Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift

[Jody]

Shipwrecked and cast adrift, Lemuel Gulliver wakes to find himself on Lilliput, an island inhabited by little people, whose height makes their quarrels over fashion and fame seem ridiculous. His subsequent encounters - with the crude giants of Brobdingnag, the philosophical Houyhnhnms and the brutish Yahoos - give Gulliver new, bitter insights into human behaviour. Swift's savage satire view mankind in a distorted hall of mirrors as a diminished, magnified and finally bestial species, presenting us with an uncompromising reflection of ourselves.

I'm reading this, very slowly, for 2017, Week 26 (An adventure book). It's a little dry, but I'm starting to enjoy it a lot more now (at around 30% through).

[Kathy]

I'm reading this for my adventure book too, Jody and finding it dry also. Some parts are funny - the list of what the Lilliputians find in Gulliver's pockets, for one - but I'm usually drawn to emotion in books and this doesn't grab me. It's more of a political commentary about humans and government.

[Jody]

I'm not that familiar with the system that it's satirising so it doesn't help, but I've reached some very funny parts about putting out a fire, and the right way to crack an egg. :)

[Maple]

Gulliver's Travels


I read this for my 2017 Challenge, a Penguin Modern Classic. I loved this book. It was funny and full of adventure. I love Swift's writing style and the way he pulled me into the story, making me forget where I was or even how much time had passed for me.

#Classic

4/5

[Valerie]

I read this book for the ATY 2019 Reading Challenge Week 29: A book published before 1950.
Yes, it was published a couple of centuries before 1950. It is a satire of the times, so since I am not acquainted with the times, I did not really get it. First, Gulliver was huge compared to those whose land he was shipwrecked on. Next, he was tiny and lived in a dollhouse, when he was finally taken to the King. Another time, he was basically ignored, because he had no connection with mathematics. He always managed to learn the language of the land. Then, while the ruler of the land learned about Gulliver's homeland, he learned about this new place. Once the new land he visited was airborne. I read this book because Colson Whitehead used this format to write The Underground Railroad. I understood Whitehead's discussion of slavery in this country much better than what Swift was writing about in his book. Guess I need to look elsewhere to understand this book.