the swiss family robinson by johann david wyss

maybe they were in a different dimension where people talk about providence all the time and suck majorly. speaking of where they were, where were they? i thought that maybe they were somewhere like new zealand when they started shooting penguins, but that didn't make sense and the closest i've come to figuring it out has been that they were probably in an archipelago off portugal, but i don't know. also, how lucky were they? at every regular meal, they were eating better than i am able to and knew every last thing about where they were stranded, except for exactly where they were.

i had the same problem with white fang and the call of the wild, actually. frustrating, but i suppose quite memorable. it was overly moralizing and offensive in so many bits, yet i found myself bringing it up in conversation with people. a whole fucking sperm whale had to die just because they saw it, killed it, and as an afterthought figured they could use the head innards presumably for candle-making. they don't use it for anything, but instead axe the head open and take away buckets of spermaceti.

near the end of the book, the family actually shoots a cachalot. i'm pretty sure the matriarch of the family was never actually named, but merely called 'the mother' or 'my wife' any time she was relevant, which was not very often. They kill or enslave everything in sight, whether they need it or not. I don't think it's meant for us old, knitpicky grumps. The Swiss Family Robinson is a family adventure story and as such should probably be read as a family when the kids are young. For castaways they sure were well supplied from that shipwreck! The seemingly infinite supply of dry gunpowder was a stroke of luck, that's for sure. Good old dad seemed to have things under control the entire time.Īlso, I felt more than a passing need to suspend disbelief at some of the family's goings on. But I never had the impression they were ever in any real trouble. Yes, certainly there is danger inherent in being stranded, especially upon an island that could house unknown beasts. I guess my real quibble is the lack of tension here. It read more like James Fenimore Cooper than say a Jane Austen. It is an old 'un so the writing felt a bit stiff, or perhaps it's the translation's fault. It's just lacking musical accompaniment and sound effects. The family togetherness and sense of adventure is all there. I never got around to reading it then, so I thought I'd give it a go! I have such fond memories of this from seeing the old movie version as a kid.

The swiss family robinson by johann david wyss