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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
Thank GOD that’s over. Listen, I appreciate what Swift was trying to do with this book but CHRIST, he couldn’t think of a more interesting way to take a steaming dump on colonisation? This book read like a uni student’s redbull-and-panic fuelled essay (believe me, I should know), and if I didn’t have any historical context I don’t think I would have finished it.
Swift is extremely precocious with his world-building, laying out detailed plans for the different places that Gulliver ends up. But then there’s no plot. At all. This book is about an Englishman—who forgoes all emotional introspection—encountering a great many walks of life, each living by the rules that the English were imposing on the countries they colonised at the time of publication (1726). It’s a political piece, essentially telling parliament that none of their solutions are ethical or humane, and demonstrating the kinds of societies these rules would foster into being. Swift proves, with each island, that: age doesn’t bring wisdom—only senility, harsher government practices rob humans of their humanity, and ignoring politics will lead you to a life of lethargy. These are his warnings to the public, and his ideas caused quite a stir at the time.
Jonathan Swift as a person was a riot. He was an Anglo-Irish satirist who expressed his controversial ideas subtly and with enough cleverness to stay out of trouble. I just wish I could have enjoyed this book more than I did. Maybe you might find the lacklustre narration more interesting and maybe my brain’s just depleted from forcing myself to finish this book, but I HOPE that if you give ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ a shot that you can find more enjoyment than I did between its pages.
Madi
Swift is extremely precocious with his world-building, laying out detailed plans for the different places that Gulliver ends up. But then there’s no plot. At all. This book is about an Englishman—who forgoes all emotional introspection—encountering a great many walks of life, each living by the rules that the English were imposing on the countries they colonised at the time of publication (1726). It’s a political piece, essentially telling parliament that none of their solutions are ethical or humane, and demonstrating the kinds of societies these rules would foster into being. Swift proves, with each island, that: age doesn’t bring wisdom—only senility, harsher government practices rob humans of their humanity, and ignoring politics will lead you to a life of lethargy. These are his warnings to the public, and his ideas caused quite a stir at the time.
Jonathan Swift as a person was a riot. He was an Anglo-Irish satirist who expressed his controversial ideas subtly and with enough cleverness to stay out of trouble. I just wish I could have enjoyed this book more than I did. Maybe you might find the lacklustre narration more interesting and maybe my brain’s just depleted from forcing myself to finish this book, but I HOPE that if you give ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ a shot that you can find more enjoyment than I did between its pages.
Madi
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Do NOT read this book unabridged!!! Always read an edited version!
Good book, but with nasty vulgarity to it.
Good book, but with nasty vulgarity to it.
Ah, Mr. Swift, your brilliance goes yet unchallenged. I was particularly moved at the description of the lives of the immortal children, who, though they live forever, descend into such senility and depression as to make one long for death. Lovely. I was struck in this novel, as I mentioned in reviewing More's Utopia, as well, at the fact that despite the originality and the variance of these cultures that they have invented, without exception they all have a clearly defined class system that is taken for granted. I have pondered this and come to a tentative conclusion that, being of a comfortable class themselves, neither More nor Swift had any reason to envision any other, and therefore a society where all humans interacted on equal footing was of no consequence to them, and therefore never broached by their imaginations.
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I can't say how glad I am for the footnotes and all those introductions. Without them I just would not get the satire level of this book. Unless you have a really thorough knowledge of European history you can't afford to skip them either. I also liked the basic level of this book. I kept forgetting that the travels never took place and that there are no such places as Laputa or Lilliput :)
I understand why this book is some people's favourite, but I don't think I've read a more boring book in my life.
I read this on Serial Reader, 47 issues. It was for my classic lit book club. The beginning wasn't so bad, but as it went on I had to force myself to continue reading. Way too detailed and some of the "adventures" are just absurd. This is not a classic I would recommend, but now I can say I read it!
reflective
medium-paced
I had this book on my shelves for quite a while but never really gave it a read until recently, it caught my eye, and I said "Why not read a classic, for old times sake" and so I did. I'm honestly surprised at how much I liked it and how much it made me reflect on the way I am day by day, it made me question so many things I never once considered, and I also imagined all of these wonderful and interesting places. Its such a good read honestly, I recommend it for everyone, it dwells on topics still relevant to this day and you´ll get to learn many archaic words for once :) p.s: I'm pretty sure the word yahoo derived from this, Jonathan swift's book.