The Mysterious Island

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful adventure novel
Review:

This is one of the best adventure novels ever written. It's silly to try to describe it as the end of Captain Nemo's story; that's a very minor feature, and has little to do with why this book is thrilling.

Here's what really happens: Captain Cyrus Harding and some others escape from a Civil War prisoner camp in a balloon, are blown out to sea, and land on an unoccupied island. On it, they try to survive, and succeed pretty well. They also try to recreate much of the technology they had, which I found fascinating. It's the old "make the tools to make the tools" game.

Rating:
Summary: Mysteriously Readable
Review: I'm at a loss to explain why I found this book so compelling. At 700-odd pages with flat characters, no dramatic conflict to speak of, no giant crabs or chickens (if you remember the movie), little action until the end, no humor, no sex, not even any mystery--since it's almost impossible to avoid spoilers--but plenty of tedious description, stiff dialogue and quaintly oversimplified scientific exposition, you'd think it'd be impossible to get through. Yet I stopped everything I was doing and breezed through it in only a few days. I guess it's a testimony to the power of a well-wrought adventure story, and this is one of the best of its kind. For some reason I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: The movie was better
Review: the 1961 movie that was made on this book only took the idea of five men starndad on an island and they are aided by Captain Nemo later in the movie but that's it. In the book, Nemo's apperance is near the end and it;s a small part. It only serves as a sequal of a small sorts to 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. The rest of the book is full of somewhat boring charecters who spend the whole story trying to survive on an island. It's somewhat tedious and you never quite get excited by the lack of any real adventure.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Have For Verne Fans!!!
Review: This is a great book. It has a biography of Verne plus two prefaces to different novels he wrote (the only two), and detailed notes. The novels runs about 650 pages long, but caution, there are some versions that are 200 pages shorter, and some of the character names are changed. Make sure it is this version, but if you do not want all the extra information, there are editions with just the novel. A great book, and perfect if you loved "Twenty-Thousand Leagues under The Sea".

Rating:
Summary: A little unbelievable
Review: The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne is about five men, escaping from prison during the Civil War, who try to survive on a deserted island. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe sparked ideas for both this book and the story of The Swiss Family Robinson. All books such as this are hard to write because the author must convince the reader that those stranded on the island don't 'cheat' by getting the things they need. The stranded humans must plausibly obtain their wants and needs without too many coincidences or gifts from God. This book does a mediocre job. The afterward by Isaac Asimov writes that in this book the five men do not have a stranded ship in which to take items as Robinson Crusoe had had. However, the men are placed on an island with everything they could possibly need: a somewhat unbelievable variety of flora and fauna proportional to the size of the island. Also, one of the men, an engineer, knows just about everything. He can make fire, create a battery out of the acids in the decomposed seaweed (???), make a kiln that produces pottery, and knows the exact amount of coal and iron to melt together to form steel. This is unbelievable to me that the engineer could do all of this with the raw tools he had available. Throughout the novel a mysterious being would provide the now very comfortable colonists with items or help as they needed it without making himself known. I think this is cheating as there would most likely not be anyone to help me if I were deserted on an island. The book is great when looked at from in intellectual view because it explains how neccessities and stoves could be produced if the means were there...emphasis on the 'could be.' It is interesting to see, for example, the bread tree in which a sort of flour can be obtained. Also the chemistry within the novel is very advanced and would without doubt make exactly what the characters were making...if you knew how to do it.


Rating:
Summary: outstanding storytelling and timeless too
Review: This is a great adventure tale in which a small band of men fleeing the Civil War make their way to a "mysterious island" where they do much better than simply make do in a primitive day to day survival. They make the island their kingdom, and make the most of its natural features and resources to an amazing degree. Verne draws the reader into wondering what's going to happen next and what they are going to make or build next. The conclusion is creative and satisfying as well. The Mysterious Island is simply a classic story that can be enjoyed by all ages.

Rating:
Summary: Mysterious whisper
Review: This is a fine Victorian era fantasy novel by Jules Verne. Five Civil War era Americans get stranded on a mysterious island. They manage to survive, and even thrive, thanks to their ingenuity (and from some other means that I won't reveal because that would give away the secret behind the mystery). That's all I am going to say about this book, read it yourself and discover what happens. Recommended to fans of 19th Century fiction.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Solid Adventure
Review: The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne is a story of the escape of five prisoners in a hot air balloon. The prisoners are all Union men being held by the Confederacy in Richmond. After they escape in the balloon, they get caught in a great storm and are wrecked on an unknown island in the Pacific Ocean. They start with absolutely nothing, but they manage to build a comfortable life with their knowledge. The members include an engineer, his servant, a journalist, a sailor, and a boy. The engineer is the main hero. It is his knowledge which helps the party to build their perfect little world. Without him, the party would probably perish. The sailor serves as comic relief. He is always making funny remarks. Basically they enjoy their life on the island, but they face some crises, and receive help from a mysterious source. As the book progresses, the mysterious coincidences build up.

This is a good book for survival fans. It's interesting to see how they are able to build their mini civilization from nothing. If you're not interested in island survival though, you may get bored with the details on how to make a pottery kiln, or building a blacksmith's forge, or the search for edible plants. One point I didn't like very much was the character of the servant. As an African-american, he's a little too subservient--a kind of Uncle Tom type who lives to serve his master. That's really out-of-date now, which is why this is not one of Vernes better works. If you haven't read any of Verne's works, I recommend 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Journey to the Moon instead. If you've read a lot of Verne, this is a solid book, but not his best.

Rating:
Summary: A classic adventure tale
Review: In this Classic Adventure tale written in 1870, Verne tells the story of some castaways who are stranded on a deserted island after escaping from a town under seige in the Civil War. Now, reading this book well over a century after it was written, many would have cause to scorn the book because of the simplistic science presented, along with all the mistakes and misconceptions of it's time. Let us not take for granted that now basic knowledge of geology, botony, and biology are common knowledge, not requiring a scientist or professor to understand.

Much of the book is the story of the castaways turned colinists who build a home, manufacture explosives, keep animals, and suffer through hardships. Throughout thier stay on the Island, they come across mysteries they cannot explain, being saved in the nick of time, and at the end, they finally discover the identy of that one who has watched over them and provided help in cognito.

Certainly a classic adventure tale, that, while not up to modern standards of science and suspence, is an excellent way to get aquainted with times past.