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Gulliver's Travels

by Jonathan Swift, Robert DeMaria Jr. (intro and notes)

3.49 of 5 stars 3.49 · rating details · 82,011 ratings · 1,941 reviews

Shipwrecked castaway Lemuel Gulliver’s encounters with the petty, diminutive Lilliputians, the crude giants of Brobdingnag, the abstracted scientists of Laputa, the philosophical Houyhnhnms, and the brutish Yahoos give him new, bitter insights into human behavior. Swift’s fantastic and subversive book remains supremely relevant in our own age of distortion, hypocrisy, and...more

Paperback, 306 pages

Published February 25th 2003 by Penguin Classics (first published 1726)

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Jan 31, 2012 Stephen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, literature, fantasy, audiobook, 1500-1799, classics-european, humor-and-satire

Let’s face it….

Jonathan Swift was a snarky, snarky bitch.

Gulliver’s Travels is like a giant pimp slap across the human ~~race~~ face and I am so glad I finally read this in a non-school, non-structured environment because I had a whole lot more fun with it this time around. Swift’s wit, insight and delivery are often, though not always, remarkable and he crams more well thought out jabs and toe-steppings in this slim 250 page novel than I would have thought possible in a work twice this long.

Thi...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

Okay, I didn't finish this sucker. It was poor. I was kind of shocked. I was thinking why does no one point out that this is a giant rip off of Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Honey I Blew Up the Kid? It's painfully obvious. I don't see why this Danial Defoe mope has not had his ass sued, maybe he avoided that by writing his ripoff in a long ass frankly boring olde-worlde style so that all the lawyers would fall asleep before they got their writ typed up. The other stuff that isn't Lillypoot and Bor...more

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Apr 14, 2010 Dee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classic, 1001-books-list

This book was written in 1726. It's pretty old. I anticipated bland writing (check) with a LOT of detailed and seemingly insignificant description (check) and no real story line (check). Helps to be prepared for it. I find it also helps to read an old book out of a vintage edition--it's just that much more fun. Then you can build up a handy sense of romanticism about old literature and float through the dull parts. My copy is from 1947 with a dust cover that's falling apart and that burnt paper...more This book was written in 1726. It's pretty old. I anticipated bland writing (check) with a LOT of detailed and seemingly insignificant description (check) and no real story line (check). Helps to be prepared for it. I find it also helps to read an old book out of a vintage edition--it's just that much more fun. Then you can build up a handy sense of romanticism about old literature and float through the dull parts. My copy is from 1947 with a dust cover that's falling apart and that burnt paper smell. Mmm. ;)

I picked this one up knowing a bit about the story. Most people associate it with giants, little tiny people and talking horses and generally assume that it's a children's book. But really it is far from it. I have read Swift's A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works wherein he proposes, in a voice of pure reasonableness, that the solution to the starvation and overcrowding of Ireland is for the poor to eat their own babies ('a most delicious, nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked or boiled'). So I am familiar with Jonathan Swift as a cutting satirist. And that's really what Gulliver's Travels is: layer upon layer of satire.

In one sense, it's a parody of travel writing. In the 1700s explorers were discovering the 'weird and the wonderful' and writing exaggerated literature about it. Gulliver insists that he is telling just the 'plain facts' while reporting his ridiculously fantastical accounts. And the bland writing style (oh yes it is bland) is all part of the parody.

And it is PACKED full of political commentary. The giants and the Houyhnhms and all the creatures/peoples he meets are really just sounding boards for Swift's critiques of human pride and self deception etc. The giant king, after hearing Gulliver rave about England, concludes that the English people are 'the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth'. Subtle? From voting to taxes to arithmetic and science, to gaming and alcohol and war and weaponry, to the legal system and the plight of the poor amidst the excessive expenditure and corruption of the upper classes. Phew. He covers it all.

So it's not really the easiest read. There's no story to get hooked in--it's like reading a series of letters or essays--and there is NO dialogue in the whole book. But it's clever, just because Jonathan Swift is clever. And the dry wit is amusing. It is also a forerunner in the genre of sci-fi/fantasy. So, I'd say 3.5 stars, maybe 4. If you like satire and are interested in English history and politics through literature, you'd like it. But better yet read A Modest Proposal--it's funnier and a lot shorter.
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Jan 18, 2008 Andrew rated it 2 of 5 stars

Glad to get the references now: although I could have just read Wikipedia: the Lilliputians are small, the Brobdignagians big, the flying city is whatever, the Houhynhyns are really great (although he's pretty unpersuasive on this -- why are they so great? because they don't have a word for lying? Gulliver grows to love horses so much that he can't speak to his own family when he gets home -- I didn't buy it; I just think he's a misanthrope), and I suppose the most significant use of reading the...more

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Dec 05, 2007 Mike Lindgren rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

It is difficult to describe what Swift's masterpiece means to me. Gulliver's Travels is a book that I will probably be grappling with for the rest of my life, and I mean that in a good way. It is a savage jeu d'esprit, a book about religion with no mention of God, a philosophical end-game written in unadorned prose, a deeply pessimistic statement on human nature, a lacerating attack on the primacy of Reason in Englightenment thought, a pacifist tract, and, yes, one of the funniest books ever wri...more

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Mar 10, 2009 Lori rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Oh man.
This book was sheer torture.

The writing was dry and bland and boring.
Swift had some really interesting ideas - An island of people no larger than your finger. Another island with people that are 60 feet tall. A floating island, an island of scientists, the island of Yahoos...but the execution was hard to appreciate.

I came very close to putting this novel down many many times.
I admit to not being a fan of early, victorian literature, but this was just painful.

20 likes · like · see review

Sep 12, 2007 Benjamin rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who don't live in the same country where they grew up

he has 4 travels, right, and it's the first one in all the movies, but the last one is what germans would call 'the hammer.' he goes to this place that's like planet of the apes, except it's horses not apes. and then instead of being all charlton heston about it, he internalizes their shit and wishes he was a horse. he ends back in england and he can't stand the sight of other humans, they're disgusting, not like those noble horses. GENIUS. GENIUS GENIUS. read this book already, jeez!

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May 11, 2011 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Lilliputians, Brobdingnabians, Laputans

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, ebook, classic, fantasy, literary, science-fiction, british-literature, 18th-century

A classic that deserves to be read by children and adults alike. I liked this book when I was a child, but of course a lot of Swift's humor went over my head at the time. If you've only ever seen the TV and movie versions with Gulliver stomping around in the land of the Lilliputians, you should read the full volume, in which Gulliver also travels to Brobdingnab, the flying island of Laputa, the academy of Lagado, and the land of the Yahoos and the Houyhnhnms.

In part one, Gulliver visits Lilliput...more A classic that deserves to be read by children and adults alike. I liked this book when I was a child, but of course a lot of Swift's humor went over my head at the time. If you've only ever seen the TV and movie versions with Gulliver stomping around in the land of the Lilliputians, you should read the full volume, in which Gulliver also travels to Brobdingnab, the flying island of Laputa, the academy of Lagado, and the land of the Yahoos and the Houyhnhnms.

In part one, Gulliver visits Lilliput, a land of six-inch tall people ruled by a byzantine court governed by silly and elaborate rituals. On his next voyage (unlike the movie version, he goes home each time), he visits Brobdingnab, where he is the Lilliputian and the Brobdingnabians treat him like a performing pet. Here, he finds a court vastly superior to that of Europe. Then he visits Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, and Glubbdubrib, lands with fantastic science (including a Flying Island) and magic (necromancers who can summon ghosts, tragic immortals who age but never die) which they use to absurd purposes. Finally, he visits Houyhnhnmland, ruled by intelligent horses, where humans (Yahoos) are vicious, degenerate animals. The metaphor becomes heavy-handed here, as Gulliver grows to despise himself, wishes to become a Houyhnhnm, and when he's forced to return to England, he can only see his fellow human beings as disgusting, smelly Yahoos.

Each place is funny and fantastic and would make fine bed-time reading for a child, but Swift is always wielding his knife. Sometimes the humor is as subtle as an axe, such as his frequent jibes about princes, ministers, and lawyers, and in the end, Gulliver becomes a bitter misanthrope, but there are also more clever jokes about religion, education, and human vice in general, and even sex. When the Emperor of Lilliput sentences Gulliver to have his eyes put out (fully expecting him to literally lie down and submit to this), adults will see what Swift is saying about the ingratitude of princes and ministers (while Swift's original readers probably saw real-life leaders being caricaturized), while kids will just be laughing at the fact that Gulliver put out a palace fire by pissing on it.

Lastly, since Swift was a satirist with a social consciousness, Gulliver's narrative ends with a commentary (still delivered with sharp, earnest satire) on England's penchant for colonization. This was, after all, the same author who wrote A Modest Proposal.

Gulliver's Travels is fun. Just as science fiction, it compares favorably with the pulp adventures that followed two centuries later. I found it to be quite an enjoyable read on a surface level, and would recommend it for any young reader's library, but it's also one of those novels that merits a periodic rereading; I suspect I'd have read it quite differently as a teenager (it probably really appeals to those teenagers who think they have it all figured out when it comes to how screwed up and hypocritical the world is), and I definitely read it differently today, able to appreciate the humor, the fantasy, and the satire. Definitely do not rely on any condensed versions or film adaptations to plug this hole in your cultural education -- read the original!(less)

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May 12, 2008 Tortla rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, giggles

This isn't really a novel so much as some guy's thinly-veiled rant about the society in which he lives. I think he has some sort of scatalogical obsession, too. It's kind of gross. It's amusing at times, though (not just the poop jokes, but also some of his silly little adventures and descriptions of absurd societies...if you overlook the mean-spirited parallels he's trying to draw...which is kind of the point so maybe you shouldn't ignore them but I did because I'd rather not read a few hundred...more This isn't really a novel so much as some guy's thinly-veiled rant about the society in which he lives. I think he has some sort of scatalogical obsession, too. It's kind of gross. It's amusing at times, though (not just the poop jokes, but also some of his silly little adventures and descriptions of absurd societies...if you overlook the mean-spirited parallels he's trying to draw...which is kind of the point so maybe you shouldn't ignore them but I did because I'd rather not read a few hundred pages of bitter diatribe if I can help it). I get the feeling it was more amusing to write than it is to read, especially since it references so many contemprary happenings which are kind of no longer relevant.

EDIT:
At this point (in the midst of the Houyhnhnms), I'm coming to appreciate this book more. Initially, I was irritated by the fact that I didn't empathize with the narrator (who I found to be annoying and pompous). But I've come to realize that Swift intentionally made Gulliver a little pompous, because his hasty assertions often lend credibility to the cultural critiques that Swift is making. I'm still irritated by some of the critiques that Swift makes (and I'm pretty sure his characterization of Yahoos is racist and generally insulting), but I think there is some genuine entertainment value in this book (even for a modern reader). It's possible that a majority of the amusement that this book can bring comes in recounting what has been read, because the reading itself is a little tedious (what with Swift's constant capitalization of nouns and outdated spellings, which I understand was common at the time but for a modern reader it really breaks up the flow of the reading and makes it harder to comprehend).

In retrospect, one can overlook the virtual absence of dialogue and constant references to Gulliver's pomposity (is that a word? it should be.) and enjoy the detailed rendering of these strange adventures. (Seriously, it's really detailed. Gulliver likes to let the reader know every little detail about how he lives in each new land, including intimate details about his clothing and eating and sleeping and learning the language and his distaste/admiration for the locals and...poop. Lots of poop.)(less)

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Jan 24, 2008 Rick rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This is my first time reading this classic satire and I enjoyed it very much. It is an old American edition (1863), divorced from its colleagues in The Works of Dean Swift, with a life of Swift, which I didn’t read, and a peculiar series of annotations at the bottom of many pages, some from the series editor, some from other sources (Hawkesworth, Sheridan). Some are persnickety grammatical corrections. Some are identifying the contemporary sources of Swift’s satire. Of the four voyages, the firs...more

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May 13, 2008 Allie rated it 4 of 5 stars

You really should know a little bit about the time period this book was written in, especially the governments during that time. It will help immensly with understanding some of the satire and make the book more entertaining to read. Even if you don't understand a word of the satire, however, you will still enjoy it as an entertaining story. A little warning: Swift definitely rambles occasionally, and sometimes his descriptions can get a little long, but the often hilarious satires make it worth...more

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Nov 23, 2008 Josh rated it 5 of 5 stars

At one point during his 20+ year stay on the tiny caribbean island he spends a lifetime domesticating, Robinson Crusoe looks up from his constant cycle of work and sees a tiny spot move across the sun: this, of course, is Laputa, the flying island that C's countryman and fellow sailor Lemuel Gulliver discovers on the third of his four great voyages. At least, that's how I imagine it happening. After all, don't all great travellers, imaginary or otherwise, meet at some point? Wouldn't they have h...more At one point during his 20+ year stay on the tiny caribbean island he spends a lifetime domesticating, Robinson Crusoe looks up from his constant cycle of work and sees a tiny spot move across the sun: this, of course, is Laputa, the flying island that C's countryman and fellow sailor Lemuel Gulliver discovers on the third of his four great voyages. At least, that's how I imagine it happening. After all, don't all great travellers, imaginary or otherwise, meet at some point? Wouldn't they have had a lot to say to one another?

Probably neither would have been able to stand the smell; their books stand in such answer to one another, however, that it's impossible for me not to see them as two halves to one long brilliant foundational novel. In the first part of this, a man's itch for adventure makes it impossible for him to stay where he is; he ends up spending the rest of his life turning an apparently uninhabitable island into a home so perfectly fitted to his needs that, by the end of his term, he finds that he actually misses it a little bit (see Elizabeth Bishop's "Crusoe in England," a poem as apocryphally eclipsing as Dante's description of what happened to Ulysses). Meanwhile on the other side of the mirror, the same young man suffers from the same debilitating itch for adventure; so he visits, in order, a too-small land, a too-big land, a too-smart land, and a too-good land. The last of these is peopled by horses who are so sane and rational that Gulliver spends his own silver age, back in England, disgusted at the sight, smell and presence of his own wife and children. They are so unhorselike. When sad, he retires to the barn, where he talks to his mares for hours at a time.

Crusoe makes the strange familiar, Gulliver makes the familiar strange. Swift is savage, simplifying - but just try to read his descriptions of the Brodbignanian women without wanting to gag along with our hero (they like to make him sit on their nipples: be warned, this is a FAR more boisterous book than the one you remember). Then try to work your way back to being human, or at least figuring out what that means. If you need help, go back to Defoe.

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Jan 14, 2012 James Steele rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What book dares to criticize the government, law, the concept of a nobility and why they’re running things, intellectuals, and human nature itself? Gulliver’s Travels, the most scathing satire ever written.

Gulliver sails to four different lands. The first land is Lilliput, where the people are only six inches tall, a parody of the English monarchy, petty war and the completely illogical way members of government are chosen. The second voyage is to Brobdingnag, a land of giants, also a parody of...more What book dares to criticize the government, law, the concept of a nobility and why they’re running things, intellectuals, and human nature itself? Gulliver’s Travels, the most scathing satire ever written.

Gulliver sails to four different lands. The first land is Lilliput, where the people are only six inches tall, a parody of the English monarchy, petty war and the completely illogical way members of government are chosen. The second voyage is to Brobdingnag, a land of giants, also a parody of England, but now the natives are the nearly perfect society and Gulliver instead represents everything that’s wrong with England. The third land takes a strange detour to the floating island of Laputa and criticizes the academics and intellectuals of the time. The fourth land is the land of the Houyhnhnms, a people of intelligent horses. This is my favorite because its criticism doesn’t focus on the timely subjects of England in the 1700’s so much as human nature itself and how the human social structure is organized.

Essentially in each land Gulliver tries to understand the natives and they try to understand him and his country. In two of the lands he explains his culture and country, only to be met with ridicule. In the other two, he never passes direct judgment, but he comes out looking like the more civilized human being.

We pride ourselves on things that are detestable to other people, such as war, government, wealth, etc. We’re proud of our society, but when you think about it, society makes no sense. Why does society organize itself so massive amounts of people end up earning their living by maintaining a select few noblemen’s extravagant way of life? We’re proud of our weapons and our wars and conquests, but doesn’t the fact that we need weapons and make war and are good at both betray our savage nature? Why do people write volumes of books on government, when government should be led by reason and virtue? Just the fact that books need to be written about it at all implies something is wrong with it. Why do all the achievements of mankind seem aimed at increasing our own natural wickedness? War and conquest to increase greed and envy. The pursuit of wealth and intelligence to increase sloth and gluttony.

This book asks those questions, points these things out, and gives the criticism from the point of view of other nations who do things the right way. They are appalled by our system of government and society because they don’t make sense at all. In two cases, when we see other people doing things just as illogical as we are, it looks ridiculous. The directness of the criticism is appealing.

The language takes some getting used to, and it’s not a very visual book, but oh man the text is dripping in sarcasm and asks the obvious questions: why is the nobility in charge when they know nothing about how to run things? Why are government offices filled by people with the most money and not by people who actually make good decisions that benefit everyone? Why isn’t the world a better place? We know what it should be, so why are things so different? Swift wanted everyone to ask these questions, too. We’re still asking them today.(less)

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Jan 26, 2008 Tosh rated it 5 of 5 stars

I bought this edition in a small town in Japan, and read it on a very rainy day in a coffee shop looking over the Sea of Japan. Since the story takes place on an island I thought 'hey I am on a lsland as well.' A very funny piece of satire from M. Swift. In a way it's a great travel book.

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Mar 09, 2009 Frosted rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 11, 2012 Angie Palau rated it 3 of 5 stars

OK, another book I might never have read, were it not for book club. It wasn't a favorite, but it goes on the list of reading "accomplishments"... things that I read because ultimately I think it makes me more well-rounded... or something like that. For the record, I didn't read the edition that I'm attaching my review to; it was just the first apparently unabridged version that popped up (I checked out a musty hard-cover from the library, and it's not an easy matter to find which edition it was...more OK, another book I might never have read, were it not for book club. It wasn't a favorite, but it goes on the list of reading "accomplishments"... things that I read because ultimately I think it makes me more well-rounded... or something like that. For the record, I didn't read the edition that I'm attaching my review to; it was just the first apparently unabridged version that popped up (I checked out a musty hard-cover from the library, and it's not an easy matter to find which edition it was; be aware, however, the edition matters! Read on to find out what I mean by that).

Gulliver's Travels is usually regarded as a child's book, which it emphatically isn't, and most people don't know there's anything other than his visit to Lilliput, but that journey represents only about one-third of the book. Lilliput is probably the high point, but the visit to the Houyhnhnms was actually my favorite. All of the lands were clever, but ultimately it seemed like the book lasted far too long.

The book reads mostly like a travel-log written by a very dull man; there's no dialog, and the descriptions are sometimes almost clinical. Gulliver is a bit of a doofus, entirely lacking in self-awareness. Read from a modern perspective, he's not at all likeable and neither is he amusing, and perhaps that was also the case when it was written in 1726. He's not really intended to be heroic, just an every-man illustrating/discovering what's wrong with humanity (then, and sadly, now).

The book is historically significant, and it's highly satirical. So a strong sense of history is helpful in understanding the undertones throughout the book - particularly if you're versed in the British politics of the day. I am not, but I found the SparkNotes writeups to be very helpful in understanding the implications of the story.

What I found funny and surprising is that the original is FULL of potty-humor. Regrettably, I didn't KNOW that, nor did I realize that some well-meaning editors would excise that part in editions NOT marketed for kids. If you intend to read it and are a fan of ORIGINALS, be aware there are MANY published versions out there that have been sanitized and may not even be labeled as such... the version I got from the adult section of the library was not marked as abridged or edited, but many key sections that had off-color descriptions had been removed; the Kindle free edition has not been edited and has all baudiness retained). I don't know how you can be certain that you don't end up with an edited book; I really tried to get the complete original and somehow failed. It seems funny to be so irritated that I accidentally read a sanitized version, but if I'm going to the effort to read historically significant stuff (particularly since i didn't really enjoy this one all that much), I sure do want to read what the author actually wrote... Call me purist. I like my potty-humor straight-up.

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Sep 11, 2011 Monica! rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: old-dead-often-white-guys-and-girls, where-was-my-parental-supervision, funny-strange-or-funny-ha-ha, the-sparkles-mean-its-magic, yippie-kay-ai-motherf-cker

I don't understand how anyone could not like this book. I mean, clearly you ignore the second half of it -- no one cares about the Yahoos and the well-spoken Horse People -- but the first half is the best thing ever to be taught in high school!

...

Okay, it's actually ridiculously boring, but I'm enough of a twelve-year-old-boy to still giggle over the sheer dirtiness of it. I mean, seriously? When he meets the Lilliputians he spends half his time with the king's soldiers walking between his legs...more

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Oct 21, 2008 Mario rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I read Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift. This illustrious author had written other novels such as The Battle of the Books and A Tale of a Tub. Gulliver, an English surgeon, travels on several voyages which take him to strange countries such as Lilliput, Blefuscu, Brobdingnab, Laputa, and Houyhnhnmland. He encounters dwarves in Lilliput and Blefuscu, giants in Brobdingnab, feckless scientists in Laputa, and intelligent horses in Houyhnhnmland.
I found the language of the novel to be interes...more

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Sep 19, 2008 Philip rated it 4 of 5 stars

It’s a good read and probably every bit the masterpiece its reputation claims. The problem with satire, however, is that it doesn’t stand alone. Parody, on the other hand, ought to make sense in itself, but obviously more sense if the object of the parody is understood and familiar. Satire only seems to make sense if you know the original.

The section in Lilliput describing the bloke with different sized heels on his shoes, for instance, is very funny, but only when the footnote has provided the...more It’s a good read and probably every bit the masterpiece its reputation claims. The problem with satire, however, is that it doesn’t stand alone. Parody, on the other hand, ought to make sense in itself, but obviously more sense if the object of the parody is understood and familiar. Satire only seems to make sense if you know the original.

The section in Lilliput describing the bloke with different sized heels on his shoes, for instance, is very funny, but only when the footnote has provided the context. He is described as having to negotiate a political line between the faction that likes high heels and the other that likes low ones. He makes awkward progress with both groups, since he can barely walk or stand up straight in a pair of shoes made up so he can have a foot in each camp. The reference is beautiful. It refers to High Church and Low Church in the Anglican tradition, and therefore to Whig and Tory, the opposing political parties of the time. To stay sweet with both, certain royals kept a foot in both camps, making their progress as ridiculous as the rough-shod Lilliputian.

In the books three sections, Gulliver is too big, then too small, then everyone is a horse except for the noxious Yahoos, of course. It was still a lot of fun and, probably, hard witting. The trouble, again, was knowing the targets. If today’s Yahoos are considered… perhaps Swift might have googled his yahoos if he had been writing today.

One last observation is about well-known classics in general. The most famous scene from Gulliver’s Travels, at least the one most depicted, is of Gulliver strapped to the ground by Lilliputian string and twine, while the little blighters run all over him. In Don Quixote, an equally quintessential scene is the tilting at windmills, mistaken by the knight for giants. It is interesting that both of these much quoted scenes appear very early in their respective books. I wonder if that might have something to do with certain people never getting very far through them!
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Aug 18, 2008 Jason Pettus rated it 4 of 5 stars

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally. Sorry, the last couple of sentences get cut off today!)

The CCLaP 100: In which I read a hundred so-called "classics" for the first time, then write reports on whether or not they deserve the label

Book #21: Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift (1726)

The story in a nutshell:
To really understand the sto...more

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Jul 29, 2008 Maureen rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: satire

Gulliver's Travels must have been a freeing book to write, lambasting as it does much of polite society. It has the feeling of having come out all of a piece.

At the time I read this, I felt like I was living caught between Lilliput and Brobdingnag. Although his journeys to those two places are the best known part of the book, I have always been drawn more to the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos. The peaceful nature of the Houyhnhnms appeals to me. The Yahoos, on the other hand, have nothing to recomme...more

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Aug 03, 2008 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: recentlyread

I read this about half a century ago in my freshman year of college. I think I need to reread most of the stuff I “read” back then—it seems completely new and fresh now, for some reason. All my lit-nerd friends already know this, of course, but for those who’ve never been forced to read it or much other literature that predates, say, 1975, let me state first: Gulliver’s Travels is not children’s lit. Yes, stripped down to its basic plot elements, put into simpler language and larger print, edite...more I read this about half a century ago in my freshman year of college. I think I need to reread most of the stuff I “read” back then—it seems completely new and fresh now, for some reason. All my lit-nerd friends already know this, of course, but for those who’ve never been forced to read it or much other literature that predates, say, 1975, let me state first: Gulliver’s Travels is not children’s lit. Yes, stripped down to its basic plot elements, put into simpler language and larger print, edited of all its literary and political allusions, in short turned into a different book, GT would make a fun kids’ story—and has, for much of its existence (I think the most recent such version being a TV miniseries with Ted Danson in the title role). It has that Alice In Wonderland appeal: Gulliver is repeatedly going down rabbit’s holes (in his case, calamities at sea) into alternative realities (one island makes you smaller, one that makes you tall, and there’s one that doesn’t do much at all…). People who haven’t actually read Swift may not realize that this book was powerful satire, acerbic and witty criticism of just about everything in Swift’s early-18th-century Britain. On the surface, it’s a parody of travel books, which were very popular, often extremely detailed and incredibly dull (especially from our modern reading sensibility), and quite arrogantly, unreflectively jingoistic. They described the heroic, if routine, adventures of sea captains and the funny customs of savages, or any foreigners whatsoever. GT, however, does so to propose the central point that “travel” is crucial and that real perspective on one’s own society and its absurdities can only be gained at a distance. One needs to somehow get outside, assume a foreign, skeptical or naïve, inquiring point of view. The ethnographic eye can be turned inward, trained on one’s own culture and customs, though it may take the fantasy of imagining oneself an alien, or of creating an extreme contrast that ironically shows the true nature of the people and places you have taken for granted. So, tiny people or giant people, horses as people with humans as farm animals, etc. Only such "reductio ad absurdam" as Swift's can jolt such gullible simpletons as Gulliver (and we are all Gullivers) from their complacency and blindness...(less)

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Jan 06, 2012 Marjorie De Los Reyes rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I borrowed this book from a friend because I just want to compare which is better, the book or the movie. And after reading this, I find it better and funnier in some ways.

I also noticed that in the movie, (as far as I can remember) it just gave us some teasers/clue that again, Gulliver is in another strange country/place, and that's it. But in the book, they continued the journey
of Gulliver in the land of the giants, the Brobdingnag; which for me is better because the authors didn't let its re...more

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Feb 15, 2008 Letitia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ah, Mr. Swift, your brilliance goes yet unchallenged. I was particularly moved at the description of the lives of the immortal children, who, though they live forever, descend into such senility and depression as to make one long for death. Lovely. I was struck in this novel, as I mentioned in reviewing More's Utopia, as well, at the fact that despite the originality and the variance of these cultures that they have invented, without exception they all have a clearly defined class system that is...more

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Mar 26, 2009 Noah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 7th-grade-ir-books-stacy

The main character in this book is mainly Gulliver. This book is mainly about Gulliver taking it upon himself to go on a great adventure to find an unknown land. In the story Gilliver finds an island which has many people, but these people aren't ordinary people. These people are bite sized!
I can connect this book to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because in Gillivers travels, Gilliver finds a land with miniature people. When in Charlie and the Chocolate factory there are umpa loompas which...more

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Jun 17, 2012 Trace rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, 101-classics-club-list

I'll add more of thoughts on this book later... but I found it quite amusing. It was a thought provoking satire that must have been quite the sensation in its day - as Swift sure is blatant with his roasting! I also got a kick out of how little society has changed in 300 years - Swift mentions how national debt is a sore point in 16th century England and 3 centuries later - it is still a hot topic (at least it is in North America!).

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Feb 19, 2011 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Swift was not so much a writer as a political commentator. Most remember the first part of this book without recalling the crudity rolled into it. Not one of my favorites...but important.

(Looked back at this one an found a typo even in it.)

I know it's not fashionable but I've never cared for Swift. While he has a twisted sense of humor and an ability to "prod" the existing power structure, he didn't always have a good replacement for what he sought to tear down. His "Modest Proposal" was also in...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, audio-books, classics

I listened to Gulliver's Travels on the Craftlit podcast. The reader was good, although I was pretty tired of hearing his voice by the end. I especially appreciated podcast host Heather Ordover's definitions of unfamiliar/archaic words, and her explanations of the satirical references to the politics of Swift's time.

I gave this three stars because I liked it a lot better than when I read excerpts in college, but I wasn't so wild about it that I could give it four or five stars. I am glad that I...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Iceman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Há clássicos que são tidos como literatura juvenil mas que estão muito longe de o ser, aliás, é-me difícil perceber quem são os iluminados que rotulam certas obras sem considerarem a época e o contexto da sua criação.
As Viagens de Gulliver é mais um destes casos. Considerada como literatura juvenil, é vista por muitos leitores como literatura menor, onde alguém narra as aventuras de um aventureiro que se vai deparando com mundos fantásticos e cheios de impossíveis num século muito longínquo.
Mui...more Há clássicos que são tidos como literatura juvenil mas que estão muito longe de o ser, aliás, é-me difícil perceber quem são os iluminados que rotulam certas obras sem considerarem a época e o contexto da sua criação.
As Viagens de Gulliver é mais um destes casos. Considerada como literatura juvenil, é vista por muitos leitores como literatura menor, onde alguém narra as aventuras de um aventureiro que se vai deparando com mundos fantásticos e cheios de impossíveis num século muito longínquo.
Muito longe da verdade está quem assim julga, pois estamos perante uma narrativa que analisa a sociedade inglesa do séc. XVII, sobretudo a vida social e política, de uma forma mordaz e altamente critica.
Publicado em 1726, o livro descreve as supostas verdadeiras e fantásticas viagens de Lemwel Gulliver, o narrador-protagonista, a várias ilhas que o ser humano desconhecia e que tem em Gulliver o seu primeiro visitante. Após um naufrágio tão comum na época, Gulliver alcança uma praia desconhecida. Quando acorda deparara-se com dezenas de criaturas minúsculas. Acaba de chegar a Lilliput onde conhece uma sociedade composta por pessoas que não ultrapassam os 15 cm, em constante conflito por futilidades, nessa ilha ele é um gigante. Depois, aporta em Brobdingnag, onde sucede precisamente o contrário. Ali o povo é composto por gigantes, sendo Gulliver um ser minúsculo. Posteriormente o terceiro cenário torna-se a Ilha flutuante de Laputa onde se depara com habitantes que se entretêm com conspirações enquanto a sua sociedade se dirige alegremente para o abismo e, no último cenário, ele conhece os Houyhnhnms, cavalos falantes que dirigem o seu país, enquanto, no lado oposto há os Yahoos, seres semelhantes aos humanos mas com inteligência de animais… irracionais.
Por aqui se pode ver que é estúpido considerar esta obra como literatura juvenil, pois basta atentar à actividade profissional de Swift (secretário de relações públicas), e à natureza do próprio autor (sabe-se que ele odiava crianças e considerava a estupidez humana como o causador de todos os males sociais),para rapidamente compreendemos que havia mais substância e intenção do que aquela que é tida, pois vejamos:
Nesta obra o protagonista visita quatro sociedades completamente distintas. Nelas, é possível perceber analogias comportamentais dos seres humanos. A sociedade corrupta, fútil, cheia de vícios e más atitudes, é aqui expressa de uma forma satírica mas, diria, directa e clara. Swift consegue criar expectativa no leitor nas viagens que vai imaginando, critica ferozmente a estrutura social e política e os vícios, as hipocrisias e os podres que lhe são inerentes, diria, até aos nossos dias (e no futuro também). Mas vai mais longe, a própria religião é censurada na sua falsa virtude, assim como, e isso é claro, ridiculiza vários personagens conhecidos na época que, actualmente, confesso ser muito difícil identificar. Mas a análise contínua imparável, a exploração dos mais ricos aos pobres, vivendo estes miseravelmente enquanto os ricos se banqueteiam e ostentam sem qualquer tipo de pejo, o abandono dos idosos, toda a irracionalidade da raça humana.
Não sendo uma obra de leitura muito fácil, dada a análise cuidada que é necessário ser efectuada, percebe-se que o objectivo de Swift era claramente o de criticar todas as franjas da sociedade, os vícios da corte e do regime que permitiam tanta desigualdade. O autor expressa o seu desânimo e decepção face à situação social e política e também face à natureza pérfida do ser humano, e isso não passou despercebido na altura, provocando incómodo e alguns debates em torno desta excelente obra.(less)

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Jan 26, 2009 Irfan rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: advisory

The first time I ever read of Gulliver, I was in fifth grade and this was on of the book I read in Pakistan. However, I only read his travel to the Lilliputian and had no idea that he kept on traveling to other weird villages. When I started reading this book, it seemed interesting at first but then the idea of a person going to so many villages and always being the outcast seemed boring. As I was reading the book, it really felt like it was more of a question on where he truly belongs in societ...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
gulliver's job	5	23	Apr 19, 2013 03:47pm
gulliver is stupid he keeps getting shipwrecked	9	57	Apr 12, 2013 02:01pm
Brain Pain: Discussion - Week Three - Gulliver's Travels - Part III	3	11	Mar 28, 2013 08:28am
Brain Pain: Discussion - Week Four - Gulliver's Travels - Part IV	1	7	Mar 25, 2013 01:04am
Brain Pain: Discussion - Week Two - Gulliver's Travels - Part II	2	13	Mar 11, 2013 08:14pm
Brain Pain: Discussion - Week One - Gulliver's Travels - Part I	4	18	Mar 06, 2013 02:06pm
Brain Pain: * Questions, Resources, and General Banter - Gulliver's Travels	8	16	Mar 04, 2013 01:10am

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About Jonathan Swift

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish cleric, Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for Whigs then for Tories), and poet, famous for works like Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella, The Drapier's Letters, The Battle...more

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A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works

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Quotes from Gulliver's Travels

“Every man desires to live long, but no man wishes to be old.” — 34 people liked it

“I cannot but conclude that the Bulk of your Natives, to be the most pernicious Race of little odious Vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the Surface of the Earth.” — 28 people liked it

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