Gulliver's Travels (Dover Thrift Editions)

I read this book in a conscious effort to read more of the classics. There were parts of this book that were very interesting but the enjoyment for me was spoilt by the flowery ramblings of Swift. The book became a tedious read and I was very close to giving up on several occasions. I accept that this book was written nearly 300 years ago and the style is naturally dated but generally I found the book slow and bland. Never mind there are lots more classics to read and I am sure that I will read lots of great reads and unfortunately the odd bad one.

Jonathan Swift is still one of our best satirists, and that is quite something, seeing as he died in 1845, and was Irish. Here then we have this book, which has always remained popular and is part of our literary history. A masterpiece, and a success from day one this satirises not only people, but also pokes fun at the travel tales of the period. Here then we have Lemuel Gulliver’s travels passed onto us by Mr Gulliver himself, who was of course known for his veracity, so then what is written here has to have actually happened, after all surely Lemuel would not provide us with falsehoods? Taking in his remarkable travels so we read of what he experiences amongst different races. Taking in those little people of Lilliput so we then see him amongst the giants of Brobdingnag, and then onto pastures new, eventually meeting the Houyhnhnms. Originally just going to be a satire on traveller’s tales this grew into something much more elaborate, with a sharp and witty look at things as they were and are still so today. An anti-Whig tale this tackles many issues, after all with the people of Lilliput and the trouble over which end an egg should be cut when eating we see that this stems from a religious work, and thus religion and its many factions are here poked fun at. We also see misogyny and misanthropy treated in the same manner. With different races thinking they are better than others, or that their system of government is best we see this being comically looked at, raising the question of what government system is best, as well as can anyone really claim their race is better than others. Indeed, such problems are still with us, you just need to look at the persecutions in the Islamic world to see one faction having more power than another, and with government just look what has happened with Brexit, in that no one really knows how to leave the EU. Also this takes in vast bureaucracy, something which we are all familiar with, with so much red-tape. In this country this nowadays seems to have been relegated by many to a children’s book, and of course no doubt it does entertain all ages but perhaps more adults should read this, after all what Swift mocks here are things that still cause us problems in the real world today, and have not really been dealt with at all, or rather poorly. In all this is very funny and mentally stimulating and will carry on being a classic, and one that for the real reader will offer much to contemplate.

I have always thought this a child's book, I was wrong....Reading this book, I got the feeling the author was cynical and masagenistic. I didn't enjoy this book and was put off enough that I read about the author himself. It turns out Mr Swift was sending a political message. The book reads so angrily and from my female point of view, felt the authors contempt for the female species. I do NOT recommend this book.

I'm glad there is a company keeping up the unabridged versions. For those looking for unabridged.. you probably know what that means. For others, it just means uncut or parts not removed. This is required in cases of book reports and projects... or those that want the full story. The print is pretty small. This is not a complaint from me as it doesn't bother me. Just a heads up if you have trouble with smaller font / print. Overall we are very happy with the book. It's a great price point... cover / pages are decent. I highly recommend to purchase for kids and adults to read through the classics at a great price and unabridged.