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Title: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe ISBN: 0486404277 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: September, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $2.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67
Rating: 3
Summary: a quandary of a critical shipwreck
Comment: Defoe's book is one of the first English novels and a prime example of Restoration literature because, hey, nothing reinvigorates a nation like a spicy tale of shipwreck and pirates. Loosely based on a true story, "Robinson Crusoe" is about a young sailor-trader-vagrant who runs away from home and his father's urgings to pursue law. His little sailing adventure quickly goes awry, and before long, visions of "Castaway" will dance in your head.
The bulk of the story takes place on the island where he's isolated for years, and years, and years, and without television or a good book. As a result, Defoe saturates this novel with description, preening into the tiniest details of daily shipwreck life. His focus on the mundane is wonderful - for the first 3 days of island captivity - but quickly bores after that. The true adventure lies in Crusoe's bold character rather than island logistics and could be further explored with the events that sandwiched his solitude.
Without a doubt though, this is a classic that leaves much to be digested. Crusoe is a timeless character, the aimless youth of yesterday, today, and tomorrow who stands ready to conquer the world but who's not quite sure how to go about it. It's no wonder why the emerging British middle class gobbled it up or why it continues to cater to the dreamers who feel an odd kinship to the bold Crusoe. For me though, this book is not a personal favorite; the action flows like molasses and the critical payoff is, in my estimate, not worth the 275 page investment. I'm also not fond of the prose, most of which comes off in Crusoe's proud, definitive bursts of declarative sentences.
In an edition note, I bought the Bantam Classic which is fine enough for a leisure read. If you're aiming at serious study or otherwise going for the authentic Defoe experience however, be forewarned that this version contains chapter titles not published with the original work. Buy another edition if you don't want spoilers.
Rating: 3
Summary: Unhurriedly Pragmatic Adventure Story
Comment: In the literary world it is perhaps blasphemy to say a bad word against Daniel Defoe's most acclaimed novel. So here goes. The fact that the book was originally titled The Life And Strange Surprising Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe illustrates the major flaw in Defoe's literary form. Put simply, this would be a far more interesting and gripping story were it not so superfluously lengthy. The author makes a habit of repeating himself, especially when it comes to the act of dispatching kittens, which seems to be more of an obsession here than octogenarian ladies are to MatronsApron. It is difficult, you may think, to keep the subject matter fresh when describing the daily tribulations of a fellow stranded on an island for thirty years, without occasionally repeating yourself. True, but perhaps a straightforward solution to this diminutive quandary would be to simply truncate the duration of the story. There are some wonderfully intriguing and suspenseful moments, and some juicy action to boot, but sadly these are gratuitously diluted by lengthy descriptions of the unremarkable everyday goings on in Crusoe's life, and rather than serving to build up the suspense, they merely obstruct the reader's relationship with the more exciting parts of the story.
However, those with more patience than my ignorant self will find in Robinson Crusoe a delightful tale, which as well as being a fictional documentary of the most unusual thirty years of Mr. Crusoe's life, also has time to ponder upon philosophical and theological ideas, in a style that makes the reader feel as if they are involved in the conflicts between the functionalist and cynical thoughts going on in Crusoe's mind. It may not be a gripping white-knuckle adventure, being rather more leisurely and acquiescent, but it is still rather easy to see why Robinson Crusoe is regarded by some as one of the greatest novels of all time.
Rating: 3
Summary: Necessity is the mother of Exploitation
Comment: Written in 1719, Robinson Crusoe is one of the first adventure novels, and its clear action and detailed portrayal of a man stranded make it a classic.
The book gets off to a fast start, with a series of storms and escapes that make you think the action will never stop-but then it does. For about a hundred pages, or twenty-four years of Crusoe's life, we suffer a dry spell of isolation right along side the narrator.
Now here's what bothers me about this hundred-page dry spell: Crusoe turns out to be an absolutely ingenious handy-man, perfectly suited for island life. We're never in suspense of whether our man will live or die from day to day. He turns out to be an able carpenter, cook, hunter, builder, farmer-whatever he needs, the hero has the uncanny ability to whip up out of the convenient natural abundance of the island.
This combination of the flawless man in an unlimited environment becomes incredibly annoying after a while. The only real obstacle is loneliness, and the narrator's psychology is so cheery that even this seems trivial. I would have much rather heard a few curses at fate than the disgustingly admirable optimism that pervades the book. And that's why I think the time spent alone on the island-what many consider to be the essence of this book-is abominably boring. About the midpoint of the book, however, something unexpected happens and the action picks up again, diverting us from the irritating perfection and complacency of the hero.
There are lots of rumors going around that this book is politically incorrect. I'll just say that if you're not put off by: animal mutilation, British Imperialism, Native American massacres, proselytizing, religious fanaticism, portrayals of other races as brutish and uncivilized, cannibalism, exploitation of Africans, exploitation of Native Americans, exploitation of Muslims, tobacco farming, kidnapping, selling children into slavery, or just plain subjugation of others and the natural world-I say, if you can get past these things and accept them as part of the times (18th century England), then you might consider giving this a read.
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Title: Treasure Island (Signet Classic) by Robert Louis Stevenson ISBN: 0451527046 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: December, 1998 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
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Title: Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, Leo Damrosch ISBN: 0451527321 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne ISBN: 0812550927 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: October, 1995 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title: The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss, Johann Rudolf Wyss ISBN: 0440415942 Publisher: Yearling Books Pub. Date: 13 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, John Seelye ISBN: 0140390839 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: October, 1987 List Price(USD): $7.00 |
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