Hoowee was this one a stinker. I think this may be the worst of the 19th century lit I’ve been working my way through yet. You generally have to put up with a lot of bunk science and some pretty terrible social behavior, which in the former is just the state of the world at that time and in the latter is gross as hell at any time. While I wouldn’t necessarily say JttCotE (don’t wanna type it out every time sorry not sorry) is especially racist, it is weirdly pro-slavery in my opinion. I say that because the treatment of Hans, their Icelandic guide is just insane. Dude refuses to be properly compensated for taking these assholes to hell and back, and the only reason why is his honor and his understanding of Icelandic service culture.
Hans is by far the best character in the book. He is both a gigachad and more or less nonverbally autistic. In fact, I would say that autism is a main character in the story, though I’m not sure if that’s intentional. The professor is frequently referred to as a “savant,” with this rationale being given for why he is such an incredible scientist, and also why he’s such an insufferable asshole. The professor was by far my least favorite character, as he repeatedly almost gets everyone killed because he’s so intractable. A lot of these 19th century lit books pay intense lip service to the idea of manly scientific rigor, but this guy just spends all his time screaming as he explains why the earth doesn’t actually have a molten core because [reasons].
For that matter, the main character is a dishrag who lets himself be constantly brought to the brink of starvation and death by thirst. It’s like if Arnold from The Magic Schoolbus crossed with Indiana Jones’ unimpressive brother. In terms of what works well, my favorite part is the underground sea where they encounter dinosaur sea monsters. But even in the deeply imaginative parts like when they encounter subterranean humans, the professor won’t stop screaming about how right he was all the time and how everyone else is an asshole. It is just insufferable.
Miss this one. It’s an impressive technical achievement that needs to be viewed in the context of the time it came out, but is not very enjoyable.