Around the Moon by Jules Verne

 

*This review will contain spoilers for both From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon*

For the seventh year running, my first read of 2022 was a Jules Verne novel. Last year, I started off my reading with From the Earth to the Moon. I enjoyed it, but it was only half of a story. To experience the whole adventure of Impey Barbicane and his daring mission to the moon, you have to read its sequel, Around the Moon. So naturally, I decided to do just that this year.

The novel picks up right where From the Earth to the Moon left off, with Impey Barbicane, Captain Nicholl, and Michel Ardan blasting off in their projectile in hopes of reaching the moon. They all manage to survive the launch and settle in for a four day journey to the lunar surface. Along the way, Barbicane and Nicholl entertain themselves by lecturing the scientific novice Ardan about several different aspects of space and physics. As they draw closer to their destination however, they notice a problem. Something has gone wrong with their trajectory. They will pass around the moon rather than land on it. Resigning themselves to the fact that they will endlessly orbit the moon and eventually run out of breathable air, they decide to study as much of the moon's topography as they can as they pass by it and hope that an opportunity to bring them back home to Earth somehow presents itself.

This novel was a fairly entertaining read overall, but not one of my favorites by Verne. On the positive side, it was full of the impossible and ridiculous adventures I love to see in a classic. Barbicane and his friends were fearless in the face of their incredibly dangerous mission and remained consistently faithful in the science they used to make it possible. There is something absolutely charming about watching three proper gentlemen in suits sit around discussing the finer points of algebra and drinking wine while sealed in an aluminum tube rocketing through space. As usual, Verne thoroughly explains the scientific details that make everything in the story possible. In some cases, what he says makes sense. In other cases, he gets it wrong, often with hilarious results. For example, at one point, the crew needs to get rid of the body of a dog they brought with them that dies. They simply crack open the window of their projectile and push it out into space. That's the kind of wild time you only get in a Jules Verne novel. There were several illustrations in my edition as well, which I really enjoyed looking at.

On the negative side, there was a lot of scientific exposition throughout the story that messed with the pacing. This happens a lot in Verne novels. It's part of the deal when you read his work, and I knew that going in. It felt harder to endure here though because there simply wasn't enough plot to begin with. The vast majority of the story is just watching three guys sitting around in their projectile, looking at the moon through their window. There wasn't enough for them to do on the trip, so Verne filled that space with scientific discussion and theory, most of which is very out of date now and pretty boring to read. The sections when the crew is passing around the moon were a particular trial to get through, as long, dense paragraphs about the geography of the lunar surface kept making me nod off. As I mentioned last year when I read the first book in the series, the characters aren't the most memorable here, so there wasn't a lot to keep me engaged. 

The ending of the novel was predictably Verne. Of course, Barbicane and his friends eventually combine their intelligence and a little bit of luck to return to earth. They crash back into the ocean, completely unharmed, and deliver their final observations to their adoring public, some of which are scientifically correct. The moon, they say, is uninhabited and not suitable to support life now. However, they do believe that it was once inhabited, before earth had humans on it. Eh, two out of three ain't bad. 

I didn't predict this going in, but between the two books in this series, I prefer the first. I liked watching  all the absurd planning and cannon building in From the Earth to the Moon, and there was a lot less scientific exposition. Sadly, I was a bit bored with this one. I'm still happy to have read it though, because I definitely still wanted to see how Barbicane's moon mission turned out. 

Thinking back over all the Verne novels I have read, I realized that I have been to some pretty incredible places with him. I've been around the world, under the sea, deep underground, to mysterious islands, and now, to space. There's something about these old-timey adventures that I absolutely love. I can't wait to see where I end up next year.       

 

Challenge Tally

Total Books Read in 2022: 1