Upon finishing this book I am left with more senseless knowledge about aquatic life than I could possibly need. The amount of time spent by Verne describing minute details of things that are uninvolved with the plot is at sometimes interesting but more often than not the descriptions carry on for so long it is absurd and boring. Another issue I have with the book is the minor role of epic sea monsters attacking Captain Nemo’s crew. There were a few exciting scenes like the giant shark and the giant squid type monster but not nearly enough for this reader. Maybe I shouldn’t have been expecting the book to be like an underwater “Jurassic Park” but I am an optimistic guy and “Jurassic Park” was a sweet movie.
Despite these complaints the novel was fairly entertaining and it’s significance to the evolution of sci-fi is not lost on me. Verne had a huge part in developing the genre and his works are extremely well written. For me the “sci” kind of got in the way if the “fi” in this book as a lot of time is spent on details but that is a more personal complaint and I realize that many readers would enjoy the scientific mumbo jumbo.
Our class seemed to feel like the lack of women in the novel reflects the possibly homosexual tendencies of Nemo and his crew but I strongly disagree. That’s not to say that there is no way that any of the crew were gay, it’s just that there is nothing sexual about going on a dangerous submarine adventure, unless you’re some kind of sado-masochist aquatic pervert.
