Around the World in 80 Days, A Review

I have had the pleasure of experiencing a great many of Jules Verne's works, the author of Around the World in 80 Days. Though from this point I had only seen them indirectly, via spin offs and children based remakes- from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to The Journey to the Center of the Earth. Having only the memory of the remakes as a guide, I wasn't disappointed in my reading of this book. Around the World in 80 Days is the classic tale of people seeking adventure in the attempt to overcome the expectations of society. In this case overly rich man, Phileas Fogg, and the Reform Club make a bet, Phileas Fogg assuages that he can perform the impossible feat of traveling the world in 80 days.

Unfortunately along the way he is accused of bank robbery, forced to aid everyone he can, and make several detours, yet in the end he manages to make the bet within the nick of time. The story was quite intriguing, yet having already seen a good deal of spin offs greatly lessened the effect of the book on me as I already knew what to mostly expect, though the book did a good job in deviating slightly in those expectations, for example burning part of a boat for fuel and the fact they managed to get around the world a day earlier than predicted are interesting little tidbits that stood out to me. I only wish I had the fortune of reading the original first, then the remakes would appeal more to me, and wouldn't detract from my reading of the book. In any case if you haven't yet read Around the World in 80 Days, and haven't been exposed to all of the remakes, and ignored my little plot summary, this is definitely a book you should check out.