Paris in the Twentieth Century

Rating:
Summary: Just Plain Bad
Review: When this novel was published a few years back, I was looking forward to it. After all, I loved Verne's classics like Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. We all do, right?

Then I read Paris in the 20th Century.... Well, it is indeed surprisingly prescient about future technology. But that's the only good thing to be said about it.

The plot is flimsy at best, the characters have no appeal and the overall tone is one of self-indulgent whining. Incessantly so. Oh, how awful a world would be if certain poets ever failed to be lionized! The same list of poets repeated ad nauseum.

In short, don't waste your time on this. If you want a well-written book that shows a dystopian future with a culture-technology clash, read Aldous Huxley's Brave New World or Ray Bradbury's Farrenheit 451.