Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.17 AVERAGE
3.17 AVERAGE
This is the story of the original survivor, Robinson Crusoe, but it's so much more as the castaway adventure involves a bit less than the first half of the book even though it involves 27 years. Defoe wrote this with such detail that Rob Crusoe is vividly brought to life with all of his strengths and faults (to our changed 21st century world). I did not admire the prose, but I was caught up in Crusoe's story and how Defoe made Crusoe believable. Needless to say a lot has changed from the late 1600s such as we no longer have slavery (no problem for Crusoe unless he himself was the slave - it happened), the Spanish Inquisition, or the opium trade as legal options. I also cringed when finally after over 20 years, Crusoe rescues a native (South American) from other cannibal natives and teaches him that his (Crusoe's) name is Master. Crusoe also has no problem claiming almost everything he touches as his. So why did I like this so much? Most of the novel is about Crusoe's adventures. Perhaps Crusoe was unlucky, but this novel really describes how hazardous sea travel was with violent storms and times of no wind at all when ships were stranded for days and weeks. Crusoe also relied on his previous experiences, although he was young at the time, when he was shipwrecked on his island to survive. That part of the story is pretty well known. What amazed me is the second half of the book in his early 60s, he decides to go adventuring again going back to his island (and believe me, he thinks of it as his little domain) and on. This also presents numerous challenges and he makes a cross land journey much later on back. I think this book is well worth 5 stars and shows why classics are classics even if this is only one entitled white man's story who assumes that Christian English ways are best.
Robinson Crusoe 300
Review of the Modern Library paperback edition
I'm a little early, but I couldn't help notice that April 25, 2019 will be the 300th Anniversary of the first publication of Robinson Crusoe, which is also commonly considered the first English language novel. So it seemed like a good time to tick this off my 1001 Books bucket list.
This 2001 edition paperback from The Modern Library was remarkably easy to read even though it was only moderately edited from the 1719 original. The archaic spellings and run on sentences are left intact, but mercifully the archaic long "s" (which most would see as an f these days) has been changed to the now more common round "s". Some printings are labelled as having illustrations by Gerald McCann, but those are missing from this 9th printing that I have. It does have the Virginia Woolf introduction though.
Trivia Note
Speaking of archaic spellings, the "Oroonoque" river in the original long title, would now be commonly known as the Orinoco River in Venezuela.
Frontispiece and title page from the 1st edition of Robinson Crusoe, published April 25, 1719. Image: Wikimedia Commons
Review of the Modern Library paperback edition
I'm a little early, but I couldn't help notice that April 25, 2019 will be the 300th Anniversary of the first publication of Robinson Crusoe, which is also commonly considered the first English language novel. So it seemed like a good time to tick this off my 1001 Books bucket list.
This 2001 edition paperback from The Modern Library was remarkably easy to read even though it was only moderately edited from the 1719 original. The archaic spellings and run on sentences are left intact, but mercifully the archaic long "s" (which most would see as an f these days) has been changed to the now more common round "s". Some printings are labelled as having illustrations by Gerald McCann, but those are missing from this 9th printing that I have. It does have the Virginia Woolf introduction though.
Trivia Note
Speaking of archaic spellings, the "Oroonoque" river in the original long title, would now be commonly known as the Orinoco River in Venezuela.
Frontispiece and title page from the 1st edition of Robinson Crusoe, published April 25, 1719. Image: Wikimedia Commons
Honestly, freaking hilarious book.
Dude's dad says, "don't go on adventures, we'll set you up for a great life here!" Dude goes on an adventure; shipwreck. Gets on land and says, "maybe dad was right...NAH" back on a boat, captured and made a slave. Escapes, goes to Brazil and starts a plantation. Gets rich. Says, "dang, this is the good life, what more could I want?" IMMEDIATELY gets on a ship to Africa; shipwreck. Stuck on an island, alone, for 24 years. Saves a native from being eaten; saves a Spaniards and another native from being eaten. Sends the Spaniard to the mainland to save his friends; ship appears. Dude stops a mutiny, leaves three people on the island as punishment. Comes home, collects all his money, then visits the island 9-ish years later to find the Spaniards came back and are living there. He leaves a bunch of stuff and then fucks off and leaves them there.
Tough read, due to old language, but I laughed at this dummy's self-caused misfortune through the whole thing.
Dude's dad says, "don't go on adventures, we'll set you up for a great life here!" Dude goes on an adventure; shipwreck. Gets on land and says, "maybe dad was right...NAH" back on a boat, captured and made a slave. Escapes, goes to Brazil and starts a plantation. Gets rich. Says, "dang, this is the good life, what more could I want?" IMMEDIATELY gets on a ship to Africa; shipwreck. Stuck on an island, alone, for 24 years. Saves a native from being eaten; saves a Spaniards and another native from being eaten. Sends the Spaniard to the mainland to save his friends; ship appears. Dude stops a mutiny, leaves three people on the island as punishment. Comes home, collects all his money, then visits the island 9-ish years later to find the Spaniards came back and are living there. He leaves a bunch of stuff and then fucks off and leaves them there.
Tough read, due to old language, but I laughed at this dummy's self-caused misfortune through the whole thing.
A hard book to review. Parts were truly painful to slog through, others were a reminder of the powerful self reflection technology has since made nearly impossible.
Worth a read, just strap in for pages upon pages of dense, unnecessary prose in between a beautifully written and laid out inner monologue from the narrator.
Worth a read, just strap in for pages upon pages of dense, unnecessary prose in between a beautifully written and laid out inner monologue from the narrator.
I'm so glad I finally read this amazing adventure story.
Sigh. I tried so hard with this one. I know at the time it was written attitudes about slavery and racism were very, very different, but it's just too much for me to overcome here.
If you're unfamiliar with the story, Robinson Crusoe leaves his family in England and goes out to sea where he has many adventures before being in a shipwreck. The sole survivor, he has to find a way to survive life on the Caribbean island where's he's stuck.
That part? Is fascinating. The rest is just not for me.
If you're unfamiliar with the story, Robinson Crusoe leaves his family in England and goes out to sea where he has many adventures before being in a shipwreck. The sole survivor, he has to find a way to survive life on the Caribbean island where's he's stuck.
That part? Is fascinating. The rest is just not for me.
Interesting book, but seems very cliche' now. Never noticed the racists and sexist undertones before.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A timeless adventure tale, it really does hold up after all these years. If you want a “stranded on a tropical island” fantasy, boom, Daniel DeFriend did that for us 300 years ago.
The ruminations on Christianity do get tiring, but there is some purpose there imo. I see other reviews blasting the book for its colonial, racist aspects, which is obviously a reader’s right, but that kinda ignores the underlying story, the era, etc. I’m not pardoning anything, I’m saying you can recognize that aspect while still acknowledging the merits of other aspects of the story.
I also think those critiques are dead wrong. It’s always tough to judge authorial intent, but I believe there are points where Defoe seems satiric, subversive. It struck me most in a passage where he clearly states “I sent Friday and his dad to chop down a tree, and the Spaniard to supervise them.” He’s already made it very clear how competent Friday is, and by making it such an obviously straight-forward task it seems he might be calling attention to how dumb such thinking is. You might think that a one-off, but on the same page he says “we’d go hunting, Friday and I one day, the Spaniard and Friday the next. We took turns like that.” Something to that effect, where he’s written it so you very clearly see that, no, Friday had to work every day. Again, you can assume blind racism if you like, but to me it’s so bluntly stated that it seems purposeful. Defoe isn’t gonna overturn all of his racist-ass society, but he presents a “savage” in a way his honky world might get. No one wanted to hear “well actually, verified cannibalism isn’t really common, it’s more a cultural fear we have!” Nope, given the audience of his time he spoke a language they might understand and then made it very clear every step of the way that Friday was an equal human, but in the narrator’s mind and world that didn’t ultimately result in the same life, or anything close to it. Again, I think there’s something purposeful in how the white man made a fortune doing literally nothing but investing at a point early on.
Anyway, that’s my reading, if you wanna just blast everything written by a white dude prior to 1990 as racist crap, hey, you do you, but I find this to be interesting insights into the times. I personally feel Defoe was somewhat subversive here, and regardless of your reading I find the actual survival story to be very engaging, all these years later.
The ruminations on Christianity do get tiring, but there is some purpose there imo. I see other reviews blasting the book for its colonial, racist aspects, which is obviously a reader’s right, but that kinda ignores the underlying story, the era, etc. I’m not pardoning anything, I’m saying you can recognize that aspect while still acknowledging the merits of other aspects of the story.
I also think those critiques are dead wrong. It’s always tough to judge authorial intent, but I believe there are points where Defoe seems satiric, subversive. It struck me most in a passage where he clearly states “I sent Friday and his dad to chop down a tree, and the Spaniard to supervise them.” He’s already made it very clear how competent Friday is, and by making it such an obviously straight-forward task it seems he might be calling attention to how dumb such thinking is. You might think that a one-off, but on the same page he says “we’d go hunting, Friday and I one day, the Spaniard and Friday the next. We took turns like that.” Something to that effect, where he’s written it so you very clearly see that, no, Friday had to work every day. Again, you can assume blind racism if you like, but to me it’s so bluntly stated that it seems purposeful. Defoe isn’t gonna overturn all of his racist-ass society, but he presents a “savage” in a way his honky world might get. No one wanted to hear “well actually, verified cannibalism isn’t really common, it’s more a cultural fear we have!” Nope, given the audience of his time he spoke a language they might understand and then made it very clear every step of the way that Friday was an equal human, but in the narrator’s mind and world that didn’t ultimately result in the same life, or anything close to it. Again, I think there’s something purposeful in how the white man made a fortune doing literally nothing but investing at a point early on.
Anyway, that’s my reading, if you wanna just blast everything written by a white dude prior to 1990 as racist crap, hey, you do you, but I find this to be interesting insights into the times. I personally feel Defoe was somewhat subversive here, and regardless of your reading I find the actual survival story to be very engaging, all these years later.