Pinocchio

Pinocchio is an Italian children's book that is well worth reading. I have never read this book until now and had only known it from the Walt Disney movie. As with most films, the book is much better. In this case, it is almost an entirely different story.

The Disney movie makes the story of Pinocchio sound like a whimsical fantasy about a puppet who wants to be a real boy. The film is all about "when you wish upon a star." 

The book, on the other hand, starts with a naughty sentient piece of wood. Gepetto is tricked into taking the wood and making a marionette. Immediately, Pinocchio is alive causing Gepetto heartache and trouble, but the woodcarver still calls Pinocchio his son without hesitation. The story follows Pinocchio from one stubborn and foolish choice after another where he reaps the full consequences of his choices being saved only from death. By the end of the book, Pinocchio learns wisdom and virtue the hard way. When Pinocchio becomes a real boy, it is synonymous with being a well-behaved boy. The Story is about listening to good advice and those who love you.

I read quite a few reviews which criticized this book for being harsh. It is harsh in the way tradition fairy tales are. Magical and arbitrary thing happen to magnify Pinocchio's choices. The consequences of his choices often lead to near death experiences. The characters tell Pinnochio the truth about his behavior without a filter. The message of the book says that even a boy is responsible for his own choices. This is certainly not the popular sentiment today.

I enjoyed this book more than I expected. I also saw layers and layers of wisdom in this spectacular fantasy story. The way the false friends used Pinnochio like a puppet makes sense of what he is versus a real boy. The unconditional love of Gepetto and the fairy show the actions of loving parents. The various adventure translates into the kind of temptations on experiences in life. I believe this would be a good story for children eight years old and older, but they may not grasp the hidden wisdom in the book until much later. Pinocchio is a book well worth reading and rightfully a classic. 

This is book is awesome. In the first 13 pages, Gepetto gets into a fist fight, Pinocchio gets Gepetto sent to prison, then he kills Jiminy Cricket with a hammer. This is great!

As you can tell this book is far removed from the Disney version. Everybody's a jerk. Must be an Italian thing. I'm not sure who this book was audienced to -- little boys maybe? -- but the language still holds up. The culture does not. It's super easy to read, but the plot is not terribly coherent, and there's no unifying force. It seems like 65% of the book is just Pinocchio being bad, then, when he realizes he's about to get burnt or hanged or shot, he suddenly cries, "oh no, I'll never be bad again", and he is saved. Then he goes and does it again. Reminds me of the American prison system. Must be required reading for lawyers.

The storytelling is terribly unpolished and jagged. There's no unifying story, just Pinocchio running around getting into trouble. After about halfway, it starts getting obnoxious, because he has no real goal. He has nothing he wants.

I'm really on the fence about the value of this book in terms of today. Would I recommend it for anyone? Would they get anything out of it? Maybe, since the chapters are short and the characters dynamic, they'd get more out of it than I did.

It is interesting to read the original writing of Collodi. I just wish it had even a few illustrations for children.

My child loves his new book