Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed Robinson Crusoe (Scribner's Illustrated Classics) on + 1223 more book reviews
ROBINSON CRUSOE is another classic that I have been meaning to read since I was a child. I remember that I had a copy of it published by Goldsmith when I was probably about 10 years old but for some reason, I never read it. Of course, I basically knew the story from TV, movies, and comic books and I know I read some other classics back then including several by Jules Verne, Treasure Island, and The Swiss Family Robinson, but every time I attempted Crusoe, I could not get into it.
Maybe it was because this copy that I had was not broken into chapters but was rather one long narrative. I now own a reprint of the classic Scribner's edition and decided to read it after reading SELKIRK'S ISLAND which was a very interesting history of one of the men who Defoe based Crusoe on... Alexander Selkirk was marooned on an island in the Pacific for almost five years before being rescued.
I probably would have enjoyed Crusoe more if I had read it in my youth. It contains some great action scenes especially in the first and last parts of the novel including where Crusoe gets captured and made a slave by Moorish pirates and then at the end when he is able to help the Captain of the English ship who was besieged by mutineers. In between, Crusoe gets shipwrecked on an island in the Atlantic near the South American coast when his excursion to travel to Africa for slaves goes awry. He spends 28 years on the island, much of it building his shelter, growing grains, domesticating the wild goats for food, building canoes, and finally rescuing Friday from a group of cannibals. Friday becomes his servant and Crusoe has him call him Master.
This was definitely a book of its time, originally published in 1719. Slave trade was prevalent and colonialism was the way of the world. This novel definitely reflects this but I know you can't judge something written in the 1700s based on the standards of 2020. I know this is also sometimes considered to be the first novel written in English. I would say it is worth reading but it was sometimes a little tedious and repetitious.
Maybe it was because this copy that I had was not broken into chapters but was rather one long narrative. I now own a reprint of the classic Scribner's edition and decided to read it after reading SELKIRK'S ISLAND which was a very interesting history of one of the men who Defoe based Crusoe on... Alexander Selkirk was marooned on an island in the Pacific for almost five years before being rescued.
I probably would have enjoyed Crusoe more if I had read it in my youth. It contains some great action scenes especially in the first and last parts of the novel including where Crusoe gets captured and made a slave by Moorish pirates and then at the end when he is able to help the Captain of the English ship who was besieged by mutineers. In between, Crusoe gets shipwrecked on an island in the Atlantic near the South American coast when his excursion to travel to Africa for slaves goes awry. He spends 28 years on the island, much of it building his shelter, growing grains, domesticating the wild goats for food, building canoes, and finally rescuing Friday from a group of cannibals. Friday becomes his servant and Crusoe has him call him Master.
This was definitely a book of its time, originally published in 1719. Slave trade was prevalent and colonialism was the way of the world. This novel definitely reflects this but I know you can't judge something written in the 1700s based on the standards of 2020. I know this is also sometimes considered to be the first novel written in English. I would say it is worth reading but it was sometimes a little tedious and repetitious.
