De la Tierra a la Luna (1865 original; edició 2001)

Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon is, objectively, a poor book. The story is breezy and the characters sketchy even by Verne's standards. The plot is incomplete (there's a good reason why many editions include the sequel, Around the Moon, in its pages – the first book ends just as it's about to get interesting) and there's an indulgence of melodrama. There's a mass of dry scientific information; if Verne were a modern writer, he would be accused of cutting and pasting from Wikipedia articles on the cycles of the moon or the various atmospheric pressures of gases.

And yet, there's always something compelling about reading Jules Verne, for all his myriad objective flaws. I think a clue as to what this might be can be found in the fact that I instinctively (but deliberately) sought out a Bantam Pathfinder edition of From the Earth to the Moon published in 1967; that is, when Apollo was in full swing and two years before Verne's story became reality (at least in its broadest sweeps). I think a lot of the enjoyment in Verne comes from what the modern reader brings themselves: knowledge of Neil Armstrong in 1969 makes From the Earth to the Moon that much sweeter, just as knowledge of jet planes makes Around the World in Eighty Days seem romantically quaint, or knowledge of submarines makes 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea seem prescient.

This appeal is subjective, of course, and perhaps Verne is only a novelty now, but there's something heartening about a man writing about using technology to go to the Moon just over one hundred years before that became reality; a vindication of mankind's optimism (and Verne's personal enthusiasm for science). Certainly, we could do with hearing more often lines like "in America… mechanical difficulties are dead before they are born" (pg. 15), particularly as the problem nowadays is our society's loss of nerve and incentive to perform the sort of scientific feats Verne was capable of imagining. It's as depressing to remember that we haven't been back to the Moon in fifty years as it is fantastic to remember the hundred years separating Verne and Apollo.

Certainly, this sort of post-modern romanticising of Verne's adventures won't be enough for many readers. Quite fairly, they'll be wanting the author to provide the substance rather than conjuring it themselves, and this Verne fails to provide. As I said, plot and character are sketchy and melodramatic; there's no heavy lifting from the storyteller on these important fronts. Verne's only real objective qualities in From the Earth to the Moon are his humour (surprisingly strong here) and his enthusiasm for scientific progress, so much so that he would write chapters in mankind's adventure a century before they came to fruition. That's not enough for some readers, but it's just about enough for me. ( )

I love Jules Verne. I love that he tried to educate people about the scientific theories of the day through his novels. But this was just boring. It was all the science without any of the adventure. It wasn't even interesting science. Some chapters were just convoluted equations! Thank goodness it was short. ( )

Warning: this review contains spoilers

With the American Civil War over, the members of the Baltimore Gun Club have nothing to keep themselves entertained. But what if they could create a REALLY BIG GUN—one that could launch a projectile to the moon? The club seizes on this idea enthusiastically, and soon the whole nation is in a state of Moon-projectile fever. But wait, there’s more—someone else proposes sending up an actual human! How will this turn out?

This story is notable for how much Verne got right, namely in the choice of launching site within the US. It’s a surprisingly exciting read, even when the Gun Club members are blathering on about ballistic trajectories and the exact dimensions required of the cannon to fire the projectile. Things get particularly tense once humans are added to the projectile equation. And that ending—it’s such a cliffhanger, and is a bit nightmarish to be honest. I had to pick up the sequel, Around the Moon, immediately. ( )

First half Verne is very interested in the logistics of firing a vehicle to the moon. He spends a lot of time doing the math.
The second half is more about the people and how they deal with the situation. ( )

Una hermosa novela. ( )