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Manny's Reviews > Le Petit Prince
Le Petit Prince
by
by
Manny's review
bookshelves: french, children, parody-homage, mentions-twilight, story-review, the-goodreads-experience, transcendent-experiences, if-research-were-romance, life-is-le-petit-prince
Dec 20, 2008
bookshelves: french, children, parody-homage, mentions-twilight, story-review, the-goodreads-experience, transcendent-experiences, if-research-were-romance, life-is-le-petit-prince
Read 16 times. Last read January 1, 1966.
The next asteroid the Little Prince came to was inhabited by a Quiz Addict. He sat hunched in front of his laptop, and barely looked up when the Little Prince greeted him. There was nowhere else to sit, since the whole asteroid was covered in books.
"Good morning!" said the Little Prince.
"I'm sorry, I don't have time to talk to you," said the Quiz Addict. "I am very busy. Wait. In Twilight, what color was Edward's car?"
"I don't know," said the Little Prince. "I have never read this book Twilight."
"I think it was blue," said the man. "Damn! I was wrong. Silver. In Twilight, who joined the Cullen family first?"
"I told you," said the Little Prince, "that I haven't read this book. But it must be an interesting book if you answer questions about it all day long. I would very much like to read it."
"It is the stupidest book ever written!" said the man.
"Then why do you answer questions about it all day long?" asked the Little Prince.
"Because if I don't," sighed the man, "then my friend on asteroid B451 will get ahead of me. "He has read the whole series. Luckily, he hasn't read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."
"When you have finished the Quiz," asked the Little Prince, "I hope you will be able to read some of these books you have around you? I notice that you have had Atonement on your to-read list for the last six months."
"It is a Never-Ending Quiz," answered the man. "In Twilight, what color was Edward's car?"
"I believe you said silver?" answered the Little Prince politely.
"Thank you," muttered the man. "Yes! You were right. I should have known that."
"I'm sorry, I must be going," said the Little Prince. And he went on his way, thinking that grown-ups were very, very, very strange.
"Good morning!" said the Little Prince.
"I'm sorry, I don't have time to talk to you," said the Quiz Addict. "I am very busy. Wait. In Twilight, what color was Edward's car?"
"I don't know," said the Little Prince. "I have never read this book Twilight."
"I think it was blue," said the man. "Damn! I was wrong. Silver. In Twilight, who joined the Cullen family first?"
"I told you," said the Little Prince, "that I haven't read this book. But it must be an interesting book if you answer questions about it all day long. I would very much like to read it."
"It is the stupidest book ever written!" said the man.
"Then why do you answer questions about it all day long?" asked the Little Prince.
"Because if I don't," sighed the man, "then my friend on asteroid B451 will get ahead of me. "He has read the whole series. Luckily, he hasn't read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."
"When you have finished the Quiz," asked the Little Prince, "I hope you will be able to read some of these books you have around you? I notice that you have had Atonement on your to-read list for the last six months."
"It is a Never-Ending Quiz," answered the man. "In Twilight, what color was Edward's car?"
"I believe you said silver?" answered the Little Prince politely.
"Thank you," muttered the man. "Yes! You were right. I should have known that."
"I'm sorry, I must be going," said the Little Prince. And he went on his way, thinking that grown-ups were very, very, very strange.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
(ebook Edition)
Finished Reading
(ebook Edition)
Finished Reading
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Finished Reading
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Finished Reading
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Finished Reading
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Started Reading
January 1, 1966
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Finished Reading
December 20, 2008
– Shelved
December 20, 2008
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french
December 20, 2008
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children
April 21, 2009
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parody-homage
January 7, 2010
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mentions-twilight
May 16, 2010
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story-review
February 27, 2011
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the-goodreads-experience
April 23, 2011
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transcendent-experiences
June 5, 2013
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if-research-were-romance
January 19, 2014
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Started Reading
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January 19, 2014
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to-read
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children
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german-and-dutch
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translation-is-impo...
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well-i-think-its-funny
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why-not-call-it-poetry
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well-i-think-its...
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children
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icelandic
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life-is-le-petit...
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fun-with-lara
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children
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french
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linguistics-and-phil...
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older-men-younger-women
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translation-is-impos...
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well-i-think-its-funny
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what-i-do-for-a-living
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linguistics-and-phil...
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older-men-younger-women
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science-fiction
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translation-is-impos...
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transcendent-experie...
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life-is-le...
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Comments Showing 1-50 of 194 (194 new)
Oh, I love it too! I hope it is clear that my parody is meant to be very respectful :)
Manny, you are on a roll!v fun.
Thank you! It suddenly came to me over breakfast. My wife wondered why I was completely ignoring the newspaper, and just staring into space with a faint smile on my lips.If I am lucky, this will be the right therapy to cure me of my own Quiz Addiction... will let you know :)
oh, that is one addiction I don't have...
Well, maybe I don't have it any more either. I suddenly feel quite hopeful!
Thank you tam! I enjoy setting quiz questions much more than answering them, but it seemed rude just to take part in one side of the discussion.I think my Python reference was apropos Matthew's piece "Midi-Midi"? That was so funny, I really like his sense of humor :)
You will have to ask Matthew, I have no idea :)
Haha, it was originally supposed to be called the "Stiff Cossack", I later changed it to "Father's Treats", and then finally to "Daddy's Prizes".I wonder if I made the right choice... "Daddy's Delights" may be better. "The Merry Cossack"? "The Bishop's Nose"? So many choices.
When I was in tenth grade, a few of my friends dared me to write something "indecent". I had so much fun writing this (haha, isn't it obvious?). I really wish I could find the last half of it. I would post it asap.
Daddy's Prizes is not a real place, Tam. Oh, if only it was...
If I leave and come back can I vote for this again? The way I answer the same questions over and over when I succumb to the lure of the never-ending quiz?
Jessica wrote: "oh, that is one addiction I don't have..."I am pleased to say that writing this review did apparently cure me of my Quiz addiction! Since then, I have set a couple of questions, but basically not answered any. I've not even felt any strong desire to do so. I can't bring myself to admit how many questions I'd answered previously, but you can check it on my profile if you're curious.
An isolated anecdote, or a discovery? Is there already such a thing as satire therapy?
Sure, satire therapy. I'm all for it. Whatever works, Manny!
Thank you, M o I! But did you mean the review, or its therapeutic effect? I am already trying to think if I can apply this method elsewhere, addiction is a big problem for me :)
Love the idea of satire therapy, Manny. Sure could use some.
Jessica Frank wrote: "Love the idea of satire therapy, Manny. Sure could use some."Thank you Jess!
As I said, I am wondering if it's possible to generalize from my experience. I don't think it could be a valid treatment for many forms of addiction (e.g. I can't believe it would have any chance of helping a heroin addict). But some forms of addiction are about status, or the good opinion that others have of you, and there you can see reasons why it makes sense. I'm particularly thinking about video gamers and workaholics, but I'm sure there are other things that could also qualify.
So, in general, you make up a story about you and your addiction that casts you in as ridiculous a light as possible, and then circulate it to as large an audience as possible. After that, you aren't really going to gain any status or good opinions from indulging in your addiction. As tam so elegantly put it, you'll just be a sucka.
Since posting my review, my Quiz ladder position has crept steadily downwards from its all-time high of 86, and every now and then I wonder if I should answer a few questions to bring it up again. But if I do, I will now lose status rather than gain. I don't want to be a sucka! So I immediately reject the impulse.
If anyone else tries this successfully, please let me know! And I have a couple of friends who work as therapists - I'll ask them if this is already a known idea. Most likely it is... as Goethe said, everything has already been discovered, the problem is rediscovering it :)
Now, I do not take those quizzes, Manny. I can't remember details of all the books I've ready--we only have so much memory and I guess most books don't rate in mine.I like the story idea, think I'll try it.
Jess
Jessica Frank wrote: "Now, I do not take those quizzes, Manny. I can't remember details of all the books I've ready--we only have so much memory and I guess most books don't rate in mine.I like the story idea, think I'll try it."
If you do, I definitely want to know how it works. Please keep me posted!
and pls. keep me posted on this new therapy concept, and whether it works...my own feeling is that a good sense of humor (i.e. in this case, satire stories) is the most therapeutic of all, as it provides perspective, a needed shift...
Apropos satire therapy: it just occurred to me that many published authors probably do this on a regular basis. It would certainly explain some passages I've seen! Has anyone come across an author who's admitted to it in so many words? The first person I suspected was Martin Amis, and the second was David Lodge, but I can't think of any smoking-gun passages.
This review is perfect!
Jean wrote: "This review is perfect!"Thank you Jean! It was revealed to me in a vision by the spirit of the late M. Saint-Exup茅ry himself. I still don't know why he was doing the Quiz...
Being a scientist and thinking Heroin addiction is more serious than quiz addiction, I propose the following study: Make hard drug addicts and alcoholics read Trainspotting and see if any positive effect is noted. The control group reads any other book of thier choice. It can be almost double-blind, in that those reading Trainspotting need not know anybody else in the study is also reading it.
Robert wrote: "Being a scientist and thinking Heroin addiction is more serious than quiz addiction, I propose the following study: Make hard drug addicts and alcoholics read Trainspotting and see if any positive..."I think Infinite Jest is even more apposite, and I've seen several people who claim they've had substance abuse problems, and report positive effects after reading the book. Look at the reviews!
Manny wrote: "Robert wrote: "Being a scientist and thinking Heroin addiction is more serious than quiz addiction, I propose the following study: Make hard drug addicts and alcoholics read Trainspotting and see ..."It's not an easy read though, and it's intimidating. Many who have heroin addiction would not make it through...
Sybil wrote: "This review is brilliant and hilarious. I love the idea of satire therapy. I wonder if there's a sneaky way I could get my freshmen students to engage in this type of removed self-analysis. Hmm . . ."Thank you!
What subject are your students reading? If it's anything that involves writing essays, I think it should be easy to set them up for satire therapy. And if it worked, and you were the first person to be able to provide hard, quantitative evidence that it did, you'd be rightly famous :)
Hey Sybil, I like your thoughts on teaching freshmen. I teach as well (community college). I can relate.
Sybil, if you do that, I'd love to be involved! As I said, I was astonished how well it worked on me, and it would be so interesting to see if you could get the same results on other people...
I think it's an excellent idea.
Sybil wrote: "Manny, I've got a question for you . . . how did you come to write your satire piece with yourself as the main target? As I've been mulling this idea over in my mind, the part that I'm having a hard time figuring out is how to improve the opportunity for students to see themselves in this light. Any thoughts? "Well, I was wondering about this too! As usual, it's not so easy to reconstruct one's thought processes. Anyway, here's what I can come up with. When I wrote it, I was indeed spending far too much time playing the Quiz. I was quite obsessive about it (I have a tendency to obsess about this kind of thing). I realized very well how silly it was, but I just couldn't stop doing it.
I'd recently seen a couple of satirical GR reviews, which I'd admired - one of them was definitely Jessica's review of Bleak House. I wanted to write something like that too! So I was sitting there at breakfast trying to think of a suitable book, and as far as I can recall it just came to me fully-formed. Of course, what would the Little Prince say about my absurd fascination with the Quiz? It wrote itself.
Trying to be analytical, I guess The Little Prince is in general a good vehicle if you want to satirize yourself. He's always looking at things people do, asking these obvious, child-like questions, and showing how ridiculous we are. I think I was most inspired by his conversation with the Drunkard.
I'm wondering what other literary characters might be suitable in this context. The first ones I think of are Pooh Bear and the Mullah Nasrudin. Holy fools, basically...
Yes, I agree. Not everyone likes the Little Prince. But do you think people in general know at least one holy fool in literature or film that they appreciate? Trying to think of some more. The Fool in Lear, I guess. Quite a lot in science fiction, e.g. Valentine Michael Smith in Stranger in a Strange Land, Mike in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Roderick in John Sladek's book. Probably a good third of the characters Robin Williams plays. Socrates.
So, first they have to pick a scene where their favorite holy fool takes someone apart by asking simple childlike questions. And then they have to imagine how they would do if the fool met them. Do you think that would work?
This is really exciting!!
I agree. I'm amazed how naturally this is working out!Well... the Little Prince cured me of my Quiz addiction. But right now I'm playing far too much Internet chess. I think I might offer my services as a guinea-pig again, but this time use a different holy fool. I will probably wait a few days for the right inspiration to strike, then post it on GR. My theory is that public self-humiliation is an important part of the recipe :)
Ah. A couple more holy fools I like. Mario in Infinite Jest, and Bokonon in Cat's Cradle. There really are a lot of them! Though since I've already reviewed those books, I don't think I'll use them. Right now I'm most tempted by Roderick. Have you read it? Very good, and my review is a mere thumbnail that is crying out to be replaced...
Oh yes, of course. Candide. How could I have forgotten him? One of the greatest holy fools of all time!A class blog. I like that! Would it be public? I'd be very interested to read it...
Manny, MannyCongrats you did it. You have your perfect review. : )
Sybil, if you can do that it would be amazing!Thanks Jordan :) And do you know, I think I'm permanently cured. I just haven't done the Quiz since I posted the review!
It's quite exciting to find 欧宝娱乐 causing serious thought about Higher Education teaching methods!
I loved this review! It's possibly the funniest thing I've read on GR's, due in no small part to the fact that I could very much picture myself on that little planet constantly frustrated by those infernal 'Twilight' questions. I think you may have something with this Satire Therapy...
thanks, that little excerpt has encouraged me to get the book and read it to my 5 year old.
wow.. I like your review. I think I'll read all of your reviews..lol
Brilliant! You executed that perfectly! Such a lovely book.
Nice satire, sir. One can never mock pop-culture nerds enough.
Ah, Manny. That was excellent, thank you. I'm grinning like a Cheshire cat. =)
I appreciate your craft of parody. That's true, grown ups are very very strange... Thanks to every little prince that has landed into each person's life.
lol :) loved the review
OMG, this is pure win! <3
The little prince never answered any questions.
Thanks for the quotes. jess