Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

By Jules Verne

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne. It tells the story of Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus, as seen from the perspective of Professor Pierre Aronnax. Back in the late 1800's, ships of several nations spot a mysterious sea monster, which some suggest to be a giant narwhal. The United States government assembles an expedition in New York City to find and destroy the monster. Professor Pierre Aronnax, a French marine biologist and narrator of the story, who happens to be in New York at the time, receives a last-minute invitation to join the expedition which he accepts. Canadian master harpoonist Ned Land and Aronnax's faithful servant Conseil are also brought aboard.





Title page (1871)
The expedition departs Brooklyn aboard the United States Navy frigate Abraham Lincoln and travels south around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean. The ship finds the monster after a long search and then attacks the beast, which damages the ship's rudder. The three protagonists are then hurled into the water and grasp hold of the "hide" of the creature, which they find, to their surprise, to be a submarine very far ahead of its era. They are quickly captured and brought inside the vessel, where they meet its enigmatic creator and commander, Captain Nemo.

The rest of the story follows the adventures of the protagonists aboard the creature—the submarine, the Nautilus—which was built in secrecy and now roams the seas free from any land-based government. Captain Nemo's motivation is implied to be both a scientific thirst for knowledge and a desire for revenge on (and self-imposed exile from) civilization.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Jun 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9783736804326

Jules Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne was born in the seaport of Nantes, France, in 1828 and was destined to follow his father into the legal profession. In Paris to train for the bar, he took more readily to literary life, befriending Alexander Dumas and Victor Hugo, and living by theatre managing and libretto-writing. His first science-based novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, was issued by the influential publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel in 1862, and made him famous. Verne and Hetzel collaborated to write dozens more such adventures, including 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1869 and Around the World in 80 Days in 1872. In later life Verne entered local politics at Amiens, where had had a home. He also kept a house in Paris, in the street now named Boulevard Jules Verne, and a beloved yacht, the Saint Michel, named after his son. He died in 1905.

Reviews for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

[paul1meloche · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

a good read

[mrs3graysclass · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good book !

[sf_addict · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This one me a while but that's more down to me than the book. It certainly was a slow read and nothing like any movie version I've seen. One might say that not much happens and its not really very 'SF' but on the whole I quite enjoyed the ride!

[angelab86 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved all the descriptions of underwater life, and the different places the characters visit. I wanted to become a marine biologist after I finished reading!

[icefirestorm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good story, a little slow at times but it never stops moving entirely. It was interesting to see how people viewed our ecology in the past. I would reccomend reading it with a dictionary at hand as the main character is a zoologist and uses terms not familiar to the common man. All in all, I'm glad I read it.

[nx74defiant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed the descriptions

[bookson23rd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a wonderful amazing story!!
~Stephannie

[clurb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good honest adventure book. With lots of fish.

[chasegraham · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

this book is good but at times it can get boring.

[bhabeck-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this for the Steampunk category of the SF Reading Challenge on Shelfari.

Although the story was very interesting and well-written, I found that it dragged at times due to the great amount of detail that Verne included. It often seemed that I was reading a natural history reference on the flora and fauna of the world's oceans.

That said, I would recommend it since it was an enjoyable read. This would also qualify for the category of Work not originally published in English.

[kakadoo202 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

there is only so many report on fish you can take in a book. After a while every coral looks like the other. And lots of unanswered questions. Where did Capt Nemo come from. What about the strange language? What happened that he decided to hide in his submarine. Maybe for 1860, this was a great adventure book, but now it is simply dated.

[reading_fox · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The bits without the sea/fish discriptions are quite good. Shame there are so many discriptive passages.

[reenum_4 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Started off with a bang, but then got bogged down with endless description of the scenery. I guess no one ever told Verne to show rather than tell.

[cbloky · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

this was my classic book i decided to read this year. it was a quick and easy read a little different then what i taught it was gonna be about but enjoyed it and would recommend it.

[jaredorlando-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

To be upfront, I thought there would be a lot more action in this story. I never read it in school, so coming at it as an adult was intriguing. That being said, I was not let down. Verne is very versed in sea life (this book is chock full of jargon) and as a science nerd, it was fascinating. And somehow, through all the science and tech, he was able to create a story that is often exhilarating.

[justifiedsinner_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

90% info dump. 10% plot

[scroeser_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Somehow this manages to be quite fascinating, despite the fact that the plot is only touched upon and large sections of the book are nothing more than descriptions of various denizens on the sea. It is hard not to find the narrator's pompous arrogance ridiculous to the point of amusement.

[srboone · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Vernes undersea adventure is an amazing trip that I've taken many times. Although history has proven his vision to be incorrect on many occasions in this yarn, it is still a mesmerizing odyssey. One of my favorite books.

[michael_rose-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Probably my biggest take away from this is that one must always watch out for the cult mentality. It's quite lethal.

[hredwards · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Awesome book!! I now understand why Verne is considered one of the Masters.One of my favorites in my collection, an old old copy.

[geraldlange · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The story showed promise and I can sympathise with Nemo. Unfortunately, the author uses the whole thing as a vehicle to tell the world (or just France; I forget who he's trying to impress) how smart he is. Verne should have read more Wells before trying to write.

[morana.mora · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this story when I was a kid and my rating is based on those memories. I doubt I would rate it lower if I read it again.

[mohi_11 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Taken as a 19th century man's insight of the future, the book is amazing and oddly prophetic. But as a novel it plods on very slowly, and rarely captures the attention. I have only read the English version, so perhaps something is lost in the translation.

[aot15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Great book very long

[jco123_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent classic. Lots of stuff that I did not remember
about the book. Captain Nemo was way ahead of his time...

[gaw_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoyed rereading this wonderful classic as an adult. The social commentary that Verne offered escaped me when I first read this book as a child. The Afterward provides a good discussion of the challenges to Verne that came about as a result of this work.

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not being familiar with the comparative criticism between Verne and Wells, can only offer that I while I enjoyed Nemo's narrative and the compelling saga presented, I felt it would've benefited from some of Wells' philosophy.

[kotwcs · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this book. Anyone who wants to write sci-fi must learn from Verne. He makes it what it should be: man and nature in conflict, and the technology he envisions to unite them. But an undercurrent in this book of rousing, scientific, seafaring adventure is one of tragedy and a deep bitterness. Yes,I have a fondness Captain Nemo. I still like to think, as he sat alone in the half-light, playing his organ, he played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata...

[cataryna_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An okay read for me. Highly detailed, but those details tended to get a bit long-winded and I found myself getting bored with them after a while. I would have liked a little more insight into the personality of Captain Nemo and exactly what happened to make him shun the world. I felt like that was a very important part that seemed to be missing.

[polarbear123_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I can understand some of the criticism surrounding this book. At times there are tedious lists of marine fauna and the latitude stuff is something I just skipped. But it is still a good yarn when it comes down to it and a bit of a classic.