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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
medium-paced
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Hard to binge read since it's definitely written like a 1700s novel (took me 2 months of picking it up and putting it back down) but I think about these stories a lot. There's so many themes about colonization, ethics, and human nature in general that are explored underneath the fantastical elements. This was long but super fun.
This was not at all what I had expected it to be. While the story was interesting, it read more like a thesis than a story/novel.
Il parle que de son gouvernent et de pipi caca fr
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I used to think that my adolescence may have been the reason behind my inability to enjoy this book....but even today I feel the same exact way about it. It's boring. It's soo boring that I had to actually force myself to read this. I can see why some people might enjoy it....but it just does not move me one bit. The writing is long and boring. Everything is constantly dragged on and on and on...it's tiring. I cannot find many...or any positives apart from the fact that atleast some of it makes sense and that the grammar isn't abysmal.
The movie versions are more succinct and overall a less cumbersome and time intensive way to tell the story, though the movies leave out all of the truly absurd parts, like when the Yahoos defecate all over him, or like when he meets the intestine expert who says weird stuff, or when he acquires a horse-language accent.
If Swift were writing today he'd be like David Sedaris or Dr. Seuss. Coy, scrupulous, delicate, precice and opinionated. It's a weird mix. He's making these very obvious thematic critiques of British governance, economic policy, immorality, and the general inneptitude and irrationality of the colonial-minded aristocrats. In that regard, the book is stupendous, though it's of its time and for that reason it's wordy. I think his points are valid and contain snark and creativity. Not honestly overly creative because he merely visits small people, big people, philosophers on a floating island, and talking horses who only use reason. So basically the weirdness is approached with sincerity and that's the source of the humor to some degree so people who've adapted this into a children's book don't really have to do much work. (Just cut out 80% of the words and the weird stuff.)
Jonathan Swift's book is kind of an anti-Lord of the Flies. Both get stranded at sea but in this book Gulliver makes friends every time, learns a lot, and basically seems just fine even though he's been shackled, imprisoned, shot by arrows large and small, and forced to eat micro meals and sleep on hundreds of tiny beds piled together. But basically Lord of the Flies becomes an imminent fight against chaos, starvation, and the murderous nature of humanity, and Gulliver is mostly an extended metaphor for England and how everything will be fine because even in the worst case scenario there will be beings to find and rescue you. Unless... you think Swift is trying to prove how DUMB people are to travel the world in boats all with the idea that survival is assured... which... at times I did wonder what was intentionally dumb and what was not. Because the book is smartly done and it's obvious there's some Roald Dahl-type tomfoolery going on in the narration.
If Swift were writing today he'd be like David Sedaris or Dr. Seuss. Coy, scrupulous, delicate, precice and opinionated. It's a weird mix. He's making these very obvious thematic critiques of British governance, economic policy, immorality, and the general inneptitude and irrationality of the colonial-minded aristocrats. In that regard, the book is stupendous, though it's of its time and for that reason it's wordy. I think his points are valid and contain snark and creativity. Not honestly overly creative because he merely visits small people, big people, philosophers on a floating island, and talking horses who only use reason. So basically the weirdness is approached with sincerity and that's the source of the humor to some degree so people who've adapted this into a children's book don't really have to do much work. (Just cut out 80% of the words and the weird stuff.)
Jonathan Swift's book is kind of an anti-Lord of the Flies. Both get stranded at sea but in this book Gulliver makes friends every time, learns a lot, and basically seems just fine even though he's been shackled, imprisoned, shot by arrows large and small, and forced to eat micro meals and sleep on hundreds of tiny beds piled together. But basically Lord of the Flies becomes an imminent fight against chaos, starvation, and the murderous nature of humanity, and Gulliver is mostly an extended metaphor for England and how everything will be fine because even in the worst case scenario there will be beings to find and rescue you. Unless... you think Swift is trying to prove how DUMB people are to travel the world in boats all with the idea that survival is assured... which... at times I did wonder what was intentionally dumb and what was not. Because the book is smartly done and it's obvious there's some Roald Dahl-type tomfoolery going on in the narration.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
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:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes