Gulliver's Travels (Thrift Editions)

Gulliver's travels Gulliver's travels is about a man called Gulliver, who was a surgeon in England but became a sailor. His adventures and voyages were to 4 different islands, encountering different species and people very different to humankind. His first voyage was to Lilliput, where the book starts. It was an island where everyone was tiny and he was a giant. He spent a while there and learnt the language whilst being accommodated by the king and visiting him regularly. The tiny people (Lilliputians) thought to use him as a weapon to fight off their enemies, the Blefuscu army. He was given a set of rules to follow. Eventually, Gulliver left this island. His second voyage was to Brobdingnag when he was pushed off-course trying to return to England. This island was a land of giants, where he was tiny. He was taken in by a family of farmers and looked after and once again visited the king and queen as he was something they had never seen before. The farmer's daughter, who he called Glumdalclitch - little nurse - looked after him and put him in a box as his home. One day an eagle picked up his box and flew him to the sea, then dropped him in the sea inside his box, left to float. He then is picked up by an English ship who found his floating box in the sea. He goes back to his wife and children for a while then sets out for sea again. Whilst out at sea, he is approached by a pirate ship and is forced off his boat by himself on a rowboat to an island. In the third voyage, he goes to a floating island called Laputa. In this island, the people there excelled in astronomy, and based all things off of shapes, maths and music. The people here have tails and an odd appearance. He then through Glubbdubdrib, a place of sorcerers on his way to Japan, to return back home to England. In the fourth and final voyage, he goes to an island of horses, called Houyhnhnms, and human-like apes - called Yahoos. These Houyhnhnms are very different to humans, they are kind and lack evil and have wisdom that humans do not. They live very differently with no lying or arguments. The Yahoos are very violent and savage beasts with claws who they stay away from and despise. Even Yahoos despise other Yahoos, they are a very weird race. The Houyhnhnms think Gulliver is a Yahoo, from a similar appearance but realise he is different in nature. He stays at this island for years, learning to live like them and talk like them, and grows a hatred for humans/yahoos. He wants to stay but one day he is forced to leave as he is similar to a yahoo but he tries hard to stay there. He leaves and goes to a small island near it where there are a portuguese-speaking tribe, who take him back to England, even though he hates them and doesn’t want to go back. He returns to his wife and children after 5 years, who are happy to see him. Gulliver, on the other hand, is disgusted by them and sees them as Yahoos, not being able to stand their smell. He takes years to get back to living with humans and distances himself from his family and friends, and bought horses to take care of and spend most of his time with, as they were like Houyhnhnms. He seems to have learnt some wisdom and a valuable lesson from this wiser species and closes the book by hoping the yahoos (humans) around him would go to different virtue lands like him.

"Gulliver's Travels" is one of those books that is instantly recognisable by name. Unfortunately, of those relatively few people that have read it, many are only aware of the first section of the book (the visit to Lilliput), and even then they miss the bitingly accurate social commentary that is woven into the tale. Swift was making some extremely harsh comments about the society in which he lived; and I would suggest that much of his satirical writing could be seen to be as accurate today as it was at the time of Queen Anne. Certainly I suspect that he would recognise a similar corruption in modern politics, the law, medicine and social behaviour that he knew and despised some 3 centuries ago. The book is fairly easy to read; for best understanding, it would be worth doing so in short bursts and probably by re-reading sections. Some of the satire is easy to miss, such as the concept of the "low" and "high" heel parties, and the man who wears a pair of shoes that have one high and one low heel; he finds it difficult to walk the line between the two political views. In other cases, it is a belligerent statement of contempt, such as the behaviour of the "Yahoos" in the land of the "Houyhnhmm" (pronounced Winnim") and the comparison to human society. The story could be read as a childrens tale of fantastical adventures and nothing more; but re-reading it later in life can reveal an amusing, albeit harsh reflection of human foibles.

I would like to include in my reviews some of the classics. I thought I might re read some of them and see what I think of them as a woman now in her thirties. I first remember reading Gulliver's Travels around thirty years ago aged around eight. We read it at school, all the class together in the classroom and I know some of the other children use to hate and dread the moment the teacher would pick on them to read out loud to the class, but I was always hoping to be picked because I loved reading out loud and been able to express by the tone of my voice all the different characters. To be honest I did not remember much about the many places Gulliver travels to or ends up in on in his voyages to sea, mainly memory has been over taken by the many films that are out. I have yet to see the most recent starring Jack Black. Most of us remember Lilliput and know that part of the story really well and the scene that comes to mind is Gulliver lying tied down and held by the little people who are no more than six inches high. We also remember Brobdingnang the land of the giant people. But there is far more than that to this story which I had completely forgotten about. Gulliver travels to several more remote islands Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Houynhnms where he meets some more interesting beings and characters and has lots of adventures. For me personally Lilliput is still my favourite part of the book and the part I find the most interesting. It makes you think that Gulliver must have really enjoyed travelling because he ends up in these situations and then gets back home safely but then still returns to sea!

It’s a great book for minds still developing with amazing vocabulary. Swift’s literature is very similar to Jules Verne which actually made me read this Novel.

I found this very interesting. Swift has his critics and I didn't always agree with some of his thoughts, but the whole book needs to be read to be fully understood. I found Part 2, chapter 6 very interesting. A great discourse on British politics. I felt the King's analogy was spot on! Also, in Part 3, Chapter 8, we learn about some of the lies about history and the propaganda surrounding that. And then in Part 4, Chapter 6 about the corruption of politics and the aristocracy. Later on, in the final chapters of the book, some brilliant parts on developing reason without prejudice in all our affairs. An excellent read.

So often when you hear of Gullivers Travels you remember his adventures in Lilliput and forget that this was just one chapter of his total adventure. I won't spoil it by listing all of the peoples that Lemuel Gulliver met on his travels save to say that, as a fantasy adventure novel this was definitely the first of a very long line and established the genre in a format that still continues. The book is quite naive in a lot of ways but, taking into account the era in which it was written and the fact that the novel as a storytelling vehicle was still in its infancy, it's a great book.

Wonderful satirical luck at the state of modern human civilisation. Stands the test of time and picks apart the set up of governments and imperial powers. Describes all the strange ways in which Humans hurt themselves and each other in a very engaging manner. Swift indeed.

I read this book in a conscious effort to read more of the classics. There were parts of this book that were very interesting but the enjoyment for me was spoilt by the flowery ramblings of Swift. The book became a tedious read and I was very close to giving up on several occasions. I accept that this book was written nearly 300 years ago and the style is naturally dated but generally I found the book slow and bland. Never mind there are lots more classics to read and I am sure that I will read lots of great reads and unfortunately the odd bad one.