A FASCINATING ADVENTURE WITH THE VOICE OF ARIA MIA LOBERTI (from "All the Light We Cannot See" mini series)

What a genius move for Blackstone Publishing Audiobooks to make! I was first drawn to this classic because I had not ever read it and wanted to. Then, remembering its' connection with "All the Light We Cannot See" and seeing that it was read by the voice of Aria Mia Loberti just made it three times better.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was first published in English in 1870. The writing style is that of scientific journal entries based off of the adventures of Professor Pierre Aronnax. In this underwater pioneering, Professor Aronnax, his servant Conseil, and Canadian Marine Hunter, Ned Land, embark on the "Abraham Lincoln" to hunt for an unknown species of whale. Upon finding what they believe to be this whale, they attack it and this "whale" fights back, causing the Professor, Conseil, and Ned Land to be thrown overboard. They soon realize this "whale" is actually made of metal and is the world's first submarine called The Nautilus. Captain Nemo, of this submerged vessel, saves the 3 stranded men and takes them captive because their ship attacked his. In turn, they all travel 20,000 leagues under the sea and around the world. Their exploration was documented throughout the adventure and included, according to Professor Arronax:

"....since my disappearance from the Abraham Lincoln - the submarine hunt, the Torres Straits, the savages of Papua, the running ashore, the coral cemetery, the passage of Suez, the island of Santorin, the Cretan diver, Vigo Bay, Atlantis, the iceberg, the South Pole, the imprisonment in the ice, the fight among the poulps, the storm in the Gulf Stream, the Avenger, an the horrible sene of the vessel sunk with all her crew. "

I find the language of writing to be so interesting in older works of literature. What we might deem "boring" today, was best seller at one time. I always feel well educated and time-traveled after enjoying a classic such as this. This particular nature ride was highly descriptive and scientific, allowing the imagination to run free under the sea. I found myself googling definitions and using Apple Maps often to supplement this adventure. The point-of-view in this classic is that of a Scientist. Professor Arronax is not concerned with depth of personalities or complex emotions in those on board the Nautilus. He is strictly business. It is somewhat comical to me that Arronax is caught up in the wonder of the adventure over being held captive for almost a year. I found myself wondering why more attention was not spent on this obvious fact. But that would mean adding more depth and dimension to characters that simply should be left alone as is. Jules Verne was clearly set on this voyage being all about the adventures. I was there for it. Hence, a difference in our writing today. I would love to see a modern film adaptation of this classic. I believe, if done right, it would be monumental. I was thankful that Aria Mia Loberti gave new life to this story in such a creative way.

Thank you so much Blackstone Publishing Audiobooks and Netgalley for this audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

I don't think I ever read this classic, or at least I don't remember it, but the audio version was a great way to bring it to life for me. The narrator, Aria Mia Loberti, was great at keeping my attention as the story is extremely long and sometimes drawn out.
I did enjoy the story and really glad I got the chance to listen to this classic. Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for allowing me to review this ARC.

It was a pleasure to listen to Jules Verne's classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea in this new audiobook by Blackstone Publishing. Aria Mia Loberti's narration was excellent. Viewers of the Netflix adaptation of All the Light We Cannot See got a sneak peak at this, as the actress playing the main blind character was Aria Mia Loberti, and she read from this very book in part of the film, I'll admit I was drawn to the audiobook because after reading/listening to hundreds of audiobooks over the years, I had never listened to one narrated by someone who was blind and narrating from braille. She was amazing, and one would never know. What a talented narrator and actor.

The book itself, is a classic. It's a nineteenth century read and isn't necesarily the easiest, but Loberti brought the book to life, making it a truly enjoyable experience.

This is a review of the audio book version (ISBN-13: 979-8212910682) read by Aria Mia Loberti (from the movie "All
The Light We Cannot See").

The narrator was excellent. Her voice was pleasing and enthusiastic. The different characters were easily
distinguishable. The book contains a lot of complicated names of sea creatures, plants and locations, and the
author pronounces all of them expertly.

This is an abridged version, and still it is VERY long. The progression of the plot is slowed down by all the
descriptions.

However, if you want to listen to this classic, I highly recommend this recording.

In a 1959 episode of The Twilight Zone, a bookworm (Burgess Meredith) survives a nuclear apocalypse and glories in the fact that he finally has uninterrupted time to read.

A cruel twist ending helped the episode make an impression, but it also dramatized a particular brand of fantasy: the idea that one might retain the means of intellectual exploration while having all social obligations stripped away by forces beyond one’s control. A new audiobook production of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Blackstone Publishing) highlights the way in which Jules Verne dramatized this fantasy a century earlier.

In Aria Mia Loberti’s performance, Captain Nemo is not a mysterious genius over whom one might obsess. He comes across as almost comically stuffy, even a little constipated. The harpooner Ned Land is tamped down as well, in contrast to the two characters whose shared sense of awe emerges as the novel’s animating quality: narrator Pierre Arronax and his faithful servant Conseil.

Loberti, a newcomer who was cast as lead of the Netflix series All the Light We Cannot See (2023), is one of few women ever enlisted to narrate a professional recording of Verne’s novel, originally published in serial installments from 1869-70. Passages from Twenty Thousand Leagues figure in All the Light, based on a 2014 novel by Anthony Doerr.

The actor has said she “tried not to think about portrayals of masculinity” while voicing the story’s all-male cast of characters. That’s just as well. Though gendered expectations form a backdrop for all the characters’ pursuits, sexually they’re neuter. Verne evinces zero interest in the implications of extended submarine sequester for his lead characters and their deliberately ambiguous number of supporting mariners, beyond the matter of how they procure food and air.

(The characters’ de facto genderlessness is itself a marker of gender: imagine a publisher’s reaction, in Verne’s era, to a story about women characters that completely ignores any motivations they might have beyond exploration, vindication, and satiation.)

What the reader is left with, aside from the author’s inventive series of episodes threatening the characters’ continued existence, is a strong sense of curiosity rewarded. It’s that quality Loberti most powerfully evokes, inviting us to gaze out the saloon windows along with Captain Nemo’s passengers as The Nautilus voyages through undersea forests, erupting volcanos, and habitats teeming with fish of all descriptions.

A good number of the book’s 150,000 words are absorbed with details of the ship’s navigation and Arronax’s catalog of the marine life The Nautilus encounters. Despite a judicious abridgment, there’s still a fair amount of this material in the new audiobook, and Loberti’s great gift to the listener is to sweep us up into the wonder of it all. She doesn’t take a single detail for granted, convincing us that as Arronax avers, he is in no hurry to end his forced voyage.

It’s this aspect of the book that invites the Twilight Zone comparison. The listener is invited to consider the perfect joy of the French scientist (the audiobook follows the well-established American practice of using a British accent to convey any and all sorts of Western European background), supplied with a vast library and set out upon a voyage of undersea exploration with no choice but to go along. With Nemo playing the bad guy, Arronax gets a completely guilt-free pass to adventure.

Hopefully Loberti, who is legally blind and says she has long enjoyed audiobooks as a consumer, will be enlisted for future productions. For all the panache the narrator puts into Verne’s descriptions of natural phenomena, she particularly charms with small moments of character humor. For example, she reads Arronax’s excuse for fearing sharks with a droll and deliberate enjoyment that makes it hard for the listener not to smile.

"Now, if you were invited to hunt the bear in the mountains of Switzerland, what would you say?

“'Very well! to-morrow we will go and hunt the bear.' If you were asked to hunt the lion in the plains of Atlas, or the tiger in the Indian jungles, what would you say?

“'Ha! ha! it seems we are going to hunt the tiger or the lion!' But when you are invited to hunt the shark in its natural element, you would perhaps reflect before accepting the invitation."

No need to reflect before accepting the invitation to retrace the voyage of The Nautilus with Loberti as your guide. Verne’s vastly influential story is as resonant as ever in its romantic portrayal of an escape from the world of land-dwellers who can’t be bothered to stop and smell the seaweed.

I loved listening to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea (from @blackstonepublishing and beautifully narrated by @ariamialoberti). I've read and loved this book maaaany many years ago as a tween and always wanted to come back to it. It reads differently now as an adult, and a tiny bit dated in parts, but I will always love Jules Verne Books!

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Format: ALC from Blackstone Publishing

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for the ALC of a new production of this classic book. Originally published in 1870, this classic book was groundbreaking in the subgenre of science fiction. I had no idea what this books was about when I picked it up and it went in some crazy directions!

I was more interested in the narration performance for Twenty Thousand Leagues. The audiobook came to my attention when I saw that Aria Mia Loberti was doing the vocal production. Loberti is the actress from Netflix’s new miniseries All the Light We Cannot See, based on the book by the same name.

Loberti brought these characters to life with great voices and accents for the characters. This was an abridged version of the original work, and topped out at about 11-12 hours long. Though the performance was good, the story still felt long to me. I would still recommend this audiobook to anyone interested in this title specifically, or classic science fiction.

I tried to read this book a while back and couldnt get into it, but the audiobook was surprisingly easy to listen to! Definetely an ideal way to read this classic.

I had read this years ago and remembered the story, but I was hoping the new narration would bring it to life. I knew exactly what I was getting into with the overly long and rambling story, so I was really in this for the audio and on that front, I was not disappointed. I was put off by a female voice at first, I expected a male voice for a male character, but honestly, Ms. Loberti did a lovely job! She was able to breathe more life into the story than I got from reading it alone.

Generally speaking, I’m a fan of Jules Verne’s adventure stories. But as is often the case with great authors of the past, there’s always one book amongst the body of work that stubbornly hangs around as a “classic” somewhat inexplicably.

20,000 Leagues has its moments of great excitement and adventure, but it’s hugely overlong, and as a result does exactly what an adventure story isn’t supposed to do, which is drone and drag.

There just isn’t enough substance here to justify how long this book rattles on, which is surprising for Verne, an author who usually understands the limits of his genre very well and, essentially, knows when to quit.

As a result the book feels fun at first, but fails to maintain the same level of engagement well before it reaches its halfway point, and leaves the reader exhausted and bored rather than fulfilled. Again, it does have its exciting and cleverly rendered moments, and the descriptions of sea life are lovely, but it lacks the charming humor and punchy, sharp sense of adventure that made Around the World in 80 Days such a delight to read.

I really enjoyed this abridged version of Verne’s classic. The narrator has wonderful pitch and pacing, making the story come to life. Well done and perfect for adults and children alike.

I had never read this book but found it quite interesting it did keep my attention the whole time and it is a classic I enjoyed it very much and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Adventures of it historical type Adventures

I enjoy sci fi classics and this is actually a reread from last year. Verne really had a talent for coming up with interesting and strange stories that had surprising technology for their time. This story is wild, where the main character is basically kidnapped by someone who is essentially a mad scientist (the famous Captain Nemo) wanting to protect his discoveries.
Although the most amazing bits are about the submarine, there are also fascinating adventures in various parts of the world. Modern readers may find the language old-fashioned, but if you get used to it, it's enjoyable.
I do think it's weird to have a female narrator, but the lady narrating the story did a fantastic job. Her speech was clear and she was telling the story in a believable way.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this classic on audio

It's hard for me to rate Classics, but I did enjoy it!

It still amazes me that these books were written in the late 1800's like how insane is that, especially with all the technology that was in here.

I liked Verne's world building a lot, it was easy to picture what was happening.

with all that being said its still an old book so it tends to get rambly and a bit boring sometimes.

overall I'm really happy I finally read this one!!

as for the narrator, I was a bit thrown off to have a female voice voicing a male character at the start because I didn't expect it. However, Aria did a fantastic job bringing the book to life.

This was very much a product of its time and aside from learning characters at times referenced in our current times (I.e. Captain Nemo was a familiar) and don’t mind lengthy books filled with outdated science, this might be just the book for you. If you loved Moby Dick, here’s your next favorite read. I also was confused on why a female was chosen to narrate a book that is entirely from men’s perspective. She did an excellent job trying to breathe life into this text, and I salute her for that.

I am in a classics mood lately and I am so grateful that @blackstonepublishing audio released 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA by Jules Verne! This is narrated by Aria Mia Lobert who you may know from her role in the film, "All the Light We Cannot See" just recently.

First, I must say, Ms. Lobert is an incredibly brilliant woman. She has several degrees, & is a PhD candidate in ancient rhetoric. It is clear, she knows her way around words.

I wasn't sure at first if I would enjoy a female narrator for all these male parts. I am pleased to report that I enjoyed it immensely! She took the roles of Professor Aronnax, Captain Nemo, Conseil, and Ned Land, making them very distinct and incorporated all the rising emotions of the men.

I must also admit, I had not ever read this classic tale and I am infinitely glad I listened to it! I don't know if I would have been able to read the highly descriptive paragraphs of the sea creatures they encounter deep under the water in the Nautilus. I am so glad to know this story now, as my assumptions of the plot were way off! I was fascinated by my changing opinions of Captain Nemo, just as Aronnax seemed to fluctuate. It really was a fascinating read, filled with remarkable human insights.

If you haven't read this science fiction classic, I would absolutely recommend this format.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing Audiobooks and @netgalley for this new recording and letting me share my thoughts. This published on November 7, so it is available now wherever you get your audiobooks! If there is an older version out there somewhere, choose this one.

What can I say about this book that hasn’t already been said? Not much. This has been one of my favorite classics since I was a child. Jules Verne is one of my heroes without a doubt. He was so far ahead of his time and his work has this air of childlike wonder about it that I absolutely love. It’s that ‘nothing is impossible’ mentality and the adventurous spirit that we all wish we could act on.

I had never ‘listened’ to this book before and was so happy to stumble upon this new recording of it and wanted to give it a try. I’m so glad I did!

Aria Mia Loberti did a phenomenal job of bringing this book to light in a way I hadn’t experienced before. Her voice kept me thoroughly engaged and it was a pleasure to follow along on this journey with. I especially loved her voice for Captain Nemo! It was so incredibly fun.

I absolutely recommend this audiobook to anyone who is a lover of science fiction, adventure and sea monsters ;)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book!