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3.17 AVERAGE
3.17 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This guy took 2+ years to do literally anything
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I will say that this is one of the first "grown up" books I read when I was young, so my rating might probably be affected by a lot of odd nostalgia. A lot of problematic elements, very much a book of its time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Colonisation
Moderate: Animal death, Death
Minor: Alcohol
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Cannibalism
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
“Why were they not saved and you lost, why were you singled out, is it better to be here or there”
Defoe’s 'Robinson Crusoe' is the tale of a castaway who spends 27 years surviving on a deserted island and the challenges he faces with his loneliness and survival. It was a work slightly better than ‘Roxana’ but still by no means any good in my opinion. Crusoe as a protagonist can only be described as cardboard. His narrative voice is so dull, he has no interesting traits, a lot of plot armour and conveniences falling his way to allow his survival and the whole story is almost just a list and recount of the years on the island with no real conflict that the reader can become invested in and no particulate excitement in the plot.
Not to mention Defoe and Crusoe are extremely racist. The slave trade is celebrated in the early chapters and ‘savages’ which are described completely inhumanely serve as the main antagonists, completely prejudiced and seen as animalistic due to practices and race. This does not make Crusoe an any more likeable character and he already had no positive traits so to use my earlier phrasing he is just extremely racist cardboard. Not to mention the focus on enforced religious conversion which also occurs within the book.
The ending is also so unsatisfying, some characters are complexity forgotten and see no conclusions where everything just works out way too easily for Crusoe.
