Captain
Pamphile is definitely a book of its time with values to match. It maybe
qualifies as one of the lesser known Alexandre Dumas books and is not packed
with the same amount of adventure as The Three Musketeers or The Count of Monte
Cristo. But it does have its value and its moments.
It seems that
Captain Pamphile is the owner of a ship who travels in a way that is sometimes
less than legal and collects, among other things, stories. These stories are
relayed back to us as part of another story, that of a Parisian collecting his
one menagerie – which is where Captain Pamphile intersects this story – he often
provides the unusual animals required. The bear was my favourite – I had an
emotional connection with his adventures.
Although I
wouldn’t describe this as thrilling, which is was meant to be, it did have some
good points and once I’d got into it, I found I actually quite enjoyed it. It
was originally written for children so it’s not a hard read and there’s a
message behind it too, which given the time, is quite a surprising one. But you
need to read it to find out for yourself.