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perilous1's review against another edition
4.0
As I went through this collection, I immediately recalled a dozen or so of these old tales that I'd been told as a small child. Lessons of 'Don't cry wolf', Greedy greedy makes a hungry puppy', and 'Necessity is the mother of invention' all stayed with me in one form or another, just as vividly as the parables that Jesus told in an effort to teach...and with the advantage (at least to my young mind) of involving animals.
With an abundance of talking animals and a few recurring Greek gods, these gathered metaphors are as elegant as they are timeless. Let slide the fact that every third or fourth story seems to involve an Ass, along with the issue that a few of these tidbits of wisdom might be seen as contradictory to each other. There are still plenty of universal truths to be gleaned, and recycled references in current culture to be identified.
With an abundance of talking animals and a few recurring Greek gods, these gathered metaphors are as elegant as they are timeless. Let slide the fact that every third or fourth story seems to involve an Ass, along with the issue that a few of these tidbits of wisdom might be seen as contradictory to each other. There are still plenty of universal truths to be gleaned, and recycled references in current culture to be identified.
luana420's review against another edition
4.0
Good to read when pooping. Some of these are hilariously cruel!
cocoonofbooks's review against another edition
3.0
It was very interesting to read this whole collection. It's instructive to see just how many fables Aesop created in order to produce maybe a dozen that I, at least, recognized. There were some I liked that I'd never heard of, but it was clear that generally the best ones have survived. There were also some common phrases that have become divorced from their original fable. (I'd heard "birds of a feather flock together" but didn't know there was a fable to go with it.) In some cases he returned to the same theme multiple times, as if trying to figure out which story most memorably conveyed the intended moral. Some stories didn't seem to have any moral. Some seemed to contradict each other in their lessons. Overall, I enjoyed reading this mostly for the lesson in how much background work goes into creating something lasting and memorable.
lailai78's review against another edition
2.0
I really liked the introduction and life of Aesop at the end of the book.
I found the fables to be very surface level, and not detailed enough, as I remember more detailed stories from when I was a child.
There are probably better versions of Aesop's Fables out there.
I found the fables to be very surface level, and not detailed enough, as I remember more detailed stories from when I was a child.
There are probably better versions of Aesop's Fables out there.
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