Customer Reviews

The Giant Raft: Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon

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Jules Verne is known as the father of science fiction, however this is one of the few novels that falls outside of that genre. Other non-science fiction works by Verne are sometimes lack-luster (specifically "Measuring the Meridian") , but that is not the case for "800 Leagues on the Amazon". While "800 Leagues" is a departure from Verne comfort zone he still delivers a novel that is full of intrigue and suspense.

The first 100 pages of "800 Leagues" reads very slow and is somewhat tedious, but the story does build suspense to and finishes strong. Verne is in his full glory has he paints the wildlife, fauna, and landscape of the Amazon region. Ulimately the story is one of family, honor, and loyalty despite the circumstances of life. Verne has always made "honor" a strong theme in his works and "800 Leagues" may be his finest exmple.

My final verdict - while this is not Verne's best work (my favorite will always be "The Mysterious Island") it is still in the top half of what I read of Verne. I would compare to "5 Weeks in a Balloon" with "800 Leagues" being slightly inferior. However, "800 Leagues" is still a must read for Verne fans.

I've read lots of Jules Verne books, and this is not like anything I've read before. VERY slow, and he gets so tied up in descriptions of South America and flora and fauna that he forgets about the story he's telling. And even the descriptions are bad: they go on ad nauseum about nothing of interest, and some things it is difficult to comprehend even what the subject is.
And there is a lack of that sense of suspense and mystery found in his other great novels.
It was boring, dragged on, and I am sorry I wasted the few days of reading it. Many times, when I read a Verne novel, it inspires me to reasearch more of the region he is writing about, but not this time. I am glad the Amazon is more interesting than this...

It was a good story line. If you like books that are very descriptive and allow you to "see" the images, then you'd like that aspect of it. As a matter of fact, I'd say that most of the text is descriptions of the environment of the Amazon. I will say, that there wasn't much of an ending. I liked it up until the very last paragraph. After that I regretted spending the time to read it. Also, the event that we await at the end of the journey was never even written about. It's as if the story was cut off before the ending. It's like watching a movie and the electricity going off near the end. This wasn't my favorite Verne book, but he's still my favorite writer.