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Liked It “Chaucer is a very deep thinker and he sure knows how to read and describe people. Took me a while to take in the info he gave on each character in the original prologue. |
Didn’t Like It “forgettable” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Chaucer is a very deep thinker and he sure knows how to read and describe people. Took me a while to take in the info he gave on each character in the original prologue.
DAVID S wrote this review 4 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Now, in terms of the Pardoner’s tale: I think his story deserves high praise. I’ve heard many slightly different variations of this tale before (I’m not sure which one the first one is although it may be this because this is a very old book); therefore it’s definitely a message that people find very valuable to share in as many ways as possible. From the moment the characters found the treasure the suspense died because I predicted the remainder of the story just as it unfolded. But if it was my first time reading it I feel like the suspense would’ve been greater because I would be wondering if the two individuals would really go through with their plan and be stupid enough not to suspect a double crossing from each other as well as the younger fellow sent to get drinks. The fact that the tree characters were also not differentiated much kept the story from having much depth. Too bad the Pardoner doesn’t practice what he preaches. As a story sorely meant to demonstrate the result of greed, it can be considered the best.
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“This book has a lot of classical short stories. One of the more famous ones is story told by the Pardoner. He is a greedy man who scams poor people's money and he tells a story of three friends who all wanted a pile of gold. The greed got to them and they killed each other. ”
MELODY M wrote this review Thursday, November 12 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A must.”
Matt K wrote this review Wednesday, October 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This would fall into that category of books I enjoy having read, rather than books I enjoyed reading.”
Justine B wrote this review Sunday, October 18 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I read this in school and found it very interesting”
Michelle S wrote this review Friday, October 2 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“forgettable”
Virginie wrote this review Monday, September 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I read this for a British Literature course. It was great to talk about and I feel like I had accomplished some sort of literary benchmark by reading this. Had I not been asked to read this in class and sicussed it there I would more than likely never have picked it up. It really wasn't my genre/style but an interesting adventure nonetheless.”
Katie S wrote this review Tuesday, June 9 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I love Chaucer! I took a Chaucer class in college and even though I hated my professor, I loved the class. I originially read The Canterbury Tales my senior year of high school and fell in love with the stories. I think they are very cultured and tell great stories. I like the plot and how each person has to tell a story during the trip. If you like great British literature, I would definitely recommend this book. ”
Karishma wrote this review Friday, January 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“ We had to read this book for our English class. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories from different characters who went on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. Each story explained a theme that teaches the readers a moral or a lesson that better the human society. The actual book is very thick which all the characters would tell two stories back and forth of the trip, but this book was a shorter version of it.
WEN MIN W wrote this review Tuesday, December 30 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
There were many stories, but one of the stories that attracted me the most was the story about a knight learning to true beauty of a lady. The knight had raped a girl and he was punished for committing adulterous. The king was going to behead him, but then the queen told him that his head would be saved if he learned the definition of love. He had gone out with his horse to ask young ladies everywhere about the meaning of true love. But all gave him different answers, some said for money, property, or sex. At last, he came cross with a old lady who would tell him what is love only if he would promise her something in return. He went to the king and queen to tell them about love. The queen promised to save his head because his answer had touched the audience in the court. He was asked that who helped him, and the old lady entered the court and replied she did. In addition she proposed that he needed to marry her as a return promise. He refused to but then he was forced to. At first he would not touch her after their wedding because she was so ugly, old and bony. However he had finally learned her true beauty after she talked to him about his feeling and her love. He finally accepted her and they were in loved.
I enjoyed reading this book because there are many different stories that would teach the readers different themes that can be applied in to their life. Also all the stories were very interesting, especially when the stories were told from different characters who came from different social status. Some other stories that were interesting to me included the tales of the Friar, and the Pardoner. The challenging part of reading this book was the language because it was difficult to understand it since it was written a long time ago, but some of the stories were very appealing.”
“Writing a "review" of The Canterbury Tales is difficult, not because the book/collection isn't worthy of a review, but because it is so widely variant and has so many nuances to be discussed.
Okie wrote this review Wednesday, December 17 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
For those who don't know, The Canterbury Tales is a book containing a bunch of stories told by individuals traveling together on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. The book is written in the late 1300s with the pilgrimage set in the same basic time. It begins with a "General Prologue" providing a description of each of the characters in the group as well as the "game" they'll be playing (that of telling stories on the way to Canterbury). Each pilgrim tells a different tale (well, not "all" of them...the work is "unfinished" in the sense that we're missing tales from some pilgrims). Some tales are set in their contemporary England while others are set in exotic lands, romantic settings, or ancient cultures.
So what do you say in a brief review of The Canterbury Tales?
To start with, I would suggest you try reading it in the original Middle English. The language/spelling/pronunciation can be a problem, so be sure you get an edition that's glossed (unless you're proficient in Middle English). During the semester, I found a "children's" edition of the tales at my local library. It included Modern English "translations" of a couple of the tales along with some illustrations. It was kind of fun to read, but it lost some of the rhythm and drive of the tales by having them in a modern format.
Secondly, there are some bits that can be skipped, but it's difficult to identify which ones. For example, some might suggest that the entire Pardoner's Prologue (and much of his tale) can be ignored altogether and that you should just focus on the actual "tale" part of his tale. While his tale is entertaining and the reading would be much shorter if that's all you read, you would miss a TON of social and religious commentary which is very interesting. Similarly, the Wife of Bath has lengthy rambling passages in her Prologue and the Merchant includes numerous lengthy lists that have little bearing on the plot. It's difficult to create a good synopsis of what can safely be skipped, because it depends in a large extent on what you want to get out of it. Worse still, if you're reading in the unfamiliar Middle English, it's harder to quickly scan the text and get a feel for when the narrative has gotten back to the 'heart of the matter.'
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The writing is fun and clever (once you get through the 'translation' issues with the Middle English). For a common reference, it's like reading Shakespeare, only more archaic by a couple hundred years. The language of the narrative varies depending on the narrator of the particular prologue/tale, but with Chaucer at the helm behind the scenes, the writing is generally very good, descriptive, layered, humorous, inspiring, etc. (except for when he's trying to illustrate 'bad writing', and then it's good in that it's so bad).
The messages presented are widely varied as well. The Knight's Tale was an intriguing tale of romance and chivalry with lots of courtly intrigue...but at times it felt a little dry. The Miller and the Reeve were hilarious tales and introduced me to a new (to me) genre in the fabliau. The Wife of Bath had an interesting prologue and a fun tale, again with a semi-romantic style and an interesting moral. The Nun's Priest gave us a fun little animal fable. The Prioress presented a strange little tale about miracles or anti-semitism or devout love or something else?
Overall, I would definitely recommend having a copy of The Canterbury Tales on your shelf. Some tales are easier to read than others. Some tales are more fun while others are more thought provoking (as stated in one of the prologues, a tale has one of two purposes, to educate or to entertain...and there are examples of each). Once you get your teeth into the language (probably the biggest hurdle) I suspect you'll enjoy these.
*****
5 stars”
