Reviews - Gulliver's Travels

1.87k reviews for:

Gulliver's Travels

Jonathan Swift

3.29 AVERAGE

cameron_sloman's review against another edition

3.5

funny lighthearted mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

emilyb84's review against another edition

3.0

medium-paced

Loveable characters: No

Content Warnings

sarahvw's review against another edition

4.0

Clever and almost all still true for today, the bit about the chief minister is so totally right just now as I write...third place a bore but the other three are very interesting. He almost was three due to attitude to women and later all humans there by treating his family like dirt ,mind you can't help agreeing with him ....

jmoran4's review against another edition

2.0

I'm sure it's a fine satire, but I read it much too young, expecting more of a swashbuckling narrative that I'd come to expect in classics like Treasure Island. I suspect it would sit better with me today.

migomago's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous funny lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

unchartedpenguin's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

makayla_muir's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

These people are under continual disquietudes, never enjoying a minute's peace of mind; and there disturbances proceed from causes which very little affect the rest of mortals.

Hysterical from start to finish. It's a condemnation of humanity's vices, obsessions, self-destructiveness, and ridiculousness but also a celebration of everything that makes it so peculiar and wonderful. The whimsy of the plot and characters made me giggle and shake my head; the teenage-angst of the narrator and his increasing insufferability as he preaches for a better society and declares all people to be nothing but disgusting beasts felt modern, true, (and relatable). Have we always hated and condemned ourselves for the way we have done and continue to do things?

On a negative note, women are portrayed horrendously in every moment they appear in this novel. Whether their bodies are described in words vile and dehumanising, or they are absent, unimportant side-notes, it's a depiction that diminishes what is an otherwise perfect book. I had the thought that, if it had not been for this, Gulliver's Travels would be the perfect book to show aliens if they came to earth.