Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fine and informative entertainment, April 2, 2009
In 1867 Jules Verne, whose lifelong passion for the sea inspired his greatest works, sailed across the Atlantic from Liverpool to New York with his brother Paul aboard the SS Great Eastern, the biggest iron ship of its day. Verne based A Floating City on that memorable journey, describing his experiences as they probably happened. And his brief stay in New York left a lasting impression in him as evident in his American cycle of novels, The Begum's Millions, North Against South and The Floating Island, to name just a few. Readers looking for classic Verne will not find it in A Floating City; its characters are one dimensional and the plot fanciful, but it's still a little gem worth reading.
Remembered today mainly for the laying of the transatlantic telegraph cable in 1865, the Great Eastern was indeed a spectacle to behold and its statistics staggering. Spanning almost 700 feet from stem to stern (five time larger than its rival), held together by three million rivets, with six 200-foot masts, five chimneys, 2,600 horsepower, miles of rope and canvas, a crew of 500, and 3,000 beds, it was so massive its paddle wheels, with their 56 foot diameters, obscured the tugboats, tenders and fishing smacks that floated starboard and larboard when in port. Yet the leviathan could be steered by the force of a single finger. Although the brothers Verne did not speak English they met a few Frenchmen and French speaking Brits, I assume, allowing Verne to later formulate a melodramatic plot a la Victor Hugo.
But all doesn't go well when the ship experiences a delayed departure and an accident that kills four sailors, who are unlamented and quickly replaced. The novel's narrator is a gentleman taking a month's vacation who meets an old friend on the Great Eastern. The chums meet the ship's captain and other passengers, one of whom soon learns about the private lives of some fellow travelers. The most intriguing being a heartbroken woman who doesn't know that her husband, whom she hates, and the man she truly loves are both on board. Naturally madness and swordplay soon follow. Add to this an abandoned Spanish ship just drifting along, towering icebergs, a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, marvelous descriptions of the ocean and Niagara Falls and you've got another humdinger from the master of adventure. I'd advise interested readers to web search pictures of the Great Eastern and gaze at the marvel that inspired A Floating City.
-Victor Rodriguez, author of Ravenhall
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4 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
buy this book, August 24, 2000
By A Customer
i would recommend this book because it is good
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by Jules Verne
by Jules Verne
by Jules Verne
by Jules Verne
by Jules Verne Jules Verne
