The Mysterious Island - Shipwrecked in the Air


Read by Piotr Nater

(4.2 stars; 14 reviews)

In the final months of the American Civil War five Northerners find themselves trapped in the Southern capital of Richmond. They conceive of a plan to escape with a balloon kept nearby.
However, not all goes as planned and as a powerful gale surprises them, their balloon veers off course by some thousands of miles and the five find themselves fighting desperately for their survival... (plot summary by Piotr Nater)

The present translation is by the American Stephen W. White. It first appeared in the Evening Telegraph of Philadelphia, PA and was later published as an Evening Telegraph Reprint Book (1876). According to Taves and Michaluk “Although more faithful than any other translation, this one has never been reprinted”. Still, there is still condensation and omission of some sections such as Verne's description of how a sawmill works. (taken from the Redactor's Note available at Project Gutenberg. ( Norman M. Wolcott) and Wikipedia)

"Shipwrecked in the Air", together with 2 subsequent volumes, "The Abandoned" and "The Secret of the Island", form "The Mysterious Island". (5 hr 56 min)

Chapters

Chapter 01 12:43 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 02 18:46 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 03 14:50 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 04 13:50 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 05 15:33 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 06 12:40 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 07 15:57 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 08 16:18 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 09 18:41 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 10 15:12 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 11 17:46 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 12 16:37 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 13 18:35 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 14 14:13 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 15 14:08 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 16 15:11 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 17 18:21 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 18 16:05 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 19 14:53 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 20 13:46 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 21 18:36 Read by Piotr Nater
Chapter 22 23:35 Read by Piotr Nater

Reviews

This is only the first of 3 volumes.


(2 stars)

The narrator is pleasing to listen to but often difficult to understand. Since I was interested in how this translation differs from those previously published, this defect proved to be insurmountable in this respect. It also wasn't clear to me that this was only 1 of the 3 volumes described. I was disappointed about that, but at least it provided an easy way to cut my losses and find something enjoyable.