The Little Prince question

I didn't like this book the first time I read it when I was 18. I was 30 the second time I read it and I liked it. Twenty years have passed since then and I read it for the third time last week. I loved it and cried at the end. I think reading tastes change over the years because of life experiences that perhaps affect how a person interprets an author's words. In any case, if you don't like a book that's okay. You shouldn't love a book just because others say you should. This is definitely not a children's book.

Yes.

My review of the book is just one line:

The grown ups just don't get it. They seem to think this is a book for children :)

Not a children's book really but I did enjoy it as a child. In some ways it is like Alice in Wonderland with jabs at politicians and philosophy.

If it isn't for you, no big deal. There are plenty of books that I've hated that others love.

I love the book. I cannot understand how anyone cannot!

Absolutely hated it.

I am a grown up and have tried reading it countless times, and am very strongly connected with my inner child.
This book is boring tedium where nothing really happens and a little boy talks to a man he doesn't know.

It's really not a children's book. And no, I don't like it, either. It's about as fun a read as Waiting for Godot. (Godot has its place and all, but it's really not meant for children. I feel similarly about TLP.)

Then again, I'm the person who hates The Giving Tree. Adults always try to foist moralistic tales on children, even when the story scares or frustrates children. (Most kids I know actually have a very negative reaction to The Giving Tree. The boy is a narcissist, and the tree is codependent. But I digress. That's a topic for another review.) If adults would really listen to kids, they'd realize that they actually don't like many of the books we tell them they *should* like. You're not alone!

The book isn't awesome, I agree. But have you seen the movie?? It's AWESOME and it's been awarded a few times I think. You should really check it out even if you didn't like the book.

LOL yet another of those "Am I the only one who... [insert hyperbolic bashing]"

I believe, the timing to read it makes a world of a difference. This is definitely not a kids book and up to a certain extend not an teenager/college book.

The book can be appreciated by those adults who have regretted decisions in love and life. The weight of knowing you missed something/someone and how you cant keep them close. Knowing you took wrong decisions, and knowing you wake up every day questioning if those where right. In love and life in general the message is, as stated in the note to reader, we should be more like children, innocents and fluent to the emotions of the moment.

For this, the book is full of symbolisms that address it. At least in my perspective, here are some: For instance, the real life of the author and the fact that he grew apart of his wife can be reflected in the love/hate relationship with the rose. And the little kid, who tries to convince him that life goes on, that there's innocence, that you can still love and that life is simpler that he believed. Adults, tend to over complicate things and that was his own mental crescendo saying, it stings, like that snake at the end but sometimes, it is whats needed to let it go and value things from what they meant and simply, move on.

I read the book in french and spanish and there could be things lost in translation and/or culture, but I hope this helps someone get a different view of this little story of innocence and love.

No u r not its a boring book actually

No! I also hate - dare I say it - The Great Gatsby! There, my secret is out!

I think good books should either inspire you or make you “hate" it. This is better than indifference. I read The Little Prince in different times of my life and I still think it is simple and deep in many ways. Even if I don't agree, for example, with: "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed", I'm still totally into the idea of "What is essential is invisible to the eye". Nobody has to like this book and if you were expecting a conventional children's book I understand your disappointment...but I would, certainly, give one more chance to Saint-Exupéry...

Strange that everybody repeats that this is a children's book. I've been living in France, where the author is held in great esteem, partly because he fell in the war I think, but also because of his literary capacities. Le Petit Prince is regarded more like a philosophical tale, using a naive over story to pass some truths. Children's story, perhaps, in the spirit of Lewis Carrol? or Voltaire's Candide? Also it makes me think of Tintin.

The plot was presented in a way that each person who reads it, will understand it differently. In my own opinion, the story was a comparison of adults from children with how they view life. It exhibits the life an adult has, a picture of how practical they are. As one grow's old, his world expands. All the things he once adored becomes common to his eyes. He explores the world searching for more then realizing that he already has what he needs to most.

Many people perceive the story to be inspired by the author's life experiences.

I cried after I read it.

yes.

You're not alone. I also didn't like this book. First I read it at 14, now I'm 30, and still I didn't like it. I think the secret of this book is it's size, most people prefer books this size.

I think that you feel that way because you didn't read the book in the correct time of your life. The book isn't made for kids, it's made for adults to understand that we have to live like kids, and to remember that the kids see the world differently than us, so we must be careful to not ruin their dreams and their way to see things. Or at least, I notice that because I have a little brother, and maybe I didn't understand him until I read the book.
But of course, It's okay that you didn't like the book, it happens a lot. You don't have to read something that didn't catch you.

A mí tampoco me gustó este libro. No sé por qué, tal vez simplemente no me llamó la atención o se me hizo básico y aburrido. Pero tras otras reseñas y opiniones, tengo entendido que esto se interpreta como belleza literaria. Al final se aplica aquello de "para gustos colores" y tampoco es necesario juzgar o insultar a una persona por sus gustos y aficiones. Podemos mantenerlo siempre en nuestra oppinión.

Thought it was funny that he invented history and philosophy of science, though I don't know if the historians and philosophers of science think so.

Hate is a strong word, but I certainly had a very 'meh' feeling at the end. Not sure why it was a classic.

ok, I just re-read it. Eeeuuuwwwww. Cloying icky self-righteous sentimentality masquerading as profundity.

No you are not the only one who hates this book! I really dislike it, and I don't care for symbolism and such.

Laney wrote: "Now, I read this book a long time ago. I was pretty young, but I read it with my mom and we couldn't even finish it because we found it so weird and confusing. I wonder if I'm the only one who thin..." Did you read the original book ?at first when i was 5 i read a transported version of book and it seemed foolish , just a phony story cooked up by the author !then just a month ago i read the original book in English i did NOT like it again but at least it didn't seem that bad

I feel like this book is really overrated, I didn't enjoy it at all.

The original is in french, the same value for me.

Honestly, I thought this book was beautiful. I didn't find it necessarily complicated or confusing. I thought the metaphors they used were beautiful and truthful. Though it was a little weird at times, that was sort of the whole vibe for the book.

Well, the point is the artistic value of the book, so a simple compare shows nothing special in it.

Quite right:)

No. Boring AF

20 years passed, still don't like it..

Hate it
Oh yes I hate it.

چطور می شود؟.
ِچطور می شود از لحن و بیان شیوا، سلیس، بی ریا و کودکانه مآب این نویسنده متنفر بود؟.
کار سختی ست.

I couldn't even finish reading it...No. I did NOT like this book...AT. ALL....

Probably not, But it is a superb book. Rachel Portman made it into an amazing child approachable opera that my kids and I adore.

Nope... A lot of people hate the book too... and well... There's nothing wrong with that... I can tell you all the wonderful things this book has... But maybe you don't feel the same way... So, it's ok...

It’s not really hate, but it feels like I don’t get. And it’s making me sad why I feel this when others really loved it.😓

Yes.
Now read it again and like it, or I'll steal your favorite book while you're sleeping and replace it with a law book.

I read it awhile ago when I was like 8 and I don't remember much, but I do remember it being a bit weird and confusing, maybe if I read it now I would like it better?

I love love love love the book. Always have, always will. Especially the transcendent pop-up version.

I hate hate hate hate HATE the animated film "adaptation" from some 5 years ago. As in, loathe. Despise.

Laney wrote: "Now, I read this book a long time ago. I was pretty young, but I read it with my mom and we couldn't even finish it because we found it so weird and confusing. I wonder if I'm the only one who thin..."

I hated it. I read it in one morning, simply to have read it but it's really not good.

Update; So I actually reread it this summer aaand, it wasn't as horrible as it was before. Still not one of the best books, or average books I've read but I did enjoy some parts in it.

Laney wrote: "Now, I read this book a long time ago. I was pretty young, but I read it with my mom and we couldn't even finish it because we found it so weird and confusing. I wonder if I'm the only one who thin..."

I understand you, but it's about criticizing adults. Even though it's a children's book, it is not. That is why in the beginning the author apologizes to the kids that the book is dedicated to an adult. I don't think children or some young adults have the sensibility or "wisdom/numbness" to understand the message. It's about how adults lose sensibility, and creativity and start to process everything based on being "profitable".

This is a book you should read 3 times in your life time to learn all life lessons. Once as child, once as young adult and another time when you become parent. That way you'll every time learn new things and you'll see with different eyes.

I have an acquaintance that really hates that book, she sais she can get over page number 7.
In my case, I think it's a book with a really deep meaning behind it, it's not a children book. I belive this story has to be reread as the time flies because as you get older more you understand and more point of views you see.

It so overrated

No---

I also wasn't a fan of this book, but thats fine. however to be fair i was like 12 whne i read this soo...

yes, yes, yes

A children's story, yes, but one with archetypal weight and significance. If you hated it as a child, it is because the weight of adulthood hadn't hit you yet. If you reread it through the eyes of a crone or weathered adult mourning one's inner child— it may hit you differently this time. The narrative is essentially a katabasis of personal decent when trapped in the middle of the dessert. It's jovial and naive prose is precisely what gives the work life. Sometimes letting go means embellishing the thing that we once suppressed means releasing the part of our psyche that resists the nilly parts in the first place.

Laney wrote: "Now, I read this book a long time ago. I was pretty young, but I read it with my mom and we couldn't even finish it because we found it so weird and confusing. I wonder if I'm the only one who thin..."
No, you are not the only one. I read it when I was 12 or so. It was and is still the most boring book I've ever read. My God, I had to go through the entire book (only 100 odd pages) because it was my project. But I am now curious to read it again.