39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A testament to humanity, June 22, 2005
This review is from: The Mysterious Island (Modern Library Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)
Mysterious Island is the third book in a trilogy by Verne (the 1st being In Search of the Castaways and the 2nd the famous 20000 Leagues Under the Sea). I think it's by far the best of the three - it's one of my favourites of Verne and makes the other 2 look completely superficial. It was one of my favourites as a child but now I really want to read it as an adult as I think it will be even better.
A bunch of people fighting on the side of the abolisionists in the US Civil War escape a siege on a hot air balloon. They're blown off course and are shipwrecked on a deserted island on the Pacific. However, Verne takes an optimistic approach to the story (of course it helps that the 5 or so people are all quite good at one thing or another). Over the period of their stay, they "conquer" the island as they build what is literally a civilisation with their bare hands. What follows is a story of redemption, struggle and the amazing parts of the human spirit (ones most people never get to see outside of extreme circumstances), as well as the heroes' hunt for the secret of the island.
In many other books, Verne describes scenery or nature for pages and pages which can get tiresome. But never here, for here he is singing a sublime ode to inventiveness as our heroes' knowledge of everything from chemistry to astronomy to the humanities is turned to use. This is an adventure book but it's much more deep than most adventure books - you can really tell that Verne was writing in an era of the belief in progress (the modern reader will probably have a very different attitude to nature than the author) and this book is the immortal tale of the best human nature has to offer, all against a backdrop of action.
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29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Remarkable Novel even for Verne, October 12, 2005
This review is from: The Mysterious Island (Modern Library Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)
This new translation lifts the book to a higher level - there is very little about Verne's writing that can be described as dated or boring. Even that redoutable master of brilliant and modern-reading prose, Wilkie Collins, cannot keep up with Verne at his best. How so much seemingly tedious description is lifted to this level of fluidity - flat out amazing.
Verne's genius for what we today call Science Fiction sometimes obscures his even greater gift, for pure narrative. And with the Mysterious Island in this new translation his talent is on full display. Verne creates with this island an entire new world, a sort of Eden, and within this landscape plays out an entirely breathtaking story. Lingering in the backdrop, Verne's embittered alter ego Nemo balances the one-sided idealism of the castaways. On a scale with the Count of Monte Cristo, and the literary culmination of the enlightenment/scientific shipwrecked theme,(versus the 'humans are animals Lord of the Flies alternative), the Mysterious Island builds steadily to a tremendous finish.
When we read 19th century fiction much of the time phrases and scenes are flat, stale; even the best writers, Dickens, or Trollope, Balzac or Hawthorne, have streches of writing that just doesn't read as anything but dated. But Verne's best books, and this certainly is one of them, are as remarkable for their uncluttered fine prose writing as they are for their famous plots and explorations.
If Verne was no great creator of character, he makes up for it by some of the most eminently readable works ever penned.
A wonderful book for reading during a cold long winter weekend.
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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An exciting 19th century heroic adventure!, June 13, 2005
This review is from: The Mysterious Island (Modern Library Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)
Five intrepid souls - typical Victorian "men's men" all - imprisoned in Richmond by the North's siege of the city during the American Civil War, band together in a daring escape attempt - the theft of a hot air balloon grounded by a horrific summer storm. The five men - Cyrus Harding, an abolitionist and distinguished captain in Grant's army with Neb, his negro manservant; Gideon Spilett, dauntless war correspondent for the New York Herald; Pencroft, a dashing businessman from the North and former sailor trapped in Richmond by the siege; and his young friend, Herbert Brown - plus Harding's loving dog, Top, are lofted high into the sky by the powerful storm, blown thousand of miles from Richmond and brutally dashed onto the shores of an uncharted island somewhere deep in the southern hemisphere.
The tale unfolds as a straightforward dramatic adventure outlining the trials and tribulations of our five heroes. We are witness to their amazing transformation from prisoners, to castaways, to explorers, to pioneers and, finally, through a combination of intrepid daring, perseverance, cunning, ingenuity, derring-do, and eclectic scientific know-how, to comfortable, established colonists and citizens of their tropical paradise. Quite aptly, they've christened it "Lincoln Island". That Verne allowed himself the luxury of creating characters that were the very model of goodwill and cooperation can be overlooked. That Cyrus Harding, as an engineer, and Herbert Brown, as a young naturalist, had collective instant recall of virtually the world's accumulated scientific knowledge and a great deal of arcana besides was pushing the limits even for a story like this. But, what the heck - The Mysterious Island was intended as a "feel good" adventure, after all. My suggestion to help the reader get past this credibility factor problem is to allow Verne's tale to stand-in as a representative microcosm of the perils facing any group of courageous immigrants colonizing a strange land starting with nothing more than the clothes on their back and their wits. I'm sure you'll set the book down feeling no less than awestruck at the achievements that a successful flourishing colony represents.
As a historical aside, it was with no small amount of horror and disgust that I realized that Spilett's and Pencroft's complete and utter disdain and lack of consideration for the ecology of their island was probably entirely representative of Europe's attitude to these issues in the late 19th century. For example:
" ... Gideon Spilett and Herbert one day saw an animal which resembled a jaguar. Happily the creature did not attack them, or they might not have escaped without a severe wound. As soon as he could get a regular weapon, that is to say, one of the guns which Pencroft begged for, Gideon Spilett resolved to make desperate war against the ferocious beasts, and exterminate them from the island." And "If the island is inhabited by wild beasts, we must think how to fight with and determine how to exterminate them. A time may come when this will be our first duty."
Ironically, despite their crystal clear certainty about their ability to exterminate a species under a planned program of attack, they were completely blind about the potential inability of another species to last forever as a food resource. To wit:
" ... commonly known by the name of American Rabbits. This product of the chase was brought back to Granite House and figured at the evening repast. The tenants of the warren were not at all to be despised, for they were delicious. It was a valuable resource of the colony and it appeared to be inexhaustible."
That said, the book was clearly a child of its times and, as such, the attitudes which we have hopefully left behind us can now be overlooked and accepted as historical artifacts. As an adventure story, it succeeds well and Ray Harryhausen chose well to build an exciting adventure film around it. The Mysterious Island unquestionably deserves a place on your reading list.
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