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isvesnarashast 's review for:
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
“I’m gonna have a drink when I finish this book. Even if it’s at 9am, I don’t care. I’ll have to celebrate.”
For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to read Robinson Crusoe at the time of covid lockdown, to see that our isolation terms are (nearly) not as bad as his: being stranded on an uninhabited island with no hope of getting out of there. Sitting on a balcony, I was kinda jealous that he is outdoors, and can walk around freely without wearing a mask. Of course, my opinion is totally biased and I look at the events from the modern point of view, but there are some things that I just can’t comprehend:
1. He is English, and it took him 18 years to realize it would be good to have some beer.
2. 23 years later he still had plenty of rum (that he acquired from the shipwreck) left. How?!
3. After 25 years on an island with no direct human contact, the first person he meets and communicates to is Friday, a savage he saved. And instead of making friends with him, he thinks “Hmmm, I could make him my slave!” I know it’s the 17th century, I know! But it’s just wrong!
Robinson spent 28 years and 2 months on an island. And this is exactly how long it took me to get to the end of this torture of a book, by the feel of it.
A verdict: burn after reading at a huge celebratory bonfire (or rather, watch Cast Away movie instead. Tom Hanks is great, and so is Wilson).
PS: the book can be a solid drinking game. Every time you see the words “God” and “Providence” in one sentence/paragraph – take a drink, and you’ll be wasted in no time.
PPS: when Friday was teasing a bear “for a laugh”, I was hoping that a bear would show them all hell and that’s how it would end. Alternative ending?
For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to read Robinson Crusoe at the time of covid lockdown, to see that our isolation terms are (nearly) not as bad as his: being stranded on an uninhabited island with no hope of getting out of there. Sitting on a balcony, I was kinda jealous that he is outdoors, and can walk around freely without wearing a mask. Of course, my opinion is totally biased and I look at the events from the modern point of view, but there are some things that I just can’t comprehend:
1. He is English, and it took him 18 years to realize it would be good to have some beer.
2. 23 years later he still had plenty of rum (that he acquired from the shipwreck) left. How?!
3. After 25 years on an island with no direct human contact, the first person he meets and communicates to is Friday, a savage he saved. And instead of making friends with him, he thinks “Hmmm, I could make him my slave!” I know it’s the 17th century, I know! But it’s just wrong!
Robinson spent 28 years and 2 months on an island. And this is exactly how long it took me to get to the end of this torture of a book, by the feel of it.
A verdict: burn after reading at a huge celebratory bonfire (or rather, watch Cast Away movie instead. Tom Hanks is great, and so is Wilson).
PS: the book can be a solid drinking game. Every time you see the words “God” and “Providence” in one sentence/paragraph – take a drink, and you’ll be wasted in no time.
PPS: when Friday was teasing a bear “for a laugh”, I was hoping that a bear would show them all hell and that’s how it would end. Alternative ending?