Book Review: Around the World in Eighty Days

After the lengthy McCullough book, I was in the mood for something shorter. So, I picked up Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. This was published in serial form. It aroused so much excitement that "readers placed bets on the outcome of Phileas Fogg's endeavor." Serialized novels were all the rage, but are they making a comeback?

Last month, a sponsored ad appeared on my Facebook page for a book delivered in installments by letter (the Flower Letters). Yes, I opened the ad. No, I did not spend an arm and a leg to receive more interesting mail than usually comes in my post box. Are there really people willing to pay $12 a month for a year? $144 novel, just because they send it with stamps in 24 installments. Seriously? Now if only I could find a few writers in my writer's group willing to send their novels in installments, for review and critique, for the price of the stamps. That would be entertaining and productive in one go. Frankly, I'd be willing to send one of my novels, in installments, for just $5! It would be worth the difference to me to receive honest feedback. Anyone game?

But, back to the classic. At the gentleman's club where Phileas Fogg spends his time, he places a bet that he can traverse the entire globe in eighty days. The travel arrangements are fraught with obstacles and delays. Plus, a detective is trailing Fogg, convinced he is a criminal. I'm so glad I listened in audio form. I would have never pronounced the servant's name, Passepartout, correctly. They up the ante again and again, yet Fogg never flinches. He is determined to win his bet. I was determined to hear it out until I learned his outcome. My library has the 2004 movie version, but it is 3 hours long. Who has time for that?