The Swiss Family Robinson

The story is a classic which we grew up with. If not from reading the book then from the many movies made based on this story. But this is the original. My only concern about this book was the reader. At times it seemed to me that the reader paused in the middle of a sentence and at other times applied the wrong inflection. All in all though it was not intolerable and an enjoyable listen.

Having seen the Disney movie, I thought I knew what to expect in this book. There was three times more information which yet again shows: movies do not live up to the book. Mechanical engineers should love this book because of the detail in describing how they build what they need. Hunters should love it because of all the different kinds of animals they find on the island. Personally, being female, I'm just glad somebody found the girl and she wasn't left alone forever.

Lions, tigers, bears, and everything but a duck billed platypus on this island, that somehow no other people have discovered (save a female shipwreck victim which the family takes three years to find). I know this is considered a classic in the Robinson Crusoe vein (hence the name) but it was so unbelievable that it became laughable after a while. No one ever got sick (except an occasional 'fever' of Mother's), never an accident, and after nearly ten years alone on the island the four brothers were delighted to welcome their new 'sister' into the family. Yeah, sure. I'm glad I listened, but I'll watch the Disney film version many times over before I submit myself to this again.I didn't much care for Fredrick Davidson's narration, but I don't want to be any more negative than I have been already. Rick

You would think that a shipwrecked family living on an uncharted island would face plenty of challenges, but The Swiss Family Robinson seems to have landed on a Wal-Mart of an island. Hey, look! Potatoes!. Hey, look! Flour. Hey, look! Aloe, coconuts, vanilla, jasmine, pineapples, lobster, salmon and so much more!

The shipwreck, meanwhile, is a veritable Home Depot, filled with building supplies, seeds for every kind of vegetable imaginable, saplings of every kind of fruit imaginable, livestock, kitchen gear, casks of gun powder and shot, all the tools necessary to build a forge, etc.

The father, from whose point of view the story is told, is a walking encyclopedia and therefore knowledgeable of every plant and animal the family comes across. He also comes off as the kind of arrogant know-it-all who in real life would have no friends.

The plot seems to be whether the author can mention every animal and plant he has ever read about. There are no red herrings, no literally devices of any kind. Just one loooooong snooze.

Oh, and the narrator is among the worst, too. All his character's voices sound nearly identical. He has no cadence and puts no emotion into the story. A pure failure.