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chocolatebooksthunderstorms's review against another edition
3.0
A fascinating little tale about a mindless princess, a gallant prince, and the irreplaceable value of emotion.
dusk's review against another edition
5.0
“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again" - Lewis
Absolutely charming, a true fairytale. Mcdonald's writing style is both clever and delightful. I was touched by the love (even a slightly-silly, fairytale love) that could heal the cruel indifference of the princess's heart (it's worth noting that "light" in "Light Princess" refers to weightlessness). I think that most of the negative reviews stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of fairytales. We're used to seeing fairytales being approached cynically: "Beauty and the Beast is stockholm syndrome!", "Cinderella encourages girls to be complacent in abuse!". Besides those accusations being blatantly false, they fail to recognize the basic nature of fairytales. What is the basic nature of fairytales? I don't know yet. Ask G.K Chesterton or J.R.R Tolkien or C.S Lewis. But what I do know that the reading of them requires a dispensing of all cynicism and our strange abhorrence of all things that are childlike, that are simple and that are beautiful. Do not read this little book expecting cheap twists that are stale upon rereading or a particularly fiery romance brimming with chemistry. It's funny, and it's charming, and it's clever, but there's no explosions or fireworks. It's a quiet sort of story.
(I also must note that Mcdonald's invention of the verb "punning" is wonderful and is worthy of accolades.)
"My dear queen," said he, "duplicity of any sort is exceedingly objectionable between married people of any rank, not to say kings and queens; and the most objectionable form duplicity can assume is that of punning"
--
Besides charming me, this little tale set me to pondering (as, I believe, it was fully intended to). The Princess really is all of us, isn't it? We don't love as we ought to, we don't care about others as we ought to, we are an apathetic people. And yet Love breaks in nonetheless – and yet He pursues us, and heals by His own death, so that our stone (or, alternatively, feather-light and selfishly airy) hearts may soften to flesh. It also made me wonder where my heart was still uncaring, where it was too distracted by frivolities that my heart didn't break when it ought to.
I see that in times when I intentionally turned a deaf ear on the hurting in the world. I see that in times when human suffering is sensationalized into entertainment (are not everything from true crime documentaries to especially cruel prank videos really just pain repackaged for our enjoyment?) that I heedlessly consume. I am – we are, as a culture – too often like the princess that laughs pitilessly at the story of an army being massacred. I am not saying that we should let ourselves be consumed by the darkness of the world. There could easily be a reverse of this tale: a Stone Princess, that needs to learn to laugh and hope again. I'm not saying we should obsessively read the news and ruminate on far-away atrocities we are powerless to stop. But we should be careful to not be swept up in our entertainment-hungry culture and our selfish world. Loving others means weeping, from time to time. And this book, in its quiet way, whispers a secret in your ear: laughing without learning to weep first is a false kind of laughter. When we're entertained by suffering (or avoid experiencing for ourselves) our laughter is morbid and empty and joyless. The princess was only described as happy after she learned to weep as well as experienced some pain of her own (from the difficult teacher of gravity). There is joy in a grounded, empathetic heart that knows how to both weep and laugh.
"But he himself burst into
tears. Then, as a sweet rain will pass down a wind of spring and the sun
will shine out the clearer, his tears ceased, and his laughter welled up,
and laughing he sprang from his bed. " – J.R.R Tolkien (The Return of the King)
Absolutely charming, a true fairytale. Mcdonald's writing style is both clever and delightful. I was touched by the love (even a slightly-silly, fairytale love) that could heal the cruel indifference of the princess's heart (it's worth noting that "light" in "Light Princess" refers to weightlessness). I think that most of the negative reviews stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of fairytales. We're used to seeing fairytales being approached cynically: "Beauty and the Beast is stockholm syndrome!", "Cinderella encourages girls to be complacent in abuse!". Besides those accusations being blatantly false, they fail to recognize the basic nature of fairytales. What is the basic nature of fairytales? I don't know yet. Ask G.K Chesterton or J.R.R Tolkien or C.S Lewis. But what I do know that the reading of them requires a dispensing of all cynicism and our strange abhorrence of all things that are childlike, that are simple and that are beautiful. Do not read this little book expecting cheap twists that are stale upon rereading or a particularly fiery romance brimming with chemistry. It's funny, and it's charming, and it's clever, but there's no explosions or fireworks. It's a quiet sort of story.
(I also must note that Mcdonald's invention of the verb "punning" is wonderful and is worthy of accolades.)
"My dear queen," said he, "duplicity of any sort is exceedingly objectionable between married people of any rank, not to say kings and queens; and the most objectionable form duplicity can assume is that of punning"
--
Besides charming me, this little tale set me to pondering (as, I believe, it was fully intended to). The Princess really is all of us, isn't it? We don't love as we ought to, we don't care about others as we ought to, we are an apathetic people. And yet Love breaks in nonetheless – and yet He pursues us, and heals by His own death, so that our stone (or, alternatively, feather-light and selfishly airy) hearts may soften to flesh. It also made me wonder where my heart was still uncaring, where it was too distracted by frivolities that my heart didn't break when it ought to.
I see that in times when I intentionally turned a deaf ear on the hurting in the world. I see that in times when human suffering is sensationalized into entertainment (are not everything from true crime documentaries to especially cruel prank videos really just pain repackaged for our enjoyment?) that I heedlessly consume. I am – we are, as a culture – too often like the princess that laughs pitilessly at the story of an army being massacred. I am not saying that we should let ourselves be consumed by the darkness of the world. There could easily be a reverse of this tale: a Stone Princess, that needs to learn to laugh and hope again. I'm not saying we should obsessively read the news and ruminate on far-away atrocities we are powerless to stop. But we should be careful to not be swept up in our entertainment-hungry culture and our selfish world. Loving others means weeping, from time to time. And this book, in its quiet way, whispers a secret in your ear: laughing without learning to weep first is a false kind of laughter. When we're entertained by suffering (or avoid experiencing for ourselves) our laughter is morbid and empty and joyless. The princess was only described as happy after she learned to weep as well as experienced some pain of her own (from the difficult teacher of gravity). There is joy in a grounded, empathetic heart that knows how to both weep and laugh.
"But he himself burst into
tears. Then, as a sweet rain will pass down a wind of spring and the sun
will shine out the clearer, his tears ceased, and his laughter welled up,
and laughing he sprang from his bed. " – J.R.R Tolkien (The Return of the King)
fer3tt's review against another edition
1.0
ai gente mas que drama só pq a menina flutua ao invés de andar
theinventorsdaughter's review against another edition
5.0
This was a delightful story. Knowing that CS Lewis was inspired by the works of George MacDonald made me curious about his work. And I loved it. It has such a tone of the old fairy tales without treating the reader as a child.
tiagomonfardini's review against another edition
3.0
eu acho que vou precisar de um tempo pra digerir esse conto, ele parece ter mais coisas do que o q foi contado, talvez eu mude no futuro.
etana_80's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lturner's review against another edition
5.0
This story answers the question what would happen if someone lost their gravity? I found the answer quite amusing. : )