I won't be writing a full review for this one, but let's just say that this classic and me REALLY didn't get along. I read Around The World In 80 Days last year and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, so I decided to read more of Jules Verne's work. This ended up being Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, which sounded interesting enough as I love a travel element in my stories. What I didn't expect was for this story to be THIS boring and extremely tedious, filled with scientific talk and constant repetitions... I had to resort to skimreading multiple times, and I probably should have just DNFed it. 

A thrilling classic! It was very exciting and interesting. The depiction of sperm whales was far from accurate, but, oh well, it was written in 1870.
Captain Nemo was such a fascinating character! His motivations and background are a complete mystery and you only piece together fragments along with the main character. His love for the sea is truly unparalleled. Mr Aronnax (mc) and him share a really unique bond through this feeling. It is really interesting. 
(Also Captain Nemo and Mr. Aronnax definitely had a bit of queer tension ;> ) 

I also just loved all the parts where Jules Verne described all the different marine creatures! 

Having only read the illustrated classic that was an abridged version of the mangled Mercier translation, I jumped at the chance to read 20,000 Leagues via email, as things happened in the novel. I had vague memories of plot events and was delighted to see what really happened in this delightful story. 

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is one of my favorite classics.

There’s a bit of nostalgia to it – I remember the first time I picked up the book at my local library as a child. It was a library-bound illustrated classic. It was probably my first true classic and immediately I fell in love with Jules Verne’s science fiction. A couple decades later, I still enjoy it.

That said, it’s a bit difficult for me to explain why I like it so much. Compared to modern books, it’s dense and lacks compelling descriptions. If you hate info dumping, you’ll really dislike Twenty Thousand Leagues. If you really like fish, you may like Twenty Thousand Leagues. Whether it’s a transition issue (the original is in French) or simply the stylistic product of the nineteenth century, there’s not much I can defend about Verne’s writing style. It’s palatable, but it’s flat.

No, for me, I think it’s the adventure.

Verne predicted so many scientific advances in his science fiction, including our flight to the moon and deep into the earth. While submarines aren’t particularly impressive to us in the twenty-first century, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was written as a serialized tale between 1869 and 1870. In the 1860s and 1870s, submarines did exist, but they were not commonplace. Captain Nemo’s mighty Nautilus is almost certainly inspired by the vessel of the same name designed by Robert Fulton in 1800 while in France. Submarines existed, but to built one in such a way that it could withstand so much pressure so deep in the water… those didn’t exist. They still don’t exist to the extend Verne describes. But oh! Jules Verne makes it seem perfectly logical that the Nautilus could do all these things. When reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, you forget the book was written so long ago and are able to immerse yourself in the story. The research is so well done that it still feels real, more than a century later.

Unfortunately, like any classic, this book isn’t perfect. It’s so close to withstanding the test f time except for one chapter. Somewhere along the lines, the Nautilus stops at an island and M. Arronax, Conseil, and Ned Land enjoy the respite. And, on this island, we meet the indigenous people of that area. They are described with most of the tame but still completely atrocious and inappropriate stereotypes of the time, all of which are racist and inappropriate. Whether those words used are in the same spirit as Verne wrote them or if their crudeness is part of the translation, I don’t know. The unfortunate chapter is, nevertheless, there. The book would be fine without it and this is one of those situations where I feel a perfectly good book could be salvaged by cutting a chapter.

All this time later, I think Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea remains a shining example of really good science fiction. Even read today, it holds true as a piece of science fiction, but Verne’s research was so good as to make the whole thing believable. There’s science and mystery and the ever-compelling enigma that is Captain Nemo. I know it’s not for everyone, but I adore Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and am happy to have it in my collection.

Jules Gabriel Verne was born in Nantes, France, as the eldest of five children on February 8, 1828. Despite always having a particular interest in literature, he followed his father's footsteps and went to study law in Paris. However, he became involved in an artistic circle and began to write. Up until his death on March 24, 1905, Jules Verne has written over 60 books.

"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the sea," tells the story of a French marine biologist Pierre Aronnax, his manservant Conseil and Canadian harpooner Ned Land. They are thrown overboard when the monster attacks after joining the hunt for a mysterious sea monster. They find themselves as prisoners of Captain Nemo on the board of the Nautilus, a technologically advanced submarine that was mistaken as the sea monster due to its whale shape. The three companions find themself on the adventure of their lifetime and get to experience the vast and endless beautiful world under the sea.

We follow the point of view of Dr Aronnax, which is highly modelled after Verne himself. Not only do these two share their interest in science. In the first French edition of the novel, Arnnoax illustration was based on Verne himself. The story is parted into two parts. The first one has 24 chapters, and the second part contains 23 chapters. The first-person narrators mostly misread the situation and are therefore unreliable. However, the accurate descriptions of, for example, the sea or the Nautilus are very detailed and lengthy.

One thing that caught my interested the most was Captain Nemo. Like his name, he remains an utter mystery, and we never get to know him and his motives of hatred. The only notable things the reader learns about Nemo is his adoration for the sea and his submarine, which is a prison and also a safe haven for all its passengers. Furthermore, Nemo is a well-read man who enjoys literature, history and even music, and he is stuck in the past despite the technology around him.

Although Verne never got to see the first submarine, he did a beautiful job describing the Nautilus and what humankind could create. Moreover, Verne touches on how humans impact the world environment by mentioning sunken ships and their treasures.

Like many classics, this book does not have any representation of any other than white men. This book has only had four main characters, and all of these are men. When the Nautilus spend some time on the shore of an island, they were attacked by native people called "Savages" in this context. The natives were described as wild and inhuman. 

This novel of Jules Verne is one of his most successful works. It is packed with adventure, political commentary mentioning the European Revolution in 1848, and a scientific utopia. Due to its adventurous nature, this book captured me despite its academically and sometimes dry writing style. However, I do not think that this book is for everybody. If you get bored by reading hundreds of temperatures and navigation data, this book will not be enjoyable.

I like to preface this with noting that I did listen to this as an audiobook, which usually results in me not paying as much attention to the story as I would if I read a physical copy. 
I feel like this is a lighter option to Moby Dick as far as how in depth Verne goes with the science fact. The story wasn't held up by the factual notes, and Veren's picturesque description of the world he draws is just as intriguing in this book as with his others. This story had a lot of ups and downs, at some parts it was extremely intriguing, and the rest was incredibly slow and just seemed to drag on.