Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio, reviewed by jseger9000

Here's my review for Pinocchio. On my first read through, I'm pretty happy with it (though I'm sure I missed stuff).

I had a section dealing with Collodi's history with fairy tales and how he plays with those in his book. I also was going to mention that (I think) that he intended the book both to work as a guide for young children and as an expose on how it was (at that time) to be desperately poor. But I thought those points were tangential and made the review just too long.
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I first wanted to read Pinocchio after seeing the 1970’s Italian animated movie A Puppet Named Pinocchio. It was much more faithful to the book than the Disney movie we are all most familiar with, much darker than what Disney showed me (not that I'm dumping on Disney's classic movie).

I think it's safe to say that everyone is familiar with Pinocchio: Gepetto, an old wood-carver creates a puppet that is alive. Pinocchio (which, the book explains, stands for ‘pine cone’) is a willful, mischievous and naughty child, but he has a good heart and wants to become a real boy.

His adventures are varied and always interesting and surprisingly dark. Pinocchio is a true a children’s book. Disney exceeded at giving parents what they think children want: colorful characters, singing, magic and a puppet that was a clean-cut all-American boy. Carlo Collodi gives kids what they really want: very scary, life-threatening situations, shady characters and a puppet who starts off as a very bad and selfish boy. There are important lessons to be learned here and it is the journey that does the teaching. Though the ending is the same, in the book the reward feels more genuine and deserved rather than saccharine.

As an adult reader, I did have a number of issues with the book. It was originally written as a series of short stories, published in a children's newspaper. It might be better to think of them as 'episodes'. There's a certain formula that many of the chapters follow: This time, Pinocchio has learned his lesson. Then an opportunity comes up. Pinocchio follows it. A character (often an animal) will appear and warn Pinocchio. He ignores the advice and trouble ensues. Pinocchio doesn't seem to grow as a character. Also from time-to-time, the book will stop to summarize everything that has happened before. As a result the 'chapters' tend to feel repetitive after a while. It also makes the book feel overly preachy (though I suppose that was part of the point of the book).

However, I do remember reading and loving the book as a child. I did notice some of those issues even then, but they don't drag the book down. I think more kids should read the book today. Parents will feel hesitant because of the book's at times unrelentingly dark tone, but realistically, that helps draw the reader in. While following Pinocchio on his scary adventures, they will also learn to respect their parents, not to take what they have for granted and the value of both a good education and hard work. Not a bad thing for kids to read if you don't want them to turn in to donkeys.

I think that's very good. However, I'm not sure that "Disney exceeded at giving parents ..." is a well-chosen wording. Would it be clearer to say "Disney was very good at giving parents ..." or "Disney was too good at giving parents ..."?

I was thinking about making changes to that sentence anyway (though not the 'exceeded' part). How does this sound: While Disney was very good at giving parents what they think their children want...?

OK by me.

I read Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer this winter (it was a lot of fun!) and the author had an interesting forward about the original, and how he used the original version not, Disney's version to extend. Ever since then I've wanted to read it and this hasn't changed my mind, though it is good to have the warning about being published as episodes. It made reading Dickens easier to read knowing that as well.

#5 - If you decide to buy the book, check out different editions in the store or 'look inside' with Google Books or Amazon. Different translators can read differently and lots of the ones specifically marketed towards children have been simplified or abridged.

I've noticed you can see the difference in translations just by reading the first few lines. My particular edition (Signet Classics) had M.A. Murray and G. Tassinari listed as the translators and the first few lines read like so:

Once upon a time there was...
'A King!' my young readers will instantly exclaim.
No, children, that's where you are wrong. Once upon a time there was a piece of wood.

Also, mine was illustrated by Charles Folkard and they were quite good. But I preferred the version I read as a child which was illustrated by Attilio Mussino (though the translators were the same).

A few more subtle changes to my review. I realized I didn't like the 'after a while' at the end of paragraph 4 sentence 11, so I've cut it. There's a few other minor edits that I've already forgotten about.

Here's version 2.0 of my review:
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I first wanted to read Pinocchio after seeing the 1970’s Italian animated movie A Puppet Named Pinocchio. It was much more faithful to the book than the Disney movie we are all most familiar with, much darker than what Disney showed me (not that I'm dumping on Disney's classic movie).

I think it's safe to say that everyone is familiar with Pinocchio: Gepetto, an old wood-carver creates a puppet that is alive. Pinocchio (which, the book explains, stands for ‘pine cone’) is a willful, mischievous and naughty child, but he has a good heart and wants to become a real boy.

His adventures are varied and always interesting and surprisingly dark. Pinocchio is a true a children’s book. While Disney was very good at giving parents what they think their children want: colorful characters, singing, magic and a puppet that was a clean-cut all-American boy. Carlo Collodi gives kids what they really want: very scary, life-threatening situations, shady characters and a puppet who starts off as a very bad and selfish boy. There are important lessons to be learned here and it is the journey that does the teaching. Though the ending is the same, in the book the reward feels more genuine and deserved rather than saccharine.

As an adult reader, I did have a number of issues with the book. It was originally written as a series of short stories, published in a children's newspaper. It might be better to think of them as 'episodes'. There's a certain formula that many of the chapters follow: This time, Pinocchio has learned his lesson. Then an opportunity comes up. Pinocchio follows it. A character (often an animal) will appear and warn Pinocchio. He ignores the advice and trouble ensues. Pinocchio doesn't seem to grow as a character. Also from time-to-time, the book will stop to summarize everything that has happened before. As a result the 'chapters' tend to feel repetitive. It also makes the book feel overly preachy (though I suppose that was part of the point of the book).

However, I do remember reading and loving the book as a child. I did notice some of those issues even then, but they don't drag the book down. I think more kids should read the book today. Parents will feel hesitant because of the book's at times unrelentingly dark tone, but realistically, that helps draw the reader in. While following Pinocchio on his scary adventures, they will also learn to respect their parents, not to take what they have for granted and the value of both a good education and hard work. Not a bad thing for kids to read if you don't want them to turn in to donkeys.

"While Disney was very good at giving parents what they think their children want: colorful characters, singing, magic and a puppet that was a clean-cut all-American boy." isn't a sentence, it only becomes a sentence by combining it with the following one, "Carlo Collodi gives kids what they really want: very scary, life-threatening situations, shady characters and a puppet who starts off as a very bad and selfish boy."

I like the idea of contrasting Disney and the original in this way, but it's not easy, so far as I see, to punctuate this elegantly.

"While Disney was very good at giving parents what they think their children want, colorful characters, singing, magic and a puppet that was a clean-cut all-American boy, Carlo Collodi gives kids what they really want, very scary, life-threatening situations, shady characters and a puppet who starts off as a very bad and selfish boy." isn't wrong, but relies very heavily on commas. Maybe it's better to keep two sentences and emphasise the logical connection with "but", as in: "Disney was very good at giving parents what they think their children want, colorful characters, singing, magic and a puppet that was a clean-cut all-American boy. But Carlo Collodi gives kids what they really want, very scary, life-threatening situations, shady characters and a puppet who starts off as a very bad and selfish boy." There must be something bette that I haven't thought of.

#7 - Whoops! That was supposed to be a comma, not a period in the first place. For now, I will use your two sentence solution with the 'But'. I wonder if maybe a semicolon would work?

While Disney was very good at giving parents what they think their children want, colorful characters, singing, magic and a puppet that was a clean-cut, all-American boy; Carlo Collodi gives kids what they really want, very scary, life-threatening situations, shady characters and a puppet who starts off as a very bad and selfish boy.

Reading through my review, I realized I never addressed the actual writing (which I enjoyed). I've added a paragraph to the review (I bolded it here so that you don't have to reread the entire review to see it). I didn't go into specifics on my particular translation because all the different editions seem to be combined here and that is probably for the best.

How did I do? Does the new paragraph work with the flow of the review, or feel wedged in?
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I first wanted to read Pinocchio after seeing the 1970’s Italian animated movie A Puppet Named Pinocchio. It was much more faithful to the book than the Disney movie we are all most familiar with, much darker than what Disney showed me (not that I'm dumping on Disney's classic movie).

I think it's safe to say that everyone is familiar with Pinocchio: Gepetto, an old wood-carver creates a puppet that is alive. Pinocchio (which, the book explains, stands for ‘pine cone’) is a willful, mischievous and naughty child, but he has a good heart and wants to become a real boy.

His adventures are varied and always interesting and surprisingly dark. Pinocchio is a true a children’s book. Disney was very good at giving parents what they think their children want: colorful characters, singing, magic and a puppet that was a clean-cut, all-American boy. But Carlo Collodi gives kids what they really want: very scary, life-threatening situations, shady characters and a puppet who starts off as a very bad and selfish boy. There are important lessons to be learned here and it is the journey that does the teaching. Though the ending is the same, in the book the reward feels more genuine and deserved rather than saccharine.

I quite liked Collodi's narration. Things were relayed in a smooth and clear manner. At times the language was dated (mainly in the character's overly formal speech), but you will never feel lost, even if you know nothing about 1800's Italy. This is likely a benefit of the book originally being aimed at children. He takes an active role in the narration, occasionaly breaking in to the story to talk to the reader directly, as if he were sitting in a room with you, telling his tale.

As an adult reader, I did have a number of issues with the book. It was originally written as a series of short stories, published in a children's newspaper. It might be better to think of them as 'episodes'. There's a certain formula that many of the chapters follow: This time, Pinocchio has learned his lesson. Then an opportunity comes up. Pinocchio follows it. A character (often an animal) will appear and warn Pinocchio. He ignores the advice and trouble ensues. Pinocchio doesn't seem to grow as a character. Also from time-to-time, the book will stop to summarize everything that has happened before. As a result the 'chapters' tend to feel repetitive. It also makes the book feel overly preachy (though I suppose that was part of the point of the book).

However, I do remember reading and loving the book as a child. I did notice some of those issues even then, but they don't drag the book down. I think more kids should read the book today. Parents will feel hesitant because of the book's at times unrelentingly dark tone, but realistically, that helps draw the reader in. While following Pinocchio on his scary adventures, they will also learn to respect their parents, not to take what they have for granted and the value of both a good education and hard work. Not a bad thing for kids to read if you don't want them to turn in to donkeys.

I think it's OK

I think it's very good. Change 'in to' > 'into'. I didn't realize it was written as a series of short stories. Very interesting.
woodworking software
I enjoyed the read and learned a lot. Thanks.