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3.17 AVERAGE
3.17 AVERAGE
DNF at Chapter 8. I'm bored. There is better literature from this time period. Just because a book is a classic, it does not make it a good or engaging read. Also, I know you can't read this novel without pushing aside a modern mindset, but god do I hate Crusoe.
adventurous
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Hard to know how to rate this one. Robinson Crusoe is a fkd up story about colonization and white supremacy. Written 300 years ago, although a fictional novel, Robinson Crusoe is also a piece of history that represents life and beliefs at the time of booming colonialism. Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe because it was what people wanted to hear: a glamorous “colonialism success story”. As a reader who does not condone these beliefs, it is incredibly frustrating reading this novel. Crusoe’s character does not develop over time and he continues to take over land that’s not his, control others, push his own beliefs, and view other cultures as lesser. He recreates civilization as he knows it despite having the opportunity to start fresh or learn from others. When he captures a prisoner and takes him as a servant, he continues to call him a savage and view him as a creature despite developing friendship/brotherhood/partnership with him for decades. Defoe wants readers to feel bad for Crusoe as he encounters struggles but the whole reason Crusoe got himself into a shipwreck was because he was on his way to pick up slaves, goddammit! The novel re-affirms what English people thought at the time re: superiority, cultural imperialism. Not to mention Crusoe is the typical “Christian” who only turns to God when he needs something. The story perpetuates the “self-made man” as the American Dream, which I find horrendous. Overall, not a good story. However, I find value in reading it as a piece to reflect upon as colonialism continues to this day. Many of the author’s beliefs & protagonist’s behaviours continue today in the same & new forms.
Edit: every character in this book is a man.
Edit: every character in this book is a man.
This is another children's adaptation of Robinson Crusoe published around the same time as James Baldwin's better-known [b:Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children|285840|Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children|James Baldwin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347621067l/285840._SX50_.jpg|277328] (1905). Both were composed by professional (and American) educators, but this one is aimed at a younger audience. McMurry and Husted specify grades two and three, whereas Baldwin's seems targeted more at ages 10-12. Though both leave out Crusoe's adventures before and after the island (such as his period of enslavement by the Moors and trek with Friday across the Pyrenees), this version does include the rescue of Friday's father and the Spaniard, which Baldwin's does not. There is also a sentence at the end that depicts Friday making the conscious choice to leave with Crusoe rather than return home, as opposed to expecting the reader to just take it for granted that of course he would abandon his family and people for more "civilized" lands.
The cannibalism and language referring to "savages" and whatnot remain, however. I know I keep reiterating this in all my Crusoe reviews, but the Carib Indians (Friday's identified nation in the original text) were not cannibals. There has no been archaeological evidence found anywhere in the Caribbean and the surviving Caribs on Dominica state they have no oral history of such practices. The whole thing is a lie propagated by Columbus after the Spanish Crown specified only natives who were cannibals could be enslaved and exploited. Encountering this portrayal time and again in both the 1720 original and adaptations made over the subsequent two hundred years really puts into perspective how long the global regime of white supremacist imperialism lasted.
A third version called [b:An American Robinson Crusoe|1396888|An American Robinson Crusoe|Samuel Buell Allison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348463262l/1396888._SX50_.jpg|1387059] was published in 1918 by a Chicago school superintendent.
The cannibalism and language referring to "savages" and whatnot remain, however. I know I keep reiterating this in all my Crusoe reviews, but the Carib Indians (Friday's identified nation in the original text) were not cannibals. There has no been archaeological evidence found anywhere in the Caribbean and the surviving Caribs on Dominica state they have no oral history of such practices. The whole thing is a lie propagated by Columbus after the Spanish Crown specified only natives who were cannibals could be enslaved and exploited. Encountering this portrayal time and again in both the 1720 original and adaptations made over the subsequent two hundred years really puts into perspective how long the global regime of white supremacist imperialism lasted.
A third version called [b:An American Robinson Crusoe|1396888|An American Robinson Crusoe|Samuel Buell Allison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348463262l/1396888._SX50_.jpg|1387059] was published in 1918 by a Chicago school superintendent.
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Not what I initially imagined the story to be, but very interesting nonetheless.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I picked up this book because I remembered loving the NBC show "Crusoe." Unfortunately, this was one of those rare cases when the TV adaption was better than the original.
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
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