Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne

Date Started: 8/13/12
Date Finished: 8/27/12

Now the interesting thing about reading this book is that I grew up watching the 1959 movie. And when I say I "grew up watching" it, I mean I watched it a LOT. Like I know basically every line of dialogue. It was recently on TV (which is so much more exciting than popping in the DVD you already own, right?) so I re-watched it for the first time in a while. Still loved it. But watching it made me think - "you know, I've never actually read the book this is based on." Given how much I love 19th Century writing, this seemed like it would be right up my alley, and that was right.

And ALSO, after tearing through the first two books in Game of Thrones, I knew I needed to take a break, otherwise I'd finish the series without stopping.

So here we go...


Interesting observations

#1: In the movie, the characters are all from Scotland while in the book, they're German. This was interesting - it gave the book an entirely different flavor somehow.

#2: The Professor is waaaay more energetic and...frenetic seeming in the book than the movie. He is also described as being tall and lanky, which is not really how he was portrayed in the movie.

#3: There is no woman who makes the journey with them. This was obviously added into the movie to add an element of romance (and perhaps get female moviegoers interested!) but there is no such character in the book.

#4: There is a LOT in the book that was left out in the movie, for example, waaaay more scientific observations and creatures that we never see in the movie (my guess is that it would have been too complicated to create these creatures in 1959 cinematography).

#5: The basic structure of the movie follows that of the book, and they do escape from the center of the earth through the same means - the volcano shaft (though it takes way longer in the book and is fraught with much more danger, notably a chance of burning alive!)

#6: I found the narrator, Henry (or Harry as his uncle refers to him) kind of annoying. He goes back and forth between dreading the journey to being overly enthusiastic with such lightning speed that it just got a little old.

So, in summary, this was a book I enjoyed, though it wasn't my favorite of the 19th Century classics. Having read the book, I must say, I think I will still enjoy the movie!