Reviews

Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne

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ellie_cripps's review against another edition

1.0

Considering the later work Jules Verne would produce this book is amazingly weak. Dull, racist and full of little vignettes that could have been exciting storylines but instead lie as lackluster wasted ideas.

uutopicaa's review against another edition

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2.0

Todos sus libros son tan parecidos que se me mezclan

aemily's review against another edition

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Unsurprisingly a racist mess, but helpful French practice.

dr_matt's review against another edition

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adventurous funny informative tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Not surprisingly give the date of publication this book (1863) contains a liberal dose of Victorian racism and parts of it were a bit trigger happy for me.
However, if you can see past this it’s not a bad adventure story. It started to drag towards the end but some of the scenes such as the desperation in the desert and the condor attack which damaged the balloon were quite exciting not to mention Joe’s self sacrifice and getting lost after jumping into late Tchad to lighten the balloon. I also got the map out and I definitely improved my knowledge of African geography.
This is the second Verne novel I’ve read and in general I like his books and I intend to read more.

ritaralha's review against another edition

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3.0

Cinco semanas em balão é considerada a primeira grande obra literária de Júlio Verne e simultaneamente o primeiro volume da série As viagens extraordinárias. Em 1863 era considerado ficção científica, hoje é mais uma fantasia real.
Dr. Samuel Fergusson, um conceituado pesquisador e aventureiro inglês propõe-se a fazer a travessia do continente africano, de Leste para Oeste, por uma rota ainda desconhecida e num balão (aeróstato), apelidado de Victoria. Com ele partem Joe, o seu fiel criado, e Dick Kennedy, seu grande amigo e um excelente caçador.

É um livro simples, agradável, divertido e embora tenha partes chatérrimas – “(…)Cada quadrado de 9 pés pesava meio arrátel. Como a superfície do balão exterior era de 11600 pés quadrados aproximadamente, pesava portanto 650 arráteis. O invólucro do segundo balão tinha 9200 pés quadrados de superfície e pesava 510 arráteis. Total: 1160 arráteis. (…) Adicionou-lhes uma serpentina de cerca de duas polegadas de diâmetro, que terminava por dois ramos rectos de comprimento desigual. Media o maior 25 pés de alto e o menor 15 pés somente.” 😴💤💤 – consegue na segunda metade remeter-nos para uma grande aventura, cheia de perseverança e coragem.