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3.17 AVERAGE
3.17 AVERAGE
adventurous
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow, this book was a struggle. Many others have reviewed it better than I but in short it is a book which is hard work because of its pacing and style. Being an 18th century work I fully expected some rambling but the most annoying features were that the narrative is all over the place with the character constantly repeating himself in the first half of the book. Thus potentially interesting bits of the story are missed out and other duller pieces over elaborated upon. There were moments when I was more absorbed such as how he builds his shelter and as soon as Friday turned up at least it was more of a narrative (although he's only in the last quarter of the book).
There are also the problematic attitudes of the time as you'd expect which mean it has quite a different impact now than it would have done. After all he's wrecked on a voyage where he's headed to enslave people so I had no sympathy for him. I have to confess I also cheered when HR got food poisoning from bludgeoning a turtle.
Also once he's rescued the book just won't stop and I skim read the bits with wolves which added nothing to the story at all and simply highlighted the views of the time towards wild animals (see Friday tormenting a bear when it was minding its own business).
All in all a slog and not a rewarding one
There are also the problematic attitudes of the time as you'd expect which mean it has quite a different impact now than it would have done. After all he's wrecked on a voyage where he's headed to enslave people so I had no sympathy for him. I have to confess I also cheered when HR got food poisoning from bludgeoning a turtle.
Also once he's rescued the book just won't stop and I skim read the bits with wolves which added nothing to the story at all and simply highlighted the views of the time towards wild animals (see Friday tormenting a bear when it was minding its own business).
All in all a slog and not a rewarding one
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racism, Xenophobia
Ugh. This dragged on for a million years. Wait. Was it only 28? It felt like a million.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
tense
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Snarky review:
I could have done with less kitten murder. Man, oh, man, does Robinson Crusoe murder a lot of kittens. Oh, also, Robinson Crusoe not organizing slave trading and not being a racist would have been nice. But it was the 1600s. Slavery and kitten-murdering were apparently fine and dandy with many Europeans.
Non-snarky review:
Despite the clunkiness of the 18th-century language to modern ears (the novel was first published in 1719), Robinson Crusoe is still a fairly easy read. I found the sections describing Robinson Crusoe's adventures and misadventures engaging and enjoyed the sections describing how he made a life for himself on the island where he was shipwrecked, but overall, the narrative structure seemed rather haphazard, and the novel is replete with racism and Eurocentrism with Crusoe himself, in the early part of the novel, setting up a shipping expedition to bring slaves from Africa to Brazil, and the novel takes it for granted that Christianity is the only true religion. To his credit, Crusoe is at least somewhat self-aware in reflecting how unjust it seems that the "pagans" of the Caribbean were not fortunate enough to have received the revelation of the Christian religion as did the Europeans, but he is still very much a man of his time.
If Robinson Crusoe weren't among the earliest novels to be published and find widespread success, I don't think it would enjoy the reputation that it does today as it has little literary heft, is not particularly well written, and is more akin to Treasure Island than to a truly great work of literature like, for example, Moby Dick.
I could have done with less kitten murder. Man, oh, man, does Robinson Crusoe murder a lot of kittens. Oh, also, Robinson Crusoe not organizing slave trading and not being a racist would have been nice. But it was the 1600s. Slavery and kitten-murdering were apparently fine and dandy with many Europeans.
Non-snarky review:
Despite the clunkiness of the 18th-century language to modern ears (the novel was first published in 1719), Robinson Crusoe is still a fairly easy read. I found the sections describing Robinson Crusoe's adventures and misadventures engaging and enjoyed the sections describing how he made a life for himself on the island where he was shipwrecked, but overall, the narrative structure seemed rather haphazard, and the novel is replete with racism and Eurocentrism with Crusoe himself, in the early part of the novel, setting up a shipping expedition to bring slaves from Africa to Brazil, and the novel takes it for granted that Christianity is the only true religion. To his credit, Crusoe is at least somewhat self-aware in reflecting how unjust it seems that the "pagans" of the Caribbean were not fortunate enough to have received the revelation of the Christian religion as did the Europeans, but he is still very much a man of his time.
If Robinson Crusoe weren't among the earliest novels to be published and find widespread success, I don't think it would enjoy the reputation that it does today as it has little literary heft, is not particularly well written, and is more akin to Treasure Island than to a truly great work of literature like, for example, Moby Dick.
Holy crap. I don't know how a book about a man surviving by himself on an island, contending with cannibals can be so boring. The vast majority is mostly Crusoe philosophizing about God, but almost all repetitions on the exact same theme. It only really gets interesting the last hundred or pages or so, when Friday shows up.
3.5 ★ - (liked it)
I read this for school some years ago and the first things I think of now when I hear Robinson Crusoe mentioned are: cannibalism, lengthy pieces of biblical commentary that at times don't quite line up with my beliefs, and it taking forever to read XD
But I also remember Friday and the parrot and Crusoe being shipwrecked. And him storing provisions in his house and making a canoe. I remember the goat and drying raisins. All things I liked reading about. So although my immediate memories of it aren't the best when I reflect long enough I did enjoy this book. I hope to read it again and write another review :)
CWs: cannibals,
12/21/23
I read this for school some years ago and the first things I think of now when I hear Robinson Crusoe mentioned are: cannibalism, lengthy pieces of biblical commentary that at times don't quite line up with my beliefs, and it taking forever to read XD
But I also remember Friday and the parrot and Crusoe being shipwrecked. And him storing provisions in his house and making a canoe. I remember the goat and drying raisins. All things I liked reading about. So although my immediate memories of it aren't the best when I reflect long enough I did enjoy this book. I hope to read it again and write another review :)
CWs: cannibals,
12/21/23
My main issue with this was the multiple shipwrecks before the main event. I suppose it's meant to show the pull of the sea on Crusoe so that it's almost like an addiction, but the female in me is just thinking how can he so idiotic?
I sort of enjoyed the large middle bit where he finds a way of life stranded on a seemingly desserted island. It also doesn't make sense to me that it takes him YEARS to find out that it isn't actually desserted. However, I also think I was too distracted while reading this to give it its full due. Thus I have padded my rating slightly. Am I going to give it another go though? Unlikely.
I sort of enjoyed the large middle bit where he finds a way of life stranded on a seemingly desserted island. It also doesn't make sense to me that it takes him YEARS to find out that it isn't actually desserted. However, I also think I was too distracted while reading this to give it its full due. Thus I have padded my rating slightly. Am I going to give it another go though? Unlikely.