Saturday, July 24, 2021

book 80 days around world

 book review, around world 80 days.
this book was cleverly written and with excitement until the let down trip from new york.
it starts with the then "concurrent event" of the completion of the canal that extends southward until it reached suez at its south end.
the newspaper claimed the total 80 days, if using the new canal to travel around the world from london to london. the people argue about surprise events that can delay. f.f. a clever name, wagers he can overcome any obstacle.
just for the wager he will travel via that canal, therefore from southern italy, south to suez and across india... using the "then new" technology of steam engines in trains and boats.
the author cleverly wove obstacles into the story, such as a cop who wants to delay ff. later the cops bias is to aid accelerate to move him toward briton so he can arrest him. in india a surprise that led to rescuing a widow from religious sacrifice.  after some troubles and adventures, and dangers....
the last chapters were a major let down. in fact this pattern is consistent in several verne books lazily avoiding endings: in leagues, he "banged his head" so does not know how the story ended, lazily saving the author trouble writing the ending. same in the technology tale master of world... again the guy "bangs his head" allowing the author to lazily skip the conclusion. but this anti-climax and story is horrible i mean a bad storyline for the climax.
i propose an alternate ending.
keep the danger on the train across northern u.s. where the longitudinal degrees are less between themselves around the thinner part of the globe... clever Americans. the exciting "flying over the damaged bridge" which holds the train just long enuf... then crashes down into the water. i liked that climax. keep the fuel and the clever "snow sail" over ice in late autumn. keep the emotional and suspenseful missing the trans-Atlantic ship!
at THAT point the story needs to change direction and not continue with the author's bad ideas.
the "alternate ending instead of hiring a ship to france": he simply finds a CARGO ship to liverpool. 
a.e.   ff saw he missed the passenger ship which left on time as scheduled, and for the first time "showed emotion". ff sat and pushed his hands around his head and wrinkled his forehead in worry. he came too late for his planned ship. despite the ice sail.
p offerd to help find a cargo ship if f would pay his gas expense. f agreed. p searched new york harbor with its ACTIVE ports and EASILY found a cargo ship to liverpool in west briton north from the wales peninsula. 
the cargo ship had fewer stops than the passenger steamer. his missed boat helped him arrive sooner at liverpool before that boat. 
IMMEDIATELY on england,  cop arrested f. sadly f and his friends: lady n aid all ride the train to london.
he arrived in london december 18. however, he must get to the club! n he cant!! kuz cop led them to the london prison. 
BEFORE  cop locks f in prison, the jailor reveals that they caught the "real theif" back in november after the warrant was sent.
he went to celebrate at the club and THERE discovers the date locally is 17! despite the many sunrises. surprise. he made it in less than 80 days. ( note: move the idea of breaking wood of the ship to the trip from suez to west india motivation by a bribe to use more steam n get to west india faster.)
when the other gentlemen return his document for payment and take out their checkbooks, f says "instead of cash, let the widow choose her wedding style for you to pay. the buddies arrange a "lovely wedding" with the wager money. 
describe the lovely wedding and END".
that would be a climax instead of the desperate deception and other bad  ideas and plans that ruin an adventure by giving the description of f as a rock until pushed to crime. was verne really a good author??
plus endnotes 1, f wrote a letter to the Russian government  urging them to learn from u.s. to build  a railway across the northern part of Russia where the length is less around the ball. 
the russian advisors reject the idea but inspired by his idea begin planning a rail along the southern border which they started building in 1905. once completed f WILL orbit without suez canal! how many days would that take? end endnote!
endnote 2 f did not cheat going north and around north pole and down south to liverpool in a week. he also need not go to the fattest part of the globe to orbit only by equator kuz london is latitude 50 the only time he nears equator was to "double" the malay peninsula near singapore n equator. instead he can use 50 degree latitude but has no options there so must go fatter all around, so went to a fatter orbit:  trains, 1 "from london to channel ferry, and 2 from calais on french coast to south italy. then the ship trip from italy thru canal til suez on east coast of nile, and steaming to west coast of india. all that is more length than the latitude of london along the fatter part of the globe. even moving north to yok' is fatter part than 50 kuz yok' is 35! and across rail of north u.s. 42 still fatter than 50. the train from west india to east india was less length than a boat around india and would be less time at same speed (train was 20 miles per hour ergo steam ship faster but not enuf) if not for the rail surprise that led to rescuing a widow from religious sacrifice.

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