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Dec 17, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

they kill or enslave everything in sight, whether they need it or not. they pray before they do anything. i'm pretty sure the matriarch of the family was never actually named, but merely called "the mother" or "my wife" any time she was relevant, which was not very often. near the end of the book, the family actually shoots a cachalot. they don't use it for anything, but instead axe the head open and take away buckets of spermaceti. a whole fucking sperm whale had to die just More...

8 comments like (16 people liked it)

Dec 09, 2009

Marty rated it:

Wow. What a relief to have that out of the way ... I have been painstakingly pushing my way through this book for a while now. Having said that, I always thought that The Swiss Family Robinson was just the type of story that I would like. Going into it, my expectations were high and I think my enthusiasm barreled me past the first few chapters without so much as a literary bump. But just like trying to race up Everest, you lose steam after the first hundred yard sprint and the rest is pure drudg More...

4 comments like (8 people liked it)

Sep 24, 2008

Jill rated it:

I've read this a couple times to the boys. As a mom of boys, I loved it. It is fun to read of the ingenious solutions for survival, and I love their constant reliance on and gratitude to God.

And Eric says:

I love the many passages of the book that go something like this...After my wife and children had expressed their ideas, I explained the folly of their reasoning and they rejoiced in my knowledge and wisdom.

Dream on ER.

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Sep 27, 2011

Patty rated it:

I love the good classics. For example we have all books in the Anne of Green Gables series. They are obviously written in a different time and in a style that was common then: lots of description and day-to-day happenings without a strong plot. But these books give a beautiful and interesting flavour of times past.

This book, however... I completely fail to understand why this ever became a classic.

It starts well, but soon the book gets bogged in chapter after chapter of p More...

11 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 08, 2008

Jack rated it:

It was awsome like a family of Robinson Crusoes shipwrecked and living on an unknown Island But wait there is more they might not be they only human inhabidance on the island. are they friendly are hostile read and find out!

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 04, 2007

Christie rated it:

I absolutely loved this book, and have read it again and again. I also read it to my family and we all had goosebumps during the passage about the large snake eating the donkey.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 26, 2008

carrie rated it:

*****SPOILER ALERT *****
I've read it now, and it does not measure up to the Disney movie. It was so ridiculous! The boys shoot every animal they see, which range from inhabitants of the African savannah, Australia, and the American northwest -- yes, hippos, rhinos, lions, tigers, kangaroos, bears, elephants, the duck-billed platypus, you name it, they're on the island. The father knows absolutely everything about every plant and animal, and sums up every situation correctly before it ha More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 05, 2008

Richard rated it:

(I never read this as a child) A novel set sometime in the mid 1800s. An immigrant family is shipwrecked somewhere in an isolated area, possibly an island off the coast of Africa or in southeast asia. The book is never specific about it. All the crew deserts the ship and are presumably lost. The family of mother, Father and 4 boys ages 15 to 7 are able to get to shore and set up in building a place to live. They are able through ingenuity, to get all usable things off the ship including an More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 01, 2008

Sarah rated it:

I have great memories of Dad reading this to us as kids, it was so hoplessly archaic and ridiculous that his rendition quickly became sarcastic. We all ended up in fits of laughter each time they found ANOTHER useful thing washed up on the beach/growing on the magic island, and/or shot ANOTHER hapless animal/person/moving object that crossed their path.

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Nov 08, 2010

Moe rated it:

This book was very good, although they could have shortened their killing range. It was like this, "Hey look! There's a kangaroo! BANG." I am glad that they hardly used any resources from the island when they made their home. They used wooden planks from the shipwreck. But they hunted too much, even when they didn't need it. I liked how thoughtful they were and how they learned to survive in the winter by carving a second house out of a big mountain rock. In the summer, they re More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 09, 2011

Two Bibliomaniacs rated it:

Ugh, what happened to Roberta, coconut bombs, family animal races, and pirate alarms? Seriously, how did they not get incorporated into the novel? Someone get Johann David Wyss on the phone!

Shipwrecked off the cost of a tropical island, the Robinsons must forge an unlikely partnership with nature and circumstance to ensure their survival. They must utilize every bit of their intellect to conquer, build, gather, plant, and tame. Not only does the family survive, but they find a way More...

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Feb 06, 2012

Melissa rated it:

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

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 15, 2011

Yorkshiresoul rated it:

I was hoping that this would be more in the Crusoe vein, but it isn't, it's tripe.

The Robinson family get shipwrecked on a bountiful coast containing a menagerie of wildlife from various continents, all of whom appear overly eager to hurl themselves on the family's hunting spears whenever they get peckish. Indeed, the life at the shipwreck point is so rich and varied that they hardly seem to eat the same meal twice.

Within a year the family have established a system of irr More...

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Nov 03, 2011

Jessica rated it:

I had heard so much from friends and family about this book: "It's so good" and "You have to read it". I finally read it, and just let me say that I am glad I did!

This book pulled me in, and even though this particular version of the intriguing classic is for younger people, I still found myself feeling as though I was on the island, too. The conflict of the story is obvious: a shipwrecked family works together to pull together a temporary home on a stranded, wil More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 07, 2011

Tim rated it:

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

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Jul 05, 2011

Julie rated it:

I was excited to read the book, but found even near the beginning that I was just trudging through it. I had to look up lots of jargon, which isn't bad in and of itself, but there were so many specifics about so many random topics that it kind of overwhelmed me at times. It is interesting to see how the family uses the resources available to them to survive and live comfortably, however the unrealistic extent of those resources is ridiculous, perhaps making it more of a tale for children. Thi More...

0 comments like

Jul 02, 2011

Pam rated it:

I grew up watching the Disney version of this classic tale. As a teacher, I have used several abridged versions that are of a modified vocabulary so that my students may access the text. Though movies take liberties with stories, I did not realize there were different versions of the text. As I read the book, I could not help but picture my grandfather in the role of Father. He was in inventor, an engineer, a carpenter, a mechanic, and fascinated by how things worked. Mr. Robinson is a learned More...

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Apr 26, 2011

Mariah rated it:

I was fully prepared to love this book. I loved the movie and thought it would be so fun to read. Unfortunately although the story is good, the writing is not. In big part it is a sermon on how children should behave (no joking, no fighting, no playing). Then there is the fact that no matter what they may want of need, the Dad does it. Not only does he recognize every plant, but also every animal they come into contact with. On top of that, they were able to salvage a million things from t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 01, 2010

Logan rated it:

Logan was riveted by this adventure of a Swiss family of 6 (mom, dad, 4 boys) shipwrecked in an uninhabited place who then spend the rest of the book creating a home and a civilization of sorts. We listened to this as an audio book and Logan loved all the details of how they grew, gathered and hunted food, built a dry-weather home in a tree and a wet-weather home in a cave filled with salt stalactites, and how they tamed a variety of animals for their use and amusement. He was impressed at the f More...

0 comments like

Apr 15, 2010

Fatma rated it:

I remember reading this book as a kid, it was really useful and helpful especially for English language learners or beginners. I'm currently reading it again for enjoyment, the story is really interesting and it takes me away in a depth imagination. I recommend it to everyone who would have a chance to read it, in other words I guess such stories would fits different tastes and ages...

This review is for Longmans, Green & Ltd 1962 edition.
In this version the book is divided in More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 14, 2009

kingshearte rated it:

The enchanting story of a shipwrecked family - a minister, his wife, and four sons, Fritz, Ernest, Francis, and Jack - who are cast up on a desert island, build a wonderful house in a tree, and survive so cleverly and happily apart from the world that they never want to be rescued.

And from the inside back cover:
The author of The Swiss Family Robinson was actually a number of people. Originally, Swiss Army chaplain Johann David Wyss (1743-1818) wrote an adventure story modeled More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2009

Jessica rated it:

The Swiss Family Robinson is about a close family who find themselves stranded on an island after a shipwreck. The story is told from the point of view of the father. Those in the family include the father, mother, and the four boys, Fritz, Ernest, Jack, and Franz. Each boy is good at something but because of their strengths it sometimes gets them into trouble and they are not as considerate of each other because of their brother's weakness. It is a story of how the family survives and how they More...

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Nov 07, 2009

Brandy rated it:

Wasted potential are the words that most aptly describe this book. A family is shipwrecked and must survive on an island with only each other for support. It should have been a great adventure story. Instead the reader is treated to page after page of monotony. Even the scenes that should have sparked interest were dull and completely lifeless. The characters are obnoxiously perfect. The father knows everything there is to know about everything and accomplishes herculean tasks (like bridge build More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 30, 2009

Rachelterry rated it:

Now I understand why there are so many abridged editions of this book. It is repetitive and tedious and is held by such a tenuous thread of a plot that you barely care what's going to happen next.

I have come up with some other titles for this book, just in case marketers would like to advertise from a different angle:

How To:

101 Ways to Skin a Mammal

How to Use Deserted Islands to Make Men of Your Boys

Memoir:

Apes I Have Destro More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 30, 2009

Andrew rated it:

Honestly, I was expecting pirates and huge adventure, the riding of ostriches and whatnot, like elaborate treehouses. That's not exactly what this book is. Or, maybe that's putting it lightly. This book is nothing like that.

The book was written in german in 1812 and translated in 1816. It was originally written as a guide for raising a family, and was probably a very useful tool at that time. The father, and hero of the story, has a wife and four sons between about 7 and 15 yea More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 11, 2009

Annette rated it:

My husband and I picked up a very nice hardback edition of this book at a used bookstore a few weeks back, and I took the opportunity to read this children's classic that I somehow missed as a child. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Published first in 1898, it must have been one of the first - or at least the first successful - examples of the "survivalist" genera. (OK, so "Robinson Crusoe" is 180 years older. Whatever. I liked this one considerably better!) Although it may seem More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 26, 2011

Karen rated it:

A classic paternalistic/pro European-Colonialism novel, where the father is always correct, THE Mother is always cheerfully industrious, and the children readily compliant and malleable. And once the ship sinks as inevitably as the Titanic nothing goes seriously wrong. Sure, they are shipwrecked and deprived of non-familial human contact for a decade, but there was apparently no other obstacle this tight-knit family unit could not overcome. From establishing multiple dwellings, to planting tempe More...

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Sep 11, 2010

Miles rated it:

This is one of a great many classic books that I'd always meant to read but never found the time. Now that I've spent the time, I can't say that I feel that it was wasted. The Swiss Family Robinson was an engaging read, if not an incredible work of literature. Wyss put together a strong, capable family unit for the work and then did very little to challenge those characters. Their island home was simply too well equipped to ring entirely true, supporting cotton, flax, figs, coconuts, candle-berr More...

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Aug 13, 2009

Solargalaxy_6 rated it:

Most boring violent book ever. Every page was a struggle, with author endlessly describing killing or maiming one animal or another... Characters were well described, but the Father character (narrator) talked so rudely to his children that it was difficult to relate to. And, while it's said the author wrote the book for his children, it seems harsh that the father in the story only conveys his children's weaknesses, identifying them as "the lazy one", and other such negative labels. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 06, 2011

Xander rated it:

This week I had to read The Swiss Family Robinson for school.

The Swiss Family Robinson is a really great book. It tells the classic tale of being shipwrecked on an island, but with its own twists. The family has many adventures, challenges and fun.

The family is from Switzerland, and they were sailing to join a colony in the new world when a huge storm hit and their ship was destroyed--the only survivors that they know of were themselves and some animals. There are four ki More...

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