Rating: 
Summary: Moll Flanders!
Review: "It is true that the original of this story is put into new words" thus Defoe tells us in the Authors Preface that he has re-written the original manuscript delivered to him by Moll. Of course since there was no original manuscript or no real Moll , except for a model for her he might of met while in Newgate prison, Defoe is creating fiction within fiction. This is just one of the many devices Defoe uses to depict Moll to the reader as a real person not just a literary creation. Moll comes to life in these pages and seems to be a person of history instead of fiction.
Moll Flanders is the first English novel. Some would point to Robinson Crusoe ,written three years prior, yet the time before and after the Island in "Crusoe" seems to fit the Tall Tale genre. Moll Flanders is more of what the "novel" evolves into.
Moll is born in Newgate prison. Her mother, a thief, after pleading her belly and delivering Moll into this world is deported to the colonies in America. Moll is passed around even living and travelling with Gypsies for awhile. During her early years she relies on men to keep her afloat because in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a woman alone had few good options for survival and Moll is nothing if not a survivor. On into middle age Moll turns thief to make ends meet. In one scene she is going to a house fire to see what can be had in the panic and confusion ,since she had luck that way once before, and a maid throws a mattress out of an upper story and it lands on Moll knocking her out. If they threw more goods out onto the mattress, Moll reflects she would have been "inevitably killed; but I was reserved for further afflictions".
Also recommended is the excellent film "Moll Flanders" starring Alex Kingston.
Rating: 
Summary: "Moll Flandes" is an interesting view of human behavior.
Review: "Moll Flanders" is the story of a girl who was born in a prison. Through out Moll's youth she is determined to become a respectable and self sufficient woman. In effort to avoid becoming a servent she starts stealing to assure her independents. Over all the story is intriguing, however is difficult to stay interested in due to the redundancy of themes (failed marriages, greed, deceit,etc.).
Rating:
Summary: Excellent if you can get past the writing style.
Review: 'Tho the plot, being interesting in the extream, must be confess'd to be well-done, and alike the characters, being well-develop'd, plausible, and even sympathetic ('tho they be theives, felons, bigamists, and worse), must be similarly confess'd, still the writing style, being as it is extreamly archaic as well in spelling, grammar, and syntax, as in punctuation, the modern reader must be foarwarn'd: if he had difficulty with the parsing of this, the principle paragraph of this review, or finds the prospect of reading a story consisting of eight and forty more than two hundreds of pages in a like style daunting, he should give the project up as impracticable.If, on the other hand, you had no trouble with that paragraph, I daresay that you'll enjoy this book, even if, as the father of the English novel, Defoe had yet to engender the chapter break. Also it should be pointed out this may well be the first novel in which a male author attempts to write a story in which the lead character is female, and Defoe does a surprisingly good job of it.
Rating: 
Summary: Deceptively Intriguing
Review: Amazing story telling, it was interesting reading a life and times so unlike the one I'm living. I enjoy historical novels and found "Moll Flanders," an enlightening source of courage in such hard times as the one she continued to find herself in. Loves gained and lost, children had and forsaken. Extremely interesting reading, especially, near the ending I couldn't put the book down, there was rhythm. To imagine such hard times and rough goings...I'm amazed that she continued to live so long. Happy reading!
Rating:
Summary: Moll Flanders a strong resourceful woman
Review: An eighteenth century novel recounting the life and survival of a strong willed Moll Flanders, a woman who, abandoned as an infant, finds her way to self sufficiency, in a world then dominated by men. Through ingenius schemes she still some how always regains the illusion of imaginary high standing and good reputation throughout it all. I found Moll Flanders to be resourceful and ingenious in her methods for securing her own survival. The book puts prostitution and premarital sex in a whole new perspective. As one can deduce from this book, life was not so simple for women in the 18th century, especially if they were abandon as children, or even if they husband died and left them without means to exist. Moll takes her position as a dependent woman and finds power in her mind to devise schemes which will allow her a secure lifestyle without compromising her self. I found Moll to be a woman of character and repute, with self esteem, who made her own way in a world where women had no power, money or choices aside from their dependence upon men.
Rating:
Summary: Moll Flanders
Review: Daniel Defoe's 1722 novel, "Moll Flanders," remains a fascinating imaginative work, and is in many ways more interesting than his famous first effort, "Robinson Crusoe." Having seen bits of two recent film adaptations in the last couple of months on television, and being a budding 18th century scholar, I decided it was time I picked up my own copy of "Moll Flanders" and see the actual product on its own terms. A story no less about a castaway and delinquent than "Crusoe," in "Moll Flanders," Defoe attempts to set down the history of a woman with a wild and often desperate life. A character of infinitely more interiority and reflection than Crusoe, Moll gives us through a first person narrative, a look into various stations of life in 18th century England and America. The novel begins with a tip of the hat to that fine progenitor of the novel, "Don Quixote," a Gines-like acknowledgment that Moll, as the author of her own story, cannot complete that story within the text of the novel, unless people can write when they are deceased. Amusements aside, Moll begins her story as Crusoe begins his, with an immediate acknowledgment of the instability of the modern self - the corruption of her own name. Born in Newgate prison, and having never known her mother, Moll finds herself among gypsies and landed gentry before settling in Colchester for the term of her youth. Here, she founds her sense of social ambition, unusual even for Jane Eyre in the 19th century, as one in which she figures to be a gentlewoman by earning her own living. Various mishaps and misadventures lead her through marriages, whoredom, and thievery as Moll attempts to find her place in the world as a woman of common birth. Early on she learns the lessons that will aid her on her journey, viz., the value of money, quick wit, and a sense of her own sexuality. While Defoe certainly does not sugar-coat the wrongs of woman in the early 18th century - delving deeply into issues of feminine helplessness before the law, the difficulties of procuring stable employment, and various reproductive issues such as adoption, abortion, and infant mortality - yet he maintains a consistent character of Moll as an extremely strong, adaptive, and resilient female character. The most riveting facet of Moll throughout is her own sense of self-worth and importance, especially in her own history. For instance, while chronicling an encounter with a former lover, Moll tells us that while his adventures are worth their own narrative, this is "my story, not his." Moll's strength in the midst of doubt, desperation, and general loneliness keeps the reader's constant interest and admiration. Defoe's exploration of inter-gender relationships are worthy of note themselves for the sheer variety of social, economic, and personal situations he includes in the novel. The economic theme stands out among these, and provides a link back to the preoccupations of "Robinson Crusoe." Like Crusoe, Moll is always aware of the value of her personal possessions, and conscious of how to exploit and husband her resources to best advantage. Also like Crusoe, "Moll Flanders" is keenly aware of the possibilities and drawbacks of English colonial ventures in America. Defoe's efforts to link all these themes to the lot of the English prison population, the family unit, and indentured servants and African slaves, are all managed extremely well within the text of the novel. For all this, "Moll Flanders" remains an entertaining, satisfying, relevant novel, and stands for me above "Crusoe" as a work of high literary value.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderfully Human Work.
Review: Defoe has written of a wonderful woman with his "Moll Flanders", and he has also created a book that is entirely enjoyable while outlining her exploits and her life. Moll was quite a remarkable woman in her time. He covers her earlier life of crime and the punishment that ensued from that right up to her later days where she reformed. She made quite a few marriages, and learned and grew from these. Although most of her marriages and her intrigues were undertaken in the pursuit of money, she was actually not without passion or generosity. There is quite a bit of moralizing throughout the book, but it is totally enjoyable nonetheless because Moll was so human and Defoe has created a living, breathing heroine that is as realistic as they come (especially during this era). Quite an accomplishment, especially for a male author.
Rating:
Summary: A piece of fiction that resembles history.
Review: Defoe, through Moll Flanders, presents a perfect example of how one person can go through many experiences and live different lives, almost in such a way as to be a completely different person in each experience. A terrific read, especially for those interested in experiencing life through the eyes of a woman in a completely different historic scope than that of modern life.
Rating:
Summary: 4 marriages, Steals for a living: Image of madame bovary?
Review: Disrupted Moll Flanders falls into frequent unloveable marriages and poverty, only to be stolen and freed from her horrid living life. Does this book suggest a female of insanity? Highly likely, though written in the 1700's, a subject of insanity was punishable and unpopular as a novella.
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Summary: joyful News that he was hang'd . . . the best news to me
Review: Do not be fooled: Moll Flanders is a major characther in English Literature with no redeeming qualities. Despite the blurb on the back cover, she never acquires any human characteristics, besides greed and duplicity. Look deeper, and you'll see that her 'ultimate redemption' is really just another trick on Moll's part. An unreliable narrator she is, but a great example of a lowly woman constantly pushing society's limits.
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