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emiged 's review for:
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift
Well, there were certainly moments of humor, mostly from the ridiculous situations Gulliver found himself in. On the satire side, Swift's passages skewering lawyers and "ministers of State" during his time with the Houyhmhnms were particularly apt, as were his observations regarding scientists and philosophers on Balnibarbi. But on the whole as I read I kept thinking I had to be missing something...or perhaps I was just reading this book three centuries too late. There were numerous allusions that I just didn't catch due to my lack of familiarity with British society and customs of the early 1700s.
I was also surprised by how crude it was. Feces and urine seemed to be two of his very favorite topics - kind of like my three- and seven-year-old sons, actually. And when he wasn't talking about excrement, he was describing body parts and sexual relations in vulgar terms.
And then there was the pessimism. I'll all for some healthy cynicism, but Swift's take on human nature was just downright depressing.
Interesting reading as a "classic" simply so I can understand references to it in other works.
For more book reviews, visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
I was also surprised by how crude it was. Feces and urine seemed to be two of his very favorite topics - kind of like my three- and seven-year-old sons, actually. And when he wasn't talking about excrement, he was describing body parts and sexual relations in vulgar terms.
And then there was the pessimism. I'll all for some healthy cynicism, but Swift's take on human nature was just downright depressing.
Interesting reading as a "classic" simply so I can understand references to it in other works.
For more book reviews, visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.