Pretty much anyone I know is familiar with the 1942 Disney
movie Bambi. But far fewer people know that it’s actually based on a book by
Felix Salten. Today we’re taking a look at that story! Spoilers ahead.
The story is somewhat similar to the Disney version: A young
deer named Bambi is born and grows up in the forest with his mother, animal
friends and later on with his father, who is the grandest and oldest roe deer
prince of the entire forest.
There isn’t very much of an actual plot or goal to the story
other than survival, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s just a coming-of-age
tale of this one deer in this forest. We get to see the trials and struggles he
goes through, see him fall in love, see him grow distant from that love as he
takes up his mantle as the great prince of the forest. It’s just a story that
is well-executed, even if it doesn’t really have an overall goal to work
towards.
The characters are not mightily amazing, I’ll be real with
you. Bambi, despite being the focal point of the book, is not the most engaging
character. He’s just kind of your everyday guy and he does have his moments,
but his character is just not very new or intriguing. The side characters are
okay, but usually quite one-sided as well. So if you’re looking for a
xenofiction with strong characters, I’d look elsewhere.
Man (simply referred to as "He" in the book), though, as a villain, is very, very good. He has such a
presence despite barely being shown. He is almost like a malevolent god to the
animals, but even then we are shown that not all “He”s are bad due to a family
of them rescuing Faline’s brother (which has its own disastrous outcome). In
the end, Bambi discovers that He is, in fact, just as much a mortal creature as
any other forest animal, when he and the old prince come across a dead man in
the woods. This was a very interesting take on humans I haven’t often seen in
xenofictions, and I definitely appreciate it.
Something that’s interesting to mention is that rather than
the Disney version, where Bambi is a mule deer and it takes place in America,
this version takes place in Europe, and Bambi is a roe deer. I was surprised at
this at first, but it was likely a change Disney made to familiarize things for
an American audience. If you’re curious, a lot of elements from the Disney
adaptation also weren’t present, such as Flower, Thumper or the third act
forest fire. The movie is also far less dark than the book, where animals die
in the most gruesome of ways left and right and we even come across a murdered
man at one point. So, yeah, this isn’t a book for those who can’t stand animals
getting hurt or killed. It’s somewhat like Watership Down in that respect,
except there it’s mostly rabbit-on-rabbit violence, whereas here it’s both
predators and He doing the killing.
While Bambi doesn’t have the most memorable characters or
plot, I still say that the execution is really good and that I absolutely
recommend the book to any xenofiction fan who can handle their fair share of
darker content. It’s not up there with the best of the best animal-POV books if
you ask me, but definitely worth a look nonetheless.
Rating: 4/5
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