A review by chelsloukelly
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

5.0

5/5: ‘The Little Prince’ is an Ageless-based, Classic Fantasy by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and translated by Richard Howard; The Little Prince from Asteroid B-612, travels across the galaxy, learning of the vagaries of adulthood through series of extraordinary meetings. Saint-Exupéry’s intensely lyrical and mesmerising book creates nostalgia for the simple comforts of childhood innocence; and the inevitable return. The open-ended conclusion begs the audience to conjure own interpretations; otherwise, the pseudo-intellectual detritus of philosophy, where imagination is lost, highlights the main narrative of the novella – that adulthood lacks creativity. The spare and simple prose makes for an easy read, with underlying metaphors that only an adult-audience and interpret. The Little Prince’s personal odyssey culminates into a voyage of adventure through hardships of growing-up; the unflattering portraits of hopeless, narrow-minded individuals, in contrast, to the wisdom and willingness of children. The main moral of the fable is expressed in the fox explaining: ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly: what essential is invisible to the eye’. Additionally, the illustrations are simplistic but deeply-effective is visualising the extended metaphor. Saint-Exupéry emphasises the importance of looking beneath the surface to find true beauty in even the commonest of things; adults are too preoccupied with wealth, power, technology, and missing the simplistic elements of friendship, love, and beauty. Adult-readers possess the abilities to read-between-the-lines, to decipher the true intentions of Saint-Exupéry’s work, and I treasure this novella, as a reminder to remain open-minded – Unique!