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A review by wolfiegrrrl
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
When I first read excerpts of this book, I was in high school and my French teacher had the class read from the first chapter in French. I remember being charmed by the notion of the boa constrictor and the elephant, so "Le Petit Prince" held a very special place in my heart all these years. I finally managed to get my hands on an English translation by Katherine Woods some years ago from a thrifted book shop and recently uncovered it from my to-read pile when I remembered it again, so I opened it up expecting something as whimsical and fun as I had remembered it to be.
A few things surprised me, but none as greatly as this discovery: This book depicts not only how children view adulthood but how disillusioned adults view adulthood. And there is something about that that makes this "child's first philosophy 101" book very relevant through different stages in life and the perspective shifts we experience during each of them. In some ways, we are all the Little Prince and the pilot trying to find our ways to where we belong in the universe, so there is a lot of good lines to mull over while we're on this journey through it.
A slightly less relevant but still surprising thing that kept niggling at my brain while I read was that the translation I picked up, though not a bad translation at all, felt strangely detached from the emotions it was trying to describe. Maybe it was the matter-of-fact way that the story was delivered that gave me trouble connecting to it the way I had when I was a child, or perhaps I am just too disillusioned and tired to be charmed by such a tale right now. Mostly, I feel like I probably connected to it more when I was translating it myself and able to interpret the story more personally, but of course none of that is the fault of the translator, who I think did a wonderful job bringing this story to life for an English-reading audience.
Regardless, I am glad to have read it and would recommend it to anyone who might be searching for a book to comfort, inspire, and make you think. Whether the version you read manages to charm you or not, there is certainly honest philosophy to chew on.
A few things surprised me, but none as greatly as this discovery: This book depicts not only how children view adulthood but how disillusioned adults view adulthood. And there is something about that that makes this "child's first philosophy 101" book very relevant through different stages in life and the perspective shifts we experience during each of them. In some ways, we are all the Little Prince and the pilot trying to find our ways to where we belong in the universe, so there is a lot of good lines to mull over while we're on this journey through it.
A slightly less relevant but still surprising thing that kept niggling at my brain while I read was that the translation I picked up, though not a bad translation at all, felt strangely detached from the emotions it was trying to describe. Maybe it was the matter-of-fact way that the story was delivered that gave me trouble connecting to it the way I had when I was a child, or perhaps I am just too disillusioned and tired to be charmed by such a tale right now. Mostly, I feel like I probably connected to it more when I was translating it myself and able to interpret the story more personally, but of course none of that is the fault of the translator, who I think did a wonderful job bringing this story to life for an English-reading audience.
Regardless, I am glad to have read it and would recommend it to anyone who might be searching for a book to comfort, inspire, and make you think. Whether the version you read manages to charm you or not, there is certainly honest philosophy to chew on.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death and Racism