(English review at the bottom)

Letto soltanto perché ce l'avevo già sul kindle. Essendo un classico della letteratura tedesca si può scaricare gratuitamente da Amazon. Ero curiosa di leggere di una famiglia svizzera, ma, ahimè, non avevo approfondito la trama.
Due stelline perché sono riuscita a finirlo, ma è stata un'agonia. In breve la trama: una famiglia svizzera (madre, padre e quattro figli) sono naufragi su un'isola deserta e devono arrangiarsi per sopravvivere. Il padre riesce a fare tutto, ma veramente tutto, e riesce sempre a trovare ciò di cui ha bisogno. O trova ciò che gli serve oppure s'ingegna à la MacGyver. Così costruiscono rifugi, vanno a caccia, addomesticano animali selvaggi, costruiscono anche attrezzi per lavorare il cotone, fare l'olio, etc. Il padre, inoltre, è anche un esperto di piante quindi riesce a riconoscere ogni pianta, le sue proprietà e il suo utilizzo.
Il tutto è di un'esagerazione assurda e diventa quindi non credibile. Il fatto che il libro abbia anche 450 pagine, e sia ricco di dettagli, non aiuta perché risulta di una pesantezza estenuante. Ciò che mi ha aiutato a finirne la lettura è il fatto che sia stato scritto nel 1812 quindi riesco più o meno a giustificare questa barbara voglia di cattura e addomesticamento di animali, la caccia spietata e l'uccisione a volte anche inutile di animali, ma anche il fatto che fossero capaci di fare molte cose che ormai si sono perse: la pulizia e la pettinatura del cotone, la pulizia e macinazione di cereali, la spremitura di frutti per ottenere olio, la conservazione di carne sotto sale, etc. Ecco un'altra cosa incredibile: su questa isola, di cui non si conosce la posizione, cresce di tutto, dalle patate alla noce di cocco, e c'è qualsiasi tipo di animale, dall'aquila al rinoceronte.
Un altro fattore importante per non arrabbiarsi troppo con l'autore per questa storia assurda, è che lui non l'aveva scritta per la pubblicazione. Era una storia, o brevi racconti collegati tra loro, per intrattenere i figli istruendoli e insegnare loro a credere sempre nella bontà e misericordia di Dio, a non arrendersi mai e ingegnarsi sempre, a non impigrire né l'intelletto né il fisico, ad aiutarsi a vicenda amorevolmente, di incrementare sempre le loro conoscenze perché nella vita tutto può tornare utile. Ecco quindi perché la descrizione delle piante, della cattura, macellazione e conservazione degli animali, della costruzione di attrezzi e rifugi, è così dettagliata: l'autore voleva insegnare ai figli tutto ciò che secondo lui era importante per riuscire a sopravvivere ovunque. Nella prefazione della mia edizione c'è scritto che è stato il figlio primogenito (professore di filosofia) a voler pubblicare queste storie che il padre raccontava a lui e ai fratelli quando erano piccoli.

English
2 stars because I managed to finish it but it has been a tough read for many reasons.
Only very briefly the plot: a Swiss family (mother, father and four sons) are shripwrecked passangers on a deserted island. The father manages to do really everything, from building shelters, creating tools to kill animals in order to have their nurishment, domesticate wild animals, or even creating tools for the grinding of various grains or for the pressing of fruits to have oil, etc. He is also able to recognize every kind of plant, its properties and use.
Well, all the things the father knows or is able to do are really too much and exaggerated. He finds whatever he needs on the wrecked ship or on the island, even salt to conserve the meat. All the things he does are also explained in a very detailed way and it was so boring. The book is also over 400 pages so after a while I had enough of all these details and about this super-father.
But thanks to the foreword of my book I was able to understand the reason for all these things I didn’t like. This book, or the many connected stories it contains, has been written by the author only to be read to his sons. He never wanted to publish it and it has been his elder son that in 1812 decided to publish these stories in two volumes. The book was meant to teach his sons several things: to be always grateful to God for everything they have, to help each other with love and respect, to teach them that lazyness doesn’t bring anything good, to be always active with both mind and body, that knowledge of everything can always be helpful.
I understand also that the book is of its time so surely in that century people were able to do many things we aren’t anymore able to do, therefore I don’t have to wonder if they knew how to clean grain and do flour out of it, or how to work the cotton of the plant to have clean and useable cotton. But the book was really too long, with too many details and repetitive.

Weird Christian colonist dreamscape of magical land of wonderful creatures (penguins, flamingos, monkeys, eagles, buffalo) and foodstuffs (coconuts, sugarcane, oysters, crabs) with no pesky humans to interrupt the colonizers’ agenda. And this version was abridged! Also the ending was so abrupt as to be completely surprising to our family. “The winter weather was dismal. The end.” What?

I don’t think there’s much here for modern audiences who maybe (hopefully) are less interested in bending nature to their will.

Fascinating adventure back in time with the Robinson family from Switzerland. Dated but enjoyable.

This is the first time I have read the book. I have never been shipwrecked, but if I did, here is what I learned

1. Be on a ship that has many of the things you would need to survive, including livestock
2. Don't leave the ship until you are sure you can reach land
3. Study hard so you know about every type of animal and plant that can be found
4. Find an island with an eco-system that compares to...Africa. The island had the widest variety of animals and habitats that I have ever heard of. The island must be huge!

It was also interesting to see his family interact with the wildlife. Remember to always shoot and kill first and then subject the rest of the animals to hard labor.

Nevertheless, the story was a quick read and held my interest enough to finish it. Mainly because of the unbelievable luck/providence they had. I guess I had better find the other half of the story to see how things ended up

The premise is interesting, but the story itself has certain elements I found very off-putting. The family patriarch is the narrator and he's an insufferable mansplainer know-it-all who only refers to the family matriarch as wife or mother. And somehow they landed on an island with animals from all over the world co-existing, and their adding additional invasive species is perfectly fine. I know this is to be expected based on when the story was written, but still. Ugh.

I read and loved this book as a child and just shared it with my daughter. At first it seemed laughable in some ways, but doing more research and seeing the book as it was originally intended, as a Rousseau-inspired meditation on and teaching tool about god's natural creation, it was more enjoyable. A good story, although many aspects pushed credulity.

Probably best read as an example text to show the toxicity of old-time values. It's all on full display!
I cringe to think of the amount of this type of stuff I consumed as a kid.
There's occasional enjoyment to be had in the problem solving (it has just occurred to me that I'd lap up a steampunk equivalent of The Martian if anyone would be good enough to write it for me), but reading about these smug bastards crushing their environment under their heels, through flat prose intent on convincing you that fulfilment of their manifest destiny is somehow laudable, is no fun at all.

The Swiss Family Robinson is a good book for children, particularly those interested in adventure and it is rather exciting though often repetitive. It reads like a fantasy of what naïve children think it would be like to live on a desert island. The Robinson's are able to tame a litany of animals that would admittedly be awesome to have as pets but rather unrealistic. On top of this they encounter elephants, tigers, lions, ostriches, bears, an anaconda like snake, jaguars, and hippos. These are all very cool animals but is there an ecosystem that could support all these varied creatures? I think not, but I am not certain. Either way, it is fun to imagine a desert island where so much adventure could be found with an elaborate tree house and pet monkey. The story is fun and wholesome though lacks the emotional depth that Robinson Crusoe displays, though is a more kid friendly version of the genre.