Swiss Family Robinson

Written by:
Johann David Wyss
Narrated by:
Mark F. Smith
Price:

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
87
Narrator
36
Release Date
August 2006
Duration
12 hours 51 minutes
Summary
The Swiss Family Robinson has delighted generations of readers with its exciting tale of a family which, though shipwrecked, displays "the right stuff" and builds a charming colony that later, they do not want to leave. Cut off from the comforts and companionship of other humans, they use a familiarity with natural history and biology to find the resources and build the tools to construct a canoe, weave cloth, irrigate a garden, and turn an immense hollow tree into a lofty house with a spiral staircase. They domesticate buffaloes, wild asses, and monkeys. They establish farms and plantations. And finally, they have a terrifying encounter with natives from a nearby island.

Johann David Wyss, the author, did not live to complete his tale. Storytellers over the years have injected so many episodes into the various versions that probably none closely match the original. (Indeed, the Baroness de Montholieu expanded the book from two volumes into five when she translated it into French.) This effort was re-translated into English in 1849 by W.H.G. Kingston, abridging the edition severely. It follows the British sensibilities of the period in terms of sentence structure and emphasis.
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Reviews
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Anonymous

Great read

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Sandra Bernight

Very enjoyable. Walt Disney doesn't follow it at all.

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Anonymous

It's only the best book ever❣️I just can't get enough of it ❣️ And the narrator is the best ❣️

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Jennifer S.

my favourite story

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Anonymous

A very good and fun book

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Anonymous

I never get tired of listening to this book. It’s my go-to book for when I can’t decide what I want to listen to next. Reading is well done as usual by Mark Smith.

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Terry W.

I read this as a child but remembered very little of it. Written by Pastor Wyss to teach his four sons about family and Christian values, it was first published in 1812. It is very much a book of its time and tells the story of the adventures of a Swiss family shipwrecked somewhere in the East Indies whilst on their way to Australia. The island contains a multitude of flora and fauna which are unlikely to have occurred on any one island - I wonder if the originators of the TV series “Lost” read this book in their youth. It is a little long winded being full of “how to” sections which if I’d been reading rather than listening I might have given up. The narrator has a lovely, easy to listen to voice.

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Anonymous

Kind of a preachy book, but the narrator does an excellent job.

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Anonymous

I was hoping for more from this classic story

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Anonymous

Enjoyable listen while driving

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Gilvana Anjos

A história é igual outras de ilhas paradisíacas, tudo se consegue, tudo dá certo, até acontecer alguma coisa ruim, mas contornável. Achei que fosse gostar mais por ter assistido uma série animada na infância, não foi o caso. O narrador foi muito bom, consegui entender tudo, quando conseguia prestar atenção.

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Elizabeth Pedersen

Fanciful tale about a garden of eden type isle that author describes as 'desert isle' and somehow knows all the latin genus of root, flora, and animals found there. Not to be taken literally for island survival.

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