Book review : The Little Prince

After Victor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning", here comes review of second book that again delves into the theme of " Life and its meaning". The book that has captured heart of many readers like me is 1943 French novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupery " Little Prince" translated in English by Katherine Woods.

The Little Prince, loosely based on the life of the author, is a story of a pilot whose plane gets accidentally crashed in the desert and while he was in the midst of this ordeal, he had an albeit chance but a pleasant encounter with a strange young prince who after travelling seven other planets finally visits earth. He had willingly taken this voyage as an escape from his home which was a tiny asteroid where he lived alone with a single rose. The prince was tired of rose's self centered and vain attitude that he made up his mind to teach rose a lesson by leaving her alone for some time and in the mean time vacationing and knowing about life on other planets. And this is how the prince gets the realization of the most valuable lessons of life - of humanity, kindness, compassion and most importantly of friendship & love.

The main theme of the fable is expressed in the secret that the fox tells the little prince: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly: what is essential is invisible to the eye." It was the fox who explained to the little prince that he must return to his own home (i.e. his asteroid) and his beloved rose -only there he would be able to find the happiness and meaning of life he is searching elsewhere on other planets.

Even though it’s an 80 page children’s classic, but it has some profound lessons that are more relevant for adults. Its essentially a book that celebrates the child within all of us.

I would strongly recommend everyone to read this masterpiece and I will repeat myself again " Life is too short to miss out such fantastic reads."