Reviews
3.5 β - (liked it) I read this for school some years ago and the first things I think of now when I hear Robinson Crusoe mentioned are: cannibalism, lengthy pieces of biblical commentary that at times don't quite line up with my beliefs, and it taking forever to read XD But I also remember Friday and the parrot and Crusoe being shipwrecked. And him storing provisions in his house and making a canoe. I remember the goat and drying raisins. All things I liked reading about. So although my immediate memories of it aren't the best when I reflect long enough I did enjoy this book. I hope to read it again and write another review :) CWs: cannibals, 12/21/23
Read it for uni. Though a great outlook on the 1700s ad the birth of the novel, it dragged so much that to me, as twenty-first century reader, it felt like a sleeping pill.
Obviously a classic, so I wasn't too surprised along the way. What I really enjoyed was the character journey and the spiritual dialogue. And I also loved the Friday dialogue - well done. The last chapter or two seemed unnecessary. I think I would have preferred to end it earlier. But Defoe is probably not looking for editorial comments on his classic best-seller.
As an adventure book, it was fine, but i had my problems with it
The first is with chronollogical order, sometimes the narratator jumped back and forth in time which really annoyed me. Also, we followed him for 30 years and his personality, or narration haven't changed. And the writing style was really bland, everything just happened and it was like a big monolouge.
But I, who was born to be my own destroyer.... What a wonderful novel! Defoe is the master of description! The description of the voyage, island and life made the book come alive. Robinson, who seems to always be unhappy with blessings, always seeking the next adventure has a series of misadventures that climax into his great odyssey. It is with this journey that he discovers himself, his purpose, peace and providence. Who else was sad to have him leave his little peace of paradise? The audiobook narrated by Gordon Griffin was amazing.
Oh the tediousness. Robinson is so sure he is going to encounter cannibals. He thinks of them all the time. And damn if they aren't just around the corner! He is just such a gifted man - and we get all kinds of info about how he builds his little shelter and carefully doles out his seeds - but we get no bathroom info or any inkling of missing companionship or sex. He has master/slave fantasies and lo and behold they come true. He saves Friday from being eaten, converts him to both a Christian and a non human-eater and has him as his loyal servant for life. I would have never made it through this book as a youth. The extra star comes about because I read Foe, by J.M. Coetzee right after. Excellent!
THERE. IS. SO. MUCH. RAPE. YOU CAN WRITE A GOOD STORY WITHOUT THAT MUCH RAPE.
