swiss family robinson

The Swiss Family Robinson

Wyss, Johann. The Swiss Family Robinson.

First published in 1812, this novel is about how one family survives a

shipwreck and how they come to create a new home for themselves far

away from civilization. I read the book because I have literally been

hearing how *wonderful* it is my whole life. Yes, The Swiss Family

Robinson is one of my mother's favorite books. But in childhood, the

closest I could get to the novel--the closest I would get to the

novel--was an abridged version. But even the abridged version, I gave

up after a few chapters. So I was determined to not let 2008 go by

without reading--really reading--this classic.

What did I think about it? Honestly? Well, it's still not my cup of

tea. I still don't like it. The violence. The brutality. The

absurdity. Granted in 1812, I'm sure it wasn't an absurd idea to kill

animals for fun, for sport, or for a "learning" opportunity to learn

what it was and how it worked. But for me, I saw it as a bunch of

guys--a father and sons ranging in age from small to teen--who thrived

on killing animals. True, some of the kills were for food or to

protect their lives, but others seemed more trivial for me. Yes, the

family needed to eat in order to survive. But I think some of it was

pure overkill. But as I said, this wouldn't have ruffled any feathers

in 1812 when it was published. I think--although I am not sure--that

there was a philosophy that to study an animal meant to study the

animal's corpse.

Besides the death of all those animals, and the passing dangers of

island life, the book is filled with lessons and descriptions. The

father has the need--and I'm not negating the need in actuality--to

share every bit of knowledge in his head. And I'd be the first to

admit, that if I were to be shipwrecked on an island, I'd want this

guy around. First of all, he knows everything. It doesn't matter what

subject. It doesn't matter how random or trivial, how broad or

specific, this man knows it all. He knows how to do everything, how to

make everything. This man is more knowledgeable than a walking set of

encyclopedias. Now, if you were actually on the island and fighting

for your survival. Receiving lessons of this sort, would be necessary

and beneficial. To the ordinary reader--okay just this ordinary

reader--some of the lessons are well, quite honestly, boring. You

could skip these passages altogether and still follow the basic story.

One other thing that irritated me about the book. The woman never is

given a name. The man isn't either, by the way, but he is the

narrator. He is the "I" of the story so it isn't so obvious. The kids

all have names. The animals all have names. The wife? Not named. I'd

rather Grizzle the donkey be called "the donkey" or "that donkey" than

to go 377 pages through a book where one of the main characters is

simply called "the mother."

And it should be a crime what Wyss did to Grizzle by the way.

Seriously. That's just wrong. It's beyond calloused or cruel.