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Jules Verne, Folge 3: In 80 Tagen um die Welt
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Jules Verne, Folge 3: In 80 Tagen um die Welt
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Jules Verne, Folge 3: In 80 Tagen um die Welt
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Jules Verne, Folge 3: In 80 Tagen um die Welt

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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About this audiobook

Der britische Gentleman Phileas Fogg wettet in einem Londoner Club der Upper Class, dass er problemlos in der Lage sei, die Welt in nur 80 Tagen zu umreisen. Mit Hilfe eines Ballons und einem Einsatz von 20.000 Pfund will er seine These beweisen. Zusammen mit seinem getreuen Diener Passepartout macht er sich auf die Reise.
LanguageDeutsch
Release dateAug 7, 2015
ISBN9783938597361
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Jules Verne, Folge 3: In 80 Tagen um die Welt

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Rating: 3.840489649379403 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a very suspenseful, exciting book! This was the first Verne book I've ever read, and he is very good at keeping readers gnawing on their nails at the edge of their seats. The story has humor sprinkled throughout it that had me laughing out loud. I loved it; I know I say this about nearly everything I read, but this truly was a wonderful book!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read the Project Gutenberg version of this, in the end: I don't know who translated it, but the translation was really quite nice. I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. For all that he bribes his way around the world, really, Phileas Fogg has some interesting adventures, including saving a lovely young woman and commandeering a ship. I thought the characters were all quite fun. There are stereotypes and so on, and it's very very biased toward all things English, seemingly, but knowing about that in advance, I could ignore it.

    I loved the end a lot more than I expected to. I thought it was clever, and I enjoyed seeing a softer side of Phileas Fogg (one that I had, of course, been suspecting for a while).
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this book awhile ago so this review is not going to go into to much detail about what I liked and what I didn't like. However there is nothing about this book that I remember disliking.

    I loved it. I stayed up all night reading it- it helped that I have never seen any of the movies or met anyone else that has read this book (OK I don't actually know if that is true I guess some of my teachers had probably read this book but I haven't spoken about this book with anyone else who read it.) and, because of that, I had no idea what was going to happen in the end or even during the book. I thought it was all very entertaining- it was one of the first classics I read without being told to.

    When I finished it I said to myself, "Wow that was a good book." I love reading but that doesn't happen often for me (I can only think of two other books that have had that effect on me).

    I recommend this book to everyone but especially people who like adventure stories or classics.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What a fantastic, thrilling, gripping story this is. What a nail-biter! Filled with fun characters, vivid locations, and a sense of desperate urgency, Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne is deservedly a classic. I listened to this on audiobook read by Jim Dale and enjoyed every minute (except the truly nauseating little talk, added by the publisher, at the end. But I will rant about that later). I was surprised to realize that I had probably never read the unabridged version of this story. I have a vague recollection of one of those Great Illustrated Classics, with a truly terrifying illustration of Passepartout in the opium den. Though I'm familiar with many of Verne's plots, I haven't really sat down with one of his books as an adult reader. I see I will have to rectify that. Phileas Fogg is an eccentric English gentleman who has followed an unvarying pattern — to the minute — for most of his life. He is meticulous down to the temperature of his shaving water, and when his manservant brings him water that is two degrees too cold, Mr. Fogg has no alternative but to fire him. We arrive at the house in Savile Row the day the new servant, Passepartout, is to begin work. Passepartout is delighted at the prospect of a well-ordered, established life, but it is not to be. That very night, Fogg makes a twenty-thousand-pound bet at his club that he can travel around the world in eighty days. To the astonishment of his colleagues, who are well accustomed to his precise and unvarying life, Fogg sets out that very evening on his madcap voyage.There is an interesting correlation between this story and that of Les Misérables; though completely opposite in tone and plot, both feature a legalistic, misled police inspector trailing the hero on all his journeys. Both inspectors step in to wreak ruin upon their quarry at the worst possible moment, and both, in the end, are foiled. That is probably as far as the comparison goes, but isn't it interesting? Les Misérables was published in 1862, and Around the World in Eighty Days in serial form in 1873. I love Verne's descriptions; they are often so wryly humorous. Anyone who thinks classics are boring and slow really ought to read this book. He says that Fogg is "like an incarnation of the god of punctuality," and continually calls Passepartout a "dear fellow." Inspector Fix is also a very humorous and yet well-rounded character. Of Mrs. Aouda, alas, we do not see much.I can't praise Jim Dale's reading enough; it was wonderful. His voices for the characters were superb. The only weakness was his voice for Mrs. Aouda, but it seems a common failing among male actors; they never can get the women's voices so well as the female actors can get the men's. But apart from that small quibble, I loved Dale's interpretation, especially of the beloved Passepartout! I will always hear his slightly breathless, emphatic, strongly accented voice in my head when I think of the character. (I should mention that another thing I love about audiobooks is that I learn how to pronounce all the words and names... Passepartout is pronounced "Paspertoo;" who knew?).And now for the banal little talk at the end, given by the son of the man who started the Listening Library company (now owned by Random House). First off, the poor man's voice is not a pleasure to listen to after Dale's warm, rolling tones. It's nasally, effeminate, and just plain annoying. Even had his script been wonderful, it would have been hard to appreciate, read by that unfortunate voice. And what he says is bad enough on its own account. Does Listening Library commend Verne for being interested in other countries and cultures, for opening new vistas to his readers, and demonstrating a vivid curiosity about the fascinating world around him? Do they praise his enthusiasm for the exotic and share his excitement for the geographical limitations that technology was removing? Oh no. Instead, the publishers chose to disparage his work as "unacceptable" by today's standards in its portrayal of "certain social structures" and "other cultures." Verne, they self-righteously sniff, displays a staggering "naivete" and "lack of appreciation and experience" for the various cultures that his characters encounter. Sure, Verne had an imperfect understanding of the many cultures in his book. Do we, in chronological snobbery, really think our appreciation of every culture and "social structure" so perfect? Actually I was rather disappointed that the publisher did not actually mention the specific issues with the story, preferring rather to take the safe route of vague, lofty accusation. It's a good thing readers are generally intelligent enough to pick out these things for ourselves — where, oh where would we be without Listening Library to mold our minds? And there are textual refutations to their sweeping claims, if they would but condescend to play fair and be specific about what's giving them indigestion.I find it absurd and unfair to judge a historical figure by modern standards. I think if any sermon must be made of the book's relative level of 21st-century political correctness or lack thereof (again, assuming we readers aren't astute enough to pick it out for ourselves), it ought to focus on the themes of the story rather than passing judgment on the author. The cover art for this audiobook is further proof of the publisher's cluelessness. It features a large hot-air balloon... which Phileas Fogg never takes. Verne mentions a balloon for about two seconds as a method of travel that would most certainly not work for Mr. Fogg — and then the cover sports one prominently. *sigh*But I don't want to leave you with all this negativity. The rating I am giving is strictly for the book. Random House/Listening Library's hamfisted approach is such a pity, because the actual production was excellent. I enjoyed the ethnic music that opened each new chapter, and of course Dale was great. And I suppose it's good the publishers didn't excise the parts they didn't like; this is unabridged, after all. But it's a 50th anniversary tribute to Listening Library's first audiobook production, which was this book. It might look bad if they interfered with the actual text itself.If you think you are intelligent enough to perceive ideas that are in alignment with their historical setting (and actually, perhaps, ahead of their time) — if you're sure you won't suddenly morph into a bigot under Verne's pernicious influence — you really ought to give this book a try. It's funny, well written, and adventurous, and you'll enjoy every minute of Phileas Fogg's eighty days around the world. I certainly did. Highly recommended!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'm not a typical Classics fan but I try to read a few each year. I actually enjoyed this one but was a bit confused because all the covers and film adaptations have Phineas Fogg in a hot air balloon but I never got that during y reading of this story. I enjoyed seeing all the different geographical locations and how Fogg manage to somehow come right even at the end..
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This travel novel has great adventure stories about the different cities visited. The characters are well-developed and lovable.The different places of the world were written about in a way that must have been experienced by the author. It was amusing to read how the author portrayed America and its people. The ending was quite surprising and a great conclusion to the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys traveling.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The imperturbable Mr Fogg traverses the world in 80 days all while upholding the grandest tradition of English stiff-upper-lipedness. Not really sure why this is on the 1001 list.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)A couple of years ago, when I did a write-up of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for the "CCLaP 100" essay series, I heard from a number of his fans that part of the reason I found it rather lackluster was because of the free but ancient translation I had read, and that Verne is one of those cases where it really pays to seek out and even purchase the most recent translations that you can find. And that's because it's only been in literally the last 20 or 30 years, since genre work has really started gaining academic respect, that we've even wanted to go back and explore the beginnings of things like science-fiction or crime novels, and to apply a scholarly eye to such original material; but for a century before that, the dozens of fantastical titles put out by someone like Verne were considered by most to be the literary version of throwaway kiddie shows, pumped out quickly and cheaply to soon part an adolescent from his allowance money at the corner drugstore on a Saturday afternoon, and usually translated on the fly by overworked copyeditors who could care less if they were successfully capturing the subtleties of the original text.So I was glad to recently come across Amazing Journeys: Five Visionary Classics by Jules Verne, a new collection of some of his most famous novels, edited and translated by the quite obvious slavish fan and full-time scholar Frederick Paul Walter, put out in a plain but professional oversized edition and containing all the books' original illustrations. And indeed, as I learned while reading through these 'Anglicized' new translations (i.e. they feature standard measurements and Fahrenheit temperatures), Verne's work at its best contained a kind of dry humor and political awareness that we in the English-speaking world rarely equate with the French speculative pioneer, with dialogue that's not nearly as histrionic as we've come to think of it in books like these, which to be fair really were pumped out originally on a fairly quick basis mostly for the amusement of children and the working class, a series of 54 novels known as the "Extraordinary Voyages" that publisher Jules Hetzel built an entire little commercial empire around, and just like today with most of the duo's revenue coming not from the books themselves but rather the lucrative traveling stage adaptations that were often made of them. And in fact, a full reading of Verne's entire oeuvre remains a personal challenge that I will only tackle much later in life if at all, so I decided not to read even the full five tales collected here, and especially like I said since I had already read 20,000 Leagues and didn't relish the thought of slogging through the entire thing again.So instead I read just two of the titles in this collection, starting with 1864's Journey to the Center of the Earth, one of Verne's first speculative tales after first being an opera librettist for years, while lying to his father the whole time and claiming that he was establishing a fine career in Paris as a young urban lawyer. And indeed, this early thriller shows off what I consider one of the modern main weaknesses of Verne's work, no matter how good the translation; that many of the fanciful scientific theories he proposed in his books have turned out over the decades to be just flat-out wrong, which means that we no longer have the ability to enjoy his work in the same way his contemporary audience did. (Don't forget, readers in the 1800s thought of Verne not so much as a sci-fi author but more like Michael Crichton, a brilliant futurist writing day-after-tomorrow tales about what life would really be like for their children.) Essentially the tale of an eccentric German professor, his nephew assistant and their silent Icelandic guide, as they literally climb down a volcano and discover a vast continent-sized system of caves below the Earth's surface, complete with their own bodies of water and rainclouds, it's hard not to roll one's eyes when watching our heroes stumble across forgotten dinosaurs and house-sized mushrooms, or ride a lava eruption back out to the surface at the end as if they were Victorian surfers; although the story definitely has its charms as well, especially when thinking of it now as pure fairytale fantasy, and with there being lots to enjoy in the cartoonish stereotypes that come with each of our various characters.Ah, but then after that, I skipped straight to the last story in this collection, and undoubtedly the most famous of Verne's career as well, 1873's Around the World in Eighty Days, which has been made into high-profile films several times now over the years, and which turned out to be a much better reading experience. Basically a gentle satire of British stiff-upper-lip determinism in the height of their Empire years, it starts with a group of upper-class gentlemen at a private London club discussing the latest innovations in world travel, with the reclusive and unflappable Phileas Fogg quietly insisting to his peers that a globe-spanning trip could now be realistically accomplished in a flat 80 days, even wagering what today would be two million dollars on the deal and agreeing to leave on such a journey that very night, armed with nothing but an overnight bag and his loyal French butler. And thus starts a rollicking adventure that indeed takes us around the world, spiced up by a British P.I. in Raj India who mistakes Fogg for a fugitive bank robber and tries to trip up his plans the whole rest of the way, and with the incredible journey involving such details as an elephant ride across central Asia, a sudden alliance with Chinese acrobats, a deliberately planned mutiny on a British sea vessel, a shootout with Native Americans on a train ride across the American Midwest, and a whole lot more. (Although let it be noted that the original book features no hot-air balloons, an invention of Hollywood that has become a famous trope of its own by now.)And in fact, I'm sure that a big reason why this succeeds so much more than Journey to the Center of the Earth is that, unlike the outdated speculative nature of the former, Eighty Days is a faithful and now historical look at just what it was like to really pull off world travel in the late 1800s, the first time in history it became commercially viable for anyone besides pirates and explorers to even do so. (And indeed, just a year before Verne wrote his novel, Thomas Cook led history's very first trip around the world designed specifically for tourists, only in their case taking seven months to complete instead of Verne's three.) And that makes the book charming and fascinating instead of eye-rolling, and especially when adding Verne's astutely funny comments regarding imperial aspirations, and of the self-satisfyingly civilized way the British liked to think of themselves during the height of the Victorian Age. (Unlike his reputation in later movies, much of the humor in the original book comes from the conservative, adventure-hating Fogg maintaining such complete composure in the face of such globetrotting chaos, spending the majority of his 80-day trip not enjoying the scenery but playing an endless series of card games with his fellow steamship and railroad passengers.) And that's a delight to read about even today, no matter how dated the actual mechanics of the story itself. (And in fact, gonzo journalists have been recreating the trip in a period-faithful way almost since the publication of the book itself, from an 1889 newspaper reporter to most recently comedian Michael Palin, just a few years ago for a BBC television mini-series.)So it was nice, I admit, to see what all these Verne fans were talking about, as far as the surprising loveliness of his original texts, that for so long have been hidden from us English speakers by shoddy translations; but also like I said, I'm not sure just how much of a general interest I have in Verne even with the new translations, making a sampler like this nearly perfect for the casual fan. It comes highly recommended, but be prepared for it to be one of those volumes you read in little doses here and there for years to come.Out of 10: 9.1
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5

    6/10.

    A rich eccentric travels around the world in 80 days against all odds. Quite good and a classic.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Not the best adaption in the world - large chunks of the journey are left out, but perfect for reading aloud in the car for kids.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Good book, fun (if long...) movie. Will he make it? It's how it is actually done that makes it a hoot.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this book for the first as a read-aloud to my son when he was about 12. We were rivetted, on the edge of our seats. Excitement and humour, a must read.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Having watched the miniseries with David Tennant for the third time, I thought I ought really to read the original in order to better understand how many liberties the adaptation took.The answer is "All of them - and good on it for that."I had known about the whole sati episode, so I was prepared for some racism. I wasn't however prepared for so much racism. Aouda is an acceptable heroine only because as a Parsee she is of the "highest of the native races of India", and "received a thoroughly English education [...], and, from her manners and intelligence, would be thought an European", and "spoke English with great purity", and her relative had made enough money to be made a baronet somehow. Meanwhile "the savage Papuans [...] are in the lowest scale of humanity, but are not, as has been asserted, cannibals," um. Um. I guess you're trying to be even-handed, Jules, but no, please just stop talking about people. Sadly there's more of this, so much more, and it's deeply embedded in the plot - so the miniseries had the best idea to just burn it down and start from scratch as a "vaguely inspired by distant recollections of".Aouda does get to make a pretty fantastic marriage proposal. It's a pity: she could do a lot better than some rich dude who proves that it's possible to travel around the world in 80 days if you have (in 2022 money) millions of pounds to throw at every obstacle in your path and don't mind occasionally skipping bail and fomenting mutiny.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Good adventure story, but I was a bit surprised by the Mormon preacher in Utah--he was a crazy fanatic! This is a classic for anyone.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Phileas Fogg is an English gentleman with a propensity for whist and punctuality. When the Bank of England is robbed of twenty thousand pounds, his friends discuss whether or not a robber could escape. Upon hearing that the world is small, Fogg concurs, explaining that one can travel around the world in eighty days. His companions agree in theory but argue that eighty days does not take into account bad weather, mechanical faults, timetable errors, etc and that it simply cannot be done. Fogg declares any and all delays are included in his reasoning and upon being told his friend would "like to see you do it." He responds, "It depends on you. Shall we go?". A wager is made, Fogg finishes his game of whist and proceeds to leave that night on an eighty day trip around the world.

    With him, he takes only a few changes of clothes and money and his newly hired (as in literally that day because the other servant didn't heat his water properly) domicile, Jean Passepartout. At the same time, Detective Fix is sent abroad to look for the bank robber. When Passepartout and Fix cross paths, Fix is suspicious. Afterall how likely is it that an English gentleman leaves London in a bid to win a wager that he can travel around the world in eighty days? Much more likely he's the robber! And so, Fix follows along, hoping at each stop to obtain his arrest warrant and arrest the suspect. Only it doesn't go so well...

    Passepartout and Fix are hilarious. Between one trying to stop Fogg, the other accidentally managing to stop him to them both trying to help, they provide much needed comic relief. Fogg for his part is unflappable. But although he is unmoved by panic or prone to the fits that plague Fix or Passepartout, he is not unfeeling. He may not care about delays but he is generous with his time and money. In one such venture he meets the lovely Aouda, an Indian woman he rescues from being burned alive. Aouda is grateful and ends up continuing to journey with Fogg for the rest of his journey. The romance between them is hinted at throughout, although remains unconfirmed until the end. The ending is amusing and had me laughing. Almost being late when they arrive a day early. All the more amusing because of the constant references to time. Overall I enjoyed this. It's not a perfect book but it's entertaining. 3 stars.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I haven't read this in years, but still know the story fairly well (I certainly know how it ends) and yet my heart was still racing at the very end.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne was a very quick but enjoyable read. One has to keep in mind, though, that it was written in the 1870's and had some pro-colonialism to the novel. Two things struck me while reading the story; first, was the Verne made his main character, Phileas Fogg, an Englishman and Jean Passepartout, Fogg's valet, a Frenchman who Verne was as well; secondly, there was a whole chapter dedicated to inform the reader on some Latter -day Saint (or Mormon) history that wasn't negative towards the religion (keep in mind at the time this book was written Utah was not a state thus polygamy wasn't outlawed.

    The best parts, to me, were the descriptions of the geography and how ahead of time the novel was when it came to international travel. Nowadays, one can fly around the world in less than eighty days when, during the time, planes weren't even invented yet.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It's easy to see why it's a classic book; the framework of Around the World in 80 Days is great, a rousing adventure that shows various distinct places in the world in 1872, with an added police pursuit for complication. It's also easy to see why it is significantly modified in more modern filmed versions, as it is steeped in colonialism with an absolutely vapid main character and one major female character who is there to be rescued and adore the vapid main character. That said, after the first few chapters of info dump, it's a very fast read because of the pace of the action.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lively translation, although Butcher's notes are less helpful than they could be.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Having never read this book, I downloaded a free audiobook to see just how far from the original text the Masterpiece Theater mini-series is from the original source material. The answer to that is A LOT – so much so that the TV series would seem to be a wholly different story. As to the book, Verne wrote what could be called a “ripping yarn” with Phileas Fogg as the savant who can solve all problems on the trip around the globe, Fixx is the bumbling detective who is pursuing Fogg convinced that he has robbed the Bank of England of 50,000 pounds, Passerpartout provides comic relief, and the beautiful Indian widow Aouda provides the love interest. The “surprise” at the end of the novel will be no surprise to anyone who has traveled to the far east, but then in 1872 I’m assuming people weren’t as familiar with the International Date Line as they are today. My big quibble with the novel, is why Fogg hadn’t figured this out.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days is an absolute joy. This gleeful romp, wherein Phileas Fogg places a bet with some associates at the Reform Club that he can indeed perform the titular feat in that prescribed timeframe. Verne is at his wittiest, with a wonderful cast of characters: Fogg, one of literature’s great eccentrics; his loyal and resourceful servant Passepartout; and the comically inept Detective Fix, in hot pursuit of Fogg who has become a suspect in a recent bank robbery. Along the way Verne provides panoramic travelogue summaries for each new locale, which colorfully set the scenes. The story flows like a giddy Wes Anderson screenplay - and, in my view, that’s a compliment to both Anderson and Verne.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I loved this book and can't believe I waited so long to read it, back in grammar school and high school I read most of Verne's SF but skipped this because it wasn't SF, big mistake. I'd recommend this fans of Verne, steampunk or adventure travel lovers.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I may have read an abridged version of this when I was very young, but I didn't remember the story at all, so reading this book was a fun experience. Phileas Fogg, accompanied by his servant Passepartout, sets out on a journey around the world aiming to win a bet. The two head east from London, using many different means of transportation and encountering assorted obstacles that threaten to slow them down.I'm definitely happy that I read it (I listened to it as an audiobook on a drive) and thought that it was cute, though I don't think that this will be an especially memorable book for me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Why is there a hot air balloon on the cover? Why is that image so closely associated with this book?
    Spoiler: they never take a balloon. Huh.

    Very much a book of its time, I think, though hard for me to judge if the author was sincere in his stereotypes that are often racist (by today's standards) or if he's offering social commentary through sarcasm or tongue-in-cheek descriptions. Those nuances are lost in time, though I suppose I could read literary criticism to find out what the academics say. He does caricature the Americans in a comical way, though. That, and his portrayal of French, Indian, British, and a few other nationalities, it is a bit of a world whirlwind tour of the stereotypes in the major world stage players. Maybe that's the symbolism of the hot air balloon?
    This audiobook is very entertaining, with many sound effects and great accents and voices. Would captivate even a younger audience (8 maybe).
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    "A true Englishman doesn't joke when he is talking about so serious a thing as a wager," replied Phileas Fogg, solemnly.With this we're off to the one of the best adventure stories... And no matter how often I read this book, I still get excited about whether they will make it back to the Reform Club in time. Anyway, while Phileas Fogg is of course the originator of the bet and the driving force behind the trip. Having meticulously planned the route and conveyances that would allow him to circumnavigate the world, of course nothing goes to plan...Verne's writing is fantastic in this one, because it is both funny, sensitive, and informative, and you just want to be on that trip.But the absolute best part of the book is Fogg's man Passepartout. Passepartout was by no means one of those pert dunces depicted by Moliere with a bold gaze and a nose held high in the air; he was an honest fellow, with a pleasant face, lips a trifle protruding, soft-mannered and serviceable, with a good round head, such as one likes to see on the shoulders of a friend.He is the absolute hero of the story even though the original meeting between Fogg and Passepartou indicates that he had other plans for his time in Fogg's employment:"You are a Frenchman, I believe," asked Phileas Fogg, "and your name is John?" "Jean, if monsieur pleases," replied the newcomer, "Jean Passepartout, a surname which has clung to me because I have a natural aptness for going out of one business into another. I believe I'm honest, monsieur, but, to be outspoken, I've had several trades. I've been an itinerant singer, a circus-rider, when I used to vault like Leotard, and dance on a rope like Blondin. Then I got to be a professor of gymnastics, so as to make better use of my talents; and then I was a sergeant fireman at Paris, and assisted at many a big fire. But I quitted France five years ago, and, wishing to taste the sweets of domestic life, took service as a valet here in England. Finding myself out of place, and hearing that Monsieur Phileas Fogg was the most exact and settled gentleman in the United Kingdom, I have come to monsieur in the hope of living with him a tranquil life, and forgetting even the name of Passepartout."Such a great read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The great strength of this novel is its call to adventure, ending with the line, "Truly, would you not for less than that make the tour around the world?" Its great weakness is that the reward Mr. Fogg has received for his trip is not financial, but "a charming woman, who, strange as it may appear, made him the happiest of men!" While this might be interpreted as love winning out over money, given the casual racism of the narrator, where everyone who is not an Englishman (including Mr. Fogg's loyal servant, Passepartout, a Frenchman), it is hard to know if what is strange about Mr. Fogg's happiness is that he prefers love over money, or that the object of his love is an Indian woman. This book is best read as a relic of its time (published as a newspaper serial in 1872), and in the context of other travel stories of roughly the same period, more than one of which was written by women who actually took the journeys they describe and which, generally, avoid the casual racist dismissal of all natives encountered for far more interesting portrayals of individuals. Examples that spring to mind are narratives by Mary Kingsolver, Isabella Bird, and especially Juanita Harrison, who as a young woman of color traveling alone sees nearly everyone she meets, whether they are in France, Egypt or India, as simply the loveliest and most interesting of individuals. Nevertheless, Around the World in Eighty Days is a classic and can be read as an amusing tale of adventure, not the least because of the absurd attitudes our adventurers exhibit towards those they meet.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Digital audiobook performed by Frederick Davidson One of the books in Verne’s series of “Extraordinary Voyages” begins when Phileas Fogg accepts a wager at his gentleman’s club. He’s certain that he will be able to circumnavigate the world in eighty days. Taking a significant amount of cash and his trusty servant Passepartout, and chased by Detective Fix who is certain Fogg is a bank robber, they set out on a grand adventure.I’d seen more than one movie adaptation but had never read the book until now. What a delight! (Although, of course, there are some racial stereotypes that grate on the modern reader’s sensibilities.)I marveled at how cool and collected – almost uninterested – Fogg remained throughout. He is never upset or even particularly inconvenienced. He moves with the certainty that he is correct in assuming that he can achieve this great task. Passepartout on the other hand is in a dither frequently, and he is a wonderful foil for Fogg … and for Detective Fix. Great fun!One quibble re cover art. SO many covers (as well as the movies) show the iconic hot-air balloon … which is NEVER used in the book! Frederick Davidson does a marvelous job narrating the audiobook. He sets a good pace and I loved the way he interpreted the characters. I was happy also to have a text copy available, which included a handful of full-color illustrations, as well as a small drawing of the mode of travel for each of the chapters.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A fast-paced adventure dripped with cliches and humor - I listened to the audio read by Jim Dale and it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There's something rather charming and fantastic about this work, and in the way that Verne manages to bring to life characters in even such a fast-paced and simply told tale as this one. Certainly, the language is as dated as the narrative and the modes of transportation involved in Fogg's journey, but in an odd way, that feels to make it all the more fantastic and believable. Strange as that might be.I don't think I would have had the patience for this tale when I was younger, so I'm glad to have finally gotten around to it now. Certainly, I'd recommend it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a very suspenseful, exciting book! This was the first Verne book I've ever read, and he is very good at keeping readers gnawing on their nails at the edge of their seats. The story has humor sprinkled throughout it that had me laughing out loud. I loved it; I know I say this about nearly everything I read, but this truly was a wonderful book!