Rating:

Solitude, Survival, and a Mystery

Author: Jules Verne

The Mysterious Island is classic Jules Verne: adventure tinged with near-misses, engaging survivalist saves, profound mysteries, elements of imagination, and lots of fascinating scientific tidbits. We begin with escape. A group of Union soldiers is held at a Confederate camp, and they take advantage of the proverbial dark and stormy night to steal a hot air balloon, letting the wind carry them where it may. And it does. To save their very lives, they end up throwing all their supplies overboard, finally arriving, five men with varying levels of expertise, plus one loyal dog, on a seemingly uninhabited island.

Their arrival is marked with a strangeness that continues throughout the tale. As they make this inhospitable land into a home, using their knowledge of everything from engineering to agriculture to create an empire in the style of The Swiss Family Robinson, a benevolent but mysterious presence lurks. Who or what is this presence? Why does it not make contact?

As the story continues, we get everything from animal attacks to pirate invasions, dynamite explosions to marauding apes, and finally our secret hero steps into the light, saving the day and bequeathing a final, shattering revelation.

The Mysterious Island ended up being one of my favorite Jules Verne offerings. It is, however, strongly reliant on Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and gives some closure to the Captain Nemo epic started in that tale. To get the full import of what is revealed here, read Twenty Thousand Leagues first and then prepare yourself for a heart-rending finale.

Meanwhile, however, while Verne is completing a beloved story, he’s giving us some new characters too. Now, Jules Verne characters are typically more pragmatic than emotional (my beloved Captain Nemo aside), and are often interchangeable, since they stand in for some sort of scientific knowledge or capability, rounding out the stalwart team of he-men survivors. Here, however, we have one of my favorite comedic characters, the sailor Jack Pencroft, who along with his needed expertise, brings some hilarity as he literarily tries to eat everything on the island.

An illustration from Jules Verne’s novel “The Mysterious Island” (1873-74) drawn by Jules Férat. (Image in Public Domain)

The team of jovial, hard-working men that populate this island, and later encounter its mystery inhabitant, include Captain Cyrus Harding, Gideo Spilett, Harding’s emancipated and loyal servant Ned, the always hungry Pencroft, and Herbert Brown, a fifteen-year-old orphan. While most of these characters are more stereotype than people, they are all enjoyable and spend their days concocting survivalist schemes that range from mining for the ingredients to create dynamite to some very unlikely farming. It’s all fun and engaging, a brain teaser that employs human wit against the aggression and harshness of nature.

And there is plenty of harshness on this volcanic little island. Some of it is man-made, some of it is natural, but it always keeps the story going and the reader keenly interested in the exploits of this cheery group of survivors. Finally, an explosive conclusion brings everything full circle, answering questions begun in Twenty Thousand Leagues and giving our new heroes their own climax as their story continues.

What results is an engaging, edge-of-the-seat adventure tale with plenty of brain power and lots of imaginative pull. Readers of all ages and generations will find something to love in Verne, and even though the science is old, the story remains keenly relevant, an ongoing siren call to imagination and the adventurer in us all. Highly recommended!

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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