One of my sisters read this years ago and was raving about how good it was. Sorry Dana, I disagree! It is a children's moralistic parable full of maudlin, overly sentimental missives on child wisdom, and a lamentation on how silly adults are. Perhaps I am simply the accosted here - the very figure Saint-Exupéry rails against. Whilst I do not necessarily disagree with the philosophies expounded, no one can really argue against 'It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye', the fact that such obvious advice needed to be written at all is rather irksome. Reddit is full of gushing reviews about how the book made them hyperventilate and sob uncontrollably, or about how they give it ritualistic readings every year. It seems very extreme. I also did not enjoy the illustrations, which, much like the story, are of a very simple, bare bones design. Suffice to say, the Little Prince did not charm me.
The story is not of much consequence. A pilot has crashed his plane in the Sahara desert and comes across the titular character whilst conducting repairs. The young boy reveals himself to be the sole inhabitant of another planet, and has been on a tour of the cosmos, meeting foolish characters along the way. There is a king with no subjects, a narcissist with no one to posture to, a drunkard, a businessman counting stars for the sake of it, an indolent geographer who never leaves his desk (perhaps a poke at academia?), and a blindly obedient lamplighter pursuing a redundant job. On Earth, the prince befriends a fox and a snake, the latter of which will later kill him in assisted suicide. Within this flimsy framework are scattered the life lessons Saint-Exupéry wishes to enlighten his readers with. Granted, this is a book for children, and as is usually the case, it has been hijacked by adults who have forgotten the essential truths.
Rating: 2/5
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