Ms. Hen reviews JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH

Ms. Hen enjoys the Earth

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Jules Verne

Translated from the French by Frederic Amadeus Malleson

1864, 2017

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel on her phone because she thought it would be ironic to read one of the classics of sci-fi on a device. She felt silly doing so, and she didn’t enjoy it as much as she would if she had read a real book. She stopped reading books on her Kindle a few years ago, but recently bought an Ipad, so she got the Kindle app, and it appeared on her phone.

She thinks reading a book on her phone or device is not really reading. She doesn’t think she gets as much out of reading a device as she does a book; she doesn’t digest the information as well as a hard copy. She wrote a blog post about this a few years ago, which you can read here: http://mshenreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2015/12/ms-hen-bids-adieu-to-her-kindle.html

Ms. Hen liked this novel, and she thought it was charming, but it’s not her cup of tea. It’s an adventure book, similar to MOBY DICK. She admires the creativity and the plot, but the situations aren’t interesting enough for her.

This novel is about Axel and his uncle, a German geologist, who find a book with a description of how to get into the earth through a volcano in Iceland. The two travel to Iceland, and find a guide to help them get to where they want to go. They go in the volcano and have an adventure.

Ms. Hen liked the descriptions of Iceland in that time. They seemed like a primitive people, and almost barbaric, but charming and quaint in their own way. Not a lot of food grows in Iceland, and the inhabitants had to scrounge for what they could. These days, they have imported food and hothouses, but back then, they did not have the knowledge or technology.

Ms. Hen read this because it is another type of novel about going down a rabbit hole, such as ALICE IN WONDERLAND. She is fascinated by this right now, and she wants to know how to write such plots. Ms. Hen does not recommend reading a book on your phone, and she didn’t love this book, but it is a taste of speculative fiction in its infancy, which Ms. Hen admires.