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colorfulleo92's review against another edition
4.0
I had high hopes for this one and I definitely wasn't disappointed! Such a funny and quite funny classic. Had this as my "before sleep" book and it was such a pleasant book to end the day with
lgpiper's review against another edition
4.0
This is another of those books my dad said he read as a kid. Penrod is an 11-year old boy, living in the midwest a hundred years ago. He has the kinds of adventures, one presumes, that boys had back then. I expect much of it will be foreign to today's video-game boys, but us geezers who remember Eisenhower, and whose fathers were more-or-less contemporaries of Penrod, can feel some vague sense of familiarity. Whatever, it was a fun read. I may well look into snagging the second Penrod book, Penrod and Sam.
Many years ago, also at my dad's urging, I read Tarkinton's Seventeen, and didn't particularly like it. I think I was too close to being ridiculous in my first loves myself and didn't much like reading about someone else's being similarly ridiculous. I think I might be far enough removed from being a silly 11-year old that the victories and vicissitudes Penrod experienced didn't affect me so much. As always, I'm a bit appalled as how racist we all were a century ago, but then again, looking at today's Tea Party Movement, I see that some of us haven't evolved much. Still, as I mentioned, it was a fun book.
Interesting that this book is basically a series of short stories, albeit tied together from one day to the next. My previous book, The Wisdom of Father Brown, was also short stories, and I didn't much care for that format. But I think, while they contained the same central character, they didn't flow smoothly from one to the next. I doubt anyone would say Tarkington is more of a literary giant than Chesterton, but between these two books, Tarkington wins hands down.
Many years ago, also at my dad's urging, I read Tarkinton's Seventeen, and didn't particularly like it. I think I was too close to being ridiculous in my first loves myself and didn't much like reading about someone else's being similarly ridiculous. I think I might be far enough removed from being a silly 11-year old that the victories and vicissitudes Penrod experienced didn't affect me so much. As always, I'm a bit appalled as how racist we all were a century ago, but then again, looking at today's Tea Party Movement, I see that some of us haven't evolved much. Still, as I mentioned, it was a fun book.
Interesting that this book is basically a series of short stories, albeit tied together from one day to the next. My previous book, The Wisdom of Father Brown, was also short stories, and I didn't much care for that format. But I think, while they contained the same central character, they didn't flow smoothly from one to the next. I doubt anyone would say Tarkington is more of a literary giant than Chesterton, but between these two books, Tarkington wins hands down.
goodcook07's review against another edition
3.0
Similar to Twain’s stories but with less character depth .
jeanniechambers's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book because my 12 year old granddaughter read it and enjoyed it. It was like reading a print version on black and white comedy show 'The Little Rascals' from my childhood. Outrageous, but I enjoyed it too.
No, it's not politically correct- but nothing was back then- and we didn't know the difference.
No, it's not politically correct- but nothing was back then- and we didn't know the difference.
metaphorosis's review against another edition
2.0
reviews.metaphorosis.com
A young boy gets into trouble after trouble with his friends while his faithful dog follows along.
I've read a few of Booth Tarkington's works before, and enjoyed them in a casual way. Penrod didn't work as well for me, primarily for two reasons - it very much feels like an only mildly successful clone of Tom Sawyer, and it's too full of casual racism to ignore.
Penrod came quite a bit later than Twain's work, and it doesn't have the same complexity and depth - it's a light-hearted look at a troublesome young boy out to have fun. But it draws on many of the same elements - clever, charismatic boy, unattainable young girl, childhood antics. It was fun, but too reminiscent of Sawyer to work on its own.
Penrod is also hampered by its social attitudes. While now over a century old, it's still not old enough to get away with the casual racism that peppers its pages. While not ill-intended, it's just too pervasive to ignore - for example, when Penrod is "doing something very unusual and rare, something almost never accomplished except by coloured people or by a boy in school on a spring day: he was doing really nothing at all". A little of that could be excused by the timeframe in which the novel was written. I found there was too much to accept.
These two factors spoiled my enjoyment of the novel. If you're a big fan of Tarkington and somehow haven't read this, you may enjoy it. Otherwise, I recommend a re-read of Tom Sawyer.
A young boy gets into trouble after trouble with his friends while his faithful dog follows along.
I've read a few of Booth Tarkington's works before, and enjoyed them in a casual way. Penrod didn't work as well for me, primarily for two reasons - it very much feels like an only mildly successful clone of Tom Sawyer, and it's too full of casual racism to ignore.
Penrod came quite a bit later than Twain's work, and it doesn't have the same complexity and depth - it's a light-hearted look at a troublesome young boy out to have fun. But it draws on many of the same elements - clever, charismatic boy, unattainable young girl, childhood antics. It was fun, but too reminiscent of Sawyer to work on its own.
Penrod is also hampered by its social attitudes. While now over a century old, it's still not old enough to get away with the casual racism that peppers its pages. While not ill-intended, it's just too pervasive to ignore - for example, when Penrod is "doing something very unusual and rare, something almost never accomplished except by coloured people or by a boy in school on a spring day: he was doing really nothing at all". A little of that could be excused by the timeframe in which the novel was written. I found there was too much to accept.
These two factors spoiled my enjoyment of the novel. If you're a big fan of Tarkington and somehow haven't read this, you may enjoy it. Otherwise, I recommend a re-read of Tom Sawyer.
mamanrees's review against another edition
3.0
I pre-read this to evaluate it as a read-aloud for my kids. I fell in love with Penrod and his friends, and except for one small section that includes racial stereotyping, I think it will make a great read-aloud. I'll probably just omit some passages when I read it to my boys or skip that chapter altogether.
emily_britton's review against another edition
5.0
This struck me as I was reading as the male version of the L. M. Montgomery books I loved so much in my youth, and in similar fashion, I found myself laughing at the antics of the young protagonist. I found him that much more relatable and amusing because I have a small son, whose mind I can see working in similar ways to that of Penrod. This really was an enjoyable read.
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