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Pinocchio

Carlo Collodi

Start date: February 1, 2019

Finish date: February 28, 2019

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Feb 07, 2019 Manybooks rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens-literature, book-reviews, fairy-tales-fantasy, translations

Now I do realise that with regard to Carlo Collodi's 1883 novel Pinocchio there is indeed (and like with many 19th century novels for children) more than a bit of moralising and so-called teaching moments and messages present and featured throughout. However, and at least in my humble opinion, much of the latter actually seems to rest rather on the surface so to speak, and yes indeed, if one actually delves a bit deeper and thoroughly reads between the proverbial lines of Pinocchio, alongside of Now I do realise that with regard to Carlo Collodi's 1883 novel Pinocchio there is indeed (and like with many 19th century novels for children) more than a bit of moralising and so-called teaching moments and messages present and featured throughout. However, and at least in my humble opinion, much of the latter actually seems to rest rather on the surface so to speak, and yes indeed, if one actually delves a bit deeper and thoroughly reads between the proverbial lines of Pinocchio, alongside of the moral dictates admonishing children to listen to their parents, to stay in school, to not tell lies etc. lest terrible punishments happen, there are also more than enough criticisms of both society in general and precisely those parental attitudes which on the surface of Pinocchio do seem oh so "cut-and-dry" and unassailable. For while Pinocchio is most definitely mischievous and "full of the Devil" so to speak, I for one have also never really found his pranks all that inherently viciously nasty, and yes, quite a number of the punishments meted out against Pinocchio for simply wanting to enjoy his "childhood" have therefore always felt so extreme and exaggerated to and for me that I for one at least as an adult reader now consider much of Pinocchio to be rather parodistic and satiric in nature (at least down below so to speak) and as such, the trials and tribulations Pinocchio must endure are also in my opinion often so over-done that they are also and yes more like a condemnation and chastisement of society, of the fact that society seems to consider children as objects and as such not only totally under the control of grown-ups, of family, teachers and so on and so on but also as basically regarded and approached as exploitable resources (for in Pinocchio, it becomes rather obvious that his "father" Gepetto, and unlike in the Disney movie of the same name, is first and foremost carving his little puppet boy in order for it/him to work for and do his bidding, to be a tool to be made use of for monetary gain and not really because Gepetto is lonely and desires company, that he actually wants a son for emotional reasons).

And therefore, while I do very much recognise the late 19th century morality tale aspects and that they are most definitely always present and accounted for in Pinocchio, for one, they truly are a sign of the times, of the 19th century, and for two, as I hope to have shown above, there is most certainly and especially considerably more to Carlo Collodi's children's classic than that, that with Pinocchio, there are multiple layers of intent and thematics and yes, while if one only peruses the novel simply and without reading all too deeply and intensely, the educational, the message-heavy admonishments and criticisms do abound, below that there also rests and equally flows what I can and will only call a critical appraisal and dissection of the same (and really, for me, the by Collodi always and continuously presented arguments in Pinocchio regarding the power and importance schooling and education, these are not just the dictates of society, of family, but are actually and yes in fact also a way that the young can, if they consider the latter as something inherently positive and important for their own personal development and self growth, an important and necessary tool and a resource to advance themselves and even perhaps end up having power and influence over and above society and the generally quite restricting moral mandates imposed by it, in the form of family members, teachers and other similar authority figures.

And finally, if you are going to be reading Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio in the Penguin Classics edition (which I do very much recommend), I would strongly suggest that you do NOT read Jack Zipes' excellent and informative introduction until AFTER you have actually finished perusing the novel itself, so as to avoid possible spoilers (and really, I personally do wish that Penguin Classics and other such series of classic literature would consider not having the analyses of the featured novels etc. appear as introductions, but as afterwords, for almost all of the introductions I have read to date in the Penguin Classics books series ALWAYS tend to contain quite a large number of content spoilers and indeed, they also can very easily influence how one then decides to read and approach what follows, which I definitely do find potentially problematic in and of itself, as especially and in particular one's first perusal of a given piece of literature should in my opinion be free of and from the musings of others, at least as much as possible). ...more

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May 18, 2012 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: children-ya, fiction-19th-century, nyrb-classics, italian-literature

From the moment Joseph the carpenter carves a puppet that can walk and talk, this wildly inventive fantasy takes Pinocchio through countless adventures, in the course of which his nose grows whenever he tells a lie, he is turned into a donkey, and is swallowed by a dogfish, before he gains real happiness.

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Jan 30, 2022 Diana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Previously, I only knew the Disney version of the story of Pinocchio. Thanks to @theBook Hippie for creating the Litsy’s Children’s Classic challenge, I read this 1988 version which included glorious illustrations by Roberto Innocenti. The artwork brought the story to life! Pinocchio was originally written in 1882. The puppet Pinocchio has a talent for getting in and out of trouble until he decides that love is what is important.

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Jan 20, 2012 Melissa (ladybug) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-child, yearly-challenge, 4stars, gilmore-girls

Pinocchio was written originally as a serialized (short episodic chapters) story in a children's magazine before it was published into a book. I usually do not enjoy serialized newspaper stories (such as Voltaire's Candide, Zadig and Selected Stories or Alexander Smith's 44 Scotland Street) much but I enjoyed this story. It is definitely NOT Disney's Pinocchio!

Pinocchio is the story of a poor man (Geppeto) who makes a marionette named Pinocchio. Pinocchio has almost all bad traits and only gene ...more

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