Around the World in 80 Days

     A while ago, I tried to read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  I am fascinated by submarines, but I found Jules Verne's book very slow going, indeed (even giant sea spiders failed to interest me).  I stopped reading about halfway through the book, and checked all other Jules Verne books off of my reading list.  I tend to do that if I don't like a book, but I'm trying to stop; it's a very bad habit.  Nevertheless, I made the mistake of deciding never to read Jules Verne again.

     Recently, however, a friend recommended Verne's Around the World in 80 Days.  I decided to try it, as this friend has very good taste in literature.  I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed the book!  It was amusing, well-written, engaging. . . in short, everything that I think a good book should be.

     I believe that part of why I enjoyed Around the World in 80 Days was the characters.  The main protagonist, Mr. Phileas Fogg, is an incredibly eccentric yet likable Englishman. He undertakes the incredible task of travelling around the world in eighty days as a wager with some of his friends.  He is very mechanical, almost to the point of seeming robotic, but he does posses human feelings, as is seen at the end of the book. 

     Mr. Fogg's servant, Passepartout, is very different from his master.  He is a Frenchman, who is engaged by Mr. Fogg on the day of his departure.  As a read the book, I found myself often thinking of Sancho in Don Quixote when I read of Passepartout's antics.

     The other two main characters are Fix, a detective who is convinced that Mr. Fogg is a bank robber, and Aouda, a beautiful Indian maiden who is rescued from an untimely death by Mr. Fogg and Passepartout.  Both are compelling characters, and without them, the book would doubtless lose some of its charm.

     The premise of Around the World in 80 Days is also quite fascinating.  The book is set in 1872, when all travel must be done by train and ship.  These were the fastest modes of locomotion available at the time, yet they were quite slow by modern standards.  Indeed, Mr. Fogg is compelled to avoid all possible delays in order to complete the journey in the appointed time.

   If all these charming details were not enough to make the book an appealing read, there is also a great deal of suspense in Around the World in 80 Days.  After all, Mr. Fogg has 20,000 pounds sterling at stake, that being the amount of the wager.  This is half of his fortune, and he spends most of the other half along the way.  Towards the end of the book, I found myself on the edge of my seat, feeling the tension growing with every unexpected delay, hoping desperately that Mr. Fogg would make it back to London in time to win the wager. 

     In conclusion, I enjoyed Around the World in 80 Days very much.  It was an excellent book, and I have resolved to try harder than ever now not to write off an author just because I did not enjoy one of their books.  I highly reccomend this book, and I am looking forward to reading even more Jules Verne novels in the near future!