Book Review

This is a story about a man named Phileas Fogg, a rich man in London who is quiet and studious. One day in the local Reform Club, Fogg proposes that he could travel around the world in eighty days, upon which several colleagues take him up on a wager of 20,000 pounds. Fogg leaves at once, taking his assistant, Passpourtout. As the two of them head east, they are unknowingly followed by Detective Fix of Scotland Yard, who suspects that Fogg stole a large sum of money from a British bank. Fogg and Passpourtout travel through Asia Minor with no setbacks until they reach India. As they are travelling, they rescue an Indian woman, Aouda, from being sacrificed and she joins them. Fix tries to keep Fogg in Hong Kong by separating Passpourtout and Fogg, but they somehow get united in Japan before sailing to America. Once in America, their train is attacked by Native Americans and Passpourtout is taken. All seems lost, both Passpourtout and the wager, but Fogg returns with Passpourtout fortunately. Moreover, even though they miss the train to the East Coast, they travel by sledge and arrive in New York. Because of the delay, Fogg misses his boat to Liverpool, but takes control of a smaller vessel to make the trip. They arrive in Ireland and Fix finally arrests Fogg. Things look bad, as Fogg is so close to make it back in time. However, Fogg is released as they arrested the real robber in London. Fogg gets to London, but he thinks it is too late. Saddened, Fogg marries Aouda, but discovers that they arrived one day early. In the end, Fogg enters the Reform Club on time and wins the wager.

 As always, a lot can be said about this story, but what draws my interest and attention is the idea that a story can serve to be both entertaining and informative. This story reads almost like a modern travel book since it details foreign places by conveying sights and sounds of cultures and peoples. The story serves as entertainment with the drama of Fogg trying to win his wager and how he overcomes all of the obstacles. He uses his money, wit, and determination to solve the many problems of travel and time. There is even a love story between Fogg and an Indian woman. Yet, this story also is a documentary of the world beyond Europe. At the time of publication, most of the readers would have never known about these different places around the world. It's particularly interesting to see how Japan and America are described by the narrative voice. We can see a slight bias tone towards the East and an almost patronizing attitude towards America. With today's technology we can learn about different places through the Internet. But back then, before the 1900s, they really did not have much to go by besides slow travelling news and second hand stories. Still, there is value in travel writing, as a genre, even today. To conclude, for me, it is both entertaining and informative.

2019-12-17

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