Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss ISBN: 0-394-80001-X Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 12 March, 1957 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $8.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 (107 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Frightening book for children
Comment: The Cat in the Hat is quite a disturbing book considering how young its audience is. This giant mutant cat shows up at the house while mom is out and proceeds to touch and play with everything while the kids look on in terror. They try to get this strange intruder to leave without success, and the cat proceeds to release two "things" which tear around the house, destroying everything. Sure, the cat cleans up everything in the end, but if you or I did this, we'd be lucky to be arrested and not shot on sight. I would expect children to have nightmares from this story.
Rating: 5
Summary: Cat in the Hat - a hard-hitting novel of prose and poetry
Comment: "The Cat in the Hat" is a hard-hitting novel of prose and poetry in which the author re-examines the dynamic rhyming schemes and bold imagery of some of his earlier works, most notably "Green Eggs and Ham", "If I Ran the Zoo", and "Why Can't I Shower With Mommy?" In this novel, Theodore Geisel, writing under the pseudonym Dr. Seuss, pays homage to the great Dr. Sigmund Freud in a nightmarish fantasy of a renegade feline helping two young children understand their own frustrated sexuality.
The story opens with two youngsters, a brother and a sister, abandoned by their mother, staring mournfully through the window of their single-family dwelling. In the foreground, a large tree/phallic symbol dances wildly in the wind, taunting the children and encouraging them to succumb to the sexual yearnings they undoubtedly feel for each other.
Even to the most unlearned reader, the blatant references to the incestuous relationship the two share set the tone for Seuss's probing examination of the satisfaction of primitive needs. The Cat proceeds to charm the wary youths into engaging in what he so innocently refers to as "tricks." At this point, the fish, an obvious Christ figure who represents the prevailing Christian morality, attempts to warn the children, and thus, in effect, warns all of humanity of the dangers associated with the unleashing of the primal urges. In response to this, the cat proceeds to balance the aquatic naysayer on the end of his umbrella, essentially saying, "Down with morality; down with God!"
After pooh-poohing the righteous rantings of the waterlogged Christ figure, the Cat begins to juggle several icons of Western culture, most notably two books, representing the Old and New Testaments, and a saucer of lacteal fluid, an ironic reference to maternal loss the two children experienced when their mother abandoned them "for the afternoon." Our heroic Id adds to this bold gesture a rake and a toy man, and thus completes the Oedipal triangle.
Later in the novel, Seuss introduces the proverbial Pandora's box, a large red crate out of which the Id releases Thing One, or Freud's concept of Ego, the division of the psyche that serves as the conscious mediator between the person and reality, and Thing Two, the Superego, which functions to reward and punish through a system of moral attitudes, conscience, and guilt. Referring to this box, the Cat says, "Now look at this trick. Take a look!" In this, Dr. Seuss uses the children as a brilliant metaphor for the reader, and asks the reader to re-examine his own inner self.
The children, unable to control the Id, Ego, and Superego, allow these creatures to run free and mess up the house, or more symbolically, control their lives. This rampage continues until the fish, or Christ symbol, warns that the mother is returning to reinstate the Oedipal triangle that existed before her abandonment of the children. At this point, Seuss introduces a many-armed cleaning device which represents the psychoanalytic couch, which proceeds to put the two youngsters' lives back in order.
With powerful simplicity, clarity, and drama, Seuss reduces Freud's concepts on the dynamics of the human psyche to an easily understood gesture. Mr. Seuss's poetry and choice of words is equally impressive and serves as a splendid counterpart to his bold symbolism. In all, his writing style is quick and fluid, making "The Cat in the Hat" impossible to put down. While this novel is 61 pages in length, and one can read it in five minutes or less, it is not until after multiple readings that the genius of this modern day master becomes apparent.
Rating: 5
Summary: Book is great, film is doomed...
Comment: If you haven't read tCitH, buy the book right now. Buy/read all Dr Seuss books, today, and mercilessly indoctrinate your offspring. Or, you could doom them to never having a sense of humour; they're your offspring, so it's your choice...
Yeah, we've seen the Grinch, which was really a good interpretion. (for my money, Jim Carey will osmote into Jack Nicholson, history repeats.)
But Mike Myers is overstretching himself this time. He's just not cool enough to be the Cat. Carey probably could've been, Myers will fail. Even in the preview mpgs, it just sucks. Pretend the movie doesn't exist, it's ugly and nasty, read the books, watch the cartoon... Myers has got it bottom-backwards; the cat's careless irresponsibility is the core of the character, dictating "right-minded correct behaviour" is just dumb. Kids got brains...
Ah, jeez, it's so depressing. The Cat is an iconic figure, and Myers is gonna destroy him, 'cos he's run out of ideas. (Wayne, Austin P, worn out..) It'll be like the the Batman films, which were all garbage, betraying the Batman concept, (c.f. the Superman films, which really portrayed Supes, "the blue booby". Bats is much darker, and smarter than the films, etc..)
So don't go see the Cat in the hat film, until you've read the books. After the film, you'll want to read all the other books, and won't go to see Cat in the Hat II; more inane japes.
 |
Title: Green Eggs and Ham (I Can Read It All by Myself Beginner Books) by Dr. Seuss ISBN: 0394800168 Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 12 August, 1960 List Price(USD): $8.99 |
 |
Title: One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by DR SEUSS ISBN: 0394800133 Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 12 March, 1960 List Price(USD): $8.99 |
 |
Title: Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss, Theodor Seuss Geisel ISBN: 039480029X Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 12 February, 1963 List Price(USD): $8.99 |
 |
Title: Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book! by DR SEUSS ISBN: 0679882812 Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 26 November, 1996 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
 |
Title: Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss, Theodor Seuss Geisel ISBN: 0394800389 Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 12 January, 1965 List Price(USD): $8.99 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
