The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery - A Short Summary & Review
The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery - A Short Summary & Review
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
A Rite of Fancy Book Recommendation and Review
The exploration of adult behavior.
A short summary:
The Little Prince follows a young traveler who journeys from planet to planet, meeting a series of adults whose behaviors and obsessions reveal the oddities of the grown-up world. Through these encounters—and through his quiet friendship with a stranded aviator, the Prince exposes how logic, power, numbers, and appearances often replace imagination, compassion, and love.
Written with simplicity and depth, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry crafts a story that reads like a fable and lingers like a philosophy. Beneath its childlike surface lies a meditation on responsibility, connection, and what it means to truly see another being.
My favorite quote from the book:
Questions to ponder while reading:
My review:
A timeless mirror held up to adulthood.
This book gently asks: Which adult are you? The king? The businessman? The geographer? The little prince’s encounters are playful, but they’re never shallow. Each figure reflects a way of being that prioritizes control, certainty, or usefulness over relationship.
And then there is the rose. Who is your rose? The one made important not by perfection, but by time, care, and presence. The little prince’s wisdom reminds us that love is not possession, it is attention.
The brilliance of The Little Prince lies in its symbolic clarity. It offers ageless wisdom without preaching, meaning without heaviness. You can read it as a child and feel its magic; you can read it as an adult and feel its ache.
Few books manage that. This one does.
About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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