Around the World in Eighty Days

By: Jules Verne / Narrated By: Bill Homewood

Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins

What a charmer!!!

Y’all know I didn’t do squat in high school literature class, what with missing some exTRAORdinary classics. Will you be surprised when I tell you I managed to scoot by a gazillion and six classics during middle school also (My 7th-grade English teacher was far fonder of the edgier reads—stuff which required a permission slip from the parents… whoo boy!)? So I rather eyed Around the World in Eighty Days as it floundered for votes for my Next Listen, then I grew steadily more excited as it crept up, finally teetering over the edge to win for that two-week period with a single heartfelt vote.

Huzzah!

Cuz this little book turned out to be suuuuch a fun listen! I use the words “delightful” and “awesome” a lot in my reviews (My apologies; one would think I had no access to a Thesaurus), but bear with me here when I use those two words yet again!

Let’s start with AWEsome! Bill Homewood’s narration is beyond stellar; he’s magnificent, and listening to him is like settling down to hear your (Talented) grandpa as he tells you a wonderful bedtime story. He has such a warm, avuncular voice, low with just the right amount of growl. And when the text introduces a new character, one who’s gruff and rough? Why, you wait, curled in tight anticipation, as you knoooow the man is going to do a brilliant voice for such a person, bringing the character to life in a dazzling and oh so enjoyable way. Top notch performance, and the man made me smile throughout, made me laugh out loud a few times too.

Now let’s go to deLIGHTful! What a fun, fun story. Victorian gentleman Phileas Fogg has just hired French manservant Passepartout since his old valet didn’t quite work out (THAT individual having been such a lackey that he delivered water heated to 84 degrees rather than 86… GASP!). Seeing that Fogg is such a stickler for things, Passepartout, given a strict schedule to keep, thinks he’s in for a well-ordered and somewhat rigid employment. No give and take, nothing going awry willy nilly.

Uhm, noooo. Not quiiiite.

As it happens, Fogg, at his gentleman’s club, makes a bet with other members that the world, given new forms of travel, can be traveled in 80 days. CanNOT, cry the other gentleman, even as he deftly and smoothly orates how each stage of the journey would be undertaken, and how long each stage would take. Steamers, trains, you name it, he’s got it all written down and planned to within an inch of itself. There’s no room for error, but Fogg is certain that no errors will be made.

And so he corrals Passepartout and they begin their journey, scheduled to take most of the Autumn.

All good and well, right?

Uhm, noooo. Not quiiiite.

Cuz, you see, Passepartout gets into aaaall sorts of scrapes, from rescuing a lovely young woman in India (And they get busted for doing it!), to getting drunk at the most inopportune times (Thereby kinda sorta missing a leg of the journey… Oooops…!). That the poor man winds up in a theatre circus act? Purely par for Passepartout’s zany course.

Along the way, as they’re trailed by Detective Fix—who has Figg down as a bank robber, if something can go wrong, it will. And it’s charming and hilarious and yes, deLIGHTful! Yeah, yeah, yeah, Fogg is totally into British Imperialism, but if you can get past the non-PC statements here and there, you’re in for a madcap adventure.

That the story winds up as bit of a love story? See?!? Charming, I tell you! When I can get laughs and scrapes galore AND a bit of truly sweet romance; that’s a keeper of a story.

So thanks, y’all, very very much for choosing this as my Next Listen.

And esPECially to that individual who voted in a tie-breaker: My inner middle grader thanks you soooo very much!!!