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3.17 AVERAGE
3.17 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ancestor of the Life of Pi. Similar log of events interspersed with self-reflection.
Fifty-nine days of this ordeal, and today it has finally and forcibly ended, on 13 October, 2016.
Although it is an institutional piece of writing in English literature, it gets quite lengthy. It is an interesting book to analyze, especially considering Defoe’s personal life.
As much as I enjoyed it, I kind of felt bad recommending this to my students.
As much as I enjoyed it, I kind of felt bad recommending this to my students.
I didn't take away anything positive about this famous classic. After a whole lot of unnecessary sailing around in the world, Robinson Crusoe is shipwreaked on an island, where he establishes himself. He then gains a "servant", a native who is grateful to have been saved from his cannibal enemies and converts willingly to Christianity. It reads like a small boys fantasy of being emperor of his own island. I also really could have done without the endless reflections on religion.
The writing is clunky. The plot is badly paced and borderline-incoherent. The characters are not only one-dimensional, lacking depth, but also don't seem like real humans, not offering any surprises.
The writing is clunky. The plot is badly paced and borderline-incoherent. The characters are not only one-dimensional, lacking depth, but also don't seem like real humans, not offering any surprises.
I really didn't like the main character. It might be a historical context thing but I thought he was a detestable person. On the other hand, I enjoyed the end of the story, something like the last forth of it.
But overall, I'm a bit concerned they made us read this at school.
But overall, I'm a bit concerned they made us read this at school.
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A quite splendid novel, not at all what I'd expected. Even from a book about a man stranded on a deserted island.
Ending was a bit off though, somehow.
Ending was a bit off though, somehow.
Robinson Crusoe is a young man who has exceptionally bad luck; every ship he gets on eventually sinks, and even thought he survives extraordinarily, he decides his best bet is to get on another ship because he really wants to buy slaves.
The boat he boards capsizes and he miraculously survives, and ends up in a stranded island. It is in this part where the book excels, as Defoe's description of all the crafting and careful planning Crusoe does is excellent. Some may say it is slow, but I thought it was great. This, in my opinion, is the best part of the book by far.
After some time, he gets ill, and when he recovers, he has this great calling to read the Bible, and the book starts to really show some characteristics of the time period when it was written. He turns into some kind of prophet of God, and everything he has suffered or done is due to God and his Providence, and everything up from this point is thanks to him and his work.
Afterwards, the "savages", who are just indigenous peoples that lived there, appear for the first time in the book, and the colonialism really starts to show up. He kills a lot of them and then "rescues" one, whom he calls "Friday" and teaches him English, and of course, converts to Christianity. This young man basically becomes a slave to him, and starts worshipping everything Crusoe does.
I understand the context in which the book was written and published, but I still didn't like it. I get why it is a literature classic, but the values it represents, as well as the main character, his actions and personality, made me dislike what i was reading throughout most of the book.
The second part of the book was mostly Colonialism and racism at its finest, with the white man always on top and everyone else being amazed solely by his presence.
When I first read Robinson Crusoe it was an adaptation for young readers, and it left me amazed with the storytelling and plot. But, after reading the original full version, what I thought of a wonderful story of adventure and craft, became, at least to me, a telling full of Colonialism and Christianity "greatness" that, for the most part, made me turn the page in hopes to finish the book and finally be done with it.
It was dissapointing to see how the years have turned a great classic into something that, unfortunately, is stuck on the values of its time. This is saddening, because the plot is great and really catchy, but the years have caught up to it.
Definately won't be reading it again anytime soon.
The boat he boards capsizes and he miraculously survives, and ends up in a stranded island. It is in this part where the book excels, as Defoe's description of all the crafting and careful planning Crusoe does is excellent. Some may say it is slow, but I thought it was great. This, in my opinion, is the best part of the book by far.
After some time, he gets ill, and when he recovers, he has this great calling to read the Bible, and the book starts to really show some characteristics of the time period when it was written. He turns into some kind of prophet of God, and everything he has suffered or done is due to God and his Providence, and everything up from this point is thanks to him and his work.
Afterwards, the "savages", who are just indigenous peoples that lived there, appear for the first time in the book, and the colonialism really starts to show up. He kills a lot of them and then "rescues" one, whom he calls "Friday" and teaches him English, and of course, converts to Christianity. This young man basically becomes a slave to him, and starts worshipping everything Crusoe does.
I understand the context in which the book was written and published, but I still didn't like it. I get why it is a literature classic, but the values it represents, as well as the main character, his actions and personality, made me dislike what i was reading throughout most of the book.
The second part of the book was mostly Colonialism and racism at its finest, with the white man always on top and everyone else being amazed solely by his presence.
When I first read Robinson Crusoe it was an adaptation for young readers, and it left me amazed with the storytelling and plot. But, after reading the original full version, what I thought of a wonderful story of adventure and craft, became, at least to me, a telling full of Colonialism and Christianity "greatness" that, for the most part, made me turn the page in hopes to finish the book and finally be done with it.
It was dissapointing to see how the years have turned a great classic into something that, unfortunately, is stuck on the values of its time. This is saddening, because the plot is great and really catchy, but the years have caught up to it.
Definately won't be reading it again anytime soon.
