Robinson Crusoe (Modern Library Classics)

Book Description

Daniel Defoe relates the tale of an English sailor marooned on a desert island for nearly three decades. An ordinary man struggling to survive in extraordinary circumstances, Robinson Crusoe wrestles with fate and the nature of God. This edition features maps.

Customer Reviews:

Didn't like the language it used.......2007-10-11

Using archaic English and capitalizing every noun might have added to uniqueness of this version of the Robinson Crusoe but I am not that artistic and personally prefer my books use plain English. That's why I returned the book and will be looking for another version that uses plain English.

Robinson Crusoe Review.......2007-05-10

The book Robinson Crusoe was not even half of what I expected. It was boring and I could not stay focused because of my lack of interest in that type of book. I was very unimpressed. The book moves too slow. Personally I would not recommend this book to someone who likes detail and more action.

Robinson Crusoe Review.......2007-05-03

Robinson Crusoe

This classic tale about a teenage boy making a life-changing decision has its pros and cons. But the positives out rule the negatives by far. One con is that the book sort of stretches a thought of the character into five or six pages. I suppose this is because the book was written early in the 18th century, and this was how authors in this time wrote. Another problem that I had with this book is that some of the vocabulary isn't used in everyday language, and it makes some of the parts of the book dense.
But, I thought Defoe's Robinson Crusoe had a very exciting and suspenseful storyline. There are some parts in the beginning that are a little boring, but once you get to the fifth or sixth chapter, things start to come together and make sense. He's original ship wrecked, he was a peasant for a while, and then he escapes; but then gets marooned on an uncharted island, where he stays for 28 years. Defoe puts a lot of creativity in Crusoe's survival story, and it's a very exciting read for ages fourteen and up; just because of some of the complicated vocabulary.

Abby Ferguson
Dorman Freshman Campus

Robinson Crusoe Review.......2007-05-03

Average customer rating:

More illustrative of Defoe's life than Piracy
Be advised this is the same book as Captain Johnson's
So many knockoffs, this one gets it right
Yes! Buy this book and give it to friends as well
Saved by Captain Johnson?

A General History of the Pyrates
Daniel Defoe
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486404889

Book Description

Immensely readable history by the author of Robinson Crusoe incorporates the author's celebrated flair for journalistic detail, and represents the major source of information about piracy in the early 18th century. Defoe recounts the daring and bloody deeds of such outlaws as Edward Teach (alias Blackbeard), Captain Kidd, Mary Read, Anne Bonny, many others.

Customer Reviews:

More illustrative of Defoe's life than Piracy.......2007-06-05

The dearth of primary sources have encouraged "scholars" to grasp onto the Furbanks / Owens short de-atrribution, which is basically an ad hominem attack against the preeminent 20th century Defoe scholar Moore. The tales in this book are wild and outlandish, much like Defoe's life. Full of get-rich quick schemes, bankruptcy, and being pilloried, he did not lack for his own source material. So enjoy the tales, picture a proto-democracy where illiterate desperate men create "articles" of piracy that would make a modern day attorney proud, read some more Defoe and make up your own mind. Clear sailing!

Be advised this is the same book as Captain Johnson's.......2007-01-26

While excellent, this book is the same volume also published under the name of Captain Johnson, sold in a different edition, with a different cover, etc. I was in a rush to read several authentic pirate stories, and bought both books. Don't make the mistake I did!

So many knockoffs, this one gets it right.......2006-10-31

This is the most complete and authoratative version of the General History that you'll be able to find. It contains both Volume 1 and Volume 2 and is superbly edited with extensive footnotes and a graceful treatment of the language. It preserves the eighteenth-century feel while making some subtle changes in spelling and punctuation to make it more comprehensive to us. Also, Volume 2 originally contained an appendix with corrections and additions to the biographies contained in Volume 1; this edition places those sections with the chapters in Volume 1 to which they correspond, and indicates clearly when this has been done. A word of warning: Defoe sometimes takes off on long tangents that digress quite far from the subject at hand, and these sections have not been ommitted; but as a reader I personally appreciate the editor letting me decide which parts I do or do not wish to read.

As a point of interest, I originally sought out this edition because it's the same one that David Cordingly used to write his excellent book Under the Black Flag. I highly recommend it for anyone seriously interested in piratology, history or literature.

Yes! Buy this book and give it to friends as well.......2006-08-08

Let them know you like Pyrates! Be a Pyrate from time to time, but don't kill or mame anyone. This is an incredible book, full of information, non-stop action, and because it is written by Defoe, Johnson, or whomever it was written by - someone in the time of the actual pyrates being mentioned, it weilds a sense of authenticity that hits you up side the head like no other. If these men (and women) of seafaring bravado were among us today they would have been very pleased with the outcome of this book rather than the show-boat affairs of Disney. However, some parts of the book are graphic, realistic, and perhaps readers under the age of 13 should be prepared.

Saved by Captain Johnson?.......2006-05-03

If you are a fan of Defoe and want to read about pyrates and their cutlasses then this is the book you need. It was published under the name of Captain Charles Johnson, no doubt to protect its author from the retaliation of ones such as Captain Avery - then in England - whose case the book deals with first. Avery had had a play written about (or by) him called The Successful Pirate, and a book called The King of the Pirates, and A General History of the Pyrates is a scathing attack against their pretentions. Because of his history as a pirate Avery would not have been able to visit the naval records office to check up on his adversary, hence the security and reason presumably for the name. Subsequent research in the naval records have shown that no such fish as Captain Charles Johnson had existed. His name is fictional.

The American Defoe scholar John Robert Moore identified it as being Defoe's and it certainly adds to his tally of great works.

Average customer rating:

A challenge and a mystery.
At the Coalface of Postmodernism
an enthusiast's choice
a review
Best "Robinson Crusoe" book.

Foe: A Novel (King Penguin)
J. M. Coetzee
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 014009623X

Customer Reviews:

A challenge and a mystery........2007-06-24

This much studied novel offers the reader mysteries wrappped inside enigmas throughout the second half of the book. This could be a frustrating book to any reader who wishes to finish a book totally understanding all that they have read and feeling that all the pieces came together into a whole complete wrap-up at the end.

Coetzee takes Daniel DeFoe's Robinson Cruso, and deconstructs it to the extreme by offering an alternative tale that preceeds the writing of the novel. Coetzee tells the story of Susan Barton, a brave and handsome woman who leaves England to find her abducted daughter in Brazil. After two years of fruitless searching and poverty she tries to return to England , however Portuguese mutineers take over the ship and put her adrift in the Caribbean/Western Atlanta, where she eventually lands on an island inhabited by a Robinson Cruso and a mute slave, Friday.

The first half of the book is a wonderful straight forward narrative, written in letter form from Susan Barton to the novelist Daniel DeFoe. However it is the second half of the book that may be more challenging as Coetzee explores the gulf between reality and the perception of reality as expressed by a single observer. Then this perception of reality, which may become a narrative, is contrasted with that story as it is developed by a storyteller or as it is contrasted with alternative views of the same events.

This leads folks to identify this novel as a prime example of post-modern literature. We are offered the opportunity to explore a story that was not heard, in other words - the experiences of Susan Barton are completely written out of the story of Robinson Cruso. But before we feel too sorry for Ms. Barton, we are given example after example of how she fails to understand the African slave man, Friday. Who's story is the right story? We side originally with Susan Barton, a most appealing character. Yet in part 2 of the novel we soon see that she is less and less a reliable narrator and we soon find that she is talking in metaphore.

Daniel DeFoe, probably the best known novelist of his time, was constantly in debt. Susan Barton hides in his home while DeFoe hides elsewhere. During this time a girl begins to follow and haunt Suan Barton. She says she is also Susan Barton and she is the daughter of Susan Barton. The adult Susan Barton tells her that she is 'father born' and that she is really not her adult missing daugher in Brazil. We come to realize that the young Susan Barton is the narrative DeFoe is writing about Susan's life and the young girl goes not match Susan's perception of reality. We come to realize that DeFoe is learning that Susan will be his 'foe' in trying to develop the story and therefore distance from her is required for his creative process.

In the end this novel combines a range of narrative styles, including converstaional and letter styles. We are sometimes not sure of the narrator, especially in the final pages. Issues around power and race, power and gender, colonialism, and the creative process all twist together. Coetzee honors the creative process and the necessity to edit out those voices that will not enhance the final work of art - yet here he offers a fine creative product in which at least one edited voice is allowed to speak for herself, at least in the Coetzee novel.

Susan Barton is not the only unheard voice. Friday is said to be mute but we are unsure of this through much of the book. We are unsure of his past, his loss of voice, and the range of actions he takes - many of which are ritual and not clear to Susan or the reader. The passage where Friday opens his mouth and the ocean winds and surf are heard would appear to be a comment on the fact that words, despite their power, have limitations, they approximate reality, they are not perfect mirrors of reality.

Read this book with a friend since you will want to discuss the ambiguities with someone.

At the Coalface of Postmodernism.......2006-03-16

Foe "establishes itself as a prior, more original text" (Krupat 1992:9) to Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. The primary difference is that, in Coetzee's "prior" text, a young woman, Susan Barton, is washed ashore on Crusoe's island following a mutiny. She becomes the real narrator of the story -- and the story she tells is radically different to that which the original Robinson Crusoe narrates. Not only that, but her man of Letters, Foe, finally takes her story and writes her out of it, giving it shape as the present Robinson Crusoe. I shall offer my own, original interpretation of the book.

The first section may be autobiographical -- perhaps charting the author's inner journey from modernism to postmodernism. It describes the island, windswept and desolate -- unlike Defoe's original rich setting. Barton is a "livewire" who is concerned that Cruso has "narrowed his horizon". She is concerned about his "indifference to salvation". However, Cruso is quite content to lose himself "in the contemplation of the wastes of water and sky" -- rather than constructing doubtful meanings for the past, present, or future.

The second section enters into many of the problems of narrative and history. It takes place after Barton's rescue and return to England. Cruso, unable to bear the loss of his island, dies on the return journey. Barton seeks a publisher for her story (Foe), and corresponds with him. But Barton's mind is beset with problems as to how, or even whether, her story should be told. Is the story important after all? Whose story should be told? Is she distorting its content? What should she do with Friday, who is unable to speak? In fact, even when she gets into his clothes, she is unable to understand him.

The third section apparently contemplates theories of truth. Bearing in mind J.M. Coetzee's training as a computer scientist and linguist, I shall draw on the structure of computer languages. "The trick I have learned," says Foe, "is to plant a sign or marker in the ground" (this might refer to the main program). "I shall have something to return to" (one returns to the main program after a subroutine). "The more often I come back to the mark . . . the more I am heartened." The implication is, perhaps, that a life ultimately becomes its own meaning.

The fourth and final part of the novel is a short one, and may represent an attempt to paint reality beyond words and reason. There is a confusion of dream-like imagery. Barton says that God "wrote a Word so long that we have yet to come to the end of it." That is, it would seem impossible to confine truth to words or narrative, or to any enclosed system of meaning. In the closing scene, "a slow stream" comes from the mute Friday. "It runs northward and southward, to the ends of the earth" -- perhaps implying that the inflence of truth is inevitable, regardless of what narration may do to it.

The novel has been described as "an archetypal postmodern novel". In fact it takes one to the "coalface" of postmodernism. It leads one carefully through each of the many deconstructing questions about meaning. This is no textbook on postmodernism, nor even a representation of the same. This is to observe a postmodernist at work, and this makes the book unique.

Krupat, Arnold. Ethnocriticism: Ethnography, History, Literature, 1992. Berkeley: University of California Press.

an enthusiast's choice.......2006-01-27

J.M. Coetzee is clearly an enigma of a man as well as a hell of a writer. I read this book for a college lit. class and ended up extracting a great topic that I based my thesis on. Definitely a great (and short) book, but far from "light" reading. Also, I would highly recommend re-reading the orginial Robinson Crusoe to fully appreciate this book.

a review.......2005-12-07

Coetzee is a South African writer who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 (not for this book); the first author to win two Booker prizes, and is known for his novels that look at race issues. This novel is a retelling of Robinson Crusoe as an "archetypal postmodern" novel. It operates on many levels and there have been 100s (1000s?) of academic journal musings written about it's many allegorical, literary and philosophical permutations about race, colonialism, feminism, creativity. I found it to be in such rarefied air that it was a blockage to an enjoyable story. For a didactic novel it is gold.

Best "Robinson Crusoe" book........2005-04-18

I had to read Robinson Crusoe and Foe for my English 101 class, mainly due to the fact that I have/had to write a Compare and Contrast essay on the two. I can safely say that Foe is by far a much better title than its predecessor. Why, I ask myself. I think it's because of the old-style grammar back then, it's just difficult to get into.

Foe on the other hand, starts off right in the beginning with adventure. It's no snooze. I love this book.

Average customer rating:

A deep polemic, not a children's story, but a great adventure
You all know the story...
The novel as parable
The Slow, Tedious Life and Workings of Robinson Crusoe
Have you ever lived a shipwrecked life?

Robinson Crusoe (Penguin Classics)
Daniel Defoe
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0141439823
Release Date: 2003-04-29

Book Description

Introduction by John Richetti

Customer Reviews:

A deep polemic, not a children's story, but a great adventure.......2007-10-14

Reviewers are completely missing the point of this novel. It isn't primarily an adventure story: it is primarily a tract, a polemic against Rome. Nonetheless, taken just as a novel, it is one of the best and most enjoyable I have read.

If your only encounter with Robinson Crusoe so far has been through some children's adaptation, you're in for a real treat. The kids' adaptations remove most of what makes this a good read. There is so much to the plot that I keep remembering twists that I've forgotten.

That said, I found it an extremely gripping novel. Despite the occasionally unfamiliar language, the action is fast-paced and Defoe succeeds in developing a tremendous empathy with his subject. When one realises that it based on the life's story of an actual man, this really hits home. Robinson Crusoe is a candidate for the earliest English novel ever written; nonethless, it is also a serious contender for one of the best novels. Our generation of microwave TV dinners might need our minds expanding before we can appreciate such a feast without complaining that it has no machine guns or aliens and that it pauses to express ideas and offer reflection on the inner thoughts of a real man, but I still claim that it is a truly enjoyable read and one which I would unhesitatingly recommend to anyone.

What makes this a polemic? As the action begins to unfold, the reader thinks that he is in for some moralising: "if only I had listened to my parents and been a good boy." Once Crusoe ends up on his island, things couldn't be more different. He falls in love with the Lord Jesus and follows him. He doesn't do this through a Catholic Priest or any institution, but by reading God's word. He goes from not even having much memory of the religion of his parents, to being a disciple of Christ, then an evangelist and pastor on his little colony. At the time of Defoe's, writing, the notion that one could come into relationship with the living God apart from the institutions of Rome was a bold claim indeed.

These days, the polemic probably works the opposite way. For many evangelicals the notion that there may be more to life in Christ than "me and my Bible (with a bit of help from church to help me get on with 'me and my Bible')" is anathema and smacks of traditionalism or even worse. The fact that one cannot be saved in isolation, the fact that the church isn't a vehicle to salvation but that the church is salvation (as argued, e.g., by Leithart in Against Christianity) is glimpsed in this novel. His walk with Christ doesn't properly unfold until it is part of his relationship with other Christians.

Read it. If you don't enjoy it, you're probably making do with entertainment that is doing little more than stunting your mind.

You all know the story..........2006-09-09

but the key point here is that you will get an authoritative text, an interesting introduction, and a well-bound book for under ten bucks. Amazon can get it used for you for even less.

I teach an English literature course and I know how much my students are fleeced on certain "Anthologies". Instead, I have them buy individual paperbacks like this one. And they appreciate the savings. This edition of "Robinson Crusoe" will be appreciated by casual readers and students alike.

Rocco Dormarunno
The College of New Rochelle

The novel as parable .......2005-10-30

It is said of Robinson Crusoe that he in managing to survive for twenty - eight years on an isolated island in which he was for the most part alone provided a metaphor for Mankind itself in its solitary struggle to survive in this vast sea of a Universe. And that by his ingenuity and his resourcefulness he gave to all of us a demonstration of how we in living must learn to adapt and reconstruct our own world and lives as we go on.
And that thus in reading this work we are not reading the story of some strange shipwrecked figure from a few hundred years ago but rather reading the story of ourselves and our own struggle for survival.
In this it is not surprising that the sequel to the novel is considered far less compelling. And Crusoe's return after the death of his wife to the island he left is seen as somewhat of a failed adventure, especially as his faithful servant Friday was killed by savages in the process.
One is young and alone and can go far into distant worlds and survive. But when one is old and returns to those worlds seeking to find one's youth there one only finds those worlds have aged also- and the mirror they hold up to your face is not a flattering one.
I wonder now what it would be like to as a child set out in the world again to a distant land of adventure.
'Robinson Crusoe' lives in all of us, but perhaps most especially an really only to those who are young.

The Slow, Tedious Life and Workings of Robinson Crusoe.......2004-09-12

This might not be the wisest thing to do, but here goes.

Is "Robinson Crusoe" a classic? Yes. Iconic? Yes. Adventurous and well-placed? No.

We usually allow liberties for older novels. Common writing and language changes over time. However, Defoe's literary novel about a man stranded on a deserted island for 28 years seems to have problems beyond those liberties. Every section must be tediously described with every possible adjective that could fit the situation. The events of the book go far too slowly for this to be called an adventure, and while Defoe makes the time-transition seem natural for the most part (a difficult thing to do with stories that take place over years,) it doesn't make it any more interesting.

The character of Robinson is a personality, in that he has characteristics the reader can identify (though not necessarily identify with): he has goals that he doesn't know how to pursue, he's a bit oblivious to the workings of the world yet manages to make use of them while on his own, he's a whiner, a worker, a person who blames and takes blame, etc.

Unfortunately, while Robinson describes all his emotions to the reader, the words itself are very unemotional. I suppose this works if you look at the book as a re-writing of his account, but as a moving story... well, it fails to move you.

"Robinson Crusoe" is an important story. Not only is it one of the earlier novels in Europe's history, but the idea of being stranded on an island and having to make due for yourself without society or civilized luxuries is an important one that has made a wave throughout our culture, and has been regurgitated by various re-inventors plenty of times as well. However, as a story for itself, it isn't very engaging, and if it were up to me, I'd say Defoe could have used a stricter editor, to get his ideas and events across to the reader more smoothly without pushing them away from the book.

Have you ever lived a shipwrecked life?.......2004-08-15

Robinson Crusoe is a classic book about a shipwrecked man. The book recounts a man's experiences from young adulthood to late middle age - but even leaves room for a sequel. I found the book became more interesting as the story progressed.

Crusoe's life was filled with twists and turns, and perhaps a bit of luck that he survived so much. A great amount of details are given for how Crusoe tamed his land. Although the narrative was slightly repetitive at times and almost as if some details were added after-the-fact, the book does create the semblance of a real narrative - perhaps because of the repetitiveness and tacked-on details.

I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it. If the book seems a bit boring, keep going, it gets more interesting as it goes on.

Average customer rating:

Never Dry, Always Satisfying.
More than just a man on an island
Have a classic experience!
Great language and characterization
Didn't want it to end

Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe
Manufacturer: Courage Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0762414197

Customer Reviews:

Never Dry, Always Satisfying........2005-10-12

Yes, I know that title sounds like a beer commercial. I figured a three-hundred-year-old book needed an updating in the promotions department and except for sex, booze sells the best when it comes to advertising. Seriously, though, Robinson Crusoe is a rich character study that sheds light on the outlook of the human mind of the period, on the world, on civilization's merits, on basic behavior when confronted with extraordinary circumstances for which nothing in life has prepared you. Its tale of one Englishman shipwrecked on an uncharted island greets something wistful inside us all, some part of us that longs to "get away from it all" and escape. Yet at the same time, this novel also provokes a fear reaction from within, as Crusoe lives out his and our own terror of abandonment, of total loss, of being forgotten. This is a classic novel that addresses ageless themes and wraps them in a story that's actually quite good for its age and all location-imposed limitations.

More than just a man on an island.......2004-06-20

It's one of the classic man-alone surviver adventure stories. The bit on the island is actually only a small portion of the overall narrative. The bulk of the book follows Crusoe's attempts to reassimilate in English society after his time on the island living as a savage. Of course the movie versions only cover the time on the island, leaving the ending to assume that Crusoe will live happily ever after once he's rescued.

Have a classic experience!.......2004-05-09

I re-read the book after 40 years and was startled at how good it is. If you are an old-timer and have forgotten it, read it again. You will see once again why it is a classic. I highly recommend it.

Great language and characterization.......2003-07-19

This is not a novel for those who like quick action and a lot of dialogue. Robinson Crusoe is superbly written, and tends to draw out the events, with a great deal of imagery provided in order to describe everything with minute details. Seeing as to how this is one of my favorite novels, I have read Robinson Crusoe probably about six times, in more than one language. My favorite aspect of this novel is the language in which it is written. Defoe's ability to make every word worth reading is enough to captivate and ignite the imagination. I do not think that if you like fast-paced novels that you would enjoy this masterpiece, but it is a matter of personal preference. If you enjoy well-developed character, then Robinson Crusoe's character is one worth devoting your time to. Defoe creates a human being, with faults and flaws, as well as dignified qualities. Robinson Crusoe is truly worthy of emulation, and is one of the greatest-developed characters in a work of literature. I recommend this novel to anyone who is willing to take the time to read every sentence and who is not so impatient as to expect action to appear on every page of the novel.

Didn't want it to end.......2003-07-10

This is a wonderful book on many levels. Despite his father forbidding it and providing sound advice about taking the moderate road, Robinson yearns to become a seaman. From the moment he directly disobeys his father and goes to sea, the Hand of Providence becomes central to the plot. From shipwrecks to slavery the point seems to keep being driven home to him that he is not following the correct path. When he begins living in the manner that he is 'supposed' to live, he excels and would do well. Each time he steps out of line, however, he is slapped with disaster until Providence is his sole companion and he has a wealth of time to consider his choices. It is an intriguing look at the grip religion had on the people of DeFoe's time as well as one hell of a great adventure story. I wished that it would keep on going.

Average customer rating:

Best story ever

Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe
Manufacturer: Ann Arbor Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1587263882

Customer Reviews:

Best story ever.......2007-02-26

My husband and I found this book a most interesting read, and priced so reasonably we could buy a 'his and hers' copy, so each can read a loud while the other reads along in his/her book. A riveting story of high adventure, trials to his faith in the Christian God, survival by endless work, and much more. Highly recommended. The English is old world type, harder to read than plain English, but worth the reading. The modern movie of this title is not good at all, read the book, it is amazingly good.

Average customer rating:

The Best of the Robinson Crusoe readings.
An Affirmation of the Times
legendary story seems not to have aged very well..
school report
The Goods and The Bads

Robinson Crusoe (Dover Thrift Editions)
Daniel Defoe
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486404277

Book Description

A shipwreck's sole escapee, Robinson Crusoe endures 28 years of solitude on a Caribbean island and manages not only to survive but also to prevail. A warm humanity, evocative details of his struggle to tolerate his lonely existence, and lively accounts of his many exploits make Robinson Crusoe the most engaging of narrators.

Download Description

For more than two centuries, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe has delighted readers with its delicate portrayal of physical and emotional survival. Shipwrecked upon a deserted island, a sailor most somehow build a new life.

Customer Reviews:

The Best of the Robinson Crusoe readings........2006-01-05

Everyone knows the story...so the issue is who can read the
literature in a compelling way. Clearly, Martin Shaw has the touch. My only criticism is that this audio Cassette should be made into an audio CD for most modern listeners.

An Affirmation of the Times.......2005-10-01

The century in which Robinson Crusoe had his adventures was a time of exploration and colonialism. Daniel Defoe's story is famous for many reasons. For one thing, it is one of the first books to be written in modern English. Secondly, the adventuristic appeal has won the hearts and interests of generations of readers. And thirdly, it is an affirmation of the culture and society of the times (in comparison with Gulliver's Travels, a book that was more a satire of the times).

The book is set up in three parts, those being Crusoe's exploration of the world, being cast away on the island, and the providential return to society. The three parts are used to establish the world he exists in, to defend the world he exists in, and then to return to it after he's been able to properly exist outside of it.

Many readers may find a lot of comfort in his story. His ingenuity, perseverence, and industry combine somewhat melodramatically with his humbleness and self-discovery of God, which he defends mightily throughout. The story on a whole is hopeful and endearing: work hard, respect God, and even the most unlucky of man will abide.

Unfortunately, his tale hasn't aged well. The use of cannibal savages, slaves, and the like throughout the novel might offend some people. The constant care for divinity is at first really refreshing, but becomes tedious as the book starts to fall into a pattern of comfort-discomfort-speculation-God-comfort which may have been very enriching on the time, but today gets tedious. I don't want to intone that piety and response to the Bible is bad, I'm just saying it's out of place in modern vernacular.

Defoe himself shows a comprehensive understanding of the language, the characters, and the times. It is, really, a remarkable piece of writing structurally. However, its themes have aged, making it less than Universal, and for that matter somewhat misunderstood with modern-day audiences.

I'd say get this, the Dover Thrift edition. It's cheap, unabridged, and includes a quick introduction that makes the reading experience vastly more enriching. Otherwise it may be time to set this story to rest.

--PolarisDiB

legendary story seems not to have aged very well.........2005-07-01

Most everyone in the English-speaking world has heard of 'Robinson Crusoe' and know roughly what the story is about (Englishman gets marooned on a island and runs into fellow castaway sidekick he calls Friday). And upon reading the book there are no surprises. It reads like a book written 300 years ago: it's language is a bit stiff, lots of preaching of Christianity and Christian values, absolutely no sex. There is some violence but it is not belabored nor is it graphic.

However 'Robinson Crusoe' is not a deadly dull read. Defoe's attention to detail on how Crusoe survives on the island is quite remarkable, and inventive. His interaction with Friday and other folks (..at the end of the book) is also interesting. Yet overall there is nothing here to enthrall the reader. Noted as a book for young (teenaged) readers, I think 'Robinson Crusoe' would bore anyone but the most patient adult.

Bottom line: certainly a classic and not devoid of merit, but overall I am unlikely to recommend this book.

school report.......2004-09-08

For twenty-four years Robinson Crusoe was stranded on an island far away from anything, after being the only survivor of the shipwreck. Until one friday he rescues a prisoner I felt that book moved very slowly through the whole story, but it kept me interested throughout it. He turns his deserted island into a tropical paradise and learns to deal with his surroundings. It was an easy read. He returned to England the eleventh of June, 1687; after thirty-five years of being stranded out at sea. Daniel Defoe made this book made it seem more realistic than fiction, with his very descriptive writing. Overall I liked the book, because it had a good plot.

The Goods and The Bads.......2004-07-11

Description:
A middle-class Englishman rejects the comfortable lifestyle his station offers him in favor of a life of adventures. In the midst of adventuring, he is shipwrecked, alone, on a deserted island, where he lives for almost thirty years. The book is a first-hand account of his leaving England, his adventures, his years of isolation, and his return.

The Good:
Many schools of thought call Robinson Crusoe the first English novel, and it's interesting to see where the nowadays ubiquitous genre has its origin. Reading from Crusoe's perspective gives the book most of its interest, as it enables you to see the way a slightly rebellious Englishman thought (or, at least, the way Defoe assumed a slightly rebellious Englishman thought) about issues like the Spanish conquest of America, the "savages," and the bare necessities of life.

The Bad:
The text is repetitive and extremely preachy, especially when Crusoe finds religion and waxes philosophic about what being miserable really is. These phenomena are somewhat interesting the first time around, but Crusoe (Defoe?) never risks saying something only once. Many parts of it verge on the unbelievable, like when the shipwrecked sailor discovers a miraculous tree that grows quickly and sturdily wherever he puts it, which he then uses to build thick, living walls around his home. Some of the scenes that should be exciting fail to be because the language of the early 1700s doesn't lend itself well to action.

Book Description

Defoe's account of the bubonic plague that swept London in 1665 remains as vivid as it is harrowing. Based on Defoe's own childhood memories and prodigious research, A Journal of the Plague Year walks the line between fiction, history, and reportage. In meticulous and unsentimental detail it renders the daily life of a city under siege; the often gruesome medical precautions and practices of the time; the mass panics of a frightened citizenry; and the solitary travails of Defoe's narrator, a man who decides to remain in the city through it all, chronicling the course of events with an unwavering eye. Defoe's Journal remains perhaps the greatest account of a natural disaster ever written.

This Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the original edition published in 1722.

Customer Reviews:

Yes, Bubonic Plague is no fun........2007-03-04

A Journal of the Plague Year. Is it a novel or a historical document? Apparently it is a bit of both, as Daniel Defoe took a real journal from a real survivor of the London plague of 1664 and filled in various historical tidbits to enliven the text six decades after the fact. The result is a most illuminating description of London life when half the city is sick and dying. There is no particular organization to the text, and Defoe does not include anything like a chapter or section break. He, speaking as the narrator, simply comments on subjects of interest that he witnessed or recalled. Some is repetitive, but deadly epidemics are repetitive things and the stories of the dead, dying, sick and crazy do tend to follow various repeated trends. The original author did seem to get around a bit, though, and at various times seemed to be in a position of some responsibility to examine the effects of the plague as it spread. He also maintained, possibly with Defoe's posthumous aid, an eye for relevant detail and a willingness to put it to paper. While the text maintains a style of detached, impersonal writing common to the era, it does make abundantly clear that a plagued city is a thoroughly unpleasant place to avoid.

History will repeat itself.......2005-11-21

Defoe, Daniel, A Journal of the Plague Year. 1722. Penguin Books, 1966.
Now that we're all reading up on bird flu, the flu pandemic of 1918, and even the Black Plague, it seems appropriate to revisit Daniel Defoe's account of the London outbreak of 1665. The author cleverly spins a fictional world based on the real one which struck England when he was only five. Using real statistics and first or second hand accounts, he brings the reader full into that world with its constant terror, its bell-ringing nightly dead carts, the screams of the dying and their families, all of which teaches us something about the fragility of society as we know it. During the pestilence and for months afterward all foreign trade was stopped between Britain and other countries; shops were shut, factories closed, and the wretchedness of the poor, which was only partially relieved by charity--primarily private--increased immeasurably. Aside from total isolation, which was virtually impossible in a mercantile economy, there were only a few ways to avoid the sickness. One mentioned by Defoe was by a woman who doused herself from head to toe with vinegar. I used this method myself in Acapulco in 1951, to avoid being bitten by sand fleas, and it works.

Defoe's narrator says that he fell ill for a few days before the pestilence reached its peak, but quickly recovered. He obviously gained immunity through this mild exposure. Samuel Pepys kept a diary during the 1660s, and casually mentions in one passage that he poured gin into his bathwater for its cooling effect. The gin, of course, killed any fleas that might have been around and Pepys survived unharmed and unaware of what had saved him from death.

Vinegar and gin will not save us from the flu pandemic that is threatened. Face masks and strictly enforced quarantine (disapproved of by Defoe) seem to be the answer, as inoculation will not likely be timely or sufficiently available. Defoe's tale shakes the reader's confidence in government's ability to help its people in a crisis; if it cannot figure out what to do in a hurricane, what will happen when disaster strikes the entire country?

Five stars.

Malignity is the very nature of man.......2005-10-06

In this documentary novel, Defoe sketches poignantly the irrational behaviour of man under extreme circumstances, when death threatens behind every corner of the street.
People turned to fortune-tellers, astrologers or conjurers who deluded them. They became the victims of `doctors' selling `infallible preventive pills'. They `swarmed to a wicked generation of pretenders to magic and black art'.
People were terrified by the force of their imagination and saw representations and appearances in clouds. Their impudence increased by using devilish blasphemous language.
Others risked their lives by stealing and plundering without any regard to the danger of infection.
Man behaved as a mad dog.

The Government encouraged devotion, public prayers, fasting and humiliation to implore the mercy of God to avert the dreadful judgment. `Many a penitent confession was made of crimes long concealed.'
Innumerable religious sects and divisions fought for the souls of the condemned. It was `altar against altar'. The discourses of the religious ministers were full of terror, prophesying evil tidings.
Unfortunately, religion was not the solution: `the best physic against the plague was to run away from it.' People who believed in predestination (`tis the hand of God, there is no withstanding it') and stayed home, were infected too and died by thousands.
For Swift `there was no apparent extraordinary occasion for supernatural operation, it was really propagated by natural means.'

The near view of death reconciled men of good principles one to another.
But as the terror of infection abated, things all returned again to the course they were in before.
More, after the plague, `people, hardened by the danger they had been in, were more wicked and more stupid, more bold and hardened, in their vices and immoralities.'

In this impressive panorama, worth a Breughel or a Hieronymus Bosch, the only weakness is the lack of some kind of plot.

Not to be missed.

Rare record of a terrible year........2005-01-08

This fictionalised journal (written decades after the event when Defoe was only 5 years old) argues its case better by a bald statement of facts, than by any elaborate literary devices. This reads like it is meant to be, a journal, bringing home the horrors of that awful time in a way that a second-hand description could never do.
Having said that, this account IS second-hand; it is only Defoe's journalistic expertise, boyhood memories and down-to-earth style that make it so believable.

BUT - anyone who reads this should not expect another Gulliver's Travels - it IS heavy going; it's not a book that one can curl up with & relax, you have to work for your entertainment.

The main point that comes across is the constant religious undercurrent, which was, I guess, typical of the time (if not of Defoe) and the willingness to attach blame for anything unusual to outsiders, or God's will, rather than examine their own circumstances (so what's changed in 339 years!?). As one of the few records of that terrible year, this deserves a place on any amateur historian's bookshelf.

Building our imaginary.......2003-12-12

This is quite an interesting book. Looks pretty much like journalism in a time the concept was not yet developed. It is very realistic and it looks like the author was actually present went the story happened, when in fact he wrote the whole thing many years after. Another interesting aspect regarding this book is that it "constructed" in a sense, our imaginary regarding middle ages epidemics. The descriptions are so vivid that they were used many, many times in the movies, paintings and other fictional pieces to characterise this kind of situations. Just for the sake of curiosity, one can read Noah Gordon's "The Physiscian" or watch the movie "Interview with the Vampire" (pay attention to the episode of the epidemics in New Orleans), to see that Defoe's influence came a long way through. Good read!

Average customer rating:

Unhurriedly Pragmatic Adventure Story
The original Survivor

Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0689844085
Release Date: 2001-05-15

Book Description

Who has not dreamed of life on an exotic isle, far away from civilization? Here is the novel which has inspired countless imitations by lesser writers, none of which equal the power and originality of Defoe's famous book. Robinson Crusoe, set ashore on an island after a terrible storm at sea, is forced to make do with only a knife, some tobacco, and a pipe. He learns how to build a canoe, make bread, and endure endless solitude. That is, until, twenty-four years later, when he confronts another human being. First published in 1719, Robinson Crusoe has been praised by such writers as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Samuel Johnson as one of the greatest novels in the English

language.

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) trained for the ministry, became a political journalist, and finally, to many, became "the father of the English novel." He is also the author of Moll Flanders.

Customer Reviews:

Unhurriedly Pragmatic Adventure Story.......2003-06-28

In the literary world it is perhaps blasphemy to say a bad word against Daniel Defoe's most acclaimed novel. So here goes. The fact that the book was originally titled The Life And Strange Surprising Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe illustrates the major flaw in Defoe's literary form. Put simply, this would be a far more interesting and gripping story were it not so superfluously lengthy. The author makes a habit of repeating himself, especially when it comes to the act of dispatching kittens, which seems to be more of an obsession here than octogenarian ladies are to MatronsApron. It is difficult, you may think, to keep the subject matter fresh when describing the daily tribulations of a fellow stranded on an island for thirty years, without occasionally repeating yourself. True, but perhaps a straightforward solution to this diminutive quandary would be to simply truncate the duration of the story. There are some wonderfully intriguing and suspenseful moments, and some juicy action to boot, but sadly these are gratuitously diluted by lengthy descriptions of the unremarkable everyday goings on in Crusoe's life, and rather than serving to build up the suspense, they merely obstruct the reader's relationship with the more exciting parts of the story.
However, those with more patience than my ignorant self will find in Robinson Crusoe a delightful tale, which as well as being a fictional documentary of the most unusual thirty years of Mr. Crusoe's life, also has time to ponder upon philosophical and theological ideas, in a style that makes the reader feel as if they are involved in the conflicts between the functionalist and cynical thoughts going on in Crusoe's mind. It may not be a gripping white-knuckle adventure, being rather more leisurely and acquiescent, but it is still rather easy to see why Robinson Crusoe is regarded by some as one of the greatest novels of all time.

The original Survivor.......2001-10-28

Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe never lived with a number of other people on his deserted island, competing for food and immunity icons every week, a television camera constantly in his face. Crusoe lived his solitary life not for the entertainment of others, but to suffer the plight of the lonely.

Ignoring the advice of his wise father, who begged him to choose an honest life close to home, Crusoe heads to sea and almost dies three times before ending up on his deserted isle. He chooses a life of a plantation owner, hiring slaves to do much of his work. He chooses to ignore the teachings of God, and puts himself at the top of his own kingdom. On a journey to collect slaves to increase productivity on his plantation, his ship wrecks on the rocks of an island. All are lost but him. He saves some provisions from his ship, but has to work the land on his own to survive nearly three decades in solitude. It isn't until one lucky Friday that Crusoe's isolation ends and his purgatory is over.

Defoe's book is really a treatise on humility, of suffering for the sake of one's soul and finding one's place in the world. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Crusoe, alone for 400 pages, keeps our attention to the end.

This is a children's edition, put out by Simon and Schuster's Aladdin Paperbacks. What makes this a children's addition is the foreword by Avi, a children's author, and the reading guide at the end worded for children.

But there's little, really, to distinguish this edition from others. As a book for children, Robinson Crusoe needs more than a few simplistic questions and a wispy introduction. There is much in this book from another age that parents and children will want to discuss: racism, slavery, misuse of your fellow man, cannibalism, butchery. Defoe's readers believed that cannibals inhabited many of the unchartered islands of the southern hemisphere, and the children of today, though not stupid, will need guidance to disavow them of this same incorrect thought and others. We should not censor this book -- it's as much historical document as it is literature -- but parents should be aware of what their children are reading, read it with them, and help them understand the world as it was (and wasn't) 300 years ago.

I would have given this book 5 stars (Robinson Crusoe alone deserves 5 stars) except for the mistakes on the back cover --Unabridged spelled "Unabrdiged" -- and in Avi's foreword -- foreword spelled "foreward," comma splices, and a reference to Crusoe's 24 years on the island (he was on the island 28 years!). Errors creep into most books, but in a children's book a publisher should take more care to ensure that the information is accurate.

Amazon.com

The recent adaptation of Moll Flanders for Masterpiece Theater is a book-lover's dream: the dialogue and scene arrangement are close enough to allow the viewer to follow along in the book. The liberties taken with the tale are few (some years of childhood between the gypsies and the wealthy family are elided; Moll is Moll throughout the tale, rather than Mrs. Betty; Robert becomes Rowland, etc.) and the sets avoid the careless anachronism of the movie version released earlier this year.

The breasts, raised skirts, tumbling hair and heavy breathing on the small screen might catch you by surprise if you don't read the book carefully (as might Moll's abandonment of her children on more than one occasion). Unlike his near-contemporary John Cleland (_Fanny Hill_), Defoe was trying to keep out of jail, and so didn't dwell on the details of "correspondence" between Moll and her varied lovers. But on the page and on the screen, Moll comes across quite clearly as a woman who might bend, but refuses to break, and who is intent on having as good a life as she can get.

E. M. Forster in Aspects of the Novel considers Moll and her creator's art in some detail. While he finds much to criticize in Defoe's ability to plot (where did those last two children go, anyway?), he is as besotted with Moll as I am. Immoral? Sure -- but immortal, and never, ever dull. We hope at least a few of the viewers of the recent adaptation take a couple hours to discover the original, inimitable Moll Flanders.

Product Description

With an Introduction and Notes by R.T.Jones, Honorary Fellow of the University of York Moll Flanders follows the life of its eponymous heroine through its many vicissitudes, which include her early seduction, careers in crime and prostitution, conviction for theft and transportation to the plantations of Virginia, and her ultimate redemption and prosperity in the new World.

Download Description

This vivid saga of an irresistible and notorious heroine - her high misdemeanors and delinquencies, her varied careers as a prostitute, a charming and faithful wife, a thief, and a convict - endures today as one of the liveliest, most candid records of a woman's progress through the hypercritical labyrinth of society ever recorded.\

Customer Reviews:

I find this Book practically unreadable.......2007-10-03

Let Me start by saying that the Story of Moll Flanders itself is a fairly exciting One. The Story changes Venues and Circumstances so often that it only grows Dull in a few Places. It is well-written and filled with beautiful Description. However, I have never finished this Book due to two crucial Criteria:

Reason 1) There are no Chapters. I find this to be quite Discouraging, as, without any Breaks, I often lose my Spot and feel like I'm not accomplishing Anything.

Reason 2) Just like in this Review, every Noun is capitalized. If you found it annoying Here, just imagine 300 Pages of it.

I would not recommend this Book to any casual Reader. If you're a literary Scholar, however, dive right in, it's an important Work.

An old classic...or just plain old.......2007-09-29

The only thing I truely like about this tale is the insight to the times of over three hundred years ago. One is really struck by the more things change, the more things stay the same-at least when it comes to the human mind. Other than that, I really found a great majority of the book mind-numbingly dull-especially when when reach the part where our heroine becomed the infamous Moll Flanders. Nearly sixty pages of my edition (c. 1965 Dell Publishing) is devoted repetition of how Moll stole this or another and the innumerable times she'd almost gotten caught. A few incidents would have been fine, but the author seemed really taken by how these thieves scratched out their living. Given how DeFoe spent most of his life in debt, one wonders if his detail account came from of his own experience. Most of what happens to Moll Flanders while she bounced from one extraordinary event to the next stretches the threshold of believablity to the breaking point. This woman popped out so many kids and would just get up and walk away with no thought of the children-until the ONE toward the end of the story. The first half of the book caught and held my attention, but it was down hill from there.

Moll Flanders.......2007-02-20

This book has the honor of being one of only two books that I have ever read that I TRULY regret having wasted my time on. I really and truly did not think that I would be able to finish this one BUT I ALWAYS finish a book once I start it. In my opinion this is one of those cases when a very controversial novel gets confused with a great novel. I am however VERY grateful that I picked it up at a library sale for only 50 cents.
; 0 ) Sorry Moll Flanders fans.

kinda boring, but insightful.......2007-01-04

the plot can get a little slow, but offers a good insight into English crime of the 18th century.

Moll's a doll--especially at $2.50.......2006-10-06

Daniel Defoe, hot on the heels of "Robinson Crusoe" came under considerable fire when "Moll Flanders" was published. She was called immoral, when, in fact, she is amoral. Churches and universities could not understand why Defoe was fascinated with characters considered "low". The fact is, the public adored her and the novel. And it continues to do so to this day.

But, as I've repeated in other reviews, the Dover Thrift edition makes it even more of an attractive purchase. Well-bound and sturdy, it's the best thing you can do with the $5.00 you can spare in your pocket. And, if you're like me, and you have to teach this book, it takes a great financial burden on your already overburdened students.

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