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Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Defoe

Start date: December 1, 2016

Finish date: December 31, 2016

Discussion: Current Group Read

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Dec 06, 2011 Juergen John Roscher rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read_2013

Robinson Crusoe is one of those books that everyone knows something about it but few people have actually read it. I decided that it was time to tackle this classic novel and find out for myself why it has endured for three centuries.

The novel is about Robinson Crusoe’s journeys and adventures while sailing to locations, far away, from his English home. Crusoe seems to have a curse that follows him when he sails, which he believes was due to the fact that he went against his father’s wishes for Robinson Crusoe is one of those books that everyone knows something about it but few people have actually read it. I decided that it was time to tackle this classic novel and find out for myself why it has endured for three centuries.

The novel is about Robinson Crusoe’s journeys and adventures while sailing to locations, far away, from his English home. Crusoe seems to have a curse that follows him when he sails, which he believes was due to the fact that he went against his father’s wishes for him, which leads him to be captured as a slave by the Moors and eventually marooned on an uninhabited island after a shipwreck that kills all of the other sailors and travelers on the run-aground ship. The bulk of the book is about Crusoe’s 28 years on the island; about how he used resourcefulness to build a life on the island that provided him with many of the comforts of his life in England. The conclusion of the story was about Crusoe’s leaving the island because of his willingness to help others in times of great need.

What I learned from this book was how Crusoe’s ingenuity and inventiveness was the key in solving many of the issues he encountered on an uninhabited island. He used hard work and consistent effort to build a dwelling that provided him safety (and comfort) from the storms and potential predators on the island. He used the materials available on the island to make tools and furniture that made his life easier. With his resourcefulness he was able to develop a reproducible food supply by domesticating wild goats and using them for meat, milk, butter and cheese; planting, raising and eating rice and corn; and using the grapes, turtles, and waterfowl found on the island for food. Rather than lie around and feeling sorry, he went to work and made a life for himself even though he was alone for so long.

I thought the story portrayed a good example of how finding God is an individual pursuit, a process between an individual and God. The story depicted Crusoe’s conversion to God through his study of the Bible and supplication to God. I further thought that the principle of repentance was accurately shown in the novel, which was a refining process and that when the process was completed that Crusoe was a changed man with greater confidence in himself and in God.

I liked how the author, Daniel Defoe, was able to command the attention of the reader during periods of not much action in Crusoe’s lonely life on the island. I thought it was a well written story that definitely deserves the label of a piece of classic literature.

I would recommend this book to those who live a great epic adventure story full of action and suspense. I think this would be an awesome choice for an older boy that needs excitement and tension in a story but could also needs to learn about being smart and inventive, the value of being consistent and hard working, and developing a relationship with God, which brings peace and confidence that comes with a knowledge that one is right with God.

Quotes
“Thus fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.”
― Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

“I learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less upon the dark side, and to consider what I enjoyed, rather than what I wanted: and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts, that I cannot express them; and which I take notice of here, to put those discontented people in mind of it, who cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them, because they see and covet something that he has not given them. All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.”
― Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

“And I add this part here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that whenever they come to a true Sense of things, they will find Deliverance from Sin a much greater Blessing than Deliverance from Affliction.”
― Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
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Feb 09, 2008 Cynthia rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2008, 1001-books, guardian-1000

Defoe's Roxana is a favorite and A Journal of the Plague Year is incredibly compelling. How odd then that rereading this one fell a little flat. The adventure story remembered from childhood turns out to have a good deal to do with colonialism. ...more

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