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bluedaisygirl's review against another edition
2.0
What a slog! If you really want to read this book, read the first 50 pages, turn to a random section in the middle and read 5 of those, then read the last 35 pages. That's all you need... Unless you enjoy reading about the same thing over and over and the killing or capturing of animals for no reason, constantly.
Amazingly, the island in the west indies has animals, flora and fauna from Africa, North and South America and Australia. Oy.
Amazingly, the island in the west indies has animals, flora and fauna from Africa, North and South America and Australia. Oy.
whatsthestorywishbone's review against another edition
4.0
I had watched this movie a LOT as a kid and was interested to see what the book was like. IMHO this is the original my side of the mountain/little house in the big woods. The family gets stranded on an island and have to use what they have to make a homestead and survive. It goes through how they built houses, canoes, what they used to make candles and clothes etc. It also has a bit of Gerald Durrell’s style in the sense that it sets up animal encounters just to teach you a little about the animals. This is NOT an action based book (unlike the movie there are NO pirates!). They don’t even find the girl until the last 30 min. But it 100% kept my little wanna be engineer’s attention (and mine). We did have a running joke where every time they would find something we would say “luckiest island/family ever!” Since the island is just made up of extremely useful stuff that one would never find on the same island. It does show its age too, of course. There is talk of “savages” and the mother never gets called by her name just “the mother.” She does all the cooking and sewing etc. of course. The religion is also super heavy handed and was very jarring at first, fortunately it lessened as the book progressed. It is what you get when you read the classics though, and I still think it was an interesting read despite its glaring faults.
larakai's review against another edition
2.75
This book is ridiculous. Here is a brief summary: The Swiss Family Robinson miraculously survives a shipwreck. No one else on the ship survives, but the entire ship and all of the livestock on the ship are completely fine. They land on an island with more food sources/plants/animals than exist anywhere in the universe. Their biggest challenge is eating without real cutlery during their first day on the island, but don't worry, they go back out to the ship and get utensils and plates so that they don't have to eat like "savages". The kids can all shoot with incredible accuracy, so animals they want to kill are immediately dead, and animals they want to join their collection are only slightly injured and in such a way that they can be nursed back to health and tamed. They never run out of gunpowder or nails. They miraculously find trees that they can use to make candles, waterproof boots, clothing, etc. Their shipwrecked ship happens to have another little ship on it! Because why not! All they have to do is assemble it, and they're good to go. No one ever gets seriously injured or sick. Life is even better than it was in Europe because there they had no money, and here they have 4 houses and a million pets and endless activities. How do they know all of these survival skills? Because the father and one nerdy son like to read, so they can now identify every plant and animal and build any device because they read a book about it once.
I mean, it was entertaining, but it was also incredibly long for not much happening. I could rant on. I will spare you.
I mean, it was entertaining, but it was also incredibly long for not much happening. I could rant on. I will spare you.
zhelana's review against another edition
This book is ridiculous. First of all, the poor mother and wife doesn't ever get a name. She is just "my wife" or "their mother" through the whole thing. All of the male characters get a name but apparently Johann David Wyss didn't think that women were people deserving of names. Also, this guy from the city is stranded on a deserted island and knows exactly what he can and cannot eat and how long you can keep coconut milk outside of a coconut before it goes bad and how to eat sugar cane and how to capture a lobster using just his hands and whatever other survival skills he needs, which no one else has so apparently his sons haven't been learning these skills wherever they're from, just the father did. And he lectures on so many things that it just feels like a Marty Stu who happens to know everything needed without any explanation for why he knows this stuff, and the man has no flaws in either his characters or his body. And basically, this was ridiculous.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny
thatonenpc's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
oreolover15's review against another edition
1.0
Spoilers in this review of mine ...
http://brookejeansbooks.blogspot.com/2011/09/swiss-family-robinson.html
http://brookejeansbooks.blogspot.com/2011/09/swiss-family-robinson.html