Reviews

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Only show reviews with written explanations

seymadrz's review

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adventurous inspiring lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

4.0

mariahistryingtoread's review against another edition

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3.0

The Wind in the Willows is a collection of short tales vaguely interconnected by its characters and/or its plots. While divided into chapters each chapter is generally pretty self contained so you could read this as a series of vignettes if you wanted with no real loss. The only one who you'd arguably need some background for is Toad as his story, compared to the others, is told in a fairly normal format.

Anyways, the book is about four characters - Mole, Water Rat (usually called Rat for short), Badger and Toad. Mole recently moved to the neighborhood and meets Rat in the first chapter. Badger does not make an appearance until later as he doesn't like crowds. Toad doesn't much interact with the group as a whole as he's often too busy satisfying his fanciful whims or getting into scrapes to hang out with his friends.

I don't have much to say one way or the other to be honest. I wasn't bored, but this certainly wasn't particularly entertaining. Just a lot of waxing poetic about living near the river and nature in general. The best way to describe it is quaint.

I thought some of the animal lore was interesting, such as it being rude to mention an animals' abrupt disappearance from a conversation even if it's like mid-sentence. Toad's chapters were the most fun because he was actually a driving force behind his plots. Conversely, they were also the most frustrating due to how annoying Toad was.

I think if you like the characters well enough you'll be fine. Personally, I found Mole to be unbearably whiny and Toad a selfish, irresponsible cad who didn't deserve any of their friendship. Seriously, Toad drives his motor car as recklessly as possible thereby putting every person in the area in danger, steals a motor car, scams a train conductor into giving him a ride for a service he has no intention of carrying out, steals a womans' horse for catching him out in a lie, crashes the motor car of the same person whose motor car he stole and yet after he finally returns home his friends barely scold him for it. They literally placate one another by being like 'that's just who Toad is'. When he does an abrupt 180 at the end despite never facing consequences or seeking to ever actually reflect on his actions for the duration of the novel I was infuriated on principle.

This is a classic I'd say skip if you're reading to enjoy rather than check a box on your classics' list or something. The only reason I picked it up at all was for a readathon. I will say it's a quick, brisk read so if you absolutely feel the need to give it a try you'll be done fast.