Book Review: Pygmallion
Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2018 6:38 pm
Title of the book: Pygmalion
Author: George Bernard Shaw
Genres: Play, comedy, romance
Short summary of the story: Professor Henry Higgins is a professor of phonetics and the English language. While talking to one of his colleagues he boasts that he can make anyone seem like an aristocrat just by the way they speak. A young flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, with a very bad accent, hears his boasts and decides she wants to be taught into being an aristocrat. After a confrontation, Higgins is pressured by his friend to teach Eliza. He is not a good and patient teacher, yet Eliza still tries to learn.
Soon Higgins and Eliza go to a party hosted by Higgins’ mother. There, Eliza sounds like an aristocrat, but she is unable to talk small talk. Higgins’ mother tells Higgins Eliza will not be able to get a good husband. However, Higgins celebrates how he was able to teach Eliza and Eliza feels like an item. Thus, she runs away. However, she comes back to her fathers wedding and reconciles with Higgins
Good points / bad points: This play has been made into a movie called My Fair Lady. The book is very funny and will certainly give you a great laugh. However, to those who are not native English speakers I don’t really recommend this book as in the beginning Eliza Doolittle’s accent is written out as is extremely hard to read.
Author: George Bernard Shaw
Genres: Play, comedy, romance
Short summary of the story: Professor Henry Higgins is a professor of phonetics and the English language. While talking to one of his colleagues he boasts that he can make anyone seem like an aristocrat just by the way they speak. A young flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, with a very bad accent, hears his boasts and decides she wants to be taught into being an aristocrat. After a confrontation, Higgins is pressured by his friend to teach Eliza. He is not a good and patient teacher, yet Eliza still tries to learn.
Soon Higgins and Eliza go to a party hosted by Higgins’ mother. There, Eliza sounds like an aristocrat, but she is unable to talk small talk. Higgins’ mother tells Higgins Eliza will not be able to get a good husband. However, Higgins celebrates how he was able to teach Eliza and Eliza feels like an item. Thus, she runs away. However, she comes back to her fathers wedding and reconciles with Higgins
Good points / bad points: This play has been made into a movie called My Fair Lady. The book is very funny and will certainly give you a great laugh. However, to those who are not native English speakers I don’t really recommend this book as in the beginning Eliza Doolittle’s accent is written out as is extremely hard to read.