Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Robinson Crusoe
    Unavailable
    Robinson Crusoe
    Unavailable
    Robinson Crusoe
    Audiobook12 hours

    Robinson Crusoe

    Written by Daniel Defoe

    Narrated by Gordon Griffin

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Read the ebook instead

    About this audiobook

    Robinson Crusoe is the classic tale about one man's lust for adventure. Crusoe leaves his parents and hometown for the open sea in the year 1651. But the ocean can be unforgiving and Crusoe, unfortunately, learns this the hard way. Through a series of wild events he ends up shipwrecked on a shore in South America, being forced to salvage what he can in order to survive. Overcoming his despair, Crusoe begins a new life on this island searching for meaning and eventually finding redemption. This tale of adventure into the unknown during a time of exploration will find listeners on the edge of their seat as Crusoe encounters multiple shipwrecks, pirates, and even cannibals on his wild journey.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamscape Media Audio
    Release dateMay 10, 2016
    ISBN9781520005317
    Author

    Daniel Defoe

    Daniel Defoe was born at the beginning of a period of history known as the English Restoration, so-named because it was when King Charles II restored the monarchy to England following the English Civil War and the brief dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell. Defoe’s contemporaries included Isaac Newton and Samuel Pepys.

    More audiobooks from Daniel Defoe

    Related to Robinson Crusoe

    Related audiobooks

    Classics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Forged In Isolation

      Apr 10, 2022

      THE BOY FROM GORGE RIVER: From New Zealand’s remotest family to the world beyond, by Chris Long (HarperCollins, $39.99), is published on April 13 “I came into this world a fit and healthy spring baby, surrounded by daffodils, lambs and asparagus.” Ch

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Hermit Of Suvarov

      Jul 30, 2020

      The Hermit Of Suvarov
      5 min read

    • Article

      Sea Fever

      Aug 21, 2019

      ‘I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,’ we would belt out, in ragged unison, aged 10. ‘And all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by.’ Our teacher’s idea of imparting English literature was to get the class to le

      1 min read

    • Article

      Island Time: On The Poetics Of The Isle

      Apr 4, 2019

      Islands are almost always the geographic feature with which utopias are associated, for paradise is not paradise if it’s easily accessible. The post Island Time: On the Poetics of the Isle appeared first on The Millions.

      14 min read

    • Article

      The Monarch Of All I Survey

      Nov 22, 2019

      The Monarch Of All I Survey
      6 min read

    • Article

      Pick Of The Week

      Nov 9, 2023

      Pick Of The Week
      1 min read

    • Article

      More Than One Robinson Crusoe?

      Jan 1, 2021

      Alexander Selkirk and the fictional Robinson Crusoe both suffered from loneliness and fear before learning to live comfortably on their islands. Both kept cats and goats, dressed in goatskins, hid in trees, feared the arrival of hostile strangers, an

      1 min read

    • Article

      New Wave

      Apr 19, 2024

      New Wave
      3 min read

    • Article

      PUT YOUR NOSE IN A BOOK FACT & FICTION

      Oct 13, 2023

      BY DARREL BRISTOW-BOVEY Jonathan Ball, RRP R280 For Heroic Age Explorers, ‘Antarctica was a katabasis: a journey beyond the limits of experience, a voyage beyond life to the underworld’. And for Ernest Henry Shackleton and his crew aboard Endurance,

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Lives Of War Prisoners And An Ex-spy

      Apr 19, 2024

      Don’t allow yourself to be put off by the cumbersome title because this is a good book. South Africa’s contribution to the Allied cause in the north African deserts and Abyssinia is well known – less so that it resulted in upwards of 100 000 Italian

      2 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Feb 3, 2022

      Book Club
      1 min read

    • Article

      A Round-up Of The Latest BOOKS

      Sep 9, 2022

      In 1901 John Voss, a sometime sailor and carpenter, set out on a round-the-world trip in a 38ft (11.6m) wooden dugout canoe named the Tilikum. It would be understandable if you viewed this not so much as a cruise as a suicide mission. Nevertheless, h

      2 min read

    • Article

      At Home

      Jul 29, 2021

      At Home
      4 min read

    • Article

      Isle Martin

      Dec 15, 2022

      Ross and Cromarty I LOOKED THROUGH THE stunningly clear water at the seabed 15m below. A dogfish lazily tail-swiped over the sand, disturbing a flounder who undulated for cover in the nearby kelp. I drifted along steep-sided underwater gullies, their

      1 min read

    • Article

      A Beachcomber’s Bounty

      May 28, 2020

      A Beachcomber’s Bounty
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Crew

      May 29, 2020

      Freelance journalist Lesley was born in Cornwall but divides her time between the harbour city of Bristol and the secluded Jurassic Coast in Dorset. As well as writing travel articles about the British coastline, she specialises in property–hunting o

      1 min read

    • Article

      Memories Of Scottish Summers

      Jun 25, 2020

      Memories Of Scottish Summers
      4 min read

    • Article

      LAND OF Legends

      Jun 10, 2022

      LAND OF Legends
      4 min read

    • Article

      Time Out

      May 31, 2019

      Now, if there was ever a book that deserved the label of “weighty tome” it’s this one. More than 500 pages of recollections from moderately famous explorer John Rae. Probably best remembered for delivering the news that fellow explorer Sir John Frank

      5 min read

    • Article

      Life On The Edge

      Sep 20, 2023

      Life On The Edge
      4 min read

    • Article

      Read This!

      Sep 22, 2022

      By Alex Bescoby Michael O’ Mara; £20 Crossing 23 countries on the mother of all road trips, filmmaker Alex Bescoby recreates a journey originally documented in the mid-1950s, when a group of students drove for the first time from London to Singapore

      2 min read

    • Article

      Broughton’s Inconvenient Allure

      Aug 30, 2023

      Broughton’s Inconvenient Allure
      16 min read

    • Article

      Calling All Boat Book Worms

      Jun 9, 2021

      Calling All Boat Book Worms
      3 min read

    Reviews for Robinson Crusoe

    3.5/5

    3,400 ratings124 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      This should have been a book I really liked, but the overbearing narrative voice ruined it. And I say this as someone who has been reading and enjoying a lot of books with opinionated narrators lately.

      Generally, when I read a novel I expect it to have a degree of personal growth (unless a lack of growth is the point of the story) and narrative tension. And this story *should* have had both of those. Certainly, the protagonist finds God and humility over the course of the novel, but the narration spends the entire book lamenting that he didn't trust to providence, etc., etc. (at length, every few pages, so you don't miss it...) that the personality he had at the beginning is totally absent, overridden by who he becomes by the end. And the way it's written it just seams so *easy* for him to survive--certainly, he must have had problems, but those are mostly glossed over, he has a whole ship full of stuff, and he routinely points out how something he did early on would be useful later, so when the problem does come up you already know it's solved.

      And if the protagonist barely has a personality, no one else has any personality at all. And you might think, well, yeah, he spends the whole book alone on an island--but no! Quite a bit of the book isn't on the island, or otherwise there are other people around. But they just waft on and off-stage with no real effect. Friday is more of a person than anyone else, but he's such a caricature that I feel like he hardly counts. Oh, and the narrator mentions that he got married and had three kids and his wife died, all in one sentence, and goes on with the narration like nothing remarkable happened, and did these people mean nothing to you?

      Ugh. And even though he keeps belaboring the religious lesson over and over, it isn't even a good sermon, because good rhetoric has roots in good story and personal development.

      Anyway, I think what I'm saying here is you'd be better off spending your time reading a wilderness survival manual while singing Amazing Grace over and over again.
    • 1/5
      What I learned from this book is that not every book that is called a classic earns that title.If this hadn't been on my Feb bookshelf then I wouldn't have finished it.

      I know this is regarded as the first english language novel but that doesn't excuse the fact that it is badly written.

      Robinson Crusoe is a complete and utter idiot, he never learns from his mistakes and never takes advice from anybody. Maybe it's just me but if the very first ship you are on sinks perhaps you should take it as a sign, but not him off he goes again and ends up as a slave. He escapes and is rescued by a too good to be true captain and makes a good life for himself in Brazil, but even then that is not enough. So when some of his friends decide they want more slaves he is selected to make the trip to buy them and of course being Robinson the ship is struck by a hurricane while in the Carribean. Sounds bad so far doesn't it and it only gets worse.

      I know that I shouldn't complain about the attitude towards slavery in the book as it was a different time period and it is historically accurate but I just found it really hard to stomach, in fact it made me wish that Friday had been a cannibal.

      I have read this book before but I was about ten and you don't really pick up on the racism and all the other things that are wrong with this book at that age. Then you just think about the adventure of being on a desert island. The reason I read this again is because a few weeks ago I was having dinner with my Mum and she was watching what I thought was I very bad adaptation. Turns out it was the source material that was the problem and based on that there was no way you could ever make a good version.
    • 5/5
      My absolute favourite as a child
    • 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.
    • 4/5
      This was a classic that I'd missed reading for over five decades but determined to attempt this year. It was an enjoyable read, believable, and kept my interest throughout the tale.
    • 3/5
      There's probably nothing I can say about this that hasn't already been said. my thoughts on the matter as as follows. I'm not sure this was what I was expecting. Having thought of it as something you tend to read in school, I wasn't expecting the depth that is to be found in here. In a sense it is a morality play, in that the young Crusoe sins (by leaving to seek adventure), suffers (shipwreck and being stranded on the island) seeks redemption (finds God) and finally is brought safe home. The redemption passage was a little bit wearing, that's really not my thing, but the notes helped put this into some context of the time and nature of religion when this was written. There's an element of you know what happens in outline, so the first part of the book is spent wondering how he's going to get shipwrecked. Once he's on the island, you're waiting for Friday to appear and the pair of them to get off the island again. That is, I think, to do it a disservice. The manner by which Crusoe is able to set up his life is interesting, it makes you wonder how you'd cope if suddenly you were responsible for your own survival - how would you cope? (frankly, I probably wouldn't!). The passage about the savages was, to me, totally unexpected. How did I miss a major plot point like that?! It was dramatic and startling, but could have done with a little less angst about it all. The end all felt a little bit rushed and not necessarily thought through. He sends an emissary to the Spaniards on the mainland and then leaves the island in the hands of some good for nothings and just disappears off home. It didn't seem terribly consistent behaviour. It's certainly a book I am glad I have finally read, but I'm not sure it is one I will return to repeatedly.
    • 2/5
      I tried to read this when I was getting my Masters in English. Truly, I did. It was on a list of maybe a hundred books that I was supposed to read outside of classes and be prepared to talk about in an oral exam... and it was the only one I began, and simply couldn't finish. I got to page 26 before I gave up.This year, I decided to try it again. After all, back when I tried it the first time, I was stressed and rushed, and surely some book or another would test my patience, so it had to be better than I'd thought back then. Right? Well, um, yeah... not really.I understand this is a classic, and I even understand why. I'm glad to be able to say that I finally finished it. But that's about all I can say. This was a dry read, and one that I had a hard time getting through. Sprinkles of action didn't make up for the non-action or the style of the book, and although I rather like the idea of the story and wanted to enjoy this, I just couldn't. Unless you have to read it, I probably wouldn't recommend it.
    • 3/5
      Zeer onderhoudend, zelfs na 3 eeuwen. Verrassende spirituele link: vergelijking met Job (beschouwingen over de voorzienigheid). Uniek thema: de nobele wilde, zelfs de kannibalen.
    • 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.
    • 2/5
      When I started this book, I was expecting a story about survival. I expected to hear about wild adventures and man vs. nature. I got a little of that. But, mostly I got a whiny narrator who complained bitterly about how lonely he was and how he wanted a companion. Turns out, he really just wanted a servant. I couldn't get into the story at all, I didn't like the main character (not even enough to feel a little sorry for him) and I really wasn't impressed by the ending. This was a slight disappointment for me.
    • 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.
    • 4/5
      The legend of Robinson Crusoe and his Man Friday are elaborated in the novel and one can understand the appeal. The audiobook is also nicely done.
    • 1/5
      Terrible classic. Don't bother.
    • 3/5
      Timeless classic!
    • 1/5
      I have vague memories of reading a Classics Illustrated or other adapted version of this as a child. Whatever version that was, it was more entertaining. Beyond that value, this is one of the best examples I've encountered of what criticism of the canon is all about, viz., having a dismissive, patronizing attitude of anything not English or reflective of Defoe's values.
    • 3/5
      An ebook from the Guttenberg project. I haven't taken to ebooks but the Gutenberg project is certainly a good way of catching up on old classics. And this certainly is a classic. But not quite the tale of adventure I had expected. The adventure is certainly there but this is really a philosophy book along the lines of Emmerson and Thoreau. Mr Crusoe spends much of his time alone musing and philosophising. Given that he was living quite well and had no company that is no surprise. But then that is Defoe's structure. Find a situation in which to put a character and then let him develop, unhindered, a philosophy of life. Crusoe is, of course, of his time and of his culture so his philosophising is in the nature of a debate with himself on aspects of christianity. It is appealing in that his world view is that of an optimist. His theme tune and motto for life would be 'Always look on the bright side of life.'
    • 3/5
      Zeer onderhoudend, zelfs na 3 eeuwen. Verrassende spirituele link: vergelijking met Job (beschouwingen over de voorzienigheid). Uniek thema: de nobele wilde, zelfs de kannibalen.
    • 1/5
      I don't think I've ever disliked a book more in my life.

      Robinson Crusoe is basically the literary equivalent of stale bread. IT'S SO DAMN DULL, and PAAAINFULLY BORING (at least stale bread still has some nutritional value). I hated it. I hated it with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.

      I never want to hear of this book ever again.
    • 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?
    • 3/5
      I think if someone cleared this of about 95% of the religious/"moral" drivel, it would be a decent story. As it is, much of it is bogged down by his droning on about that. But the story itself was fairly interesting. Not really recommended unless you're simply a fan of the old classics, and/or like having that sort of thing shoved endlessly down your throat.
    • 3/5
      In Robinson Crusoe, an Englishman, Robinson, gets shipwrecked! He is stranded on an island for about 35 years... until hes 55 years old! He rescues a man that is being kept hostage by the island natives. He names this man Friday, because thats the day he met him! This book was very adventurous, which is fun to read about! It was written in Old English which was sometimes hard to understand.Overall, I thought this book was very interesting! And you should read it! :)
    • 4/5
      Move over Survivor and Castaway here is the original. I loved this book. Hearing about his years on the island and how he became self-sufficent was very interesting to me, which I would have thought listening to someone spending a quarter of a century alone on a deserted island would get old and teadious it did not. The book really slowed down for me when he finally got back to civilization.
    • 2/5
      I have never experienced thing like Crosoe.His ship goes down, and everryone dies.Crusoe is on island.If I am on island by alone, maybe I cannot live.After reading this book , I thought I should live strongly like him.
    • 2/5
      This is one of those books that is normally read in childhood that I just never got around to, that being said, I'm not sorry I skipped it as a child. I can't believe this book is considered a children's classic. It promotes slavery as a way of life, discusses lifestyles of cannibals, and overly promotes religion. I could over look all of those things given that the book was written in 1719, and would have been common conceptions, but seriously, this is the stuff of my childhood nightmares.

      The author has Crusoe killing cats to keep the population down, drowning kittens, enslaving a man that he was obliged to save. It wont give me nightmares... But I can't say I've enjoyed this book.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 4/5
      I didn't think I really needed to read this book. After all the plot line is pretty well known and the survival story of being stuck on a desert island has been repeated in many other books as well as used multiple times in Hollywood blockbusters. And somehow I was under the impression that when Crusoe discovers another human being on this island the phrase 'Thank God it's Friday' was uttered and became a standard phrase to express the end of a long week as well as a chain restaurant (that last part I don't think is true, or at least I missed the line when reading the book).

      But this book is definitely worth reading. It is the original castaway story and I found it easy to read, very exciting, and was surprised to realize that many of my assumptions about the story were wrong. I loved the ingenuity that Crusoe employed in surviving from capturing and taming wild goats to devising methods of shelter. But the biggest surprise was the inner dialog and philosophy scattered throughout the book. Crusoe was one of the earliest practitioners of keeping a gratitude journal. Rather than moaning and complaining about being stuck on an island and the only survivor, he was grateful for the few good things he had.

      The book definitely exhibits some pretty strong racial prejudices. Although it would not be acceptable today, it seemed to reflect the time that it was written.

      Surprisingly good book to read!
    • 4/5
      Started rereading this as a refresher before I pick up Foe - and wow, is it a different book now. When I was a kid, I read this at the crux between my nautical fiction craze and my self-sufficiency craze, so naturally the seagoing and the invention with which Crusoe builds his encampment interested me most. This time around, though, I'm fascinated by his descriptions of living with and without fear of different varieties, and by what is middle-class and middle-aged about those fears. Very different. Hm.