the group's trek. Most of their journey is through pitch black tunnels, so some variety was lacking until they got to the forest and ocean region.

I suppose I can't really be mad about this, because the truth is in the title, but this novel is seriously about the journey to the center of the earth. They never actually make it there. In their zeal to dive down deeper towards the core, the group uses their gunpowder to try and blast through a chunk of granite. This sets in motion a chain of events that leads to their being blasted out of Mount Stromboli in a volcanic eruption. There were no survivors.

Just kidding, everyone was fine.

Despite these drawbacks, however, I still had a good time reading this novel. There's something so retro and charming about a Jules Verne adventure that you can't help but fall into it. His distinctive style and extraordinary ideas make for a surreal reading experience. I really did feel like I was trudging along with the group in the dark caverns under the earth, rolling my eyes each time Axel whined about something. This was a fun story, a classic of the genre, and an all-around nice way to start off 2017.

Challenge Tally:
Back to the Classics: (19th Century Classic) 1/12
Classics Club: (#41 on my list) 1/100
Popsugar Challenge: (A book about travel) 1/40
Mount TBR: previously owned 1/60