29. Vern, Jules. Journey to the Centre of the Earth. 291 pages. 3.24.09. *

Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth was nothing like I expected. I have never read any Verne before, but I thought I was familiar with some of the basic ideas of the novel. However, this "popular" knowledge was largely erroneous, and the book turned out to be more academically interesting than entertaining in a common sense.

I expected Journey to the Centre of the Earth to be a more traditional adventure story, similar in tone and style to Treasure Island. Instead, the novel reads more like a 19th-century scientific travel narrative, focusing on internal struggles and academic achievements over physical catastrophes and encounters. The details I expected - those concerned with prehistoric life existing in the center of the earth - are only briefly described towards the end of the novel. In the space of a couple chapters Verne discusses these phenomena, before returning to the description of the journey at hand. As the title itself suggests, I found that the novel is actually concerned with the journey, as opposed to what may be discovered at its end.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to read this novel to my son as his latest bedtime story. Many of the locations, names, and scientific terms threw me for a loop, and I found myself mumbling more than once. Luckily, my son is only one and didn't know the difference.