n  n    Book Reviewn  n
3 out of 5 stars to The Little Prince, a French children's story written in 1943 by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Have you ever read a book that was translated into your native language and thought, "I've lost some beauty and meaning in this version?" That's how I feel about this book. I read it in English as I cannot read, speak or write French. I know very little about the French, but with a few folks I've known, I can align this book with their personalities. Though it's deemed a children's book, in America, we're often a little less willing to give something like this to kids, so it's probably better for a new teenager to read. It has some pictures as well as story, so it's somewhere in the middle of YA versus children's book to me.

As for the story, consider it a moral lesson, an allegory, in how to live life. Comparing adults to children. Imagination to work. Freedom to structure. Why you choose to do something versus being told to do it. The characters are a little too direct or cold for me to connect with, but I do enjoy the conversation the book starts with young adults. It can teach you how to think on your own but also recognize there is a time and place for questioning why versus just doing the task.

I would like to learn French to see if I read something different from the book. But then again, without years of culture and history, it may not have the same impact as it does for someone who grew up in the environment. Anyone from France have a theory? I'd be curious...

n  n    About Men  n
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by.

We've just been in Italy for a couple of days, and luckily there was a bookshop a few doors down from the place we were staying. I bought some Italian books to try and make some progress on this language where I am still a total beginner. One of them was Il piccolo principe.

Well... having already read it in six languages (English, Swedish, French, German, Spanish and Russian), I could mostly follow the text. I don't think I know it by heart and am just pretending to read it, since I discovered earlier this year that I couldn't read it in Slovenian. There must be a technical name for what I'm doing, but I don't know what it is! Anyway, I'm sure I improved my vocabulary and grammar; every page, in fact almost every paragraph, I felt I'd learned something new. But I was disappointed to find that I couldn't enjoy it at all as poetry. I don't know if that was because the translation was uninspired, or, more likely, simply because my Italian is still so bad that I'm basically reading it as though it's weird French.

Damn. That which is essential is invisible to the eye, and only with the heart can one see rightly, but my heart is still unable to see the true form of Il piccolo principe. What do I need to do to awaken my inner bambino? I will reread it and see if the book can tame me.
____________________

Rereading worked very well! The book is doing a fine job of taming me: just as the wise old fox explains, words which once looked like ten thousand other words have become my friends. I look at them, and now they make me happy because they remind me of my favorite passages in Il piccolo principe. I have divided further explanation under two headings:

Grown-ups I can understand over 80% of the words and over 90% of the sentences. I am starting to get some feeling for the grammar. The clitic system, in particular, is interestingly different from the French one I am used to. Clitics are by default postverbal affixes, and I'm fascinated by the exotic phenomenon of clitic-climbing. I still haven't got the verb inflections properly sorted out, but there's no doubt that they're starting to look familiar.

Children I can finally hear the Little Prince's voice in Italian! He is not quite as annoying, funny and adorable as he is in French, but maybe a third reading will fix that.

“Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”



Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince is a fantastic and captivating story! And a fun read! The curiosity of the visitor from B-612 (dubbed the Little Prince by the narrator/aviator stranded in the Sahara) resonated with me. The narrator begins by talking about his childhood passion to be an artist, a passion adults dissuaded him from pursuing. The Little Prince showing up and identifying the narrator's childhood drawings (the first is a boa constrictor which had eaten an elephant misinterpreted as a hat) opens up an acceptance of creativity and makes room for the Little Prince's improbable tales of his adventures around the galaxy. There is a good reason that this is the most translated non-religious text in the world. The Little Prince evokes our childhood creativity and sense of adventure (even in the face of war and lives which don't seem to have much purpose). Recommended!

(A) 85% | Extraordinary
Notes: Opens rough, like stalks of wheat, bit raw to eat, but flavors build as meaning's milled and by the end it tastes a treat.

One of the most poetic prose books I have ever read, The Petit Prince is a gorgeous and heart-warming story. Who could not resist this space-traveling Candide in his search to secure a home for his favourite flower and not guffaw at all the crazy bureaucrats and nutcases he encounters before meeting the narrator. The lessons for children are legion in this book: what does love mean, what is friendship, why do parents warn children about things, why are people mean sometimes, and this list goes on into infinity. It is impossible not to be moved deeply by this masterpiece and also become enamoured with its naïve but beautiful artwork by Saint-Exupéry himself (even if he can't draw a sheep to the Prince's satisfaction). To be read, and re-read, and re-read and cherished ad infinitum. Draw me a sheep...

"إن هؤلاء الكبار لا يدركون شيئاً من تلقاء نفوسهم، فلا بد للصغار أن يشرحوا لهم و يطيلوا الشرح و يكرروا، و لا يخفي ما في هذا من التعب و العناء"..

كانت هذه معاناة طفل صغير ملّ أن الكبار لا يروا ما يراه، أقول لك أن هذا الرسم ثعبان بوا يهضم فيلاً، فلِم تصر علي أنه قُبعة؟!

"الكبار جادون، جادون للغاية"
رحل الصغير مُغضباً بطائرته الخاصة إلي صحراء أفريقية، في مكان يبعد ألف ميل عن كل أرض مسكونة..فلك أن تتخيل ذعره و هو يري طفلاً آخر أشقر الشعر يطلب منه أن يرسم له خروفاً..طفلاً يُدعي الأمير الصغير..

صحبه الطفل القادم من كوكب صغير بعيد يستكشف إلي الكواكي و النجوم جميعها علّه يجد مكاناً أفضل..
كان أحد الكواكب هو كوكب به ملك لم أر من هو أعدل منه، ملك عرف أنه من العدل ألا تطلب شيئاً من أحد لا يقدر عليه..إلا و هو خطؤك وحدك..
فهو يطلب منك ما تقدر علي عمله، في الوقت المناسب تماماً و بهذا فهو الملك المُطاع بلا مخالفة دون أن يكرهه أحد..



من هذا الكوكب إلي كواكب أخري في كل منهم عبرة و عظة..حتي ملّ الأمير الصغير و رحل إلي عالمه تاركاً مكان سقوطه في السماء نجمة، تاركاً كاتبنا هنا وحده..برجاء مرره إلي جميع من قرأ بالبحث عن الأمير الصغير :)





أوافقك القول يا صديقي، الكبار جادون للغاية، الكبار مقززون..لا تَكبُر يا صغيري، ابق صغيراً بريئاً بسيطاً تماماً كالأمير الصغير..

هي قصة للأطفال، و انا أحب قصص الأطفال كثيراً..
إن لم تكن من هواة هذا النوع لن تروقك، فلا تلُمني :)

I read this book so many times, I can't count them on my fingers. I find it almost impossible to review it because of how connected it is with childhood memories and how it really accompanied me for my whole life - acting as a comfort, a lesson, or just a friend in different moments throughout the years. I am always deeply moved, every time I open it, and I think that it wouldn't be a waste of time to just learn it all by heart as a long poem. This short book is a perfect example of an author who doesn't waste words: every single letter he wrote it's absolutely necessary and adds to the richness of this masterpiece. I cannot read this timeless fairytale without at least one tear.



I know this has been quoted so many times it's almost annoying, but I still want to share my favourite passage:

The little prince went away, to look again at the roses.

"You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world."

And the roses were very much embarrassed.

"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you−− the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing.
Because she is my rose.

And he went back to meet the fox.

"Goodbye," he said.

"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

من و مرد مست

این که شازده کوچولو کتاب پرفروشی است شکی نیست و بخشی از شهرت آن به دلیل کثرت خوانده شدن و ارجاعات به آن است به همین خاطر من تا همین دیروز سراغش نرفته بودم چون ضرورتی برای خواندنش در خودم حس نکرده بودم، ولی هدیه یک دوست سبب شد بخواهم کتاب را تهیه کنم و بخوانم!
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