Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows
Description
When a fervor hits Mole amid his spring cleaning, he finds himself popping above ground and tumbling into a new life of sunshine, boats, and adventures.
Inexperienced to things in the world above his happy dirt home, Mole happens upon a water rat who soon becomes his close friend and introduces him to the river, the Wild Wood, the fantastic Mr. Toad, and the hermitic Badger.
Enthralled and amazed by his newfound friends and the adventures this new life holds, Mole cannot even begin to imagine the adventure in store when Mr. Toad encounters a motor car for the first time
Disclosure
I personally bought this book. There was no agreement with the author, publisher, or any third party that I would publish a review. The following review is unsolicited, unbiased, and all opinions are my own.
Review – Spoiler Free
Like many, I have heard bits of The Wind in the Willows since childhood. We watched Disney’s animations, were read excerpt stories, my father has always embraced Ratty’s feelings about boats, and I fondly associate it and Beatrix Potter’s work with my Grandmother. I have read an abridged version with our children a few times and wanted to read the whole book with them. After much scouring of online listings, I found a copy with full color, original illustrations that mirrored how our abridged edition looked – because why deprive yourself of good art if you don’t have to?
The original illustrator, Ernest H. Shephard (also the original illustrator of Winnie-the-Pooh), gives readers wonderfully wistful, pen and ink drawings brought further to life with watercolor. They can be a little muddled at times, but generally are fun and true to story. Looking back, holding out for this edition was so, incredibly worth it – I love the illustrations and, as we read and the story fell in its appeal, it was refreshing to have the full color still winking out of the pages.
While Shephard’s illustrations held their own for the full novel, Grahame’s story did not. I enjoyed the characters and their interactions, and therefore was willing to set aside world building questions as they arose. But there were more than a few chapters that dragged from a drop in action or content that didn’t affect the story being told, and by the big hurrah of the last few chapters, I just wanted to get it read, done, and over with.
The Wind in the Willows, at its core, is about friendship and how a close group of friends grows together through shared experiences. Many of the chapters that dragged were full of good moments that point at who the characters are, but their slow pace and waxing on made them feel irrelevant and out of place. I am not usually a fan of abridged book editions, but this is an exception where I fully see it’s merit. The abridged edition we have read (The Wind in the Willows Treasury, a hardback published in 2000 by Index for Egmont, pictured below) has many of Shephard’s wonderful illustrations, keeps tons of the character interactions and story arcs, and cuts short or omits altogether many of those parts where the original story dragged.
Another aspect that killed The Wind in the Willows for me, was the prevalence of one character forcibly making a decision for another who didn’t agree with it. The amount of times a character was “taken by the paw” by their friend and had the error of their ways explained to them and the remedy for such transgression dictated to them was off-putting. Yes, it was done in the light of the acting character thinking it was what would be best for their friend, but many times it simply went along with what the acting character wanted for themselves and wanted for their friend. It could easily be missed, but it can also introduce the discussion of: should we force our opinion on others if we think our opinion is right and theirs is wrong? And for that matter, do we truly know what is best for someone else?
Overall, I did not like The Wind in the Willows; it was a task to get through, and I was rather disappointed considering how well I had previously thought of it (you’ll see below that the main thing pulling up the final rating is the illustrations). I did however, like the storyline and therefore did enjoy and would recommend our abridged version, The Wind in the Willows Treasury (pictured to the right). I would recommend it to kids reading middle grade and parents looking for a read-aloud with their children (both within the light of possibly needing to have a discussion about whether we should force our opinions on others), or even an adult looking for a lighthearted read. I would not, however recommend the unabridged version unless you’re hellbent on reading all the classics, or are ready to get into some theology or psychology with a fictitious mole, rat, badger, and toad.
Quote
“It’s all the same, whatever [Toad] takes up; he gets tired of it, and starts on something fresh.”
Rat (The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame)
Ratings
- Quality of Writing – 1
- Plot – 1
- World Building – 2
- Characters – 3
- Ease of Reading – 3
- Pictures/ Illustrations – 5
- Appropriate for Intended Age – 2
- Overall Enjoyment – 1
- Final Rating – 2.5 (Actual: 2.25) – It Was OK/ Liked It
Want to learn more about the numbers I use for rating, and the qualities I’m thinking about when writing a book review? Check out my post How I Rate and Review.