Thalia @ Pictures in the Words

When my British Literature teacher told us we were going to read this, I was really excited. I’m a huge fan of A Modest Proposal and I was expecting to love another satirical masterpiece, courtesy of Swift. But, much like HG Wells’ War of the Worlds, this style just…isn’t for me. Five pages in and I wanted to throw the book across the room–I found myself wanting to do anything but read. This week, while I had to finish it, I was home from school because I had a flare up with my back. And I literally found more entertainment in staring motionlessly at my ceiling than reading. And those were really the only two options I had of things to do.This isn’t a story–it’s a “travel log”, and it’s very similar to HG Wells in that it focuses on scientific stuff–lots of measurements, and math, and how things work. That just doesn’t interest me–tell me about your experience, not every insignificant detail about the culture, language, and politics of the place. Also, I’m a very dense reader. I don’t pick up on subtleties very well, and while that isn’t Swift’s fault, I found reading this incredibly boring because I didn’t think it was funny. There were a couple scenes where I was able to appreciate the satire, but most of it was satirizing British politicians and style of government at the time–little of which I could relate to, even when I did know what was going on. I was just very disinterested, and I’m glad that it’s finally over.Read more?http://thaliasbooks.tumblr.com/post/49575854245/gullivers-travels-review