Rating:  Summary: Very good Review: I felt as though I were the one on the island. I could feel all of the despair and excitement Crusoe felt as he was isolated for decades. It was delightful to follow Crusoe around the island as he used his ingenuity to survive on his limited resources. Not only is this book very entertaining and captivating, but it also gives a glimse of life in the 16-1700's.
Rating:  Summary: Robinson Crusoe keeps your hopes up! Review: An old book, but never the less a good one! I read this book for the first time when i was eight, and I think I have read it five or six times more after that. Robinson Crusoe is the innocent seaman that goes on his first journey. Everything goes well until the ship encounters a storm, in which it sinks. Robinson is the sole survivor, and to his fortune the ship has sunk just outside a small island. The rest of the book I am not going to tell you about. It has a lot of adventure, excitement, and warm humor, and I think it would be a terrific book to read if one feels a bit lost. Robinsons optimism kind of gets stuck to you, and the adventures he has go through to survive is breathtaking! Read it yourself, or to your kids, it does not matter! This book is for everyone!
Rating:  Summary: A must read adventure! Review: As with many "classics," the story of Robinson Crusoe has been around for so many years that we're all familiar--we think--with Mr. Crusoe and his "man" Friday. But the story of the ill-fated Mr. Crusoe is more than just a story about a man who is stranded on a desert island, it is a story, like that of the biblical Jonah, of a man running from responsibility and destiny, who ultimately finds it in the most unlikely place--within himself. The book does contain some pretty graphic violence and archaic thoughts about slavery, but gives you a real taste of what life was like both in the "civilized" world and Crusoe's island kingdom. This edition (edited by Joe Wheeler)has beautiful reproductions of the original wood-cut illustrations and a comprehensive introduction that gives background into the life and times of Daniel Defoe. A must read!
Rating:  Summary: A true "classic". Review: What was it Mark Twain said about "classics"? Anyway. Easy to read...it's not -- written in an alien tongue that only approximates English.
Sentences run on for what seem like years. The story itself is 250 pages of torturously slow moving set-up and 25 quick pages of anti-climactic resolution. I haven't seen a story end that fast since Star Trek -- The Next Generation. It almost seems as though Defoe gave up after 250 pages (can't really blame him) and just wanted to end the bloody thing. Inevitably, loose ends abound -- Friday's father?? Some things, it seems, are called "classics" because they are first to accomplish something
(this being the first English adventure novel) and not because of any great merit. A case could be made...
Rating:  Summary: A page turning book on the life of Robinson Crusoe. Review: The book is about a man who is shipwreked and has to survive
on a deserted island. He goes through many hard times and eventually gets to the mainland with a buddy. How he survives
will make you want to read it again! Buy this book for it's an amzing adventure story.
Rating:  Summary: school report Review: 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.
Rating:  Summary: The Goods and The Bads Review: 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. The Verdict: It's an interesting work, but by no means a must-read. Crusoe is very self-centered throughout, which makes you wonder about whether his character is fit to function as a representative example of man left to the elements or not. Reading about how he goes about constructing a life for himself is interesting, but it lacks something because, well, it isn't true. What we're really reading is how Defoe imagines a man might build a life for himself, given the handicap of certain supplies left from his ship, etc. The book is, I think, very much a product of its time, and that's its most interesting quality. If you're looking for an interesting story of a man shipwrecked on an island, watch "Cast Away." If you want it from a slightly dry, 18th-century British perspective, you've got the right book.
Rating:  Summary: BORING Review: Not only is Robinson Crusoe an extremely well written, entertaining novel, but it was the first of its kind. Defoe's novel is fresh and intriguing today just as it was when written. Defoe's language reveals classic appreciation of the English language that really appealed to me as a reader. His narrative accounts of adventure, shipwrecks and survival are precise and captivating. this book is made up of many short stories tied together in following the main character. The character grows and matures through his trials and becomes a man worthy of emulation. Defoe shows brilliant insight into humanity through his writing as his main character challenges nature, savages, and his inner darkness. I enjoyed the spiritual aspects of the book. Any close look at a character such as Crusoe would be lacking if it did not follow his spiritual transformation as well as his physical changes. There are some brief slow parts interspersed in the book that are more like speedbumps in a great tale that many have tried to imitate but failed.
Rating:  Summary: An Unknown Classic Review: Robinson Crusoe is one of the most famous stories that we all know. What most don't know is that the story is about much more than simply being shipwrecked. It's about man's view on God and his place in the universe and his faith in himself. RC is a good book, though I think a bit laborious. I think that the movie "Castaway" with Tom Hanks has conditioned us to think of shipwreck stories lasting only a few years. This story lasts 26 years and is, as a result, very elaborate. I found it interesting to see how the author delved so deeply in the main character's religious beliefs and how they so strongly impacted his thoughts and actions. The book did have a bit too much of a feel good aspect to it in that things were either going very well or very poorly for the castaway, though I think that is somewhat symptomatic of the time it was written in. The work is perhaps more impressive when you consider that it was basically illegal to write this kind of story back then. It had to be written from the first person perspective, almost as an historical or autobiographical piece in order for Defoe to get it published. To that end, this was truly one of the first of the novels in the historical genre that was later followed by Sir Walter Scott who wrote Ivanhoe and Rob Roy, among others.
Rating:  Summary: Not As Good As Other Classics But Still Worth One Read Review: Robinson Crusoe lives an unsettled life, until Fate settles it for him by leaving him shipwrecked on a tropical island. The island has an abundance of resources, and Crusoe is a resourceful survivor-type, so survival is never really an issue. Sanity is more an issue, although Dafoe writes Crusoe as a bit too adaptable to be credible. The beginning of the book, and the very end, are well-paced and well-written, but the large middle is slow and overly detailed. An undercooked loaf of bread might be good around the edges, but disappointingly doughy inside; this description fits this book as well. Nonetheless, it is a classic, and one of the earliest adventures written. There are many issues in the book that now seem archaic, but they did fit their historical time-period.
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