Customer Reviews

The Swiss Family Robinson (Signet Classics)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Check the publisher very carefully before you buy "Swiss Family Robinson." One of the versions available, published by General Books LLC, has reviews associated with completely different imprints of the book from genuine publishers.

Be warned that the contents of the version of Swiss Family Robinson published by General Books LLC is completely unedited garbage. Also be warned that when you do the "Look Inside," you're not looking at the General Books LLC version, you're looking at an image of the book from a genuine publisher that actually edits and checks their work. And the reason is....

General Books LLC puts together books using an OCR automated scanning device which misses complete pages. There are numerous Typos and there's no table of contents. There is ABSOLUTELY NO EDITING of any kind done to the book, and the scanning is done by a robot (which the publishers website says can miss pages).

This is all stated on the publishers web site (google them and read - you'll be as stunned as I was when you get all the details). The Almost every review of books published by General Books LLC (around 500,000 of them from one imprint or another now listed on Amazon) by buyers is negative, many are extremely so.

If you have bought the version from General Books LLC by mistake, you can return to Amazon within 30 days(but check Amazon's Return Policy for the details) .

Personally, I always liked Swiss Family Robinson, my one star review is for the General Books LLC version.

The story is, of course, a classic! I doubt many would finish reading it in these days given how dated the language and story line feel. My one-star rating is solely due to the fact that this particular version is incomplete. The missing pages have a profound impact on enjoying / gaining a full understanding of the story. I feel the version description should mention the missing text!

I rarely give 5 star reviews but this 200 year old book deserves it. It is well-written, well-paced, full of adventure, and is a wonderful book on man's interactions with nature and the environment.

A shipwreck strands a family headed for the new world with nothing but the ship's supplies and each other on a desert isle. Through hard work and knowledge of the natural world, they are able to not just survive, but thrive on the island. There is no better adventure in the natural world survival story.

This book is so good and so well-regarded that there have been multiple schmaltzy movie versions over the years. DON'T SEE THEM UNTIL YOU READ THE BOOK! The writing moves well and the plot line includes plenty of excitement. Although this book is 200 years old, the author wrote it as an action book and it does not drag like other works of the time like "Last of the Mohicans" or "Robinson Crusoe". Robinson Crusoe is another famous survival story written prior to this book, but it suffers from being a morality play with little action and long descriptive sections that are frankly boring. The Swiss Family Robinson is a much better book.

This is a particularly clean book also and is perfect for younger readers as well. Highly recommended.

I am shocked that people would give this book one or two stars. This book is a classic. It was written for entertainment and should be read to children of all ages. Is it conceivable that all of the events happened as printed? NO, or course not! But is it any more or less conceivable than the story of ET. We come along in this "new world" of propriety and have issues with the natives being called "savages." Please! This politically correct stuff has to stop somewhere. I suppose you think the language in Uncle Tom's Cabin is inappropriate also. So dont' read that either. These same people have to problem with books that are full of filthy language and nudity. I will never understant. This is a fabulous book. It is unfortunate that Kindle couldn't translate a couple of pages (I suspect the pages may have had images on them), but doesn't take away from the whimsy, fantasy and love (family finding out what is really important---the whole point of the book, get it) of this book.

I read Swiss Family Robinson as a child, and have just reread it as an adult with the kindle version. I was fascinated by the MacGyver like ingenuity of the family, but it is certainly a morality tale more than a realistic account of life on a desert island. I was a bit put off by the continual references to indigenous people as "savages", but that misconception was the prevailing attitude when the original book was written. I have one complaint about the kindle edition- in the midst of a scene involving a bear attack, the kindle suddenly interrupted with an apology for missing pages that could not be transcribed into kindle format. So the bears were killed, but I never learned exactly what happened. I'd guess that it was only two pages that went missing, but it was rather disconcerting.

Nevertheless, it is an interesting book full of inspiration, and a good source of discussion.

While this is a great adventure story it is NOT a great translation, even for free. It is highly abridged.

AS always, book is much better than the movie. I have seen the movie dozens of times, but had never read the book. The book is more spiritual than the movie and still adventuresome, fun and exciting. This is a good read for all ages. I'm 50 yrs old and love it. This will be one I go to again and again.

Swiss Family Robinson was my favorite book for years growing up as a child. On the surface, it is a grand tale of survival and adventure in a distant and formidable land. A man, his wife, and their four children are shipwrecked on a distant and mysterious island, and must draw upon their own labors, knowledge, and at times good fortune to survive.

Some will surely criticize certain aspects of the plot or the setting when critiquing the book. The island, apparently somewhere in the vicinity of New Guinea is inhabited by creatures from every corner of the Earth. The father and children show a very quick tendency to shoot new critters first and ask questions later. The mother is rarely given the honor of her own name but toils along in anonymity while others experience the thrills of discovery.

However, whenever I read the book, I looked upon it as a grand tale showing the endless possibilities of adventure and magical places that together all make up the world. The tendency to shoot was in many regards an aspect of the time in which the story was written. Flowing through the pages is a strong sense of the wonder and the magnificence of the natural world, and a deep underlying respect for its creatures. Finally, the mother is always portrayed with kindness and respect, and although she rarely is a part of the most dramatic adventures, is treated with near reverence by the father. She is a kind and noble woman who enables her family to prosper through many difficult times.

In many ways this is a book about the inner goodness of human beings and their ability to rise and face daunting challenges, and for this reason has remained a classic tale for some 200 years.

The Swiss Family Robinson is a family traveling in the sea when a tragic storm hits them off course and sends them deeper into the storm and then they were forced to abandon their ship. Unfortunately there were not enough life boats so they had to leave a family and their livestock alone to drown or starve to death. Will they survive the night?
Characters: Swiss family Robinson, Tork and Flora, Elizabeth and the livestock and animals.
Genre: Nonfiction
This adventurous story of a ship wrecked family surviving and conquering the wild and taming animals and building shelter and they have happy and sad times living there and end up actually enjoying it.
I recommend this book to adventure seekers everywhere and people who love survival stories.

Okay. C. Jennings you talked about in your review that you did not even know if kids today would believe The Swiss Family Robison. I am a kid and I will tell you. No, I do not believe it, however, I do love it. You are not supposed to believe it or analyse the possobility of it. It is fiction.