Journey to the Center of the Earth: A Signature Performance by Tim Curry

With a classic like this one it all comes down to the narrator.
Tim Curry reads it as if Jules Verne is looking over his shoulder. His voice seems very appropriate to the book and its time period.
He is not particularly good at changing his tone for different characters and his female impersonations are far from flattering.
But in an odd way he seems to be perfect for a Jules Verne story.
Its absolutely worth getting.

Listening to Tim Curry read Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth was a surprisingly entertaining experience. I had expected the novel to be a weak story overwhelmed by a series of dry scientific facts and pseudo-facts, but it was lively and funny and often exciting and awe-inducing. The first-person narrator Axel is refreshingly reluctant, cowardly, weak, and despairing, especially when compared to his fiery, impetuous, glory-seeking, knowledge-hunting, unquenchable middle-aged uncle Professor Otto Lidenbrock and their taciturn do-everything guide Hans. Verne vividly depicts their descent down the volcano tube and exploration of the subterranean world deep inside the earth. Sure, the ???science??? is crazy, and it takes three and a half hours for them to even get down there, but Verne's enthusiasm for it all and the sense of the vast scale of time that has passed on our earth and the joy of discovery and the interplay between Axel and his uncle all glow brightly throughout. And Tim Curry multiplies the enjoyment. I'm still hearing in my mind his Professor Lidenbrock remonstrating with Axel to buck up or his Axel futilely trying to get "Uncle" not to do something reckless and chuckling to myself.

Some reviewers have said that the book is dull or that there isn't enough action, but I think that 1) the avoidance of what today would be a non-stop page-turning never-ending action sequence novel is refreshing and that 2) Verne's depiction of the relationship between Axel and his uncle and his enthusiasm for the natural world and Curry's reading of it all is entertaining, even when Axel or his uncle are listing different kinds of minerals or different eras in the earth's geologic history.

I would give four stars to Verne's novel and five to Curry's reading.

I'm only part way into the book, but I like it a lot. Tim Curry is a hoot to listen to and adds a lot to the character.

I wish I could say this classic is as thrilling as it was when first published, but some books remain cultural milestones for their historical importance, even though more recent, imaginative, and better successors have come along, and this is true of most of Jules Verne's works, I think. He is the grandfather of "hard science fiction," and his books were notable for their rigorous attention to the laws of physics as they were understood at the time. Everything about Journey to the Centre of the Earth has the ring of plausibility about it (backed up by a great detail of technical explanation of instruments and measurements and physical science), even though we now know the "internal fire" debate is settled.

"Such was the succession of phenomena which produced Iceland, all arising from the action of internal fire; and to suppose that the mass within did not still exist in a state of liquid incandescence was absurd; and nothing could surpass the absurdity of fancying that it was possible to reach the earth's centre."

The plot, in brief: Otto Liedenbrock, German Professor of Mineralogy, discovers a Runic code in an ancient Icelandic text which, when deciphered, indicates that a 12th century Icelandic traveler named Arne Saknussemm found a passage to the center of the Earth down a volcano. (Journey to the Centre of the Earth is notable also for featuring one of the earliest use of cryptography in fiction, as several chapters are spent on the deciphering of this code.) Liedenbrock immediately resolves to follow the footsteps of Saknussemm, and drags along his nephew, Axel, the narrator, and eventually a taciturn Icelandic guide named Hans.

This is a great book for kids who are still fascinated by anything to do with secret codes, volcanoes, prehistoric creatures, and fantastic journeys and haven't been jaded by exposure to countless books and movies based on such concepts. Yes, Jules Verne was the granddaddy of them all. However, this novel is basically a travel epic, written at a time when the journey to Iceland alone would have been considered quite daring and exciting. Professor Liedenbrock and his nephew, Axel, encounter darkness, lava, near-starvation and dehydration, an underground ocean, giant mushrooms, the remains of prehistoric fauna, and a battle between an ichthyosaurus and a plesiosaurus. But the whole book is just an account of their journey, with the reader expected to marvel at these fantastic sights.

It was interesting to me more for its historical context and to compare with imitators that have followed in the "fantastic voyage" genre than for the story itself. Three men travel to the center of the Earth, see a few interesting things, and come back, the end. Jules Verne's prose (as translated into English) conveys the breathless wonder of the characters, as well as their trials when they find themselves without food or water deep underground, but it's quite an arid narrative for all its meticulous details. I find Jules Verne to be readable but rather unexciting, as he seems to feel no emotion about his tale and doesn't inspire the reader to feel any.

A book to be read for the sake of having read it, but I suspect few modern adult readers will really find it thrilling or memorable.

Tim Curry does a great job narrating, though, and invests the story with more excitement than did Verne's prose alone.

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. Tim Curry did a fantastic job but I had a hard time with the lack of character developement. The characters felt very one dimensional. I liked the science fiction and do not regret reading it as it is referenced in so much. It helps for the frame of reference, but I didn't really enjoy it. I also didn't hate it. Tim Curry's performance helped.

Yes - I listed to this book as I went to and from work. really helped pass the time. The Narration was well done and kept my interest throughout the reading.

The nephew - since I think most people could relate to his mode of responses.

No - Over a period of time while traveling in the car. To and from work

Immersed me into the book completely, and I couldnt ask for anything more.

Its a masterpiece of literature and adventure!

As an auditory learner, I get much more out of hearring it articulated by a wordsmith like Mr Curry.

I did nto plan to listen to it in one sitting, and thus I did not. but It was my good fortune that I was able to easily pick up where i left off with a simple click, and I found I lost no place in the story and did not need to back up and re-read the page before as I do when i leave a book. I simply continued on to my enjoyment.

Thank you,
if you do any other Jules Verne please let me know, I have listened to other Readers and find their pauses to be lengthey and the chapter pauses unbarably long. the puases you use are consice and perfect to their timing and requirments.- Micheal S.

I loved the accent and felt drawn in

At first I was not a fan, but after 1 to 2 hours I couldn't wait to go for long walks and lose myself on this journey

I'm not a scientist, but enjoyed listening to what people thought about science of the earth years ago.

Classic tale by a classic author read by a great narrator.How can you go wrong?

For everyone who read Jules Vern when we had real bound books the audio version is a treat for the ears as the book was for the eyes. Tim Curry's voice was superb.

I forgot how much the character Hans differed in the movie vs the book. Wow the book's character Hans saved the day and truly made the the novel.

Their travels to the volcano.

"The Journey - to the center of the Earth, a marvelous discovery"