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3.17 AVERAGE
3.17 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was the most excruciating book I have ever had to read. There are several reasons why books might be bad. For example, I hate The Song of Achilles because it insulting to me on a personal level. But this book… I can’t even say I hate it. It’s bad because I felt nothing reading it. And those few moments where I actually felt something… well, I’ll get into it but let’s just say that I won’t say anything pleasant about them later on. I have so little attachment to this book that I’m not even going to bother with a spoiler warning so read at your own risk I guess.
The target of my negative affect was most commonly Robinson Crusoe himself. I stand by the fact that this man is a horrible human being and I don’t feel sorry for him one bit. I wish he would have fallen in a gutter and died on that island. And I have 3 main reasons for this:
- he is a slave trader and he just loves having slaves to work on his plantation and even gets himself a slave on a desert island
- he teaches Friday (his slave) about his own god, and okay, nothing wrong with expressing his own point of view, but my beef with this is that when Friday talks about his own god he is like “but how can he be a god if not everyone worships him”… THAT APPLIES TO YOUR OWN RELIGION TOO YOU HYPOCRITE
- and the last thing is the fact that this man killed cats… okay some of them did go savage (I didn’t like his actions despite that) but WHY DID YOU DROWN THE KITTENS????? WHAT KIND OF A PERSON DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO DROWN LITTLE CUTE KITTENS??????????????????
Now I have to talk about the book as a whole because I have quite some things to say about it. First and foremost, this book (if it can even be called a book) is extremely boring. And I mean EXTREMELY boring. It’s just Robinson’s overly detailed descriptions of the island and what he finds on the ship and whatnot. I zoned out so badly during some of these descriptions that I skimmed over entire pages of the book. Guess what? I didn’t miss much. I still know what the gist of the book is. I normally like slow-paced things and even long descriptions often don’t bother me but this was just exhausting (or maybe I just have PTSD from Lord of the Flies… it’s most definitely a factor).
Also this man focuses on such stupid things. He spends such a big part of the book talking about pots and goats and corn and I just can’t. It’s bad. It’s really bad. Please just read a summary if you are interested. You’ll get more out of it.
Another thing I want to talk about are the thematic points in this book. I hate them. I know it’s the feel of the time or whatever but sorry, the Age of Reason sucks. You know why? Its works are trying to present humans as rational beings that think everything through before they do something and it’s just not true. Humans are mostly automatic creatures and we don’t think rationally about what we do. Even Robinson himself in this volume doesn’t think rationally at some points (despite him being sucked of all humanity and just doing things robotically because of his so called rationality), for example, when he thinks that the footprint on the shore was the devil’s footprint (not possible you moron). Plus explaining things with religion is not the most rational thing to be doing. My point is, theory of rational choice sucks and so do the humans that believe in it.
Anyway, it think I’ve had enough of rating about the piece of shit work. You already know how I rated it without me having to spell it out but I will anyway: ONE STAR. If I could have, I would have given it 0 because in my opinion, THIS SHOULDN’T COUNT AS LITERATURE.
Overall score is probably closer to a 3.5/5, but I decided to round it up because despite being a bit dry (of course, in relativity; the book is over 300 years old and still highly readable), the book largely succeeds with what it's doing, and does a largely good job repeating thematic material as necessary and bringing the beginning and end together.
Though on the topic of the end, it was kind of a strange choice to end where it did. I enjoyed the last couple chapters a lot despite them being different, but then Crusoe, as the narrator, teases a dozen other things that could continue on for a while longer but decided not to expound on it. I kind of wish it had explored a little bit further into Crusoe's life after where it stops, wrapped up one of the mini-threads a little bit more in-depth, and also ever-so-slightly cut down on the material in the middle 3rd of the book.
I enjoyed this book; it's not going to be for everybody though. It's a lot more readable than most will expect based on the age, and as I mentioned above, it is perhaps a tad dry at times (I had to read this in 1 or sometimes 2 chapter chunks each morning and found binging to be very difficult because that's not what it wants to be.
But with that being said, the exploration of Crusoe's life and survival on an island with no other people is engaging in spite of the lack of active substance, and the portions of the story where there are more active occurrences are very good. The book gets philosophical and reflects on a man's relationship with religion simultaneously a lot and also not enough.
Overall, I went into the book hoping for a decent experience that I could save a few quotes from, and that's exactly what I got. Don't expect a lot from this as it is a very early-era novel, but go in with an open mind and you'll be satisfied enough to make it worth the read.
Though on the topic of the end, it was kind of a strange choice to end where it did. I enjoyed the last couple chapters a lot despite them being different, but then Crusoe, as the narrator, teases a dozen other things that could continue on for a while longer but decided not to expound on it. I kind of wish it had explored a little bit further into Crusoe's life after where it stops, wrapped up one of the mini-threads a little bit more in-depth, and also ever-so-slightly cut down on the material in the middle 3rd of the book.
I enjoyed this book; it's not going to be for everybody though. It's a lot more readable than most will expect based on the age, and as I mentioned above, it is perhaps a tad dry at times (I had to read this in 1 or sometimes 2 chapter chunks each morning and found binging to be very difficult because that's not what it wants to be.
But with that being said, the exploration of Crusoe's life and survival on an island with no other people is engaging in spite of the lack of active substance, and the portions of the story where there are more active occurrences are very good. The book gets philosophical and reflects on a man's relationship with religion simultaneously a lot and also not enough.
Overall, I went into the book hoping for a decent experience that I could save a few quotes from, and that's exactly what I got. Don't expect a lot from this as it is a very early-era novel, but go in with an open mind and you'll be satisfied enough to make it worth the read.
See my review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/day-515-robinson-crusoe/
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/day-515-robinson-crusoe/
Interesting. I haven't encountered Robinson Crusoe's tale since middle school, and then only ever in an abridged format, but to be quite honest I barely remembered mor an the basic framework of the story. It made up classic children's novel fare from its publication on, which I thought would prove intriguing, and I wanted a novel to read while on a sea cruise in the Caribbean. So here we are.
Things that stuck out for me, in no particular order: Robinson was on the island more than twenty-three years. Absolute ages. In my imagination maybe six years capped out the length of his stay. It's a substantial difference. I had also forgotten the presence of cannibals, his entire backstory, including the episode where he spends several years as a slave, and the sheer dogged tenacity and persistence that could lead a man to spend six months on a project that floundered at first opportunity. Small wonder it was considered wholesome for young lads to enjoy. It also contained a substantial moral lesson on theology and ethics, though rather horribly antiquated, particularly in its treatment of non-European races and cultures. In the end, all is made grand, and perhaps the adventures still go on.
Things that stuck out for me, in no particular order: Robinson was on the island more than twenty-three years. Absolute ages. In my imagination maybe six years capped out the length of his stay. It's a substantial difference. I had also forgotten the presence of cannibals, his entire backstory, including the episode where he spends several years as a slave, and the sheer dogged tenacity and persistence that could lead a man to spend six months on a project that floundered at first opportunity. Small wonder it was considered wholesome for young lads to enjoy. It also contained a substantial moral lesson on theology and ethics, though rather horribly antiquated, particularly in its treatment of non-European races and cultures. In the end, all is made grand, and perhaps the adventures still go on.
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As good as the majority of this book was, the racist undertones ruined the last quarter of the story. Crusoe is stranded on an island for almost thirty-years—but has everything he needs to very comfortably survive—and all he can think about when confronting the cannibals is how to get himself a slave? Yikes.
He decides not to insert himself with the affairs of the cannibals until he realizes they've got a white man. But he didn't care when it was just another islander.
I enjoyed the writing, the storyline, and the detail until Crusoe met people. I should have stopped then.
He decides not to insert himself with the affairs of the cannibals until he realizes they've got a white man. But he didn't care when it was just another islander.
I enjoyed the writing, the storyline, and the detail until Crusoe met people. I should have stopped then.
adventurous
medium-paced
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes