Well done for finishing it though Lori; I know how painful it was for you.

I'm sorry it was painful, I didn't like it when I read bits of it but I don't know that I found it painful. Unfortunately, I've got to read it to graduate from college next year. Blech.

Ohhh Poor Liz. It's got great storylines, just told in such a dreadful way.

Thanks for understanding, Lori :)

It's a marvellously-written book of marvels that can be read & reread many times, but I know that if you come to it untaught or poorly taught that sometimes it's going to drag. That's a shame.
It's not Victorian though: Swift was active in the time of Queen Anne and after: well over a century before Victoria.

Colin, I would have to disagree with you on the fact that "being poorly taught or untaught" influences someones tastes. Whether I have a degree in literature or not, I like what I like, and only time can influence that...

My experience with this book was the same as yours, Lori...

Thanks Ben. I think if someone else were to tackle those stories, and rewrite them, they could be amazing.

I'm sorry if I across as if I was 'dissing' you: I didn't mean it that way at all, honest. Of course you're entitled to dislike it, and I can see why someone would. It's just I'm a bit of a Swift fan. Life's too short to waste it on stuff you hate. Have fun :)

hey colin, from what i read about your post, i thought you were referring to being "untaught in what was happening during that time period as far as history is concerned." i can definitely see lori's point that having a degree in literature doesn't really matter, but i feel that with this book, it would be more important to have a degree in history or have studied the time period to truly grasp the importance of the novel and understand what is happening. going in to this book without any prior knowledge about how life was when swift wrote it would make this book pretty boring.

It's important to read this in the context of the time in which it was written and to know that Swift was writing about the time of the Irish Potato Famine. The way in which this was treated by the English Government of the day was so appalling that the repercussions are still with us today. It's therefore not a book to be read simply as a story but a very bitter comment on the mores of the time.

Satire is always about context, and with no real grasp on the subject's Swift was satirizing, this book could be little more that literary ambien. Still, to call something so influential and enduring painful seems a bit ... silly. I've seen others review Candide in similar fashion. To each there own I suppose.

Joshua wrote: Still, to call something so influential and enduring painful seems a bit ... silly.

There are plenty of things that are painful that are also influential and enduring. I'm suprised that seems silly to you.

True, but those things aren't typically the odd stories that are largely used to amuse our kids over the last 300 years either.

I guess it's all subjective. I found the stories boring, and in that sense they were painful to me. But I know that most people don't find them boring. Subjectivity and art so often go together, I suppose.

Joshua, what causes me pain may not be the same thing that causes you pain. It was really truly a painful book for me to read. I don't need you to agree with me, but I certainly don't need to be called "silly" either.

I didn't call you silly, just the notion.

i just went to see the movie,,,can't say the movie was all that great,,,kind of predictable after Gulliver lands on the island of the little people but it definately had it's funny scenes,,,don't let it deter you from seeing the movie if you like the book or the actor Jack Black.

Lori, I'm rather puzzled by your defintion of "pain" I only understand that as a physical thing i.e. something for which I would take medication.

As you don't know me and can't hear the tone of voice I'm using, I would like to assure you that I'm not being sarcastic here.

Marjanna, pick up a dictionary. Did you grow up in an English speaking country? For Pete Sakes, people use the word "pain" in terms other than physical pain ALL THE TIME...

Ben
Being English by birth and having 68 years experience of using the language, I do have a rough idea of its usage. (Enough to know that the phrase is "for Pete's sake, if we are being picky) And please don't shout - I was trying to understand from Lori, why she found reading the book "painful".

I totally agree. I would have thrown the book away IF IT WASN'T PART OF OUR SCHOOL'S ENGLISH SYLLABUS. we had to write a 16 page essay on it. Sheer torture.

I'm struggling to finish it as well. It's like a social commentary came in and took over what could have been a fun adventure novel.

It saddens me that you don't seem to understand the importance of this text. Perhaps if you educate yourself about Swift and the time in which he lived, you could better understand the book, it's witty social satire and then appreciate it for what it's worth. You make this English Literature major very sad indeed.

Lory, I I thought my eyes were being pulled out with hot tongs when I read this book. I nearly have up to. What a load of twaddle :D

Sorry for my thought disordered text! See, its that bad I've lost the ability to write sense.