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    Robinson Crusoe
    Robinson Crusoe
    Robinson Crusoe
    Audiobook10 hours

    Robinson Crusoe

    Written by Daniel Defoe

    Narrated by Simon Vance

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Widely regarded as the first English novel, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is one of the most popular and influential adventure stories of all time. This classic tale of shipwreck and survival on an uninhabited island was an instant success when first published in 1719, and it has inspired countless imitations.

    In his own words, Robinson Crusoe tells of the terrible storm that drowned all his shipmates and left him marooned on a deserted island. Forced to overcome despair, doubt, and self-pity, he struggles to create a life for himself in the wilderness. From practically nothing, Crusoe painstakingly learns how to make pottery, grow crops, domesticate livestock, and build a house. His many adventures are recounted in vivid detail, including a fierce battle with cannibals and his rescue of Friday, the man who becomes his trusted companion.

    Full of enchanting detail and daring heroics, Robinson Crusoe is a celebration of courage, patience, ingenuity, and hard work.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 2, 2008
    ISBN9781400176922
    Author

    Daniel Defoe

    Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) was an English novelist, pamphleteer, journalist and political agent. He is best known for his novels Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders, and for his Journal of the Plague Year.

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    Reviews for Robinson Crusoe

    3.5/5

    146 ratings125 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I heard a lot of negative things about the story of Robinson Crusoe, so when I decided to pick up the book I had my doubts. I have to say, I found the book engaging and the story thoroughly interesting. I loved everything about the book right up until the ending. I felt as though Defoe rushed the end and took away everything we enjoyed from the Robinson's island adventure.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which is obviously a must read for any fan of classic literature.Defoe's writing style is generally quite user friendly given he wrote in the early 1700s. On one level, Robinson Crusoe is a compelling story about what one man must do to survive without the most basic of necessities. It is a testament to the human spirit in the face of adversity. On another level, the book concerns a common man's coming to religion and learning to appreciate what really in matters in life.My only reservation is that the final few chapters seemed out of character with the majority of the book, and in my opinion were unnecessary to the story.
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Its account of a man's industry and occasionally outright boredom in the face of trying circumstances is inspiring and classic.Honestly, if you dig too deep, there are a lot of uncomfortable themes about race, gender, and religion that might tarnish any fond childhood memories you have (I recommend the excellent essay "Robinson Crusoe and the Ethnic Sidekick").To summarize, it's about a man who uses and possesses everything and everyone he sees. You can draw a lot of conclusions about sexism, white supremacy, and capitalism and you really wouldn't be too far off base.While it's good to keep this in mind, you should also keep in mind that it's over three hundred years old. Not that this makes any of the enclosed sentiments any less awful, but the prevailing ideas of the time should at least be taken into account.
    • 2/5
      he waited 20-something years to meet Friday. the first teo chapters were packed with action and then he was alone on his island. turns out that u need at least two people in a story and to create conflict so that part was just slow for me to read. the last three chapters are packed again with lots of actions and people on the island.
    • 1/5
      To say I hated this book is probably the understatement of the century. In fact, I'm only halfway through the book after six years! I just can't seem to bring myself to buckle down and finish it mainly because the main character is a whiny pompous ass who is just plain dislikeable. I should probably donate this book, but there is still this little part of me that insists on finishing it, although that will most likely never happen.
    • 3/5
      Preview… Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe” has had an inarguably enormous effect on the literature of today. Widely considered the first English novel, it recounts the “life and strange surprising adventures” of its protagonist, who is marooned on an unidentified South American island for 28 years before he is able to return to EuropeCrusoe lives in utter solitude for 25 years. Not a skilled tradesman, he must teach himself various crafts to aid in his comfort and basic survival. The simplest things take great amounts of time—our hero spends 42 days making a single shelf! Crusoe also spends a substantial amount of time reflecting on his plight in a spiritual manner. He alternately cries out to God for deliverance and praises his maker for sparing him death at sea.One day, Crusoe sees a human footprint on the shore of his beach. He agonizes over its possible implications, restricting his activity for nearly seven years in order to remain safe. Later, he is able to rescue the intended victim of cannibalistic feasting, a young man he names Friday. Friday pledges himself to a life of servitude under Crusoe and is made “civilized” by learning the English language and religion and undergoing modest dietary changes. Friday quickly becomes indispensable to Crusoe as a companion and fellow survivor. He helps Crusoe defend the island and secure resources. He also offers valuable company.How does social isolation affect the human psyche? How is religion a valuable coping mechanism? How does “Robinson Crusoe” espouse the protestant work ethic? Most interestingly, how does Crusoe finally escape, and how does he react upon his return to England after so many years alone on the island?Although I find the novel a bit tedious at times, no one can deny its literary and cultural import or help but wonder how she might react if cast into a similar condition.You may like this book if…you wonder how extreme isolation might affect the human mind; you like reading a character’s spiritual musings; you want to read the original survival novel; you just have to see what happens to Crusoe; you find cannibals to be interesting; you want to read a political/ moral portrait of the time; you want some pointers on making the best of a hopeless situation—just in case.You may not like this book if…you expect the plot to follow the traditional story arc that is prominent in literature today; you are distracted by archaic grammar and spellings (viz., perswasion, prophetick); you can’t feel pity for a man who massacres cats; you can’t fathom reading about a society of cannibals—your brain is just too visual; you are too upset by ethnocentric, culturally imperialistic overtones; you desire a sense of immediacy to help heighten the conflict and sustain interest; religious back-and-forth annoys you.
    • 2/5
      What an aggravating book. Chilling in its blithe acceptance of slavery and exploitation for personal gain, though of course this is not out of sync with the times in which it was written. Even put in context, though, it is hard to sympathize with this character beyond an admiration for his industry and compassion for anyone who is suffering, no matter how morally afflicted a fellow he may be. The racism is thick and irksome, from his descriptions of skin tone outward, and his "improvements" on the "savage" he saves and then dominates are of the sort justifiably decried in countless modern books on slavery, racism, and colonization.It is also astonishingly boring. I have a higher level of patience than most for characters noodling around doing nothing much of interest in order to set the scene, but egads. I am gobsmacked that this book is still published and recommended for children. It must be seriously rewritten in their versions. Yikes.
    • 3/5
      I do think this is a book worth reading at least once (thus the three stars), although it certainly is no favorite. One thing it isn't though, even though I've seen the novel categorized as such--it's not a tale that would appeal to children in language or content--at least not in unabridged, unbowlderized, unillustrated editions. The novel is a mix of the good, the bad and the very ugly.Good -- The introduction calls this book "the first English novel" and that alone is good reason for anyone interested in the form to read it. And for the most part, it's a very engaging read which surprised me in something so early in the form--it probably helped I read an edition that modernized the spelling and punctuation. Crusoe's first person voice pulled me in, and there's a lot of evocative detail that brings the story alive. The afterward in the edition I read speaks of one of the fascinations of the tale is "technique." Isolated on an island in the Caribbean, at first with nothing but one knife, a pipe and a bit of tobacco, Crusoe recapitulates the entire process of civilization. First salvaging tools and stores from his wrecked ship, then mastering everything from carpentry, basket-weaving and pottery to small scale animal husbandry and agriculture and more. Parts of this book makes for great action/adventure reading--truly suspenseful parts that play like a film in my mind, such as as the chapters dealing with quelling a mutiny. It's not overlong either, and I found it a quick read. Bad -- The narrative at times violates the rule "show, don't tell" and the style is almost too spare at times and too taken up with minutia. The book was once praised for it's piety but to modern ears, even to devout Christian ones, I think, would come across as unduly preachy in parts--and that very preachiness complicates what I find most problematical in the novel. (See, "Very Ugly" below.) And my goodness, Defoe uses the word "Providence" more often than Meyer's Twilight uses "sparkle." (That would be a lot.) The last three chapters of a few dozen pages is anticlimactic, tedious and pointless after all that came before. Very Ugly -- In a word: slavery. I really am willing to make allowances for the times--the novel was published in 1719--but it's an issue from the first that got increasingly more disturbing. Crusoe himself before being shipwrecked on that island had been captured by pirates and sold into slavery and endures in that condition for two years. He escapes with a fellow slave who helps him quite a lot--then Crusoe turns around and sells the boy into slavery. Crusoe's brought to Brazil where he becomes a slave owning planter. The very voyage that shipwrecked him was for the purpose of bringing slaves back to Brazil. And I could have set that aside... Except... Well, Crusoe has a spiritual reawakening on the island where he bewails his sins--and they turn out to be his "original sin" in disobeying his father by going out to sea--and not being religiously observant in matters such as the sabbath. Slavery is certainly not enumerated. And then there's Friday. "Man Friday" is a word for servant because of this novel. For two-thirds of the novel Crusoe is alone. He observes that "cannibals" come ashore periodically with victims, and decides that he'll rescue one, or even two or three to "make slaves" of them. He does exactly that, and especially in the chapters dealing with his turning a man he names Friday into a servant, teaching him to call Crusoe "master" and converting Friday into a Christian, I truly wished I could reach into the pages and throttle Crusoe.I found the treatment of the whole issue more maddening than in any book I can ever remember reading. Including Gone With the Wind by the way. Lots of people decry that book as racist and as an apologia for slavery. I love Gone With the Wind though, despite those problems and found it far easier to enjoy. I think part of what made it easier to tolerate is that Gone With the Wind was written and published after slavery was history and set in an era where there was great opposition to it that would lead to its abolition. Proponents of slavery at least were on the defensive. Reading Robinson Crusoe, it seems this was an era where no one had a clue slavery was wrong at all. Forgetting the Sabbath? Quel horror! Trafficking in fellow human beings? Situation normal. Never mind that the whole characterization of Friday was enough to set my teeth on edge. Although in a way I suppose all this is all the more reason to read the book. The mindset says volumes about how the slave trade was able to be established and endure so long. No moral brakes on the practice. At least if Defoe reflects his times faithfully.For what it's worth, a friend who is an academic in the field of literature tells me there had been objections and opposition to slavery from the outset--and that critics themselves are undecided whether to take Crusoe straight up or whether his views reflect the author's. Apparently Defore is well-known for writing unsavory and repulsive characters who wind up on top--as in Moll Flanders about a thief and prostitute. So maybe we're meant to want to throttle Crusoe. Just reinforces though--this isn't some sweet children's book.
    • 4/5
      Four stars on the strength of it's historical/classical significance...I read an abbreviated version as a young boy....enjoyed it much then...I thank I liked the adventure story of a very competent person...in this reading Defoe's religious themes were more in site...took a long time to get through.
    • 3/5
      This is possibly the most mindnumbingly boring book I have ever read. I may have read worse, but if so I have removed the memory of the horror from my conscious mind. The worst bit is I thought I had read it before and rather liked it. I can only surmise that I have read one of those re-written versions for children, one that put rather more weight on the cannibals, finding Friday, the hindering of the mutiny ... you know, that sort of thing. I am of course referring to the rare moments of "something happens". I am not saying the book is bad. It does a very good job of conveying the feeling of being stuck on a desert island for 28 years. The sheer mind-numbing slowness of it. And while it is a dreadfully religious book, and my patience when it comes to sermons in books is limited to accept only two repetitions per topic, I enjoyed the occasional kicks aimed in the general direction of the Stuart monarchy, the Catholics and other people Defoe did not like in general. Perhaps I found it so boring because I am not a Victorian boy. I find it as a staple of any male character set in the Victorian era (and often later) that he will have spent his childhood reading Robinson Crusoe and enjoying it tremendously. Half the male authors I have been reading about considered it one of their formative books. Ironically, these authors write books I like, books that do not go on for 180 pages about the detailed measurements of the cave, the table, the canoe, the wall and all the rest. I know why it is there. I know it is supposed to back up the illusion of truth, the claim that it is a memoir, not a fiction. But knowing does not entail enjoying. Finally, for I should stop now, I must say this: I am sure this could be an intriguing book to analyse. Both for its attitude to politics and religion, for its very interesting treatment of slavery (which did fascinate me when it showed up), for the meditations on cultural relativity, or even for its use of mind-numbing detail of mundane tasks as a literary tool which really does communicate the experience of the cast-away in a way that no mere "I was alone on the island for 25 years" can do. I am not saying that you shouldn't read it. But don't go into it thinking it will be fun.
    • 4/5
      A really good book. Some find it boring but I think it was interesting to read about his isolation.
    • 3/5
      Robinson Crusoe is claimed to be the first novel written in English, published in 1719, and is a fictional autobiography of Crusoe who is from an average family in England at that time, and spends 28 years stranded on a remote desert island.I found this book really dragged, & it is quite repetitive. Crusoe never really has any exciting adventures until way into the book. For the first quarter or so of the book it is mostly an account of daily life and the difficulties of making ink and paper, learning to make pottery & raising goats etc. It gets some what better when Crusoe rescues Man Friday from some cannibals and their relationship is interesting and compelling. Crusoe is forced to be open minded because he has no one else around except his parrot. He is able to understand the dignity of Friday and look upon him eventually as an equal in some ways although still a servant. Crusoe teaches Friday English & converts him to Christianity. I liked the fact that it questions our relationship with those we feel are beneath us in whatever way.
    • 5/5
      One of the best young adult books ever written. Deserted islands and shipwrecks started with Dafoe.
    • 4/5
      This book to me was both an epic adventure and a deeper look into the soul of an individual. It had both the survivalist type adventure, as well as the introspection of someone who finds themselves in an unimaginable situation. At first he refuses to believe in what is happening, then he moves into the realization that it is inevitable, then he adjusts again and can't concieve of the possibility of the change he has been dreaming of.
    • 1/5
      After the main character in THE MOONSTONE mentioned this as his Bible so frequently, I decided to re-read itsince little remained in my memory except the title. While it may be a "Classic," it is mostly that only in the telling of surviving against great odds.When Robinson ends up being the only survivor of a shipwreck (whose direction he insisted onand for which he feels no guilt), readers are drawn into his methods.The moral dilemma is that he is an unrepentant slave owner who was "...bound to the coast of Guinea, for negroes."Thus, while his ideas are ingenious, we keep hoping that the tons of Bible reading and spiritual conversions he drones on about willbring an awareness or compassion for his fellow humans. This never happens despite the eventual master/servant friendship with darker skinned Friday and that Robinson spent two yearshimself as a slave of the Moors.His senseless killing of many wild animals not for food also makes this less than compelling reading for anyone who cares about animals.And, what happened to Friday's dad?
    • 5/5
      This is a tale of redemption and a man learning to become thankful under the most trying of circumstance. After not heeding the advice of his father or other warning, Robinson Crusoe is stranded on a deserted Island. After struggles in setting up a home, he becomes violently ill and for the first time calls out to God for help. It is form this point that Crusoe realizes that while he may be stranded that the others have gone to their grave. He also realized that God is a God of grace, and that is while he is still alive. Later as he encounters Friday he realized that one of his primary purposes is to spread the gospel to Friday. As he teaches Friday his own faith continues to grow and become deeper. The inner struggles are what make the tale and have made it a favorite among many such as Teddy Roosevelt and John Adams. While I am not in the same category as these men, it certainly remains a favorite of mine through many years.
    • 4/5
      Read another copy as a child - loved it - played games for a year based on this shipwrecked, lonely chap & Man Friday (younger sister in reality): Defoe's story is a timeless classic of imagination mixed with the reality of a seafaring mishap all too familiar to the era - amazingly his first novel when aged 60, & a masterpiece of its kind. Still love its vivid ruggedness, today.
    • 5/5
      WHAT A GREAT BOOK! The basic gist of the story is a man (Robinson Crusoe) gets stranded on an island for 28 some odd years. First off, the thing I noticed was: "look at what you get when you don't listen to your elders!" (Robinson, being the prodigal son, defied his father and left for a life at sea. As it turns out, it almost gets him killed in his first trip! Then he settles down in S. America and gets rich, but still gets that nagging feeling of adventure. So, in the spirit of Bilbo Baggins, he go's on an adventure for his own reasons. Didn't turn out well, because he got shipwrecked. It really represents the internal battle of spirited adventure, and that of following a responsible path in life. One is secure, stable, and boring. The other is fun, wild, and, as it turns out, deadly. Crusoe makes the best out of his situation, taming the wild area the best he could. the actual physical story is compelling, but where this book separates itself is its ability to tape the feeling, struggles, and emotions we have in our daily lives, and apply them loosely to the over arching struggles of Crusoe. I don't really know how to explain it, it's just a profound book, and perhaps even more functional in its application to life for a teenager, whom is struggling with those questions in their lives more so than an adult. I will make my daughter read this book., no doubt about that.
    • 4/5
      While I was reading Robinson Crusoe, I was also reading aloud to my children Edward Eager's Seven-Day Magic. The children in Edward Eager's books always end up interacting with the characters of classic children's literature. Crusoe was still alone on his island, trying to eke out an existence when the children in Seven-Day Magic took a short trip to the island, too, where they noted that Crusoe was followed about by his man Friday and thereby spoiled a bit of the plot for me. It wasn't a huge spoiler, though; it turns out, as with so many classic works of literature, I was already fairly familiar with the story even though I'd not read it before.

      I know, however, that many people (like my spouse) aren't so blas? about having plot points revealed to them ahead of time, so I will warn you that I will be making reference to events towards the end of the book with impunity. If you don't want read Robinson Crusoe spoilers, you might want to stop here, read the book, then come on back and read the rest of my review. Otherwise, carry on.

      I didn't realize that Robinson Crusoe was considered a children's book, although I remember having a copy of it in the "children's classics" set my parents put on my bedroom bookshelf and of which I never cared to read more than the titles on the spines. I can see where children might enjoy reading about his adventures and imagining themselves shipwrecked on a deserted island, but I wonder what else they would take from the book because there really is a lot more here.

      Central to the story is the kind of religious conversion experience that Crusoe has, and his musings about faith and Providence take up a fair amount of text. I could see myself just skipping over those sections as a child, but as an adult, I found the evolution of his personal faith very interesting. I particularly liked Crusoe's shift from a "Why me, God?" perspective to one of gratitude that he was spared when all the rest of his shipmates perished.

      "I learn'd to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less upon the dark side, and to consider what I enjoy'd, rather than what I wanted; and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts, that I cannot express them; and which I take notice of here, to put those discontented people in mind of it, who cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them; because they see and covet something that He had not given them. All our discontents about what we want appear'd to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have."

      With some updates to the language and more prudent use of semi-colons, this could come from a 21st-century self-help book.

      I also really enjoyed reading about the roll that isolation played in Crusoe's personal evolution. For example, when Crusoe finds evidence of the presence of cannibals on the far shore of his island, he spends years waiting for their return, first in fear and then in plotting their murders before deciding it's better to not get involved unless they involved him. Without distractions---even without the ability to write down his thoughts and feelings in the moment---and with, as it were, all the time in the world, Crusoe was forced to sit with personal conflicts and crises of faith without the power to act. Defoe does a very good job of showing how that mental space and that practice of mindfulness and reflection lets Crusoe's emotions run their course and gradually leads him to a more rational plan of action.

      I frequently wonder if, by blogging about books I read or issues I face in my life, I'm making too concrete my thoughts about different issues and diminishing their potential to evolve over time. With status updates and tweets and blog posts, it seems like we're getting into the habit of broadcasting our thoughts the moment we have them. For me, at least, I wonder if this squelches the process of reflection and doesn't allow the thoughts to mature. Is it like picking an apple before it's ripe? Or can the process of sharing these thoughts actually enhance the "ripening" process?

      I've read reviews in which people complain about the level of detail Defoe goes into about Crusoe's life on the island, but I actually found those alone-on-the-island parts to be the most interesting. Aside from a riveting account of a wintertime trek through the Pyrenees upon his return to Europe, the "action" parts of the story were somewhat less interesting to me. I guess I prefer the accounts of personal growth to the really plot-driven bits. It seemed almost like, when Crusoe was engaged in action of any kind, his personal growth was on break. For example, there was some rather disturbing treatment of a starving bear near the end of the book, which kind of made me wonder if maybe Crusoe's personal evolution really was entirely dependent on his being alone. Crusoe himself points out that the bear was going about its own business and would likely have ignored them entirely if Friday hadn't decided to mess with the creature for their amusement. Of course, this doesn't seem to stop Crusoe from getting as many laughs from the situation as everyone else. Perhaps spiritual evolution was different back when the Spanish Inquisition was still alive and well.
    • 3/5
      Timeless classic!
    • 5/5
      I had this book suggested to me by someone when I was very young and it did not interest me at the time. Later I had it assigned in a literature class and I never looked at it then either.I saw several of the movies and they were just somewhat romantic adventures that were pleasant enough. But then I decided to read it when I was about 27 and going to junior college in Oakland California after living for many years on a social security check that was controlled by my conniving and cruel sister and I got something out of it.I really appreciate the way Defoe shows the steady improvement in the life of Crusoe. I feel like I have adapted some of that approach to my own life and have made improvements in my circumstances from a particularly meager position and have learned how to be more comfortable in my poverty and therefore less stressed and at less risk for being put in an abusive situation.I have not felt the need to read it more than once to have incorporated its lessons into my own life and have tried to recommend it to some other dysfunctionals I have known but have made no converts that I know of.In an introduction that I read of it there was much commentary on how it has been one of those books condemned to the nursery which should not have been. I think I may have read it at the right time for me.
    • 4/5
      Robinson Crusoe is one of those books I first read as a kid in junior high school - and I still remember my excitement about the great adventure it described. The funny thing, though, is that during that first reading the moral of the story went right over my head. It is only now, having re-read the book as an adult, that I see that Crusoe's hard-earned spiritual transformation from godless man to believer might just have been Daniel Defoe's main point. While I was being thrilled by Crusoe's battles with pirates and cannibals, and his struggle to survive from one week to the next, an equally important story was happening inside Crusoe's head. Most everyone knows the basic plot of Robinson Crusoe: a young Englishman, seeking adventure, goes to sea and eventually, after already having escaped from Barbary Coast pirates, finds himself stranded on a desert island where he manages to survive for 28 years by avoiding the cannibals who use the island as their private picnic grounds. Crusoe finally makes his way back to England, but only after doing battle with both the cannibals and a group of mutinous sailors who stumble upon his island. No boy-reader would argue with a story like that one. But most of the "action" happens before Crusoe is shipwrecked and during the last two years of his stay on the island. In between, are the years Crusoe spends salvaging necessities from the shipwreck and figuring out how to manufacture items that he is unable to find on the ship before its remains wash away forever. The brilliance with which Crusoe was able to make the most of everything he carried ashore intrigued me on my first reading of the novel (and I probably enjoyed that aspect of the book even more than I enjoyed the battles Crusoe was involved in, truth be told) but I do not recall being overly impressed by Crusoe's belief that small "miracles" were being worked on his behalf by a god he, early on, barely believed existed. By modern standards, this is not a politically correct novel, but it should not be judged by modern standards. That a three-century-old novel can still appeal to modern youth is remarkable, and Robinson Crusoe should be appreciated as a snapshot in time, a novel reflecting the racial and political attitudes of its day. Recommend Crusoe to an early-teen-reader of your acquaintance and watch what happens.Rated at: 4.0
    • 3/5
      For a book that's so famously about being shipwrecked; an awful lot of time is spent on other bits; Crusoe's being taken by pirates, sold as a slave, escaping and starting a plantation in Brazil, and being attacked by wolves on a trip across Europe are all vignettes that get quite a bit of attention. Perhaps it was my own preconceptions, but I really felt that the other parts were filler, and would have been edited out if the book was being published today.On the other hand, if it was being published today, you would really want to cut out a big slab of shipwreck time. Twenty-four years is an awfully long time to go without seeing another human being, and even if Robinson did have nothing better to do, I'm not sure that you can really buy into his ability to cast pottery, tame goats, plant farms, and build his pair of residences quite as efficiently as he did. One tends to wonder if he couldn't have simply built a foundry, cast engine parts, made a motor boat and sped happily off into the sunset. The long period of forced seclusion does provide a good background for Crusoe's religious conversion however, which is probably the raison d'etre for the book's existence. The occasional references to the Papist religion occasionally also are a jarring reminder as to how close on the heels of the Protestant reformation this book was really writen.Wading through the entire book is probably something best left for true reading aficionadoes, as it is quite the wade. It would be fun to see an abridged version for kids that covered the pirates and wolves as well as cannibals. Not sure if there is such a beast, but I bet kids would like it. Too bad Defoe never managed to work any ninjas in there though.
    • 3/5
      In my eyes the only thing remarkable about this tale is the notion that it is purportedly one of the first English novels. It is an adventure story set in the 1600s about Englishman Robinson Crusoe's experiences as a sailor and his survival alone on an uninhabited island after surviving a ship wreck. While I found portions of the story captivating, too much of it is burdened with excrutiatingly detailed passages of Crusoe's life on the island. I learned some practical things about survival, and I found notable the themes of self preservation, human perseverence, and resourcefulness. It would be unfair to condemn the book too harshly for being a product of its time, which includes all the nastiness of European imperialism and the arrogance and prejudices that came with it, but I found the attitude toward the "savages" (oh, that would be the natives of South America) difficult to suffer and remain on the side of the story's protagonist. Defoe would have best served the novel had he omitted the detailed chapters that chronicled Crusoe's return journey through the Continent and instead concluded simply with his return to England.Overall the novel is inconsistent in its pace and bores the reader with trivialities. The notion that Crusoe found a newfound faith in God on the island and proceeded directly thereafter to so gracelessly enslave a native isn't so much surprising as it is inadvertantly satirical.Three stars only because of the historical significance of this, one of the first, novels in the English language. Otherwise, I would have given it two stars.
    • 5/5
      the really great story
    • 3/5
      Defoe didn't have a clue abut how to write a gripping novel. This is one book where an abridged version would be better than the original. The only problem is, I've never seen a good abridgment done! Most people focus on the part of the story that takes place on the island, but that's only the middle of the book, and leaves out the pirates, other shipwrecks, problems with his family, how he got rich, the wolf attack, the time when he escaped slavery ... etc. That's a lot of cool stuff to leave out, in my opinion. Well, enough about bad abridgments.Rather than use foreshadowing in this book, Defoe outright tells you what is going to happen - again, and again, and again. Almost nothing is left as a surprise when it happens.There is also a large amount of preaching, list making and philosophizing. This is the book where I first ran into the Latin term viz. and Defoe uses it all over the place.I was impressed at his enlightened (for the time period) views on the indigenousness people, and how he didn't think they would go to hell, even though they were cannibals and had never heard of Jesus.All in all, I liked the book, I just wish it had been written about one or two hundred years later.
    • 3/5
      Classic novels sometimes have the occasional racist references and usually it doesn’t bother me too much. I take it with a grain of salt and try to remember that it was written during a different time period and reflects an earlier belief system. I still don’t like it, but there’s nothing we can do about it at this point and it’s usually a minor point in the book. This one was different though. There’s something disturbing about the way Robinson mentions slavery so casually. He joins a ship on the condition that he’ll get a cut of the profits made from the slaves they transport. He also escapes being enslaved on an island with a young boy, only to sell the boy into slavery once they are rescued. Robinson spends more than 20 years on an island by himself before interacting with another living soul, (it reminded me a lot of Cast Away, which I’m sure took huge inspiration from this novel). When he finally gains a companion, the infamous Friday, he decides to treat him as a slave instead of an equal. The first thing he teaches him is how to call him Master. He also decides to name him Friday instead of attempting to find out his actual name. He continuously refers to Friday as an ignorant savage, all the while saying how he loves him dearly. When he discovers that Friday's people don't live too far away, his first concern is that Friday will forget that he is his slave and try to return to them. It's unbelievably selfish. Yes, Friday loves him and feels indebted to him, but I felt like Robinson took advantage of this in a horrible way. Robinson’s devotion to God and regret for his past behavior seems to come and go with each mood. He swings from thanking God for providing food and shelter for him, to lamenting the fact that he could have been living on a huge slave plantation if his boat hadn’t been shipwrecked. All of that being said; there are some things I liked about the book. Robinson is forced to get very creative to survive on the island and it’s interesting to see how he creates a new home for himself. Also, his solitude makes him reflective and he makes some wonderful observations as he examines his life. In the end, I’m glad I read it, but I think Robinson is a self-centered jerkface. A few great lines: “That all the good things in the world are of no farther good to us than for our use. And that whatever we may heap up to give others we enjoy only as much as we can use and no more.” Robinson felt this strongly after he killed more than he could eat or collected more wood than he needed. He watched it rot away when he didn’t use it and realized that it was useless to hoard extra food, etc. because it just went to waste. "How frequently, in the course of our lives, the evil, which in itself we seek most to shun, and which, when we are fallen into is the most dreadful to us, is often times the very means or door of our deliverance, by which alone we can be raised again from the affliction we are fallen into." "Thus fear of danger is 10,000 times more terrifying than danger itself when apparent to the eyes. And we find the burden of anxiety greater by much than the evil which we were anxious about."
    • 4/5


      Fascinating book both for its detailed subject matter and its insight into the mindset and culture of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
    • 5/5
      Robinson Crusoe was bored with his quiet life in England,so desided to go sea.He enjoyed his exiting voyage.But one day,his ship overturned and he reached the uninhabited island alone.In the island,he built his house,brought up corn and so on.But he always wanted to return his home.One day pirates came to his island.This story is old,but very interesting.While reading this book,iI forgot time.Ending is not surprized but this book leaves a pleasant aftertaste.
    • 1/5
      I don't remember reading this book, though it's obvious I have -- the spine is bent, and I'm the only one who's ever owned it. It obviously left no impression on me. It might be something I'd pick up in the future and try again.