20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

By: Jules Verne

Narrated by: David Case, Frederick Davidson

The year 1866 was marked by a unique incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, and rumors agitated the maritime population and excited the public mind, especially seafaring men. Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, both of Europe and America, naval officers of all countries, and the governments of several states on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter.

For some time past, vessels had been threatened by "an enormous thing": a long object, spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphorescent, and infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale. Then, Captain Nemo decided to allow his submarine, the Nautilus, to be drafted into service on a hunt ahead of its time.

(P)1998 Blackstone Audiobooks

This was a great classic.

It is a great story and a neat perspective into the past. I highly reccomend reading it if you are going on a cruise ship or a beach retreat. it makes it all the more interesting being surrounded by water.

This is an excellent recording of a classic.

The tone and speed of the reading was excellent. Of course the novel is a renowned classic. I highly recommend it.

Excellent all around!

It was slow at points but an interesting tale the whole way through! I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent listening to it

Glad that I finished it

There’s a lot of scenery exposition, but it’s a good story and picks up. Classic man vs nature, with some well done mystery elements.

A superb performance of this classic story

What did you like best about 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? What did you like least?

This is a visionary science fiction story - Verne's ability to imagine what could be done with an up-and-coming technology like electricity is brilliant. And I really like how he weaves that ultra-modern (at the time) technology into the old classic tale of the sea.
As for what I liked least, read on to the next question...

What was most disappointing about Jules Verne’s story?

The most disappointing part of this story is...the story. The vast majority of the story - excepting the first few chapters and the last few chapters - is completely bereft of a plot. It is one endless travelogue, listing the sights and wonders they see around the world. And that frequently descends into such tediously pedantic lists of plants and animals that I just want to yell "get on with it!"
Oh...and the other disappointing part is the characters. All of the characters in the story are cardboard cut-outs with no depth or humanity. Captain Nemo is the inscrutable loner. Arronax is the man of science. Conseil is his devoted servant. But none of them are anything more...interesting.
With no interesting characters, and little plot, to drive the story, I frequently found it dragging.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite part of the book is the beginning chapters, as Prof. Arronax speculates as to the nature of the creature that has been sighted, and then the chase aboard the Abraham Lincoln.

Do you think 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Certainly not. This book is a work of its time; it would not make sense to try to follow it up.

Any additional comments?

I purchased this audiobook because of the narrator, David Chase. He did not disappoint. His reading brought life to this book - even to some of the tedious lists of the types of fish and plants they saw on their journey. It is an excellent narration.

Wonderful

This is a very enjoyable reading. I was not disappointed. You will not regret reading it.

Decent book and narration, but might have preferred different version

This science fiction novel is classic, though I never realized how much description of sea creatures there were, which got a little tedious. The narration was decent to, but honestly the way he read it got on my nerves a little bit because he made the the main Professor character seem very pretentious in the way he read it. I did listen to it all the way through however and overall enjoyed the book. But I think I might have liked it more if a different person had narrated. Would recommend the story but maybe a different narrator.

Listen to this narration vs any other!

Narration perfection! In order to clearly appreciate the more technical and scientific details, I recommend this version as told by the excellent David Case, known for many Inspector Morse books. Such a beautifully written tale. I did not fully grasp it in high school and am very happy to have found this version on Audible. Bravo!

oh captain...

An amazing story and narrative, one of his best works. I read the mysterious island first and had to know more about Captain Nemo.

Great for car rides

The narration was excellent. at times the story is a bit dry, listing the types of fish seen for example, but in a way that helps draw you in anf the narrator's voices gave splendid life to each character.