But until then:
Around the World
in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Premise:
Philes Fogg is an english gentleman of 1872 of the highest degree. He never
deviates from his schedule. He is never a moment early or late to anything.
When he makes a bet with his fellow whist players that he
can travel round the world in 80 days or less, he departs immediately with his
new servant, Passepartout.
With the jungles of India, the streets of Hong Kong, the
natives of the American frontier and the winter storms across the seas, all the
odds are stacked against him. Can he make it around the world in eighty days?
Language: They
called each other "the other word for donkey" on three occasions.
Content: Indian
sacrifices (almost being burned alive), forced marriage, opium houses
(drugging), gun-fights, duels, and imprisonment. There is one particular part
in the book, where, for about five sentences, he describes the aftermath of a
train-raid, and it is very gory. I wouldn't recommend any girls under 12
reading it, but boys could probably handle it.
Stars: 5!
I wasn't even halfway through this book before it became one of my all-time favorites. The characters
were pitch-perfect, funny, played well off each other, and weren't stereotypical. There wasn't the smart guy, the funny guy,
and the quiet guy. They were all a mix and match of it.
The book is actually very rarely told from the main
character's, Phileas Fogg's, point of view. Instead, it's told from his
servant's, a detective's, and several others.
One of the things that I know I, and probably a lot of
other young people, find in classic literature is that it's so jam-packed with
words that it's hard to focus on any of the action. But not so this one! Verne
does an amazing job with keeping the pages turning. Every situation that
Phileas Fogg's party ran into made me
laugh out loud and bite my lip in suspension at the same time.
The descriptions of the places they travel across are
long-winded at best, but you do get a good history lesson without getting too
bored. The customs of India are actually very interesting, and Hong Kong, and
it made me laugh when they finally got to America and all the French servant,
Passepartout, could think about everything was, "How very American!"
and how "rash" they were.
One of the things that I really loved were the names. Each and everyone was
wonderfully unusual, yet completely the
right fit for each character. If you know me at all, you know that it's one
of the first things I judge about a book. This one passed with flying colors.
I bought this book at the Teach Them Diligently
Conference, right before my family left on a long car trip. For me, I have to
have a really good book to risk getting car-sick by reading as we drive, but this one I couldn't put down.
Age Range: Except
for that one little part, 11+.
To conclude, this
is a great classic that everyone should read. Take a break from Young Adult and
fantasy for a while, and pick this one up.
An all time classic. Love the work of Jules Verne. :)
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