I've run 7 days in a row! Woah. Ok Friday was kinda not really running, more like walking with some falling down here and there for 1.5 miles. I felt awful for some reason. Allergies? I really don't know. I had chills and said this ain't working. So I went right home and ate some avocado goodness and drank a Yuengling.
Ate home made pizza tonight. Liz makes the dough and it is so so good. Turkey crumbles, pineapple, and plenty of real cheese. Yumomomo.
Ok, so I'm going to give you my review of The Mysterious Island. You prolly don't care about this book, and that's ok. After I read a book, I like to read a bunch of reviews on it, both good and bad and then process it in my head, so this is kind of a brain dump item. But only read this if you have read the book, or intend on never reading it.
The Mysterious Island was written in 1874 by Jules Verne. It's considered a classic, and it seems that reviewers on Amazon who have read all his material, many pick this story as their fave over 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea or Around The World in 80 Days.
The basic story is about 5 men who are Northerners trapped in a Southern prison in the Civil War (and a dog) who escape via hot air balloon. They get sucked up in a hurricane and travel thousands of miles to a deserted island.
And here's a fun thought, choose any five people you can think of, whether they be friend, family, or celebrity...to be stuck with on a deserted island. You could be logical and maybe pick people who'd be highly skilled in survival, or you could pick close friends who work well together. Or pick a combo of both. I'd prolly choose the latter, since 5 experts usually don't work well together at all.
At any rate, I think Verne wants to be very realistic in his telling of this story. He gives a thick helping of detail, often scientific about the island geography, fauna, and the procedures used to figure out engineering issues and chemistry reductions. However, the ease of which these men work together just seems to go 'too' well. Rarely do they bicker or argue and if they do, it ends up with one saying please don't, and the other saying, we'll just agree to disagree.
Now it could be argued that psychologically men were different back in the 1800s. You know probably less likely to whine about petty shit, and just get what needs to be done, DONE without griping. It's hard for that idea to hold though, because when you have lost everything and you're stressed out by having no food or comfort, you are probably not going to discuss things like you were at a table with Plato with a calmness and fullness of logic. Maybe the intellectual awakening of men was like that though as bravado was not yet unleashed.
It also rather annoys me that these men over time make glass, nitroglycerine, create dams, make clothes, tame animals, grow huge crops from just a couple of seeds, make a windmill, a watermill, a telegraph with 5 miles of wire, bridges, a boat, a canoe, bows and arrows, forge metal tools, and they do them without ever running into much problems other than a lotta elbow grease and time. I mean, somedays I feel like I can't even change a lightbulb without running into some technical difficulty. So that hyper real thing should be taken with a grain of salt. One little item that bugged the mess out of me, oh I made a funny, ppfttt nevermind. Ok, serisouly, you land on one the most bio-diverse islands ever which is a stretch really, and the one thing thats missing. Bugs! Those guys would've been crawling with nasty stinging, pesky biting, blood sucking hungry fly in your nose for fun bugs. Bzzzzzzzz! That's the wrong answer button going off.
Interestingly, the attention to detail in the story is a plus for many readers and big negative for others. I've taken in my fair share of survival shows/books and even I have to say that some of the book read like a boring diary. Like this blog! Seriously, like woke up, killed bird, ate it and it tasted good, chopped wood, wondered where my pants went too, fell asleep by ocean, listened to dog growl at rocks?!. The good thing that does come out of this dullness though, is that it creates a sense of being trapped in the book and that sort of carries over to the story of hey, I've been on this damn island for 3 years! It kinda feels like it sometimes. It's an mood thing though, it sets up stuff for the last 4th of the book. You've spent so much time in your head trying to envision these rivers and cliffs and bays, that when they all go kaplooey, their destruction seems very real.
Character wise, in some ways the whole bunch of them were kind of bland but their interaction which was so often discussed as a group that it made all 5 of them like one character. The colony was the character with the dog and orangutan being separate. I think certainly Pencoft stood out the most for me as a character I became vested in. Who doesn't like a salty dog sailor, who wants to eat bacon, smoke a pipe, and get shit done, all the while making jokes on everyone else? Again seriously, he's a tough old guy that is probably cliche, but I liked him and when I see big tough guys cry, it gets to me. It's like watching Admiral Adama cry, it just gets to you.
It's interesting though that animals like the dog and orangutan can become likable characters with little backstory. It's as if we already have their characters ready in our heads and it says “yup they are just, noble, and loving creatures”. When Verne tells how the Orangutan named Master Jup (Jupiter) liked to play with the pigs' tails, that just cracked me up. BAM! Instant likability! I really kinda felt bad when he died later too. Poor Master Jup. You should've died fighting pirates as falling into a crack in the ground in the darkness of night to be crushed to death and drowned seems cruel.
Overall the book was decent. Can't beat the kindle price for zero dollars either! I think the 'mystery' of the island is a bit of a let down considering all the build up to it. It does work perfectly though. You see, someone or something kept saving them at the last moment and helping them in small odd ways. You start thinking that something supernatural is going on. You start praying its not someones dream. Then you find out! This was my response:
“What! No Way. Captain Fucking Nemo! You've got to be shitting me.” Such a potty mouth I know. The end of the book after Nemo reveals himself is a bit predictable though, but the descriptions of the volcanic destruction in the last chapters was well done. It would make for some wonderful special effects if done right.
And that's it!
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