The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

3/5 stars.
ebook, 106 pages.
Read on June 5, 2018.

When I realized I was two books behind my reading goal I was frantically looking for a short book on my to-read list to help me catch up. This book has been on my list for a while as it is considered a classic piece of children’s literature, but if I am honest I knew absolutely nothing about this book before reading it other than that. This book is one of the world’s most translated books, over 250 languages in fact. Even in Hong Kong, you can find the book just about anywhere and there is tons of cute apparel and swag that you can buy your kid to accompany it. This is a kid’s book that is kind of meant for adults, hence why it is so appealing to both the young and old.  Many people adore this book and revere it, perhaps I got a bad translation (I did find a free copy online) or maybe this book is best read in French, but this book did not meet the hype for me.

The plot is about a little boy who lives on a planet by himself. The planet is not very big and he has to tend to it otherwise this certain type of tree will grow and destroy his ability to live on the tiny planet. He also has a sheep and a rose. The boy tends to the rose dutifully and does whatever it asks of him in order to make it comfortable. However, the boy decides to leave his planet one day after growing tired of the monotony of it all. On his journey, he encounters other people on their own planets, each of them with a different drive an purpose, like the businessman who is all about money and greed.  The boy eventually finds himself on Earth in which he meets the narrator who is trapt in a desert after a plane crash. The boy also befriends a fox who reminds him of his responsibility and care to his planet, sheep and especially the rose.

The plot of this story is like an intense acid-trip that creates a somewhat-fun and philosophical children’s story.  I mean, that isn’t what happened to the author but his own personal story and history is actually quite interesting and based on his inspiration for the book you can kind of understand how the Little Prince came to be. Not only was Antoine an accomplished writer but he ended up becoming an infamous pilot as well. Antoine failed in architecture school before joining the military where he became a pilot. Prior to WWI, Antoine flew everything from mail routes to testing piloting, he even attempted to beat a world record for the fastest trip between Paris and Saigon, in which his plane crashed in the Sahara desert. You can see this experience directly in The Little Prince, with the narrator having also become stranded in a desert from a plane crash. So perhaps The Little Prince is a heat/water-deprived hallucination inspired story? Antoine disappeared during one flight and was presumed dead after he was not found in summer of 1944.

The story is intriguing but my translation definitely seemed clunky, I imagine much of the lessons that the Little Prince learned are much more poignant in French.  I found the story did little to capture my imagination and I am curious as to what a kid today would think of the story.  As an adult, I caught on to the messages of the story but found myself wanting to know more about Antoine, the author, than the story of the Little Prince and his silly rose. I would, however, re-read this book. I think there is more to be taken from it and I think perhaps a better translation might lend itself better to the story.

Parents, what do your kids think of this story? Do you read to them out of nostalgia and do they appreciate it? Perhaps this book is better left for adults even though it was written for kids.  Overall, I am still glad that I read it and can now at least understand and appreciate the references made to this novel in other works.

Author: thepluviophilewriter

I have an obsession with running, pole dancing, cats, video games, books and angry music. I also like to write. Read my book reviews. View all posts by thepluviophilewriter