Sunday, December 13, 2020

Review of "Gulliver Mickey, Disney’s Wonderful World of Reading"

 Review of

Gulliver Mickey, Disney’s Wonderful World of Reading, ISBN 0394825616

Five out of five stars

A primer on a classic tale

 Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” is one of the best works of fiction, and perhaps the best social satire ever written. By placing the main character, Lemuel Gulliver, in several societies with exaggerated characteristics, he softly and effectively ridicules many aspects of European societies of the early eighteenth century.

 The first adventure is to the nation of Lilliput, where the inhabitants are roughly six inches tall. This story, featuring Mickey Mouse in the role of Gulliver, duplicates that tale to some extent. While overpowering in relative strength, Mickey is very gentle, and the Lilliputians learn to enjoy his presence.  When the enemies of Lilliput attack, Mickey easily fends them off and is hailed as a hero. Yet, he misses his own kind and so after a raft is built, he sails away.

 While this book is for children and takes some poetic license with the Swift story, it is a primer on the original. It is clear that this book will pique the interest of the readers and hopefully some of them will be prompted to read the book about the adventures of Gulliver.

No comments:

Post a Comment