This is one of those novels that everybody has heard of, but I have to be honest and say that before reading it recently, I didn’t really have any idea about what the storyline was. Yes, I knew it was a story of a trip around the world, but I didn’t know the context of that trip – as it turns out, it’s essentially just that an eccentric rich man decides to make a bet with some of his rich friends that he’d be able to make such a journey in that timespan. It’s fun and it’s silly, but I really quite enjoyed the journey.
Phileas Fogg himself was probably my favourite thing about the book. He’s kind of ridiculous in a way, but that makes him quite funny and endearing. He’s completely unflappable, and even though he continuously encounters serious hurdles and dangers on his journey, he always manages to find a solution – and usually one that involves spending enormous amounts of money. I reckon some readers might find his arrogance kind of annoying, but I loved him and thought he was great.
Along the way, Phileas Fogg is contrasted against his employee Passepartout who kind of acts as his foil. Though he is somewhat bumbling, he very much seems as though he’s there to be a “normal person” and ensure that readers have someone they can at least partially relate to. Though you’ll probably spend a decent amount of time feeling bad for him, since Phileas is not a good boss, or you’ll be laughing at him for being kind of stupid. Two other characters join them as it goes along too, and I found them both pretty likeable.
Another big appeal is that it really goes into a lot of detail about how somebody could have realistically made the journey it describes at the time that Jules Verne was writing. It also kind of reads a little like a piece of travel writing, with a lot of information about where the characters go. I found this all pretty interesting and I appreciated the fact that Jules Verne was able to insert random information that he knows in a way that was not boring (unlike, for instance, Victor Hugo, with his shoe-horned essays).
In the earlier parts of the novel, I had the impression that it was a little too pro-colonialism – although by the time I get to the end of the novel, I came away thinking that it was actually quite progressive in a number of ways. It all relates to instances that I can’t mention without spoiling some major plot developments, but generally, it did a few things that I’m sure certain readers would criticise as “woke” if they were included in a modern piece of media.
Altogether, this short and enjoyable read. The story was engaging and ranged from being pretty funny at times, to genuinely quite intense. The idea that inspired the story is quite an interesting one, and the cast of characters are all pretty likeable.
Rating: 8.2/10
