The Little Prince

I'm not one to discredit entertainment made for children so quickly, but needless to say I was a bit disappointed with the world renowned classic The Little Prince. Maybe I'm a cynic or an overly analytic reader, but to say that I got more than mild enjoyment from this book would be a lie.

The book starts off projecting what it's going to be like for the next 80 pages, of how growing up sucks and that creativity dies with it. Not a bad message, but it is the book's hill to die on with almost every page of the book repeating that same message. There is no nuance to it or any reason stated that adults become this way, they just do. Almost the entire beginning of the book is just dedicated to the prince going to different planets that represent the worst parts of adulthood in a disparaging way. Which is representative of the book's worst problem: its structure, which lends to awkward pacing problems that even with its small amount of pages - still goes on for far too long at some points.

The book does however stick its landing with its other (much stronger ending) about making something (or someone) meaningful, which lends itself to such a strong, poetic ending.

I'm probably not the target audience for this, but I just didn't find the magic in The Little Prince like everyone else on earth did. Maybe I do belong on the planet of those who have forever lost their imagination.