Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea (Version 3)


Read by Michele Fry

(4.5 stars; 715 reviews)

Originally published 1870, this recording is from the English translation by Frederick P. Walter, published 1991, containing the unabridged text from the original French and offered up into the public domain. It is considered to be the very first science fiction novel ever written, the first novel about the undersea world, and is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne published in 1870. It tells the story of Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus, as seen from the perspective of Professor Pierre Aronnax - Summary by Michele Fry (16 hr 46 min)

Chapters

Introduction 12:01 Read by Michele Fry
1-1. A Runaway Reef 17:03 Read by Michele Fry
1-2. The Pros and Cons 13:52 Read by Michele Fry
1-3. As Master Wishes 12:09 Read by Michele Fry
1-4. Ned Land 16:10 Read by Michele Fry
1-5. At Random! 15:01 Read by Michele Fry
1-6. At Full Steam 18:16 Read by Michele Fry
1-7. A Whale of Unknown Species 17:09 Read by Michele Fry
1-8. "Mobilis in Mobili" 19:38 Read by Michele Fry
1-9. The Tantrums of Ned Land 16:20 Read by Michele Fry
1-10. The Man Of The Waters 21:04 Read by Michele Fry
1-11. The Nautilus 19:43 Read by Michele Fry
1-12. Everything through Electricity 16:44 Read by Michele Fry
1-13. Some Figures 16:56 Read by Michele Fry
1-14. The Black Current 27:48 Read by Michele Fry
1-15. An Invitation in Writing 19:08 Read by Michele Fry
1-16. Strolling the Plains 15:20 Read by Michele Fry
1-17. An Underwater Forest 16:52 Read by Michele Fry
1-18. Four Thousand Leagues Under the Pacific 20:39 Read by Michele Fry
1-19. Vanikoro 25:00 Read by Michele Fry
1-20. The Torres Strait 20:21 Read by Michele Fry
1-21. Some Days Ashore 25:00 Read by Michele Fry
1-22. The Lightning Bolts of Captain Nemo 24:49 Read by Michele Fry
1-23. "Aegri Somnia" 20:39 Read by Michele Fry
1-24. The Coral Realm 19:56 Read by Michele Fry
2-1. The Indian Ocean 25:37 Read by Michele Fry
2-2. A New Proposition from Captain Nemo 23:27 Read by Michele Fry
2-3. A Pearl Worth Ten Million 28:11 Read by Michele Fry
2-4. The Red Sea 30:26 Read by Michele Fry
2-5. Arabian Tunnel 20:54 Read by Michele Fry
2-6. The Greek Islands 25:32 Read by Michele Fry
2-7. The Mediterranean in Forty–Eight Hours 25:07 Read by Michele Fry
2-8. The Bay of Vigo 25:06 Read by Michele Fry
2-9. A Lost Continent 26:08 Read by Michele Fry
2-10. The Underwater Coalfields 26:28 Read by Michele Fry
2-11. The Sargasso Sea 22:03 Read by Michele Fry
2-12. Sperm Whales and Baleen Whales 24:54 Read by Michele Fry
2-13. The Ice Bank 27:22 Read by Michele Fry
2-14. The South Pole 32:27 Read by Michele Fry
2-15. Accident or Incident? 17:34 Read by Michele Fry
2-16. Shortage of Air 23:36 Read by Michele Fry
2-17. From Cape Horn to the Amazon 23:18 Read by Michele Fry
2-18. The Devilfish 23:41 Read by Michele Fry
2-19. The Gulf Stream 24:58 Read by Michele Fry
2-20. In Latitude 47° 24' and Longitude 17° 28' 19:49 Read by Michele Fry
2-21. A Mass Execution 20:29 Read by Michele Fry
2-22. The Last Words of Captain Nemo 17:23 Read by Michele Fry
2-23. Conclusion 4:15 Read by Michele Fry

Reviews

BRAVO MICHELE!!!!!


(5 stars)

This delightful and imaginative story is always a pleasure to read. Nevertheless, most will admit that its scientific information can become a bit tedious. Michele Fry, however, has negated this shortcoming; her voice and tempo are so pleasurable that I could not even dream of becoming bored. Michelr, thank you, thank you, thank you. I would listen to her reading the classified section of the newspaper.

Great novel and well read


(5 stars)

It was much better than I expected, I had seen the movie when I was young and was not impressed, but I wanted to give the novel a chance and it was very good. Well written and full of adventure and mystery. Some parts got a little dry and it full of not entirely necessary details. However if you're interested in ichthyology you will find this novel contains a lot of great information on it. Save for the outdated information Jules Verne had on the giant squid. But that's not his fault. The read did a very good job, she isn't my favorite but she had different voices for each character and was much better than some of the other versions on here. So nicely done and thank you

20 thousand leagues under the sea


(5 stars)

I truly appreciate the great job done by Michelle to this book to life for me. it was my faithful companion for my long commute that became for a while the best part of my day.

Loved this book!


(5 stars)

I work a night shift and love listening to this book over and over. I love the reader's characters and skills. Am I the only one who wanted them to keep going ???

I LOVE THIS book and narrator!


(5 stars)

One of the best book written by one of the best writers and read by some of the top narrators on Libravox!

Narrator can get annoying at times


(2.5 stars)

The weird voices the narrator does fit some of the characters is just plain annoying. She's great when she's talking normally though.

Fantastic!


(5 stars)

What a shame picfixer's first review of this book was so negative. To the contrary, Jules Verne is brilliant. His imagination is spectacular. The depth of his study in preparation for writing the book, on a totally foreign subject matter (the ocean and it's life) is astonishing. The book was written on the 1860's and published in 1870!! One must recall that the internet, GPS mapping, etc. we're not available at the time - for that matter the first automobile hadn't yet been patented (Karl Benz, 1886), and Thomas Edison was just out of his teens. The book is written as a first-person narrative. It's narrator and central character, Pierre Aronnax, is a scientist and professor of marine biology. The book is his personal journal of a fantastic adventure aboard the Nautilus. As one would expect of the character, Aronnax enthusiastically describes and catalogues the marine life he encounters along the way. It creates a totally unique experience for the fiction enthusiast. Verne's personal transmogrification into this marine biologist is amazing. As a diver I can tell you that his underwater descriptions, such as how light appears under the ocean, are spot-on! I must believe Verne went diving to achieve this. Apart from my comments above, the story of the submarine, it's creator and captain, it's crew and it's captives is powerful, compelling and in the end, heart-wrenching. Great credit is to be given to the reader. This is a complex work with a great deal of "professorial" language. Her cadence is perfect, her voice is pleasant and clear, her emotion believable. She does a great job of defining characters with different voices and accents (one character's voice, Conseil, I had difficulty getting used to, but his voice grew on me throughout the book and was very unique). She keeps the listener engaged. I heard no breathing, no unnatural pauses or breaks, no background noise...all-in-all, outstanding! I very much look forward to seeing more work from her in the future.

Enjoyable, but sometimes long winded.


(3.5 stars)

The adventures in this story are great. I don't enjoy the characters as much as Journey to the Center of the Earth but they are deeper. The story is broken up into a bunch of short adventures. When Verne isn't writing every description of every creature possible this story is quite engaging. The long winded explanations of animals can get tiresome. It does add to the story...but in a very brute force method. If you can get over that then it's a good book. A single narrator is great. That consistency is something every book on here should strive for. Michele Fry is well spoken and is placed at a medium to medium slow speed. I wasn't crazy about her accent but I'm aware that's my own preference so don't let that sway you. All in all this is a good recording (best on librivox) and a good story. Give it a try if you have 16 hours to kill and enjoy classic science fiction.