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'The Little Prince' & Growing Up

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Fat4all

Banned
So.

I've been aware of this book for a long time. I was a huge Gene Wilder mark in the 90's while growing up, and my knowledge of the story started there. Eventually I came across the clips of him as the fox from the 1970's adaptation. Skip over 10 years later, I keep hearing about this book, making its way to be a new film. And after it was dropped and picked up again in production, then I watched the Netflix trailer. Then I watched the original trailer from almost a year ago.

Then I bought the book on my Kindle.

Growing up I only had a few solid stories to guide my life. My parents had an illustrated and dramatized version of several stories from the King James Bible that they would read to me every night, as well as stories like Watership Down and a large selection of Shel Silverstein books that I started reading in my own time. But even today, as much as I'd like to think of myself as a literary man who adores Keats and Christie, I can't help but wish The Little Prince was I'm my life much sooner. The Little a Prince gives me the same feelings I had the first time I read the manga for Azumanga Daioh; regret and longing. There is too much present in the story that can been felt directly in my conscious that can't be ignored, but at the same time can't be directly acted on. It's too late. It's like feeling regret, but still being appreciative of what you know.

After my first time through, I was a bit of a mess emotionally to say the least.

It was an odd and sad feeling. Even though in a way it's a story that feeds off the nostalgia of youth in general (not just for those who heard the story), I feel now like that was the stories intention for them most part, to appeal to adults. While it appears to be a fairly simple children's book, I'm sure adults reading this to their kids got just as much or more out of the story.

Were you ever told this story as a child? I'm kind of left wondering how it would of effected the life of someone like me who had heard the story while being very young. I was told stories from the bible, and though I'm not a religious person in the least today, there are stories and tales I love from the bible, that gave me a sort of narrative center for my personality growing up.

I feel like this story could of been just as strong for a child growing up.
 
Growing up I only had a few solid stories to guide my life. My parents had an illustrated and dramatized version of several stories from the King James Bible that they would read to me every night, as well as stories like Watership Down and a large selection of Shel Silverstein books that I started reading in my own time. But even today, as much as I'd like to think of myself as a literary man who adores Keats and Christie, I can't help but wish The Little Prince was I'm my life much sooner. The Little a Prince gives me the same feelings I had the first time I read the manga for Azumanga Daioh; regret and longing. There is too much present in the story that can been felt directly in my conscious that can't be ignored, but at the same time can't be directly acted on. It's too late. It's like feeling regret, but still being appreciative of what you know.

For one, I'd say Le Petit Prince is considered no less a literary classic than Keats, albeit one aimed at a younger audience.

For another, you're dead on with the anime pickup - a lot of people in Japan love this story, and no small amount of anime/manga has been either based on, or inspired by it.
 

Pau

Member
I vaguely remember being told parts of the story as a kid but no one ever read it to me. I read it first as a teenager.

I can't even read the dedication without crying.
 
I had a friend in elementary school who was Saint-Exupéry's grandson. He had the coolest Little Prince memorabilia all over his house.
 

Jb

Member
Yes it' definitely one of those books that defined my childhood, even if its true meaning didn't become clear to me until much later. But that's true of most fairy tales I guess.
Terre des hommes is my favorite Saint Exupéry book, but Le petit prince has undoubtedly played a bigger part in shaping who I am.
 
I read it first when I was 13. I thought then "What a cute but strange book," then thought nothing of it.

I re-read it again when I was 16, then 18, and I have been rereading it every year since. The 3rd time I read it, I had determined it as my favorite book.

The Little Prince isn't really a children's book for me. It's more of an adult book. Only adults can fully appreciate the allegories in the story. You need life experience from that, one that kids don't have. I think everyone is being blindsided by the drawings (since it's illustrated it has to be a kid's book, right?-NOPE)

There was no way I could have appreciated what the book was trying to convey as a kid.
 
I read it first when I was 13. I thought then "What a cute but strange book," then thought nothing of it.

I re-read it again when I was 16, then 18, and I have been rereading it every year since. The 3rd time I read it, I had determined it as my favorite book.

The Little Prince isn't really a children's book for me. It's more of an adult book. Only adults can fully appreciate the allegories in the story. You need life experience from that, one that kids don't have. I think everyone is being blindsided by the drawings (since it's illustrated it has to be a kid's book, right?-NOPE)

There was no way I could have appreciated what the book was trying to convey as a kid.

Great post, I agree completely.

I have fond memories of my mother reading this book to me in both English and French when I was very young, but it was just a neat, kinda oddball story (and I rather enjoyed listening to my mother speak French, something she rarely ever did). It wasn't until I revisited it to read to my daughter that the beauty of this book really hit me. And I mean....hit me like a ton of bricks. One of the greatest stories of all time.
 
I had an audiobook version as a kid narrated by the great Pierre Arditi, it came with an illustrated version of the book. It's still one the best reading experiences I've ever had. I bought it for my nephew as soon as he was old enough, an absolute masterpiece. Coincidentally, my middle-school was named Collège Saint-Exupery.
 

El Odio

Banned
My Sophomore year French class in high school was assigned to read this near the end of the year and that was the first time I'd ever heard of this book. I was actually one of those kids who was super obsessed with my studies and reading this book is what caused me to take a step back and realize that that way of living wasn't really what I wanted in life. It just wasn't fun and I started to loosen up and stop being obsessed with numbers and facts. This book became my favorite story by the time I was done and is the biggest reason why Ive become a graphic artist and love every second of it.
 
My Mom's a huge fangjrl of the book and she LOVES the 70s movie adaptation.

Looking forward to checking out the new movie on Netflix.
 

akira28

Member
This book and Jonathan Livingston Seagull were required reading for my high freshman religion course. Its a wonderful story, and yeah I got emotional too.
 
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