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  <id>120157</id>
  <title><![CDATA[Robinson (New Directions Classics)]]></title>
  <isbn><![CDATA[0811215180]]></isbn>
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  <description><![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]></description>
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  <original_publication_year type="integer">1958</original_publication_year>
  <original_title>Robinson (New Directions Classics)</original_title>
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        <name><![CDATA[Muriel Spark]]></name>
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    <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
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    <name><![CDATA[Heidi]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
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    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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  <read_at>Fri Jul 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Jul 02 20:28:07 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Jul 04 16:39:19 -0700 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[I'm not quite sure what to think of this book. The premise is interesting: a small plane crashes on a private island in the North Atlantic, and three people survive. The island's owner takes them in, but there is no communication with the outside world (this is 1954, way before satellite phones), an...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/61976624">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>35617139</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Rod]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
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    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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    <rating>2</rating>
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  <date_added>Sat Oct 18 03:35:16 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Oct 18 03:35:57 -0700 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[The narrator, January Marlow, is a catholic convert and has a son. Remind you of anyone? Robinson is an island named after its owner. <br/><br/>The story goes quite well till Robinson disappears, assumed murdered. However, it occurred to me as I read it that the blood on the clothing was the goat's,...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/35617139">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>59587535</id>
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    <id>128378</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Janean]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Salt Lake City, UT]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
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  <average_rating>3.68</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Jun 13 22:37:28 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Jun 13 22:41:04 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Three people forced to spend a certain number of weeks on the tiny island where their plane crashed.  A nice house to live in, tinned food to eat, an eccentric host and then....  murder?  ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59587535]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59587535]]></link>
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      <review>
  <id>32216843</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Michael]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Portland, OR]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
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  <average_rating>3.68</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>34</ratings_count>
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    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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    <rating>5</rating>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[Fans of Coetzee or magical realism]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[Multnomah County librarian]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Sep 07 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Sep 06 19:50:05 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Sep 06 19:55:38 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Very compelling novel about 3 victims of an airplane crash stranded on a desert island. I admired the straightforward way this story was told. The protagonist is a woman with interesting insight into others. She is trapped as it were on this island and the psychological tension is explicated in a mo...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32216843">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>10022870</id>
    <user>
    <id>291746</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Melissa]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brooklyn, NY]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
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  <average_rating>3.68</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>34</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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    <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at>Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Dec 06 03:22:26 -0800 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Dec 09 17:58:47 -0800 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I'm still enjoying my Muriel Spark reading jag, even though my earlier sense of missing a lot continues. I'm hoping that by my 4th Spark novel I catch the knack of reading her. This castaway mystery owes a minor debt to <em>Robinson Crusoe</em> and a major one to Spark's 1950s-style Catholicism. The heroine(...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/10022870">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/10022870]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>5530913</id>
    <user>
    <id>172931</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Camille]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brookline, MA]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
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  <average_rating>3.00</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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    <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at>Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Sep 02 09:19:48 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 08:24:34 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[from the back of my copy of the book: &quot;Robinson is a novel so original and startling that it alters the reader's perspective.  It has the wild sanity and macabre halarity of CATCH 22, the electric shock of LOLITA, the teasing, intellectual provocation of LORD OF THE FLIES.  It is a blood-staine...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5530913">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5530913]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Kathleen]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.68</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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  <read_at>Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[Not like her later books. I would read this just for the conversations between the protagonist, January Marlowe, and the island keeper, Robinson, and between January and her brother-in-law, Ian Brody. ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72394471]]></url>
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      <review>
  <id>17303703</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Shawn]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
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    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[Might finish this someday.  I like Muriel Spark, just not feelin' her right now...]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
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    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[what is up with reclusive men on deserted islands who enjoy playing mind games?]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>10837445</id>
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    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
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    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[wonderfully weird and unique]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
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    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
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    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
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    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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    <![CDATA[Robinson]]>
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    <![CDATA[A suspense novel about three castaways marooned on an island owned by an eccentric recluse.  January Marlow, a heroine with a Catholic outlook of the most unsentimental stripe, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal: as &quot;an occupation for my mind, and I fancied that I might later dress it up for a novel. That was most peculiar, as things transpired, for I did not then anticipate how the journal would turn upon me, so that having survived the plane disaster, I should nearly meet my death through it.&quot; In <em>Robinson,</em> Muriel Spark's wonderful second novel, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and&#151;perhaps&#151;murder. <p> Everything astounds, confounds, and convinces, frighteningly. &quot;She is,&quot; as Charles Alva Hoyt once put it, &quot;the Jane Austen of the Surrealists.&quot; Robinson, a unique and marvelous novel, is another display of the powers of &quot;the most gifted and innovative British novelist&quot; (<em>The New York Times</em>). In the work of Dame Muriel&#151;in the last words of Robinson&#151; &quot;immediately all things are possible.&quot;</p>]]>
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