Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi
First published as a novel in Italian, 1883.
What a truly weird book.
This is the OG version of Pinocchio, and it feels very dated, and odd. I once read half of the book The Adventures of Roderick Ransom by Tobias Smollett, and it gives me vibes of that, in the way the story unfolds without much overarching structure; rather, it simply feels like a rambly bed time story being continuously extended with plot points that feel like the author is just going: "and then, this happened!"
In some ways this makes sense, as the original stories were published in serial format before being grouped together as a novel, but authors like Charles Dickens shows that these can still be coherent narratives. Pinocchio doesn't really worry about things like that! Sure, there is a through-line in that Pinocchio is a disobedient puppet who continuously makes poor choices - surely, meant to be a morality lesson for the reader - but other bits barely make sense in a continuity sense.
For example, in an early chapter Pinocchio encounters the "talking-cricket" (no 'Jiminy' here), but promptly ignores its advice and throws something at it, instantly killing the creature. A few chapters later, Pinocchio encounters "the ghost of the talking-cricket" which emphasises the dead-ness of the character. Yet, a few chapters after that, the cricket is back in the role of a doctor, referring to his earlier encounters with Pinocchio, but with no explanation as to why it is suddenly alive, nor why it is a doctor now.
Other things seem to happen bizarrely for no good reason, even plot-wise. At one point, Pinocchio is looking for the fairy (blue fairy-equivalent) and knocks on the door of her house, only to have a snail answer from an upstairs window. This, of course, leads to a very long wait for Pinocchio, as the snail slowly makes it way to the door. Humorous? Maybe... I guess it could be intended to be, at least. But, just weird. At another point, Pinocchio gets captured by a green-skinned fisherman who thinks he is a fish and wants to eat him. Random, and never referenced again.
Do all these things have some basis in Italian culture that I am unaware of? Who knows.
And then, just to make things even more bizarre, the name of 'Pleasure Island' in this translation is 'The Land of Boobies.' Now, I am pretty confident that this is 'boobie' in the sense of a dim-witted or idiotic person... but it doesn't help matters.
Overall, I can say with confidence: this is a truly weird book, and except for reasons of observing its weirdness again, I am unlikely to recommend or read it over.
Completed 4 October 2025.
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