The Little Prince

I thought the little prince himself was a very interesting character: unworldly, immature, tenacious, proud, stubborn, somber, and capable of showing enormous kindness. But this remarkable character is wrapped up in a story so heavy-handed that much of the charm was lost. The ambiguity of the tale tends toward the downright vague, and the plot itself, especially the ending, relies so much on literary analysis and interpretation that it seems insubstantial on its own merits. I understand what the author was doing, and I know that the point of not giving answers is to show that there are no answers. Even so, while I appreciate the symbolic and allegorical implications, I feel that they were overdone. I found it too didactic. There was too show more much moral and not enough story, IMO.

I am reminded of a quote by J. R. R. Tolkien: “I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history – true or feigned– with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.” I think that applies to this story. It’s true that there are certain elements that can be interpreted in different ways, but much of this does reflect “the purposed domination of the author.” I can see why this story would appeal to some people, especially grownups, but it just wasn’t for me. show less

This was such a sweet and inspirational little story. I never read it as a child, but I've heard it mentioned alongside children's classics that I adore, so when I spotted it on a display at my local library I decided to pick it up. Not only is this a beautifully imaginative story, but it's also an insightful commentary into human nature.
Yes! Grown-ups are strange! They are too focused on numbers and not aware of what really matters.
My favorite aspect is the part with the Little Prince and the flower. First, let's be real, that flower is a needy dramatic bitch. But he loves her anyway and I found that so sweet. Even flawed people are worthy of love! And sometimes we find ourselves in love with the most flawed of people. This portion show more of the story actually reminded me a lot of the classic "Of Human Bondage."
The flower can not admit she is wrong, she fakes illness, she lies, she is self-absorbed and relies completely on the Little Prince. And while he resents her at first, he realizes he loves her despite her prickliness. There is such an unwavering truth about love her. The fox explains it so aptly, "It's the time you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important."
Yes! I believe in this with all my heart. Love isn't something that happens TO you. There is no 'finding the one' because love isn't something you can find. It's like the people the Little Prince sees on the trains, going here and there, having no idea what they are looking for. You CAN'T find love. You choose to create it, with someone else, by committing to them. Commitment is love. And that's all there is to it. Love is time and effort and perseverance, and mutual respect, which it does seem that lovely rose is lacking.
Still, I hope the Little Prince DID make it home to her after the snake bit him. I hope he made it home and she grew to be a little more tolerable and be less needy in their relationship.

A gorgeous love story with innovative metaphors.

The folly of the adults was apt. There's the man who lights a streetlamp and then puts it out only a minute later, over and over and over again, because he once had orders to do it. Even though the rotation of his planet has changed, he keeps doing it. He's blindly following orders that make him miserable and his lighting and putting out the streetlamp doesn't do any good to anybody. But he goes along. Senseless bureaucracy. He finds meaning in the task, even though, whether he does it or not wouldn't really do anything for anybody. It doesn't matter. Except that it matters to HIM. There's some Sartre brand existentialism here. Which I guess isn't surprising, considering a WW2 era French dude wrote this. show less

Longer than I anticipated considering the audience it was meant for, but wonderful nonetheless. The book juxtaposes the perspective of a child to that of an adult by taking the Little Prince to different planets to meet different people, but finding that they all seem quite backward in their adult logic. It is also a little bit of a coming of age story, in that as the Prince travels the universe, he gradually grows to realize what he's thrown away by leaving his flower on his planet. The Prince comes to understand loss and grief as he makes friends on earth and has to leave them. He also develops a maturity as he get closer to facing his own death, and teaches his pilot friend that death is not really a permanent thing in your heart. A show more lovely book that has many valuable lessons for the young, and young at heart. show less

The Little Prince is one of those deceptively slim little books that somehow contain more meaning than the sum of their words. Perhaps it is Saint-Exupéry's pictures. There isn't much plot. Our narrator is a pilot who has crashed in the desert and is quite alone. He is trying to fix his plane, working against time, when he meets a young boy — the little prince — who asks him to draw a sheep. This little boy does not answer questions, but from bits and pieces of their conversation, our narrator ventures to put together the little prince's story.

The tone is partly playful — the narrator opens with a discussion of his drawing a boa constrictor from the outside and a boa constrictor from the inside, and there are humorous quotes: show more "Grownups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." and, "On making his discovery, the astronomer had presented it to the International Astronomical Congress, in a great demonstration. But he was in Turkish costume, and so nobody would believe what he said."

But the feel of the book is also very sad. In the end, the little prince sacrifices himself to the fangs of a snake so that he can go back to his beloved asteroid, where his rose waits for him. For she has only four thorns to defend herself against the whole world, and needs him. He is worried he has been gone too long.

I love the fox's speech about being tamed, and how it would give the golden wheat fields meaning for him because they would remind him of his friend the little prince, who had golden hair. Making a friend of someone is called taming him, and I like that word for it.

In the end, the little prince's unperturbed indifference to questions is very like what this book does. It doesn't set out to explain itself to you; it simply is itself. You may ask all the questions you like, but you will have to piece the story together yourself, from broken fragments dropped here and there on your mind.

The language is very simple and very beautiful.

It is such a secret place, the land of tears.

Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends anymore.

Only the children are flattening their noses against the window-panes.

If you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night.

You can read this book in an hour and think about it for days afterwards. I recommend it. show less

Utterly charming.

Roughly divided into three section, The Little Prince is a possibly imaginary character our narrator (a desert-stuck, crashlanded pilot) meets whilst trying to repair his plane's engine. The Prince instently demands "Draw me a sheep". The pilot isn't too handy with a pencil and his first offerings are rejected. However he draws a box (with airholes) and tells the Prince his sheep is inside it. With the innocent and childlike wonder so beautifully invoked by simple and elegant prose, the Prince agrees, and peering at it, insists the sheep inside is asleep.

This initial exchange captures all you need to know about the Little Prince. It has wonderful childlike simplicity of thought and absolute trust. Simply delightful, show more even for grown-ups, to read with your inner child encouraging you.

The middle section drags a little as the Prince declaims his experiences with various grown-ups he met en route to the Earth. This does drag slightly and is perhaps a little overbearingly moralistic in tone, and too deliberately intending to instruct a child in proper behavior. The accountant being too obviously greedy, the king too arrogant, etc. However once the Prince has dismissed these grown-ups as 'certainly altogether extraordinary' he lands on Earth in the desert near the pilot, and returns to the charming interactions of the initial dialog.

Children will enjoy the tale just because it is fun, for adults there are deeper levels to be considered. There are almost certainly huge philosphical points one can make about the imaginary nature, or not, of the Prince and how the pilot's situation influenced his mental faculties, but these would all detract from the essential joy of the book - which is as a guide and reminder to how children see the world and the fun they can find in innocuous things.

It is worthwhile seeking out a version with all the original charming drawings in it. Not all of them are very good, the fox for example is especially bad but that however is not the author's fault " The grown-ups discouraged me in my painter's career when I was six years old, and I never learned to draw anything, except boas from the outside and boas from the inside."

Read this book. Learn to see the elephant, gaze at the stars, and wonder if a sheep has eaten the rose. It really does make life more awesome. show less

Second reading, after everything's changed

I changed my rating from "I don't get it" to "I needed this book."

My first reading was a year ago almost to the day. I thought then it was a kids book with simplified messages for children trying to make sense of the adult world in a highly imaginative way.

Now I realize this is a book of coping for any one, any age. It uses metaphors that are best understood when, for whatever reason, your mechanisms are outnumbered or have been humbled. That's when symbolic metaphors best percolate up from the deep, lending you a hand.

A mere year later, my world, my country is fiercely not OK. I now see that planet four (lamplighters) are being abused and exhausted with ever increasing speed, while planet show more five (star counters) are very busy trying to convince themselves and others they can claim and own the universe, without caring for even one ordinary rose out of the millions.

It's a way to cope, to ask questions like the little prince, to clearly distinguish the meaningless from the personally meaningful.

Here is a most helpful review to better grasp this classic:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6693977069 show less

This books touches anyone who reads it----and rereads it over the years as is my case. With every reading, my older, not so mature mind, finds different messages within it. I've given the Japanese-translated version of it to one my relatives in Japan. And I've given it to a dear person whom has cancer (I hope he can beat it !). It speaks frankly to the heart, while giving enough metaphorical, allegorical, and philosophical nuggets that all readers may treasure & remember them. And by reading it through our lifetimes---we approach, interpret, and hopefully accept it's messages in a different manner, each time. It's wonderous and timeless. And yes, a bit sad, too.