Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Wind, Sand and Stars
Book Review: a great tale of humanity
Summary: 5 Stars
What genre is represented by "Wind, Sand and Stars"? A memoir, a novel, a moral tale, an essay, a travelogue? It is difficult to put a label on this book, because it has a bit of each genre. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a pilot and a poet, best known for his beautiful tale "The Little Prince", which enchanted generations of children and adults, wrote about his experience as a pilot. This is the surface of "Wind, Sand and Stars". There is much more to it, though.
The book was published in 1939. It is hard to believe that on the brink of a great war in Europe, when it was already obvious that the war is inevitable, and many writers created the premonitory visions of doom, Saint-Exupery wrote with great tenderness and faith about the power of humanity.
The job and life of the airplane pilot are for the author an occasion for metaphores. The flights require attention and precision in addition to the observations of nature, the rocks, sand or sea underneath, the stars, moon and sun in the sky above. There is a lot of joy in seeing the Earth from above, but the loneliness adds to the philosophical quality of long flights. Because in the 1930's the airplane technology was not very sophisticated, there were many sudden, unexpected accidents. The constant danger and many lurking traps are described with examples: the accidents of the author's colleagues, Guillaumet and Mermoz, as well as his own in Sahara, and their struggle to survive in the snow, mountains, and desert, without water, food, and rest, show humanity in a most beautiful way. As Saint-Exupery says, in the words of his fellow pilot Guillaumet, who survived in the glacier: "What I did, no animal would ever do".
Saint-Exupery believed in the power of human mind and emotion, in the connection between all human beings - which is obvious when he writes about his experience with Beduins, so different and strange for the French pilot, who could not understand their culture, yet living according to equally valid moral principles and helpful in need. He criticized materialism, and although admired technology and civilization, warned against it becoming a goal in itself.
Banal? Simple? Maybe, but all of us need such positive, however trivial, life philosophy, once in a while, to escape from our daily life, to reconnect and rethink our purpose.
Book Review: A Romantic Adventurer
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a beautifully written book exuding a sense of mystery and adventure perhaps no longer possible to experience. Antoine de Saint-Exupery was an aristocrat and pilot who chose to fly lonely postal routes -- a romantic adventurer with incredible sensitivities who was filled with wonder and musings about what he encountered. No one should pass this by. It could be read to a child though it is not a children's story. A popular children's story also written by Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince, was published five years later.Book Review: Very good book, not well translated
Summary: 4 Stars
The book is very interesting, but it's not easy to read,
because the translation from French to English is done poorly.
Book Review: A brilliant book
Summary: 5 Stars
This book makes you very sad to think what happened to Europe during the first half of the twentieth century, that men like this died. Doesn't bear thinking about. This is an excellent translation. A fabulous book; part poetry, philosophy and memoir. One of my very favourites, along with his 'Flight to Arras'. One of the two has a very memorable description of why some people become terrorists (boredom basically).Book Review: Sumptuous Banquet
Summary: 5 Stars
Some authors will serve a decent story and nourish a reader's sensibilities adequately enough that the reader feels satisfied to have read it. But Saint-Exupery, in "Wind, Sand and Stars," lovingly prepares and serves a sumptuous banquet in his story that not only leaves us readers feeling very well nourished, but also immerses us in the sensual pleasure of tasting and savoring the dishes he sets before us.
If your literary taste runs to the gourmet, read this book.