The Swiss Family Robinson - Johann David Wyss, Scott McKowen, Arthur Pober

I had a hankering to take a break from all the GRRM fantasy and read the Swiss Family Robinson. And, for once, I remembered to update my reading list. While marking the star rating - very high, it's one of my fave casual quick reads from childhood - I happened to see the top half of the first review for the book. It was not favorable. Skimming through the rest of the reviews on the page, there were more reviews of a similar nature. I felt genuinely angry at the blatant ignorance in some of the reviews. Does no one remember to check inside the first couple pages and see what date the book was originally published? It is literally older than your grandma's grandma.

 

Goodness knows how much of the original work has actually survived through the years. Just check out the Wikipedia page for a general idea of how other authors added, edited, and translated their own bits. But note the dates on all of those edits happen to be almost exclusively in the 19th century. And guess what? Life was different back then. So yeah, your modern sensibilities might be just a wee bit offended.