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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
Parts of this are super interesting. Some of Swift's writing is so well-crafted. And then he gets pedantic and way too preachy, but it's couched in these fantasy worlds so it just drags. This was way longer than it needed to be and tends to just hammer the same points over and over. I finished this at some point last year, but I don't remember when. My ebook backed itself up and I thought I hadn't finished it until I started reading again and realized I had. So. I made it through.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I read it when I was very young. It's very interesting and the universe is very detailled (sometimes tto much for children, descriptions finish to be veeeery boring!).
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Read this for a British Literature class. Swift is really committed to skewering everyone, ever. I don't think anyone in England at that time could get through this book without catching a stray, and I respect that about it. The politics were very 1700s, but it was at least anti-colonialist and anti-war, and seemed to respect the importance of girls' education. It also made me laugh out loud several times, usually because of Swift skewering someone
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Gulliver's Travels was an absolutely fantastic read. I was expecting something dry and overwritten, but instead encountered a story that was funny, witty, and even moved at a decent pace. It's no secret that Swift was a satirist, and every single race he encountered - from the diminutive Lilliputians to the talking horses ruled entirely by reason, to the horrifying feral relations to humans called Yahoos - was used as a mirror to attack and lampoon Europe, England, and humanity as a whole. I found myself laughing more than once as he would compare the habits of the peoples he encountered with those back home, and find himself defending his homeland without a clear argument as to why he could be right.
I highly recommend Gulliver's Travels. If you let yourself get past the writing style of an early 18th century Englishman, you will be glad you picked this story up.
I highly recommend Gulliver's Travels. If you let yourself get past the writing style of an early 18th century Englishman, you will be glad you picked this story up.
This book was very slow. I couldn’t get through it because I kept falling asleep. I get that it was a monumental book in its time, but much of the political satire was lost on me, the modern reader. However, I will say that the book provided an awesome discussion at my book club when we talked about some of its symbolic themes.