Note: I had originally read the book in French
Publisher’s
write-up (translated to the best of my ability):
‘We have all been the Crown Prince of a kingdom called
childhood. The prince is here the king of a herd of a single sheep. The pilot
was invited to draw, after crash landing into the Sahara Desert. There, The
Little Prince and the pilot fly from planet to plant and they meet in every
planet a single man who becomes a new citizen of the utopian and imaginary
kingdom’.
The first time I
heard the author’s name was in my old office, where there was a quote on the
wall – ‘If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect
wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for
the endless immensity of the sea.’
I had searched more about the quote and the person and learnt that the book
‘The Little Prince’ by the author was one of the most sold books all over the
world. Since I was always interested in learning French in the future, I had
decided that when I read it, it would be in French, even though it took nearly
five years.
So, the story of
‘The Little Prince’ is quite simple. A pilot has crash landed into the Sahara
Desert and has just eight days of essential supplies to survive. It was then
that the pilot met a little boy whom he preferred to address as ‘The Little
Prince’. When the pilot was young, he was extremely interested in drawing but
the adults around him found his ideas crazy and bizarre and was thus
discouraged. However, when he showed one of his drawings to The Little Prince,
to his surprise, the latter had guessed his idea correctly and they start to
discuss and develop a bond. The Little Prince talks about his planet and his
experiences in travelling various different planets. So, will the pilot be able
to survive beyond eight days? Can The Little Prince find a solution to the
problems of the pilot?
I understand
that even the book is meant for young readers, the author also gives his
opinions on a lot of pertinent subjects through the story and the character of
The Little Prince. The Little Prince had visited a lot of planets, each of them
with a single inhabitant, such as a king who only gives orders which are
possible to be followed, a man who drinks in order to forget his embarrassment
over his drinking problem, etc. as if I reveal any further, it would be like
adding spoilers. But I can say this that through this book, the author
challenges various ideas of the modern world, such as the way businesses are
carried out, the extreme level of self-importance bordering on narcissism, the
idea of specialisation, etc. I found these themes interesting regardless of
whether I agreed with them or not.
The writing
style of the author was also simple considering, my French is still not at a
near fluent level, I could still understand most of the words without using the
dictionary. I also appreciated the fact that I felt the story to be so real
even though it was filled with supernatural elements such as aliens, planets
with just a single inhabitant, interplanetary travel, etc.
However, I don’t
accept the idea that the way in which ‘adults’ think is a problem which is a
repetitive theme throughout the book and like any other person, I also
identified the initial designs of the Pilot to be what it looked like – simple objects
like a ‘hat’ and did find the ideas of the pilot a little bizarre and perhaps
the only difference would be that I wouldn’t personally discourage a child from
pursuing the creativity. I don’t personally believe that being unable to make
bizarre guesses to be a problem among adults.
To summarise, it
is a good read, with a lot of ideas compressed in a rather short story and I
found that interesting. I did not agree with a lot of ideas expressed by the
author but that is more a problem about me than the book by itself and I personally
believe that it is good to read content that I don’t agree with, at times, to
escape the vicious circle of confirmation bias.
Considering the
story, the ideas of the author, the character and the simplicity in writing, I
give the book a rating of seven on ten.
Rating – 7/10
Have
a nice day,
Andy
Andy
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