🚀 Summary

It’s a classic short story under 100 pages for children. It also has his philosophical introspection targeted at adults. It’s a simple story that examines questions like “how to live?” and “what is really important in life?“.

The story begins with a pilot stranded in the desert after a plane crash. He hallucinates an imaginary Prince who goes on to narrate a short story- albeit repetitive. Eventually, they are thirsty but find a well just in time, before the Prince mysteriously disappears. The pilot mends the plane, goes home.

🎨 Impressions

I’ll be super honest here- I thought it was a lousy book. I felt frustrated because I did not see the point of the story.

My best guess is that the author is trying to tell us what are the important things in life when he talks about the anecdote about taming the fox or loving the flower. The important things are the things that you spend time with. Your flower is important to you because of the time you spent tending to it, that is what distinguishes it from all the other flowers in the world. But it is not the flower that is important, it is the time invested in that relationship with the flower.

P.S. - Have you noticed that Goodreads has improved the search functionality? Earlier I’d have to type the correct title/author word for word. But not the search results show almost-guesses and it’s such a relief. But I kind of miss that old-school user-unfriendly rigid feature.

🕵 How I Discovered It

Has been on my to-read shelf for a while. And then a friend I was visiting loaned it to me for the 15h flight to India.

✍️ My Favorite Quotes

“I am looking for friends. What does that mean — tame?” “It is an act too often neglected,” said the fox. “It means to establish ties.” “To establish ties?” “Just that,” said the fox. “To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world…”

“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”