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The book got a big meh from me. I think it was best read by an 11-year old boy, and one no later than mid-20th century at that. What was imaginative and even predictive when it was written is flat now, so what we're left with is less than Homeric lists of fish and no plot.
I ended it with the feeling, "I wuz robbed." All the time I slogged through it, I thought Verne was taking longer and longer to develop the Nemo story and was waiting for a big reveal. Oy! I've read since that Nemo's backstory was given in The Mysterious Island, but I'm not that interested that I'll put myself through another such. So between the lack of plot and the long tease, I think the book fails on a qualitative level.
Verne did have a way with words and the imagery was the best thing about the book. Most entertaining to me was not the battle with the octopus, but the discovery of the South Pole. Essentially Nemo beached the Nautilus, went for a stroll, and said "This must be the pole!" Shame Amundsen and Scott didn't know it was so easy. I was highly tickled by the notion of something somewhat larger than an atoll, that very handily just popped up right on the pole.
I'm not sorry I read it, but I'm glad I was able to read it in odd moments and that it didn't take up any serious reading time.
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