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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
This was actually an entertaining book. It did feel a little repetitive at times, but it was interesting to read different adventures.
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was alright, I guess.
It is a fun story and in the beginning I did like reading it however halfway through I got tired of the concept and it began to took me ages to just read another chapter. However I am glad I took the time to read this book. Mister Swift really tells his criticism of the world in an intersting and unique way.
It is a fun story and in the beginning I did like reading it however halfway through I got tired of the concept and it began to took me ages to just read another chapter. However I am glad I took the time to read this book. Mister Swift really tells his criticism of the world in an intersting and unique way.
I've had a long and difficult history with this book. To be honest, I've spent most of my life thinking that I loathe it. I had a copy as a kid, you see - not the actual book, but a heavily cut-down, heavily illustrated version meant for young readers, and I remember thinking even then that it was the silliest, most boring thing I'd ever read. I moved into the original text as a teen - the book was so famous, there had to be something I was missing - and was confirmed in my opinion. Tried it again ten years later, I'm not sure I even finished it then. It's stuck in my mind, ever since, as the very definition of a tedious read.
Well, I must be a glutton for punishment, because I've read the thing now for the fourth time and I can finally say that I like it. Not enough to ever read it again, but I'm satisfied that I appreciate it for what it is: vicious, biting satire in which Swift took his revenge upon the people he disliked. I'd always vaguely understood the thing was satirical, but I lacked the historical context to really appreciate just what and who Swift was bitching about. (I much preferred his baby-eating pamphlet, which was blatantly obvious and clearly more my speed.) But the copy I've read now is one that's enormously annotated. It's a substantial book, filled with illustrations of previous editions of Gulliver, and each page is split into halves, with one half original text and the other annotated explanation. For someone who had only a very vague idea as to the Whigs and the Tories (and the political machinations in general) of Swift's time, it makes things so much clearer. And genuinely more interesting. The satire has layers now.
I'm still never reading it again. I'm sorry Mr. Swift, I own I did misjudge you, but four times is three times too many.
Well, I must be a glutton for punishment, because I've read the thing now for the fourth time and I can finally say that I like it. Not enough to ever read it again, but I'm satisfied that I appreciate it for what it is: vicious, biting satire in which Swift took his revenge upon the people he disliked. I'd always vaguely understood the thing was satirical, but I lacked the historical context to really appreciate just what and who Swift was bitching about. (I much preferred his baby-eating pamphlet, which was blatantly obvious and clearly more my speed.) But the copy I've read now is one that's enormously annotated. It's a substantial book, filled with illustrations of previous editions of Gulliver, and each page is split into halves, with one half original text and the other annotated explanation. For someone who had only a very vague idea as to the Whigs and the Tories (and the political machinations in general) of Swift's time, it makes things so much clearer. And genuinely more interesting. The satire has layers now.
I'm still never reading it again. I'm sorry Mr. Swift, I own I did misjudge you, but four times is three times too many.
I should probably give this another shot at some point, as I may have tried to read it at too young an age. I struggled to stay interested in it when I read it and eventually gave up as I was finding it unsatisfying.
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Great for children and for the political and cultiran nuances... But not a great book.
Obviously not a perfect book, but moderately readable. His criticisms of humanity, while often earned, wears thin over time. A little more charity and a little less spleen would have done wonders for the story, but one gets the sense that Swift wrote it for himself more than anything else. I hope he felt better afterward; I can't say I do.
My childhood self would have wanted to rate it 5 stars. So, there. It was my second book in my childhood. I thoroughly enjoyed it at that time. I can't even remember the half of it right now and I don't want to read it again 'cause it may not repeat the same magic for me now