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wordmaster 's review for:
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
Step right up folks and see the English-speaking world's first published novel! Nevermind that it's a bit crap and a bunch racist, it was first!
Mostly read these days as a historical oddity, if nothing else Robinson Crusoe is a reminder of how far we've come, writing-wise, as a culture. I'd give it 2 stars, maybe 2 and a half on a generous day.
This is a good tool for building discipline and patience, because if you can sit still a while and follow along R.C. will just out of nowhere hit you with some Enlightened-level comment that cuts to the core and makes you rethink your whole being, or at least your present circumstances. But then he goes right back to listing how many goatskins he cured in the sun or how long it took him to whittle a canoe out of an entire tree or whatever. So because the content isn't always what we'd call finger-quotes arresting, the goal for me became to experience reading this as an action itself and seek the value in a bit of basic reflection, i.e. how's my posture right now? what's different about reading out in the sun vs. under the covers? have I become distracted? what's the last thing I remember before my mind began wandering? It was like reading as meditation, in that way.
So, did I like the book? Nope. But I don't like exercising either, and there's a similar sense of accomplishment in both activities.
Mostly read these days as a historical oddity, if nothing else Robinson Crusoe is a reminder of how far we've come, writing-wise, as a culture. I'd give it 2 stars, maybe 2 and a half on a generous day.
This is a good tool for building discipline and patience, because if you can sit still a while and follow along R.C. will just out of nowhere hit you with some Enlightened-level comment that cuts to the core and makes you rethink your whole being, or at least your present circumstances. But then he goes right back to listing how many goatskins he cured in the sun or how long it took him to whittle a canoe out of an entire tree or whatever. So because the content isn't always what we'd call finger-quotes arresting, the goal for me became to experience reading this as an action itself and seek the value in a bit of basic reflection, i.e. how's my posture right now? what's different about reading out in the sun vs. under the covers? have I become distracted? what's the last thing I remember before my mind began wandering? It was like reading as meditation, in that way.
So, did I like the book? Nope. But I don't like exercising either, and there's a similar sense of accomplishment in both activities.