I must have read this book at least ten times. From childhood books to various translations and interpretations as I grew older, I’ve always been particularly fond of it. It’s one of the best-selling books of the 20th century: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and one of my all-time favorite.

I think to truly understand this book, you must carefully interpret it. There are many hidden meanings within its pages that deserve our contemplation. This review is a summary of my thoughts and interpretations after referring to numerous translations and interpretations. Honestly, I’m not sure if this helps but I believe I finally understand it my way.

*** For those who somehow have no idea about what happens in The Little Prince or cannot figure it out at a reasonable spot in the book, here is a warning - THERE WILL BE, as much as I hate applying this term to this incredibly famous classic that does not rely on Aha! moments to keep the readers' attention, SPOILERS! ****


-----------


'You do understand that the Little Prince died?' my mother asked as carefully and gently as only adults who know that loss of innocence can be crushing but is brutally necessary can do.

'No, he didn't. He went back to his home planet and that stupid rose. It says so right here,' I replied with the comforting stubbornness of an eight-year-old.

Later that night, I quietly reread the book and the sad truth clicked, and so did the belated thought that for all the gentle berating of adults in it, this strange and beautiful book was written by one of them and definitely for them, and not for me, and by luring me in with the beautiful pictures it pushed me just a bit further on the inevitable road to adulthood.

Or so I see now.

Back then, I decided to read the author's biography instead as a distraction from the thoughts that were trying to be a bit more grown-up than my heart cared for - I was the odd kid of a literature teacher mother, after all - just to learn that just after writing this book, Antoine de Saint Exupery died when flying his plane in a war to liberate his country, killed by adults who played a game of war, too dangerous and cruel. And that finally made me cry.

And then I went back to the simple security of childhood.

n  n

Then I grew up, inevitably, like most of us do. I learned to do my fair share of 'matters of consequence'. I learned the painful understanding of why certain vain but naive roses can hold such sad power over our hearts. I learned the comfort and longing of nostalgia, the fear of the crushing burden of loneliness, the understanding of fragile beauty of the world that can be so easily taken away at any moment. I became a grown-up, and I have to learn to reconcile my inner child with my outer age.

n  "In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them."n

Now, reading this intensely lyrical and mesmerizing book written by an ailing middle-aged adult far away from the country he loved in the middle of war-torn years, I am confronted with emotions that ruthlessly hurt, hidden in the deceiving simplicity of a (supposedly) children's story just like an elephant was hidden inside a boa constrictor - or was it simply a hat all along? - in the opening paragraphs of this book. I sigh and tear up, and try to resist the urge to pick up the golden-haired child that never stopped until he got answers to his questions and carry him away into safety. But I can't. Because if I do so, there will never be 500 billion bells in the stars, and we will never wonder whether the rose is still alive - and it needs to be, because we are responsible for those we have tamed.

n  "But I was not reassured. I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed."n

This is not a book for children. It's for adults who remember being children and feel nostalgia for the simple comfort of childhood innocence but know they can never go back to it. Because they have met their Roses, and Foxes, and drank from a well with a rusty handle in the desert, and learned that a few thorns may not stand against the claws of a tiger. Unlike the Little Prince, they can no longer go back - but they can look at the night starry sky and laugh, and imagine that they hear an answering clear laughter.

n  "In certain more important details I shall make mistakes, also. But that is something that will not be my fault. My friend never explained anything to me. He thought, perhaps, that I was like himself. But I, alas, do not know how to see sheep through the walls of boxes. Perhaps I am a little like the grown-ups. I have had to grow old."



'What makes the desert beautiful,' said the little prince, 'is that somewhere it hides a well.'n

——————
Also posted on my blog.

No hay ninguna crítica que hacer a este libro. Recuerdo haberlo leído cuando estaba en el colegio, pero volver a leerlo ha sido increíble.
Siento que este es un libro para cualquier edad, porque dependiendo de la edad que tengas le darás una interpretación u otra.
Simplemente hermoso

Reseña Completa: http://bastvilard.blogspot.com/2015/0...

It was the first time in quite a while that I'd seen my uncle. He had crossed the country to visit us. When he reached our house, he hugged and kissed us all, then pulled out the English version of this book.
"This is for you," he said, "and on the next starry night, I'm going to read it to you."
I gave him a puzzled look.
He explained, "you have to read this on a night when you can see the stars. Don't worry, you'll understand."

The starry night came, and we settled in for a few hours of reading. As he finished the last page, we became silent. Then we stood up, went outside, and gazed up at the twinkling laughter of the little prince.


I've been meaning to read the French version for a long time, and I've finally dedicated myself to reading it when I can spare a few minutes. So far, it is just as good as its English counterpart.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, needs to read this book. It may break your heart a little bit.

Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Le Petit Prince

A "Daddy/Daughter nighttime reading hour" review

This was a toughy for me to review. I wasn't sure of the best perspective from which to provide comments so as to be of assistance to my fellow readers since this is a children's book (rather than YA which would be reviewed purely on its own merits). After a short session of "what should I do," I bravely decided to punt, figuring that there are already more than enough excellent reviews of this without my clogging up the cyber arteries with another one. Therefore, I decided simply to share my experience of reading/listening to the book with my daughter along with a couple of thoughts on the concepts discussed in the story and hope that you can take something useful from it.

So as part of our nightly routine, my youngest daughter, Sydney, and I have daddy/princess read time. The other night, she and I listened to the audio version of The Little Prince while we read along with a copy of the book. As usual, it was an AMAZING experience. I am convinced that I learn more about the stories we read from her and her reactions to the narrative than she does from me...and I love it.

It's only a two hour audio (86 pages) and yet the two of us spent close to 4 hours listening and talking about the various chapters in the story (plus a brief 15 minute break for Mom to give her a bath while Dad helped big sister Kenzie with her math homework). Sydney had all kinds of questions (some just hysterically funny in how much sense they made from a kid-centric view of the world). We would stop the story after each planet or character to talk about what she thought the story meant and what messages the story was trying to deliver.
For those of you with children, you know how wonderful this can be and I was on the ninth cloud watching my little girl ponder over the book.

From this perspective, the story was perfect and deserves an easy 5 stars. However, since it's not very helpful to rate a book based on that kind of non-transferable experience, I didn't want to rely solely on that for its final rating.

After explaining to Syd the goodreads star system, she would give this 4 stars as she really liked the British accent of the narrator and the crazy adventures the Prince experiences on the various planets. BTW, from Sydney's point of view, 4 stars is the absolute ceiling for any book dealing with ickies like boys and this would easily earn 5 stars had the story been called the "The Little Princess." Princes are still second class citizens at this stage in her life...and Dad is oh, oh, OH so perfectly fine with that).

For me, looking at this sans Sydney, I liked it but was not smitten with it enough to go higher than 3 stars. The story is well written and has something to say about the human condition and how people spend too much of their lives focusing on the wrong things and not enough time enjoying where they are. A nice message and one I was happy to expose Sydney to, but I was not always enamored with the path the author took to get there.

Overall, a good read on its own and a potentially a great experience if shared with your children...as most things in life are.

3.5 stars.

In a grimy underground locked public toilet The Little Prince wakes slowly, he’s been out cold for hours. He’s bleeding from a gash on his upper arm. He finds he is chained by leg irons to the wall. There is another person sharing his predicament. It’s a bear, also chained to the opposite wall. In the center of the floor is the corpse of what appears to be donkey in a pool of blood. Near the corpse are a gun, a tape recorder and a saw.

“Grownups are very strange,” said the Little Prince to himself, sadly.

I can't believe I've waited so long to read this!

The Little Prince is an adorable French translation about a man who crash lands his plane in the desert and meets a strange boy from another planet who takes him on a journey.

This is a fantastic philosophical piece that talks about life, love, money, and desire in the simplest sense of the words.

I thought the story itself was both cheeky and endearing. Also, considering this was written over 80 years ago, I think it was very ahead of its time.

A nice short read (:

Leí esta historia por primera vez a inicios de año. Llegué demasiado tarde a la fiesta, pero no me arrepentí de haber entrado.
Recuerdo que la primera leída no fue tan memorable, me pareció mono, con una historia bastante entretenida si se es un niño. La pase bien y, nuevamente, fue una lectura rápida. En cuestión de tres horas la había concluido.

Pero después se me presentó una nueva oportunidad de leerlo en el mes de Febrero. Esta vez fui un poco más delicada, me tome mi tiempo para procesar la historia y analizar cada parte de ella, interpretar las metáforas y tratar de ajustarlas a mi día a día incluso.

No puedo dejar que el libro me dejó fascinada. Y sin dudo alguna, volvería a leerlo mil veces para encontrar mil significados diferentes en él. Incluso un solo mes de diferencia, con un estado de mente diferente al anterior, me ayudó a ser más abierta, y sacar a flote el alma interpretativa que de vez en cuando suele ocultarse.

No puedo evitar darle cinco estrellas. De verdad que no.

(A) 85% | Extraordinary
Notes: Sight supplied through child's eyes, a real work of art, on being tamed, views reframed, and looking with your heart.

*Check out progress updates for detailed commentary:

Progress updates:

12/21/2024 - Preamble

(1) 2024 is nearly in the books and I feel like squeezing in one more audiobook before it's all over.
- I prefer to start new years with as clean a slate as possible, and this book's short enough that I'll almost certainly be able to count it among this year's total.
(2) I also like to finish off each year with a super-popular book, and this one nicely fits the bill.

12/28/2024 - Chapters 1–15

(1) Bower is an interesting choice of narrator. Australian accents don't exactly scream Continental Europe, as this book does expressly.
(2) This begins both odd and bland, but then starts to build up layers of meaning.
- You realize that the tales recounted aren't trivial but symbolic.
- Like any piece of art, it's about being able to see and appreciate the symbols.

12/31/2024 - Chapters 16–27

(1) This is all about why stars are magical and can make you cry.
- Initially, it almost seems like a book of individual parables, each with hints of philosophy and poetry, and could have come off as throwaway if the meaning didn't continue to build throughout.
(2) Listening to an audiobook that regularly refers to absent illustrations does take some getting used to.

The novella is the fourth most-translated book in the world and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France. Translated into more than 250 languages and dialects (as well as Braille), selling nearly two million copies annually with sales totaling over 140 million copies worldwide, it has become one of the best-selling books ever published (From Wikipedia).

I have always wanted to read this book as I have come across it in so my reading lists and was always curious as it was loved by so many.

I have now satisfied my curiosity and I am left feeling very bemused on completing the story. I am glad I didn't get the opportunity to read this book as a child as I think It could have put me off reading forever. As an adult I just can't relate to it. I get that the book is full of little messages but they just don't work for me and this novella was just felt a little too preachy but then again that may be the hardened adult in me.

But I did satisfy my curiosity.......................

یاد آن روزها که بلندترین ساختمان شهر، سیلوی گندم بود بخیر، آن روز ها، عصر که میشد میرفتم در حیاط خانه و جایی پشت بوته گل رز پنهان میشدم، آن وقت به انتظار گربه های ی بخت برگشته مینشتم. سر و کله یکی شان که پیدا میشد، با لنگه کفش کهنه به سوی ش نشانه میرفتم و سپس پرتابی بی نهایت جانانه. با تمام این اوصاف چابکی گربه از دقت نشانه گیری من افزون بود و تیر هرگز به هدف اصابت نمیکرد. جز یکبار که کفش کهنه به کمر گربه نگون بخت برخورد کرد و گربه فریادی از سر درد و غافلگیر ی برآورد. آن روز اولین باری بود که خود را یک فاتح یافتم.

بزرگتر که شدم آزار گربه ها ارزشش را برآیم از دست داد. ظهر ها که در خانه تنها بودم چسب مایع را برمیداشتم و میرفتم سر وقت لانه مورچه ها، آن وقت یک دایره بزرگ چسب مایع اطراف لانه مورچه ها میکشید م و به تماشا ی محاصره ارتش سیاهشان مینشتم، لحظات ی بعد چسب را با کبریت آتش میزدم و به نظاره ی خط آتشی که دایره چسب مایع را میپیمود مشغول میشدم، آن وقت حشره کش را روی آتش اسپری میکردم، در یک آن کره اثیری آتش شکل میگرفت و ارتش مورچه ها به ناگاه به ذرات دوده سیاه تبدیل میشد و به بالا عروج میکرد. تا لحظاتی غرق در لذت بی انتها یی میشدم و برق غرور را در چشمانم احساس میکردم.
آن روز ها پدر م شب ها برآیم حافظ و مولانا میخواند و گاهی داستان های کهن ایرانی، و من که به راستی انسانی آزاد بودم هر بار به بهانه ای محفل ادبی را ترک میکردم و از بند تعلق کتاب و فرهنگ آزاد بودم،
جاه طلبی، ویژگی بارز من در آن دوره بود، در هر مسابقه ای که در مدرسه برگزار میشد فارغ از محتوای آن شرکت میکردم و برای اول شدن با تمامی توان تلاش میکردم، یادم هست یک روز که نوبت اهدای جوایز بود، مدیر نام مرا هیجده بار خواند و آن روز آنقدر جایزه گرفتم که مجبور شدم برای انتقال شان به خانه از کمک دوستان استفاده کنم، پدر م از دیدن این صحنه با حالتی متاسف به چشمهایم نگاه کرد و غم محوی در چهره اش آشکار شد، ضمن آنکه این اتفاق مرا به فردی منفور در میان همکلاسی ها تبدیل کرد، هرچند فاتح بودن ارزش آن تنهایی سهمگین را داشت،
نمیدانم کودکی ام، آنتوان دو سنت اگزوپری را ناامید کرده یا نه، یا سبک طبیعی زندگی ام ریشخند بزرگی ست به آنچه آنتوان سعی در طبیعی خواندنش دارد یا نه، یا شاید دلیل این همه خستگی، آن همه صرف انرژی در کودکی باشد، یا آه مورچه ها که به تعبیر حافظ از گردون هم بگذرد، اما اولین بار که مادر م شازده کوچولو را برآیم خواند خود را با آن شخصیت پروتوگانیست لوس و آبکی غریبه یافتم.

How sweet!
How tender!
And how touching!
I admit it, I cried ... a bit.
As I read it, I smiled like a fool. I wish I could come back again, innocent!
I did not want to end this way, but I know this should have been done.
I loved this little book about its great lessons and the feelings it generates in the most childlike way!
I would read it and reread it and reread it..
And I'll read it again.