In 1872, Phileas Fogg enters into a bet with friends of his from a fancy club. Fogg is wealthy and his is also up for an adventure! He bets his friends that he could travel around the world in 80 days - after all, modern marvels like the train and the steamship make traveling so much easier and faster these days.
Fogg wagers half of his wealth - $20,000 - which in today's money is more like $1.5 million! Fogg takes along his butler Jean Passepartout and begins his adventure in London on October 2, 1872. Will he make it back to London by December 21, 1872? You'll have to read to find out! You are sure to enjoy all of the bumps along the way, which bring new friends, a love interest, and many forms of transportation - including a ride on an elephant!
The original text of Around the World in Eighty Days was published chapter by chapter in a newspaper in 1893. The chapters are short and the endings of each leave you wanting to read on. This makes sense because the newspapers wanted you to buy their next edition to see how Phileas Fogg and his crew were making out on their journey.
I enjoyed this book, but it took me a while to get used to the old language and writing style. Jules Verne is French and wrote the original text in French, so I have a feeling that some of the information was lost in translation. Some of the words used in the book are not very kind to say about other cultures today, but were very common back then. This is something to keep in mind as you read along, and a good discussion topic to have with family or friends.
Kindle readers - all of Jules Verne's works are FREE to download!
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