The Little Prince (original 1943; edition 2000)

The first time I read this story I didn't quite get it. Mostly it was the graphic novel format that threw me (too much emphasis on the illustrations to the point of the words being ignored), so the traditional format with only a few pictures was much more amenable.

As much as this book moonlights as a story for children, it has some deeply resonent themes for adult readers as well. The theme that stood out for me the most was the extended metaphor about being a lone being, even with the realization of being surrounded by other people/planets/stars. While we may encounter momentary closeness with others, we are in actuality stranded in a desert of separation from everything around us. That's just the nature of the individual; we can bond with people, but we can't be exactly the same as them or we would lose ourselves in a desert of sameness. The metapphor is kind of double barrelled and strange like that. There are plenty of other extremely interesting themes throughout the book, if you only look hard enough and realize that things shouldn't always be taken at face value. ( )

J'ai complètement oublié comment ça fini! C'était mieux que je me souvenais... et c'est à dire quelque chose, parce que j'ai pensé que ce un livre merveilleux :) C'était le premier livre que j'ai lu en LingQ mais pas le dernière! Ce vraiment le meilleure site pour moi pour leer les langues étrangères qui je connais pas si bien :) Je peux lire français sans ça, mais mon experience et vraiment mieux quand je comprends tout! ( )

In this brief tale, written perhaps for the child within each of us, Saint-Exupery packs in several simple-yet-profound observations about the progress of civilization, the human condition, and relationships. On his own planet, the little prince spends his days digging up baobab trees and protecting his little rose. After meeting so many men and seeing so many grown-ups – on other asteroids as well as on earth – he comes upon a whole row of rosebushes, realizing sadly that his little rose is neither unique nor precious. A fox appears, humbly requesting that the prince tame him, teaching him a few lessons about the relationship between close friends. No matter how many roses or foxes there are, no matter how many humans there are, once two spend time together, caring for one another, everything changes. The fox describes how sweet being tamed would be – waiting anxiously for a regular meeting, giddily anticipating the certain footsteps of a loved one. Of course there are millions of roses in the world – in the universe even – but the little prince has spent so much time cultivating this one little rose, selflessly protecting her from sheep and from the wind and from the sun. This one little rose, says the fox, means much more than any of the other roses merely by virtue of the time and love they’ve shared, and that ought always to be a matter of consequence. ( )

Ótimo; clássico. ( )

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