Book Review: Gulliver's Travels

I wanted to reread Gulliver’s Travels after reading Truckers, because it was mentioned in the latter. It turns out I have an old copy of the book, which was gifted to me by my uncle (RIP) for my 8th birthday. While I was at the hospital, the book was a welcome distraction. But I must admit that the Game Boy was a lot more fun. While I do not recall reading the book, I did read it, as there are markings everywhere. Even as a kid, I had a tendency to correct spelling mistakes in books. 🤦

Spelling mistakes? In a Dutch translation? Yes. It turns out the copy I had was not only a poor translation but also part of a series of “Christian” (read “Catholic”) books for children, which can best be described as reinterpretations. I only came to this realization now, as I know the book was written in the 18th century, but the translated version mentioned photographs, which were invented only in the early 19th century. This made me look up the translation and discover this weird Christian book series. Anyhoo, the translation was poor, and many things were omitted. I finished it, but it wasn’t a great read. The 1 star is based on the terrible translation, by the way, because I’m now considering getting the English version.

My rating: ⭐