Around the World in 80 Days is a classic book by Jules Verne. In this book, Phileas Fogg attempts to traverse the world in 80 days to win a bet. This is obviously before the age of planes, which makes the timeframe near trivial.
In his journey, he is assisted by a french assistant and other companions he meets on his trip. He is also hindered by a case of mistaken identity and a tensionless game of cat and mouse. His wager is effectively for his fortune, held by the men of the reform club on his wager.
This book is a bit of a classic, but I think it is more for the audacity of the feat at the time. The book is quite tensionless. Things are hardly ever given time to breathe and sink in, as the protagonists seem to jump between crisis and diversions. Even then, most of the obstacles are overcome without any real tension.
In fact, most of the tension here is derived from people acting without sense for the plot. From the mistaked identity, to his assistants unnecessary secrecy and loss of urgency at key times, this book does not organically generate tension. Everytime they are backed into a corner, there is no ingenuity at play. In fact, most of the challenges are overcome by the inexplicable fortune of Mr Fogg.
With modern technology (i.e. airplanes) making the 80 days qiute arbitrary and no sense of danger for the protagonists, this book is quite a slogg to get through. It is well written, but the plot does not hold up with time.
1.5 out of 5 ballooning waffles.
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