Author: George Saunders
Genre: fiction, young reader (?)
Publication info: Villard Books, 2000
Pages: 82
Sounds like a Dr. Seuss title, doesn't it? I wish it were. Not to say this is an awful book—it's actually fairly interesting and creative, but it doesn't quite have the magic of Dr. Seuss.
This is another book I just sort of came across. At 82 pages and with lots of illustrations (by the popular Lane Smith), it didn't take very long to read. Good thing, too. I'm not as angry as I sound, but the book just didn't turn out to be what I was hoping for.
It's the story of a seaside village named Frip, which consists of three families. The people of the village make their living by selling goat's milk. Once in a while, however, these little burr-like creatures called Gappers come out of the sea and latch onto the goats, frightening them and rendering them unable to provide any milk. It's the children's job to remove the Gappers from the goats. One of these children is a girl named Capable, and one day, the Gappers decide to focus exclusively on her goats. When they do so, she inexplicably loses the respect and sympathy of everyone else in the village.
This little book has its moments. Saunders's style is entertaining once in a while. And the illustrations are, of course, top notch. But the book's quality is overshadowed by an irritating didacticism. The whole thing feels allegorical (for example, the main character's name), although I couldn't tell you what each element represents, and it all seems geared toward teaching a moral to the reader. All of this is fine to some degree, but when you pick up a book expecting to be entertained, but instead the entertainment takes the backseat to teaching a lesson, it's hard not to be annoyed. If I thought the book was funnier, maybe I wouldn't be so bothered.
One more annoyance: Judging by the style of publication, I assume this to be a children's book. But the reason I put a question mark in the heading is I found some of the language a little shocking. I've read plenty of profanity in literature before, and sometimes I'm able to tolerate it or at least ignore it, but in a book of this nature I find it entirely inappropriate. Parents, take note.
2 comments:
Yup.
It's true that this book is not quite as "juvenile" as it appears, which really doesn't seem fair because the pictures are so fun. I read this for my sociology class and found that Saunders' main purpose is to make a social commentary. It's a criticism on a general lack of willingness to undergo social change, but I never would have thought it judging from the juvenile facade.
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