The Wind in the Willows

I'm not keen on classics (might have something to do with the writing styles in most!) to be honest, but I'm in a few reading groups on facebook where classics are always bought up. Which is what led me to giving this a go, since I'd never read it before now.

This, atleast, was enjoyable especially reading about the antics of Mr Toad and the adventuresof him, Mole, Ratty and Badger! It was a fun, lighthearted read.

I haven't changed my mind about classics but atleast I can say I've read one.

“Under severe compulsion from Badger, even the barge woman was, with some trouble, sought out and the value of her horse discreetly made good to her; though Toad kicked terribly at this, holding himself to be an instrument of Fate, sent to punish fat women with mottled arms who couldn't tell a real gentleman when they saw one.”

Lol that's one of the last paragraphs in the books ending. It was disturbing the amount of misogynistic shit for a children's book. And not me minding myself over the reviews of people saying “this is my son's favorite book” or “my father read this to me as a kid” yeah yeah, I wonder why the prevalence of men reading/enjoying this one.

A world where the lower class are shat on and women are scum. Awesome!

I read this over two days when I was sick, and really enjoyed it. The writing about nature's cycles and the insight into the character's foibles are just lovely. The story seemed disjointed to me–more like a series of short stories put together than something that was meant to hang together as one–and then I read that it began as a series of letters from the author to his son. That fact also explained why there were no explicitly female characters until more than halfway through the book. I loved how the characters recognize and forgive each other's flaws and see it as their duty to step in and set each other right when one of them starts to go off the rails.

This was a lot of fun! I read the abridged, illustrated edition of The Wind in the Willows when I was in third grade, and I think I liked it then too. This is the unabridged version that has been sitting on my bookshelf for years, and it brought me back to childhood with its whimsy and innocence and adventure.

It follows four friends- a badger named Badger, a mole named Mole, a water rat named Rat, and a toad named Toad (all names I would've come up with as a child- I had a stuffed rabbit named Rabbit). There isn't necessarily a single plot over the course of the book, but it's rather a series of adventures these friends have that build on each other. It was never boring or too slow for me though. There was definitely enough character development to keep the book moving forward.

I loved the personalities of each of the characters. They were so distinct and exaggerated and exactly what I would assume each personality would be, based on what kind of animal it was. And throughout the book there were references to an “animal etiquette”, which anthropomorphized some typical animal behaviors (disappearing suddenly, never mentioning possible trouble ahead, etc.) I found myself smiling quite a bit at how clever and creative it all was.

There were only a couple things that kept me from giving it 5 stars. One was that there were a couple of scenes that seemed to be completely out of place with the rest of the book, and I still don't understand why they were included. And the other reason is that I found myself fully annoyed with Toad through the entire book. I know that the reader is supposed to be, but he was more irritating than I expected. And he also made some comments about women that were pretty disrespectful. Again, I know that was only to show his arrogance (and he was extremely arrogant), but it rubbed me the wrong way.

However, I still loved this book and found it to be a fun, light summer read. I also found it to have some deeper themes- friendship, bravery, and the importance of having somewhere to call home. Which are beautiful messages for a children's classic.

Reclusive Badger...Mole, having adventures for the first time...Kind Rat...and, of course, ADHD Toad, always looking for something more...

These are the charming characters of the amazing Wind in the Willows. As Peter Hunt writes in LitHub, “...these are animals who drink and smoke, own houses, drive (and steal) cars, row boats, escape from jail, yearn for gastronomic nights in Italy, eat ham and eggs for breakfast and write poetry—while Toad combs his hair, and the Mole has a black velvet smoking-jacket.” Wind in the Willows is thought of as a children's book, but it offers a lot for us adults, too. Adventures. Complex characters. And intriguing life advice, offered from...well, animals.

Some of my favorite quotes:

“After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working.”

‘“And you really live by the river? What a jolly life?”
“By it and with it and on it and in it,” said the Rat. “It's my world, and I don't want any other. What it hasn't got is not worth having and what it doesn't know is not worth knowing.”‘

And my favorite quote:

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

Книга повествует о приключениях мистера Крысси, мистера Жабса, мистера Барсука и Крота. Вообще, захотел её прочитать только из-за названия - очень уж романтично звучит.

На деле оказалась довольно унылая сказка про вечно ноющего крота; мистера Крысси, у которого всё получается в итоге; мистера Барсука, который всегда строгий, но добрый, а также одержимого до автомобилей Жабса.

Возможно, я чего-то не понял, но мне совершенно не ясно за что эту книгу по слухам крайне любили Джон Леннон и Джоан Роулинг. Я прочитал еле как до середины и больше не мог терпеть эту тягомотину.

Основные претензии у меня к скучному сюжету. Хорошо описываются эмоции героев или природа, окружающая среда, настроение. В то же время, сюжетная линия какая-то дурацкая и не увлекающая.

Я думаю, в качестве сказки, книга будет отличной, потому что читая её, легко уснуть.

Short Review: Over the past couple years I have been going back and reading those books that I should have read as a child (and those classics that everyone else read in high school.) The Wind in the Willows is one of those books that I have not previously read. And I liked it more than I thought I would. The overall story arc was missing (it is really more connected short stories than anything else.) But that is probably what makes it such as good read aloud for kids. The characterization of the different main characters was good and I can see why modern authors continue to write Wind in the Willows books. The audiobook version I listened to was also very good.

Please excuse all of my nostalgia lately... I've been thinking about different classics that I loved as a child that I need to find re-bound/re-illustrated versions of to sit prettily on my bookshelf. And I haven't thought about this book in so very long, but I do remember loving it as a very small child.. around the time that I was also obsessed with Peter Rabbit. Add this one to the re-read list too!