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Robinson Crusoe

3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 · rating details · 84,805 ratings · 2,334 reviews

This classic story of a shipwrecked mariner on a deserted island is perhaps the greatest adventure in all of English literature. Fleeing from pirates, Robinson Crusoe is swept ashore in a storm possessing only a knife, a box of tobacco, a pipe-and the will to survive. His is the saga of a man alone: a man who overcomes self-pity and despair to reconstruct his life; who pai...more

Paperback, 304 pages

Published June 1st 1982 by Bantam Classics (first published 1719)

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Jan 23, 2013 Jason Koivu rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, most-hated

I understand it's an early novel and should be respected as a pioneer of the craft, but dang it, this is the most boring pioneer ever! Reading Robinson Crusoe is like reading a grocery list scribbled in the margins of a postcard from Fuji: "Weather's fine! Wish you could be here! Need fruit, veg, meat...". It goes on way too long considering the great big nothing that occurs through out. Defoe's a good writer and all, but I don't know, perhaps the climax hadn't been invented yet.

PS: I am learnin...more

45 likes · like · see review

Nov 05, 2011 Shovelmonkey1 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: castaways everywhere

Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: 1001 books list

Shelves: 1001-books, bookcrossing-books, travel-books

August 1651
Dear Diary,
Woo hoo! Run away to sea at last! Mum and Dad didn't want me to go but honestly, what's the worst that can happen? So far I'm loving life on the ocean wave and have only been a little bit sea sick. Anyway it's Bye bye Hull, hello Honolulu!
Yours, Robinson

January 1653
Dear Diary,
Sorry it's been so long. There was a minor incident with a shipwreck and just when I'd managed to find passage on another boat some pirates turned up and I ended up as a slave. I had to do loads of wor...more

57 likes · like · see review

Jun 28, 2007 Melissa rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of those books that really serves to remind a modern audience of why we should kill whitey. Robinson Crusoe is the story of a young man with atrociously bad luck who, unfortunately for any shipmates he ever has, suffers from an extreme case of wanderlust. Every ship he gets onto sinks, but he just keeps getting onto them. Even after he's got a nice, successful plantation of his own, he decides he's just GOT to get on ANOTHER ship to -- get this -- procure himself some slaves. It cras...more This is one of those books that really serves to remind a modern audience of why we should kill whitey. Robinson Crusoe is the story of a young man with atrociously bad luck who, unfortunately for any shipmates he ever has, suffers from an extreme case of wanderlust. Every ship he gets onto sinks, but he just keeps getting onto them. Even after he's got a nice, successful plantation of his own, he decides he's just GOT to get on ANOTHER ship to -- get this -- procure himself some slaves. It crashes of course, and he gets stranded alone on an island.

Not to worry, though -- he's got a bible, and he successfully becomes a religious zealot while alone with nothing better to do. It's too bad that his only book couldn't have been a copy of Don Quixote or something because maybe then he'd have become a more interesting storyteller. But no, like so many people who have terrible luck, he turns to "god" and starts counting his "blessings," more-or-less out of a lack of anything better to do.

Then, after he's been alone for 24 years, he sees a footprint in the sand, and he totally freaks, and he becomes convinced it must belong to the devil. Ummm, ok. So I'm sitting there thinking, "Maybe it's your own footprint." But it takes this genius a whole day of scaring himself before he comes up with that explanation. Anyway, it turns out not to be his footprint at all, it actually belongs to the "savages" (Carribean Indians) who apparently visit the island sometimes in order to cook and eat their prisoners, which, for the record, was not actually a common practice among Indians in the Americas. And here's the part where you really hate white people. He then saves one of the prisoners from being eaten and makes him into his slave, who he renames "Friday," teaches English, and converts to Christianity. Friday, instead of kicking this pompous jerk's posterior from here to next Friday after repaying whatever debt he owed Robinson for saving his life, is a faithful slave in every way for the remainder of the book. Friday speaks in a pidgin English, which is probably realistic enough for a man who learned English late in life from one solitary individual, but Robinson has an offensive habit of translating easy-enough-to-understand things that Friday says to us, the idiot readers ("At which he smiled, and said - 'Yes, yes, we always fight the better;' that is, he meant always get the better in fight"). Also, during Friday's religious education, he asks Robinson why god doesn't just kill the devil and end evil, and because there is actually no good answer to such a question for a religious person, Robinson simply pretends not to hear him and wanders away. What a jack*ss! Luckily, Robinson Crusoe's religious conversion doesn't last forever. As soon as he's back in civilization and making money hand over fist, he pretty much gives it up.

Speaking of which, what was with the end of this book? He gets rescued, he goes home, but there's no emotional payoff, and instead he goes on about his European adventures with Friday. We don't care about the wolves and dancing bear! We want to know, did you learn anything from your years away? Do you feel like you missed out? Was anyone happy to see you? Did they have a funeral for you while you were missing? What did your mother do when she saw you again? Robinson Crusoe is a man without any of the human characteristics that make people interesting to read about when they get into difficult situations. He has no regrets, no personal longings, and he never reflects on his life before he was on the island during his decades on the island. I understand that this is just an "adventure novel" but people actually still read this tripe and consider it a classic!(less)

86 likes · like · see review

Jun 03, 2013 Krista the Krazy Kataloguer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-adult-fiction, read-classics

I enjoyed the adventure of the novel, the way Crusoe invented things and figured out ways to survive and improve his lot. Reminded me of Gilligan's Island!! Some of the descriptions were a bit wordy, but that was the style of the time. I also enjoyed reading his introspections, and his thoughts about religion and God. As the notes in the back of the Barnes & Noble edition said, no one before Defoe had ever written a novel like that, so Defoe had full rein to explore how someone would react p...more

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Oct 16, 2009 Joe Peters rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure

OK, so I thought I'd read this classic because it's supposed to be wonderful and all that.

It's in old English, so it's hard to read. But I could get through that with enough effort.

I didn't finish the book.

I'll never finish this book.

I found it totally, utterly, unbearably, BORING!!! It doesn't matter what happens, how wonderful or bad it is, there's not much emotion at all. And I never *cared*! After about 150 pages, I realised I couldn't care less, and I closed the book.

The End.

13 likes · like · see review

Sep 09, 2007 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I know, I know... Robinson Crusoe is a book full of cultural relativism and unconscious cruelty. He's an imperialist bastard. I know.

But it is exactly these elements, plus the fact that it is one hell of an adventure story, that made me really like this book. Yes, it is absolutely provoking. But it also thinks deeply on religion, economy, and self. And it's an adventure. So while in some ways, the story/viewpoint/author are extremely distasteful, it is a very satisfying read.

11 likes · like · see review

Dec 29, 2008 Monsieurboule rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hoo-boy!
I'm surprised and amazed and dismayed by the ex post facto muy-contempo correct-nosity readings below...shouldn't be, I guess, but am.
Gee whillikers, kids, uhm, here's one of the great social and, perhaps even more, spiritual documents of Western Civ, and it's a ripping read that declared ongoing archetypes, and it's getting dissed for...for being a bit blind to its own time. Which of us won't end up wishing for at least that when our tombstone gets knocked over?
'sides which, how many fi...more

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Jun 10, 2013 aPriL MEOWS often with scratching rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary

This book seems to be transformative in literary history, a protonovel to the idea of a modern novel. It is an adventure story meant to excite the imagination and satisfy the need for a suspenseful plot denouement. But you can't expect a novel written almost 3 centuries ago to follow the genre conventions established today. Stick with it. It's as much an illumination of England during a time when the most of the world was a blank area on maps, which didn't stop these brave ruffians from going ex...more This book seems to be transformative in literary history, a protonovel to the idea of a modern novel. It is an adventure story meant to excite the imagination and satisfy the need for a suspenseful plot denouement. But you can't expect a novel written almost 3 centuries ago to follow the genre conventions established today. Stick with it. It's as much an illumination of England during a time when the most of the world was a blank area on maps, which didn't stop these brave ruffians from going exploring and death literally was a minute away whenever travel was undertaken. It was fascinating to read those parts about how business paperwork and legal instruments of property transfer occurred, how the various European aristocrat powers were crumbling to the rising power of the individual merchants and plantation entrepreneurs. Class and politics mattered, but brave ordinary men seeking adventure AND wealth were taking charge of their own particular destinies, which was not an option a few centuries earlier in feudal Europe. Business was becoming an energy force of society. Members of the lower classes could actually bump up the scale of society if they were prepared to risk everything by taking ship to Africa, South America and the United States.

The novel, through adventure of a type only possible in the 1600s and 1700s, reflects a real historical period of human development. For being a book which was exploring the possibilities of how to write about an adventure as much as describing a story, this is a damn good ripping story. I don't care what anybody says, I loved it. And it's not just about a shipwreck on an island - there's cannibals, Spaniards, mutineers, pieces of eight, and 300 wolves in the Alps surrounding our hero armed only with single shot pistols and swords.

This stage of novel exposition was cool, far superior to the century's previous poetry, religious instruction, and romantic adventure writing of what then was passing as an exciting book. Try to pay more attention to the details of Crusoe's Europe, the one Jack Sparrow would have really lived in, and not the book's deficiencies as a modern novel. It increases the value of reading this historic game changer in writing novels.(less)

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Apr 10, 2013 Dina Nabil rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

ربما يكون السؤال: لماذا؟...لماذا أعود الى روبنسون كروزو بترجمة أدب الناشئين و اتحمل ردود الاصدقاء: هو انتى مقرتهاش و انتى صغيرة؟

و أنا من ذلك الجيل الذى لخص له مختار السويفى الادب العالمى الصعب فى كبسولات تهيأ ذلك الطفل الى ان يتحول الى قارئ مخضرم لا يستصعب الأدب او القراءة

لعلها اذن النوستالجيا لعالم طفولتى التى قضاها الجميع فى لعب الكورة او تفصيل فستاين عرائس باربى بينما قضيتها انا مع "ثورة على السفينه بونتى" و "اللؤلؤة" و "حول العالم فى 80 يوم" و "عشرون ألف فرسخ تحت الماء" و "دكتور جيكل اند مست...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Molly Derse rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Spoiler alert...Robinson Crusoe was a total douchebag. If anyone deserved to get stuck on an island for 28 years, it was this guy. His story begins with his dying father pleading with him to stay at home, but the teenage Crusoe won't have it. He wants to be a sailor, he swears that he's meant to be a sailor, he totally loves the sea - even though he's never been on a boat. So, against his family's wishes he runs off to a buddy's ship. And guess what? He hates it. He's sick all the time, the boat...more Spoiler alert...Robinson Crusoe was a total douchebag. If anyone deserved to get stuck on an island for 28 years, it was this guy. His story begins with his dying father pleading with him to stay at home, but the teenage Crusoe won't have it. He wants to be a sailor, he swears that he's meant to be a sailor, he totally loves the sea - even though he's never been on a boat. So, against his family's wishes he runs off to a buddy's ship. And guess what? He hates it. He's sick all the time, the boat is super rocky, there are too many waves - then, they crash. It's the worst. Somehow, he survives. Once on land he gets drunk with some of his friends and is all like, maybe I was wrong about the sea, maybe it's actually great. So, after a night of binge drinking with the sailors, Crusoe forgets that he hated the sea and vowed never to go to sea again. So, like the idiot that he is, he gets on another boat.

The minute he's on this other boat he's captured by pirates and he's forced to become a slave. Once again, asking for it. So, after a few years of slavery he escapes on a tiny boat. You'd think that once you're MADE INTO A SLAVE, you'd have some pity for other slaves but NO. Not this guy. He escapes on this tiny boat with a guy who is now HIS slave and after making HIS slave kill some huge, dangerous lions - so Crusoe could have a blanket to lay on (what's the slave sleeping on? nothing)- they finally meet some other sailors. Crusoe sells his slave to them and ends up in Brazil. He starts a farm and is doing pretty well, on land, mind you. Of course, old dickish Crusoe forgets how lucky he's been to make it this far, and decides it's time for another voyage. Why? Because he's a lazy prick and wants some free slaves to run his farm. So, he sets off for Africa, and gets what's coming to him. If only it ended there.

After about 24 years on this island he saves this kid, who he names Friday, from being cannibalized. This is the first person he has spoken to in 24 years. And what does he do with him? Makes him into a SLAVE. Why? Because he can't be bothered with making corn and wheat, because he's too busy - being STRANDED ON A DESERTED ISLAND. All he has is time! What do you need a slave for? After a mess of shit, involving more cannibals, some Spaniards and some mutineers - Crusoe and poor Friday make it to civilization. His time off the island is summed up in this paragraph, "In the meantime, I in part settled myself here; for, first of all, I married, and that not either to my disadvantage or dissatisfaction, and had three children, two sons and one daughter; but my wife dying, and my nephew coming home with good success from a voyage to Spain, my inclination to go abroad, and his importunity, prevailed, and engaged me to go in his ship as a private trader to the East Indies; this was in the year 1694." Meaning, the dick is back. He gets married, has some kids and when the wife starts to die he decides it's time to leave! Ring any bells? Dad is dying, time to be a sailor. Same deal. Asshole.

If all that isn't proof enough this guy was a total douche, he drowns a TON of kittens on HIS island, so many he lost count. (less)

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Dec 27, 2008 Amanda rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2008

I've read some awful books this year (and wonderful as well!), and this is definitely on the shortlist of Worst Books Ever Read. Amanda had warned me I wasn't going to like it, friends who saw I was reading it pleaded Why?! and I knew it was coming-- but guh. Culturally insensitive religious propaganda that rarely, if ever, verges on being a well-written adventure story. While I understand that this was perhaps the 'way things were' back in Defoe's time, and that as one of the first 'novels' it...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Five stars for the first 2/3, two stars for the rest.

I thought most of this book was gripping. The early adventures are exciting, and shot through with the dread of ominous prophesy. The infamous long sections on the island where nothing happens and we get detailed logistics of house-building and tool-making... I found these all fascinating. The industriousness and cleverness Crusoe displays as he turns whatever he can to his meager advantage are inspiring-- literally, I was inspired. The religi...more Five stars for the first 2/3, two stars for the rest.

I thought most of this book was gripping. The early adventures are exciting, and shot through with the dread of ominous prophesy. The infamous long sections on the island where nothing happens and we get detailed logistics of house-building and tool-making... I found these all fascinating. The industriousness and cleverness Crusoe displays as he turns whatever he can to his meager advantage are inspiring-- literally, I was inspired. The religious meditations on redemption and deliverance and greed are sincere and moving.

How do you build up Western civilization from scratch? In this novel we witness an evolution that starts with its narrator sleeping in the trees like an animal, finds him discovering agriculture almost accidentally, and depicts his painstaking recreation of many staples we take for granted, including shovels, baskets and umbrellas. I may lose my credibility by confessing that, in fact, this book sometimes reminded me of a video game, in which you start helpless and alone, and slowly "power up" until you come to dominate the land. There are even some attempts at humor, although they are somewhat buried in the historical distance of the novel's voice.

But then... (view spoiler)

Incidentally, as it's always interesting to see how language evolves over the centuries, I'm happy to say that this book is filled with words that are used slightly differently from what we're used to. Like the narrator hidden behind a tree, wondering if he should "discover" himself to his enemy ("dis-cover"). It adds entertainment, and some feeling of linguistic depth, to the experience of reading Robinson Crusoe.(less)

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Sep 26, 2011 Sarah rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Alright, well I am going to respond to those who think that the only way you could not enjoy this book is if you are looking back from a privileged 21st century point of view and judging the actions of our less socially conscious ancestors. I read this book as a part of my 18th century literature class, so I have been reading a lot of novels written around the same time and with a number of the same themes and I have been able to enjoy many of them despite some uncomfortable and shocking moments...more Alright, well I am going to respond to those who think that the only way you could not enjoy this book is if you are looking back from a privileged 21st century point of view and judging the actions of our less socially conscious ancestors. I read this book as a part of my 18th century literature class, so I have been reading a lot of novels written around the same time and with a number of the same themes and I have been able to enjoy many of them despite some uncomfortable and shocking moments of racism and superior Christian colonialist sentiment, though the religious rhetoric in Robinson Crusoe was admittedly far beyond that of any of the other books I've read in this course and very difficult to swallow as a result. However, the reason I did not enjoy Robinson Crusoe is that nothing in this novel made me care for or invest in any element of it. The main character is psychologically flat and completely lacking in complexity, seeming to suffer absolutely no ill effects from being completely alone for 25 years or so. The drama is contrived and not suspenseful. As I don't really care for the main character, I don't really care if he were to be eaten by pagan cannibals. The over detail, while perhaps a comment on the plodding, relentlessly boring life of an isolated islander, could be eliminated entirely. I do not need to know how much bread someone ate on a particular day or how to make clay pots. The plot left absolute GAPING holes in it's wake, which I do realize is a symptom of lack of editing and the cost of paper at the time, but it still made it difficult to enjoy parts of the novel.
Those are some of the reasons that I personally did not enjoy this novel. I do not disagree with it's status as a classic because it was an important novel in it's time and obviously provides an excellent commentary on British attitudes of the 18th century. I simply did not enjoy it, but that does not diminish it's importance. I think that to accuse people of not enjoying the novel because of a lack of understanding the time in which this was written is an oversimplification and I will remind you that many people writing these reviews, such as myself, enjoy other novels written in the same period despite their cringeworthy racist or zealous moments.(less)

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Jan 27, 2009 Andy Madsen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's really sad that people judge books from the 17th century from their 21st century politically-correct perspective. You don't have to agree with Defoe's worldview and religious beliefs to like the book. I'm repulsed by Homer's beliefs but I know his works deserve to be classics.

People who think this book is boring probably think hikes through majestic mountains or quiet afternoons in a beautiful garden are boring. This book is slow at times. But the slowest parts are the best. Defoe is a mast...more

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Jan 27, 2009 Lindsay rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 18th-century-novel

There is something inherently absurd about any sort of qualitative evaluation (a la "how many stars do I give this on goodreads?") by a twenty-first century reader of a book like Robinson Crusoe. Published in 1719, it embodies a rather paradoxical identity crisis of being a novel that was written before novels really existed. It doesn't play by the rules -- simply because there were no rules when it was written. There are a lot of unfamiliar things that will put off, or even disgust, the modern...more There is something inherently absurd about any sort of qualitative evaluation (a la "how many stars do I give this on goodreads?") by a twenty-first century reader of a book like Robinson Crusoe. Published in 1719, it embodies a rather paradoxical identity crisis of being a novel that was written before novels really existed. It doesn't play by the rules -- simply because there were no rules when it was written. There are a lot of unfamiliar things that will put off, or even disgust, the modern reader. No, there really isn't anything along the lines of what we'd call "character development." Yes, Robinson is going to kill a bunch of "savages" and try to impart the word of God those he chooses not to kill. For readers who have trouble suspending their twenty-first century sensibilities, these are dangerous waters indeed.

But if you can get past all the imperialist hoo-ha and the passages that are just flat-out dull (I mean, there are quite a few), there's something about this book that is truly amazing -- and still would be, even if you attempted to scrub off the Important-with-a-capital-I stamp that the crusty old keepers of the literary canon have branded upon it. Robinson Crusoe is, at its core, a simple and affecting story about what it means to be human. Had I read that sentence I just wrote three weeks ago, I would have thought it a hollow cliche, but maybe because it is such a cliche, there are really so few books that invite us to consider our humanity in its most basic and elemental form. You can't read this book without putting yourself in Crusoe's shoes; would I be going to all this work just to harvest some corn, or would I have completely given up the will to survive by now? At what point is a single, isolated human life not worth living anymore? You ask yourself a lot of humbling questions while reading this book. Maybe Robinson's lack of character enables us to see ourselves in him more readily; plenty of people must have felt compelled to do this, or else we'd have the sad, sad fate of living in a world without Gilligan's Island (among a number of other TV shows.) The story of Robinson Crusoe ripples through our culture immeasurably.

Does this make up for the fact that sometimes it's insanely boring? For me, kind of. For everybody? Probably not. Maybe for you, if you are one of those awful people who think pirates jokes are indiscriminately funny, in which case, God help you. Regardless, I enjoyed this book quite a bit.(less)

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Oct 30, 2008 Tamra rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: classic nuts

There can not be many classics WORSE than this book. It might be decently written. And it might be a classic. For that I'll give it 2 stars instead of 1. But it's boring! I really don't know why this is a classic.

But you won't waste much time reading it. It'll take you 3 hours to read it, tops. This isn't really a book but more of a pamphlet.

HOW TO WRITE YOUR OWN ROBINSON CRUSOE:
#1 Create the start of a plot line that sounds very interesting. For instance, a man being marooned on an island and...more

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Oct 28, 2008 Kathlene rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Okay, I know this would not be most people's first "go-to" book, but it's considered by some critics (of these kinds of things) to be the first incarnation of the English novel as we know it.

If you love novels, then it's great to see how Daniel DeFoe kick-started this genre. We've got fiction pretending to be a true story, adventure, a hero as an every day sort with a moral failing, and an obsession with both large and petty things. And then there is the spiritial aspect. Add to that the race i...more

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Oct 27, 2008 David X rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read the book, Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. It talks about an English youth who gets shipwrecked on an island off the coast of South America. At first he is clinging onto his very survival but pretty soon he rescues supplies from the ship, which is unusable but mostly intact and starts a living. He lives in a cave but in a few years, makes a hut in the beautiful forest on the other side where there is lots of edible harmless plants and animals. After over two decades he rescues a prisoner...more

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Mar 29, 2008 Cole Gregory rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Cole by: mom

Shelves: literature

An adventurous, action-packed novel about a young man and the rest of the crew having no choice but to abandon a ship during a brutal storm. Only one man survives. His name is Robinson Crusoe. Struggling to survive he has to make a shelter, and scavenge everything he can from the torn up ship. Luckily, the island that he landed on had not only food but also fresh water. As he had to make everything from scratch, he found that he was an exceptional craftsman when he was making things for his hut....more

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Nov 29, 2009 Harun Harahap rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: punya, fiksi, terjemahan

MEMBOSANKAN

Saat membaca buku ini, beberapa kali saya tertidur karena lelah dan bosan. 90 persen lebih buku ini hanya berupa tulisan deskripsi dengan sedikit dialog. Pada awalnya, Saya membayangkan kisah petualang Robinson yang terdampar dipulau tak berpenghuni ini seperti film Cast Away yang dibintangi oleh Tom Hanks. Ternyata makin bertambahnya halaman yang saya baca, makin bertambah pula kebosanan yang saya dapatkan!

Kisahnya sungguh datar tanpa emosi, terlalu banyak pendeskripsian suatu hal da...more

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Mar 14, 2009 James rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-and-reread, favorites

'It happen'd one Day about Noon going towards my Boat, I was exceeding surpriz'd with the Print of a Man's naked Foot on the Shore, which was very plain to be seen in the Sand: I stood like one Thunder-struck ...'

Robinson Crusoe is one of the most famous adventure stories ever written. The account of a sailor shipwrecked on a desert island for twenty-eight years, it is also a tale of mythic proportions, an allegory, and a spiritual autobiography. I remember being fascinated with the industrious...more

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Jan 13, 2009 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, classic

I liked this book. It was a little hard to read at first since it was written in the 1700's but I quickly got used to it. This book contains a lot of philosophy. It contained a lot of thoughts about God and his perceived interaction with his children, especially how he treats those that offend him. There is also an underlying theme that keeps coming back that we should be thankful for what we have because our situations could be worse. Another theme the book deals with is that we don't need much...more

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Jun 23, 2008 Leah added it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 18, 2012 Myles Osborne rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: uc-berkeley

...Fuck Early 18th Century "Literature."

Alright, so maybe not.

It's actually a really insightful read that represents the emergence of the middle class and self-made men following centuries of static feudal power structures. There's also that bittersweet ending-- a man who has lost twenty five years of his life choosing to return to isolation rather than to the society from which he fell. This is one of those rare cases where a book's status as a classic may be justified.

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Jun 01, 2010 Becca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mediocre, i-read-adult-lit-too, shrihs-bookclub-reads

The actual story was quite interesting and some of his harangues about God were quite interesting and made me think about my relationship with Him and beliefs about him, but you've got to know that 28 years of it can be quite boring after a while. After I had read the same thought for the sixteenth time I wanted to just put it aside and finish another year, but I persevered and the story ended well. I do have to say that seeing his circumstances and bad luck over a lifetime made me grateful for...more

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May 07, 2009 Astrid rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

...there's a reason this one's condensed so much for the kiddies, guys. Very alien to me in terms of how much it deviates from contemporary expectations of novel writing. Not enough character interiority to get me invested in the story (when I say enough, I mean any) and the bits on the island are much less exciting than I expected. Who would have thought that compiling data on your shipwrecked possessions makes for one of the action-adventure classics of all time? Reductive, I know.

Let us not g...more

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Jul 17, 2008 Candi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

This is a big book, it may take me even longer then David Copperfield.
I read it, and I was surprised by how much I liked it. The first few chapters before he gets to the island are a little slow, but it's a great literary set up everything comes back around. This book is written from a pro-slavery standpoint so that's a little weird, but that is the way colonialists felt so it would be more strange if it wasn't. Once Crusoe gets on the island he is awesome and compelling, no going crazy with vol...more

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Apr 08, 2012 James rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Robinson Crusoe is worthy of the title classic. Published in 1719, Daniel Defoe's best known novel is a fascinating look in to the European mindset of that period. Superstitious at times, religious occasionally, painfully colonialist in perspective, the book is a broad discussion of the meaning of life through the lens of knowledge in the early 18th century.

In addition to the entertaining story line, the book is chock-full of wisdom. I dog-eared quite a few pages so that I could refer back to th...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Ian added it

One of those books I'd always wanted to read but never really knew much about. I've read a few of the other reviews on this, and loads of people seem to make points I totally agree with.

For a start, there are parts in which you just feel Defoe is lecturing us on the virtues of being a good Christian, and specifically not a Catholic but an Anglican. I found this extremely annoying, but understood it to be probably the driving force behind his writing the book in the first place, and I had to kee...more

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Mar 27, 2009 Christine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I absolutely loved this book. You think of this being a boy's adventure story and it is but oh so much more than ever a boy could glean from this book. These are the kinds of things that are said in this book: "I have since often observed how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth, to that reason which ought to guide them in such cases, -- namely, that they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed of the action for which they oug...more I absolutely loved this book. You think of this being a boy's adventure story and it is but oh so much more than ever a boy could glean from this book. These are the kinds of things that are said in this book: "I have since often observed how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth, to that reason which ought to guide them in such cases, -- namely, that they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the returning, which only can make them be esteemed wise men." This is a man who lived on an island 29 years, alone for 26 of them. He found Jesus Christ as his Redeemer there. And these pages are filled with the deliverances God gave to him. "I had no notion of anything being called deliverance but my being delivered from the captivity I was in . . .(meaning shipwrecked all alone)." "I pored so much upon my deliverance from the main affliction that I disregarded the deliverance I had received. . . God had delivered me, but I had not glorified him; that is to say, I had not owned and been thankful for that as a deliverance." He felt like God had delivered him in a myriad ways. Showed him how to grow crops, make pots, gave him goats for milk, cheese, butter, provided ammunition and tools to use. His hard work and ingenuity was all based upon God showing him how. The insights he gives for his own personal affliction is thus: "And this part also I cannot but recommend to the reflection of those who are apt in their misery to say, "Is any affliction like mine?" Let them consider how much worse the cases of some people are, and their case might have been if Providence had thought fit." "In a word, as my life was a life of sorrow one way, so it was a life of mercy another; and I wanted nothing to make it a life of comfort but to be able to make my sense of God's goodness to me and care over me in this condition be my daily consolation." He talks about how to pay attention to the way God guides and whispers things to direct our life. This book is perfect for anyone going through a rough time. It puts it all into perspective.

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About Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe (1659/1661 [?] - 1731) was an English writer, journalist, and spy, who gained enduring fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest practitioners of the novel and helped popularize the genre in Britain. In some texts he is even referred to as one of the founders, if not the founder, of the English novel. A prolific and versatile writer, he wrote m...more

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The Further Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe

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“It is never too late to be wise.” — 2,674 people liked it

“Thus fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.” — 24 people liked it

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