Adventures of Pinocchio

Book Description

Critics

• The Adventures of Pinocchio By Carlo Collodi

  Children today are more likely to have seen the Walt Disney 1940 film version of Pinocchio than to have read the original book. That's just one reason why The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti, would make a we ... (read full critics)

  bookpage published on Sat, 18 Sep 2010

• Knock on Wood

  Pinocchio and the Fairy; illustration by Attilio Mussino from the 1911 edition of Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio A voice yells from within a pine log, “Don’t hit me too hard!” The carpenter is astonished, his axe stayed. When they come unexpected, life an ... (read full critics)

  nybooks published on Fri, 27 Aug 2010

3 Reviews

• 1 person find this helpful

  

  One of the few universal books

  Pinocchio--the real Pinocchio, the one by Carlo Collodi aka Lorenzini, and not the Disneyesque version--is above all a wonderful story, for both children and adults.

  Pinocchio is a perfect Italian character, able to stress out the bad aspects of the average Italian guy. This original story, m ... (continue)

  Pinocchio--the real Pinocchio, the one by Carlo Collodi aka Lorenzini, and not the Disneyesque version--is above all a wonderful story, for both children and adults.

  Pinocchio is a perfect Italian character, able to stress out the bad aspects of the average Italian guy. This original story, much more Gothic than the American version, leaves in the background the fear for hunger, the importance of education and the respect of the elderly, the temptations of life and what happens to those who like to risk. A coming of age novel, as Eco points out in his brilliant as usual preface of this peculiar edition, a novel that speaks in so many ways about the Italy of the late XIX century.

  Personally, I like to define Pinocchio as the Italian "Tom Sawyer".

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  Caboto said on Sep 8, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Pinocchio Is Such A Dick!

  Having known only the Disney version reading this came as a bit of a shock. When Pinocchio first meets the talking cricket, for example, he throws a hammer at it and kills it. The cricket, along with a host of other strange creatures, does nevertheless make another appearance. The cricket's purpose ... (continue)

  Having known only the Disney version reading this came as a bit of a shock. When Pinocchio first meets the talking cricket, for example, he throws a hammer at it and kills it. The cricket, along with a host of other strange creatures, does nevertheless make another appearance. The cricket's purpose is basically to warn Pinocchio that bad things will happen to him if he continues to behave badly and disrespect his father, the carpenter who fashioned him.

  The tale is overtly moralistic and it is clearly aimed at boy children only. Apparently little girls were better behaved in Collodi's time (as they tend to be now, too) and did not need the kind of moral lessons the more boisterous and hormone-fuelled boys needed. The tone of the story is very preachy and the scary bits are designed to tell boys that their natural behaviours and likes and selfish thoughts will lead to, if not Hell, some kind of dire punishment and misery. I would therefore recommend this to adult readers who may appreciate the story's literary value instead of boy children, whom I think do not need to be disciplined by scaring them out of their wits with the rather strange events found in the story. I am not sure these fanciful threats and warnings will impress a modern child anyway.

  So, Pinocchio is an almost insufferably wilful, stupid, and selfish character. I really wanted to strangle the blighter several times during the story, which, I suppose, is a testament to good writing.

  If you keep in mind its moralistic purpose then all the strange creatures and bizarre happenings (and the behaviour of Pinocchio) fall into place. I would recommend this tale to everyone, if only to realize the unnatural extent to which Americans go to Disney-fy their fairy tales. Pinocchio was certainly sacrificed upon a very rude altar of political correctness.

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  Ramnagel said on Mar 2, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  An amazing illustrator

  Rural Italy in Collodi's time.
  If you love Tuscany or central Italy you can't miss these unforgettable landscapes and villages.

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  Raramente said on Mar 13, 2008 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
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• English Books
• School & Library Binding
• ISBN-10: 0613797833
• ISBN-13: 9780613797832
• Publisher: Tandem Library
• Pub date: Nov 01, 2001
• Also available as: Mass Market Paperback, Paperback, Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Others and eBook
• In other languages: other languages 繁體書, 简体书, Livres Français, Deutsche Bücher, Libros en Español, Libri Italiani, Danske bøger, Magyar könyv

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