When I was a child, there was a beautifully illustrated copy of The Pilgrim's Progress in the children's section of my local library. I used to love going there to look at the illustrations and read the book, enamored by characters with names like Mercy and Prudence. Much, much later I found this edition in a bookstore and thought I ought to finally read the adult version. Well, for starters, I messed up because this is actually an abridged version. But in the end, that was probably for the best because this was hard enough for me to get through even with the abridgment. And for what it's worth, this abridgment was awful compared to that lovely children's book -- or at least as it seems that way based on what I can recall of it.

So, The Pilgrim's Progress tells the story of Christian, a man who has lived badly in a wicked city before suddenly deciding to abandon everything to instead follow God and make his way to the Celestial City. Along the way he encounters many a friend and many a foe. After he has been gone some time, his wife Christiana finally 'sees the light' as well and packs up herself and their children to follow in their father's footsteps.

Honestly, I don't even have words for how awful this book is. To call it an allegory is too generous; this is not your thinly veiled evangelical message adventure story ala The Chronicles of Narnia. It is pretty straightforward religious preaching with very little imagination. There's a good character? His name will be something like Evangelist or Hopeful. There's a bad character? His name will be something like Ignorance or Despair. I kept trying to remember the time period in which this was written and be gracious, but it still made it difficult to read this book with such ridiculously simplistic writing.

In theory, the book is supposed to be an inspiration to religious folks about their faith, especially in difficult times. The popularity of the book would suggest that this is so, but it didn't seem that way to my eyes. Christian does have some guidance in his pilgrimage but much of it is vague. Other pilgrims are punished for the awful "sin" of daring to sit down and rest after travelling for a long time. Christian is unnecessarily tested with rising waters after having already gone through so much in his pilgrimage. Christiana is bodily threatened because she didn't think to specifically ask for a protector on her way to the Celestial City. A pilgrim named Fearing is that way because "God will have it so ... [that] some must weep." None of that sounds reassuring to me.

Not having read the original, I can't be entirely sure but it seems like this particular abridgment is especially awful. The dialogue is poor, the transitions are choppy, and I swear some people/places/events are mentioned as if they were previously introduced when they were not. Despite being such a slim volume, it took me a very long time to get through this book as I rarely read more than a page or two at a time. While the original might actually be decent, this abridgment was not at all. ( )