Info
Genre: Adventure
Pages: 252
Published: 1872
Goodreads Rating: 3.94 / 5
My Rating: 5 / 5
Plot Summary
Phileas Fogg, a wealthy and eccentric British gentleman, bets his companions in the Reform Club (with a 20.000 wager) that he can travel across the world in only eighty days.
Accompanied by his newly-hired French valet, Jean Passepartout, they pass through exotic lands and dangerous locations, use different modes of transportation and try to overcome countless set-backs.
Character Development
A prominent member of the Reform Club, Phileas Fogg is a man with considerable wealth and a knack for mathematical precision in his daily life. Stoic and reserved in his expressions but with a kind and generous spirit, he takes quick action when required and is able to save the day.
Jean Passepartout, the French valet of Mr. Fogg, has travelled a lot in his life while doing irregular jobs and is in a desperate need for stability. The unconventional trip around the world surprises him negatively at first but he is soon able to enjoy it. Although a good lad with his master’s best interests in heart, he is quite clumsy and causes several set-backs, which fortunately are easily solved.
Aouda had been married to the Hindu ruler of Bundelkhand against her will. Upon her husband’s death she is to be sacrificed by Hindu priests at his funeral pyre, but is saved by the intervention of Fogg and Passepartout. With her European education and sweet demeanor she quickly becomes the duo’s permanent companion and proposes the solution to their deadlock.
Themes
With Fogg’s trip around the world Verne is able to shed light on how technological innovations have helped diminish distances and bring comfort in the traveling experience.
Exotic cultures and customs are vividly described and realistically portray other sides of the human evolution, which might scare or surprise us.
Having stability in life with the form of a strictly daily routine can be a good thing but it calls for an adventure of peculiar means from time to time.
Love is a powerful force that can transform even the most stoic of faces.
My Thoughts
Around the World in Eighty Days is the first book of Jules Verne I have ever read and I can say without a hint of doubt that it is my favourite amongst his work.
Adventurous and with keen detail on the technological landmarks of traveling long distances it is the perfect choice for enjoyable reading all the while discovering what the late 19th century world looked like. .
