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A review by sidebraid
Bambi by Felix Salten
2.0
After being told by my mother that this book was "nothing like the Disney version," I came prepared to read something like Watership Down for Children. Surprise! Not really.
This book actually was very like the Disney movie, as I remember it (and it's been quite a few years). It begins with Bambi's birth in a meadow and continues by cataloging his discoveries and experiences one by one: meeting a squirrel, conversing with a screech owl, meeting Aunt Ena and cousin Faline. There's no Bashful or Thumper here and no charming icy pond sequence...and no forest fire. However, there really is an "Old Prince," and Bambi's mother really does die. The less dramatic, cinematic bits of the Disney movie might have been lifted straight from Salten's pages.
However, Salten's major theme didn't quite make it in. All of Bambi's experiences throughout the book are building to one major revelation about the nature of life, of nature, of wild animals vs. domestic animals, and the events that contribute to this revelation didn't quite make the final Disney cut. I'm not sure if I agree with Salten's view of domestic vs. wild and the role of man in nature, but I did find his conclusions thought-provoking. I'd say this book is worth a rainy Sunday afternoon.
This book actually was very like the Disney movie, as I remember it (and it's been quite a few years). It begins with Bambi's birth in a meadow and continues by cataloging his discoveries and experiences one by one: meeting a squirrel, conversing with a screech owl, meeting Aunt Ena and cousin Faline. There's no Bashful or Thumper here and no charming icy pond sequence...and no forest fire. However, there really is an "Old Prince," and Bambi's mother really does die. The less dramatic, cinematic bits of the Disney movie might have been lifted straight from Salten's pages.
However, Salten's major theme didn't quite make it in. All of Bambi's experiences throughout the book are building to one major revelation about the nature of life, of nature, of wild animals vs. domestic animals, and the events that contribute to this revelation didn't quite make the final Disney cut. I'm not sure if I agree with Salten's view of domestic vs. wild and the role of man in nature, but I did find his conclusions thought-provoking. I'd say this book is worth a rainy Sunday afternoon.