Ryan K. reviewed Robinson Crusoe (Barnes Noble Classics Series) (BN Classics Mass Market) on + 34 more book reviews
This book was horrible. It may be a classic, but was a crappy read.
Jeremy R. (diewachen) reviewed Robinson Crusoe (Barnes Noble Classics Series) (BN Classics Mass Market) on + 15 more book reviews
Let's quickly hit the pros.
Pros: Often considered the first English novel... Okay. I'm out of pros.
So, here's the thing. I get that this novel has historical importance, but don't kid yourself into thinking it's a good book just because of that. The con list is longer than I could list in a review of reasonable length. Crusoe is a racist of epic proportions--blame it on the culture of the time all you like, this isn't a "politically correct" statement. Crusoe himself becomes a slave, escapes, and then enslaves the man he escapes so he can sell him back into slavery (with the encouragement to force him into a Christianity). I don't care what time period you live in, that's an ass move. Even if you are enough of a historical elitist/slavery-in-literature apologist to look past that move, he spends the rest of the novel killing or enslaving everyone who steps on his island: South American cannibals, Spanish explorers, and English sailors alike. And, I won't even get into the obsessive religious subtext that pops up at odd moments in the story.
Still interested in the book? Let's talk about the flaws in the writing. The entire book is essentially a series of repeated scenes and lists. Crusoe isn't in just one shipwreck that leads to the story of his living on an island. This man is the opposite of a good luck charm--let him on your boat and it'll be a submarine before he finishes the voyage. The final journey before being trapped on the island leaves him as the only survivor, but the ship he was on miraculously survives with little damage, and he has years worth of supplies to get through. That's right, Defoe invented the novel and the deus ex machina. Want to know what's on the boat? Don't worry. He'll tell you in lists that last over a hundred pages, repeating his lists more than once. He'll ensure you know every detail of how difficult it is to survive on a island with every modern convenience--bread that last five years, crops that accidentally grow from the scraps in an old bag, gunpowder that doesn't run out for 29 years, and a saber he fails to mention until it becomes convenient. Yet, Crusoe will somehow achieve miraculous feats, and Defoe seems to think it best to gloss over how--digging through the base of a hill in less than a year without tools, chopping down a massive tree without an ax, planting a magical tree-fence that grows epically before an attack. Of course, Crusoe says it was God that gave it to him, so... whatever.
In short, the book isn't worth reading. Get the classics illustrated or listen to an audio if you absolute must. Candelight Stories does the whole thing unedited. It may be the only way to get through the repetitive lists with your sanity.
Pros: Often considered the first English novel... Okay. I'm out of pros.
So, here's the thing. I get that this novel has historical importance, but don't kid yourself into thinking it's a good book just because of that. The con list is longer than I could list in a review of reasonable length. Crusoe is a racist of epic proportions--blame it on the culture of the time all you like, this isn't a "politically correct" statement. Crusoe himself becomes a slave, escapes, and then enslaves the man he escapes so he can sell him back into slavery (with the encouragement to force him into a Christianity). I don't care what time period you live in, that's an ass move. Even if you are enough of a historical elitist/slavery-in-literature apologist to look past that move, he spends the rest of the novel killing or enslaving everyone who steps on his island: South American cannibals, Spanish explorers, and English sailors alike. And, I won't even get into the obsessive religious subtext that pops up at odd moments in the story.
Still interested in the book? Let's talk about the flaws in the writing. The entire book is essentially a series of repeated scenes and lists. Crusoe isn't in just one shipwreck that leads to the story of his living on an island. This man is the opposite of a good luck charm--let him on your boat and it'll be a submarine before he finishes the voyage. The final journey before being trapped on the island leaves him as the only survivor, but the ship he was on miraculously survives with little damage, and he has years worth of supplies to get through. That's right, Defoe invented the novel and the deus ex machina. Want to know what's on the boat? Don't worry. He'll tell you in lists that last over a hundred pages, repeating his lists more than once. He'll ensure you know every detail of how difficult it is to survive on a island with every modern convenience--bread that last five years, crops that accidentally grow from the scraps in an old bag, gunpowder that doesn't run out for 29 years, and a saber he fails to mention until it becomes convenient. Yet, Crusoe will somehow achieve miraculous feats, and Defoe seems to think it best to gloss over how--digging through the base of a hill in less than a year without tools, chopping down a massive tree without an ax, planting a magical tree-fence that grows epically before an attack. Of course, Crusoe says it was God that gave it to him, so... whatever.
In short, the book isn't worth reading. Get the classics illustrated or listen to an audio if you absolute must. Candelight Stories does the whole thing unedited. It may be the only way to get through the repetitive lists with your sanity.
Karen H. reviewed Robinson Crusoe (Barnes Noble Classics Series) (BN Classics Mass Market) on + 3 more book reviews
Classic tale of shipwreck and survival on an uninhabited island.
