Rating: 
Summary: Not much of a history turtuously written
Review: - Ungainly and confusing prose style.
- Interesting subject taken as far as it could go, given the paucity of sources (I'll give the book that), but more detail of the cultural, political, and technological milieu would have made this a real book instead of a padded journal article.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost unreadable
Review: A jumbled narrative of conjecture, useless facts and footnotes. The author seemingly doesn't know what story she wants to tell and when she deviates from the main storyline you are left confused as to why she is boring you with anecdotal background that does little to help the story. I would rather suggest you read Batavia's Graveyard. A story of shipwreck and mutiny in which the background (The rise and operation of the Dutch East India Co.) is as interesting as the shipwreck itself.
Rating: 
Summary: A marvelous mixture of history & current events
Review: A marvelous mixture of history & current events
Rating:
Summary: Truth is Stranger Than Crusoe
Review: Alexander Selkirk was not a nice guy. He was the seventh child, preceded by six other sons, of a cobbler, born in 1680 in Nether Largo in Scotland. At age fifteen, he was accused of 'Undecent Beaiviar in ye Church,' the strict Scottish Presbyterian version, but he did not appear to meet the charge, for he went off to sea. And the sea was the making of him, for without his adventures, we probably would not have had Daniel Defoe's _Robinson Crusoe_. The fictional Crusoe, it is true, is not very much like Selkirk, as Crusoe was pious, kind, contemplative, and law-abiding, and perhaps Selkirk's life and marooning on a strange island lack moral instruction. They are, however, still fascinating, and in _Selkirk's Island: The True and Strange Adventures of the Real Robinson Crusoe_ (Harcourt) Diana Souhami has told them as fully as is possible, drawing upon journals, ships' records, fictionalizations, and her own visit to Selkirk's abode. She has also given an account of his island which has loomed large in Selkirk's life, in literature, and lessons of ecology and human encroachment.Selkirk signed on with a privateering expedition. England was at war with Spain, whose galleons were bringing gold and other goods from the New World to finance the war. The English government sanctioned the patriotic theft of such targets in a system of something like legal piracy. Men sailed in such ventures to get a share of whatever booty their ships could take, risking death by violence or disease. When his ship went into the tiny island of Juan Fernandez, 300 miles west of Chile in 1704 for refitting the vessel and gathering of stores, Selkirk refused to board again, because he felt it was so eaten-through that it would sink (he was right). He was left there, and was in isolation for over four years. He made a sandalwood hut, a wooden bed, hooks to snare fishes, and cutlery out of goat horns. His realm was invaded by Spaniards one time, but although they destroyed his goods, he evaded capture. When English privateers came in 1709, they were astonished to find the castaway. 'He had so much forgot his Language for want of Use,' wrote one, 'that we could scarce understand him, for he seem'd to speak his words by halves.' Souhami argues that the time on his island was the best time of Selkirk's life. He might not have seen it that way (he himself left no first person accounts), but before he left home for the sea he behaved badly, and he did so on his return as well, addicted to drink, lying, and violence. Different authors picked up his story, and Defoe was not the only one to make this misfit into a Christian paragon. He did so, however, not so much with the aim of uplifting his readers, but to get some money to pay for his daughter's wedding. Human folly continues to play a role in the island's fortunes. It now belongs to Chile. Enterprising islanders are campaigning to change its name to Isla Robinson Crusoe. You can buy Robinson Crusoe tee shirts there. This satisfying account shows that the island was a better place when only Selkirk was its lord, and Selkirk was a better human when he was confined to it.
Rating:
Summary: Good bibliography, Mediocre writing
Review: Diana Souhami can't seem to decide whether to be a novelist or a biographer. Her writing style is pretentious in the first few chapters, but improves later. Her point tends to get lost in her wordy (and sometimes incomplete) sentences. Here is one of many gems: "Ranging beneath the lee, searching for anchorage, the broken, craggy precipices revealed forests, cut by lush valleys, watered by cascades and streams." Although this example is a complete sentence, a better place for it would be the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. As a serious biography it leaves much to be desired. I expected a professional treatment of the subject, backed with research and references. Instead, she engaged in too much speculation as to what Selkirk was like, rather than just presenting the facts and letting the reader decide. She also favors the use of the "F" word on many occasions - she seemed a bit too concerned with his sexual habits. Here are a few examples:
"His exercise and lust of the day was hunting and f...ing goats."
"F...ing goats was perhaps less satisfying than the buggery and prostitution of shipboard life..."
"He killed seals, bludgeoned goats, masturbated against palm trees..." She wrote in a footnote:
"It occurred to me, when I read Woods Rogers' journal, that Selkirk's ear notching had a sexual reference." Apparently, it did not occur to her to stick to the facts. This book was a disappointment, although not without some value if one is willing to wade through her attempt at artistry to extract the facts. The bibliography is probably the most useful section, and is fairly extensive.
Rating:
Summary: A more realistic Pirate
Review: Granted, it takes a little bit to get used to Diana Souhami's style of prose, but that aside I found this book to be a pleasure to read. This biography of a pirate is certainly far more captivating, interesting, and realistic than Defoe's romanticized version of Selkirk's ordeal.
It is probably safe to say that the author may have added some speculative detail to the main characters habits. These elements, though possibly not true give the reader a greater understanding of Selkirk's personality, and are therefore at least well invented.
This book is both, informative and entertaining, making it a quite enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: A more realistic Pirate
Review: Granted, it takes a little bit to get used to Diana Souhami's style of prose, but that aside I found this book to be a pleasure to read. This biography of a pirate is certainly far more captivating, interesting, and realistic than Defoe's romanticized version of Selkirk's ordeal.
It is probably safe to say that the author may have added some speculative detail to the main characters habits. These elements, though possibly not true give the reader a greater understanding of Selkirk's personality, and are therefore at least well invented.
This book is both, informative and entertaining, making it a quite enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: ...And He Didn't Even Have A Pair of Hipwaders!!
Review: I have read all the reviews here and have read the book too, enjoying it thoroughly. I find Souhami's meandering style and graphic imagery fascinating. There is no way she could write a book that is just about Selkirk's sojourn on the island, there just isn't enough information. So instead, she weaves a tapestry of the harshness of eighteenth century sealife and lets us imagine for ourselves what it would be like to sail the seas with men like William Dampier in search of booty.
Alexander Selkirk was not a nice guy and he travelled in the company of others who were also not nice guys. But these rough men had their own code and sense of fair play, so when Selkirk argued with and refused to obey his incompetent superior, he was marooned rather than executed as he probably would have been under similar circumstances in the Royal Navy.
Selkirk was of an age when people knew how to do things with their hands, they had to in order to survive. With a bare minimum of necessities, he was able to carve out a lonely yet comfortable existence on his isle of exile. Souhami paints a beautiful portrait of how the lush the island was and how bountiful it must have seemed to the marooned sailor. Her descriptions of the flora, fauna, and topography are very evocative.
Beyond the isle itself, Souhami expands on the geopolitical situation and the position of the English vis-a-vis the Spanish in the struggle for control of the seas and thus of trade. I learned quite a few interesting things about the Spanish settlements and inter-settlement communications reading this book. Souhami's prose makes the era come alive.
Despite all the privations of life at sea, pirates and privateers were guys who were truly free. Selkirk's life is one of breaking the bonds of social custom and morality. His instincts were basic, he was fatalistic, and he had no real interests beyond satisfying his urges and doing what it took so that he could indulge his fancy. His sham marriages show that he saw women the way he saw the goats of his island, as objects of sexual conquest.
Selkirk's Island is a book filled with fascinating facts woven together with logical conjecture. I recommend it as a spellbinding read for anyone who is comfortable thinking "outside the box".
Rating:
Summary: excellent biography
Review: In 1703 an aristocrat and a sea captain cut a deal to pillage the Manila galleon. In 1704, they set sail with one of the sailors being Alexander Selkirk, a poor Scot. Alexander and the officers especially Captain Dampier had several arguments. So the Captain marooned Selkirk on a remote South Seas Island three hundred miles from South America and now owned by Chile and renamed Isla Robinson Crusoe. For the next four years he survived by himself before finally being rescued. Selkirk became a celebrity in England and the model for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, written two decades later. Diana Souhami provides readers with a delightful biography of Selkirk that separate fact from fiction. Ms. Selkirk digs deep into the records of the time so that the audience obtains a complete picture of the man, which is quite different from the legend. The results are a superb biography that showcases Ms. Souhami's talent as much as her subject, the ultimate survivor. Readers will enjoy "The true and strange adventures of the real Robinson Crusoe" as much as the Defoe's fictionalized account. Just reconsider the role of those goats. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: excellent biography
Review: In 1703 an aristocrat and a sea captain cut a deal to pillage the Manila galleon. In 1704, they set sail with one of the sailors being Alexander Selkirk, a poor Scot. Alexander and the officers especially Captain Dampier had several arguments. So the Captain marooned Selkirk on a remote South Seas Island three hundred miles from South America and now owned by Chile and renamed Isla Robinson Crusoe. For the next four years he survived by himself before finally being rescued. Selkirk became a celebrity in England and the model for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, written two decades later. Diana Souhami provides readers with a delightful biography of Selkirk that separate fact from fiction. Ms. Selkirk digs deep into the records of the time so that the audience obtains a complete picture of the man, which is quite different from the legend. The results are a superb biography that showcases Ms. Souhami's talent as much as her subject, the ultimate survivor. Readers will enjoy "The true and strange adventures of the real Robinson Crusoe" as much as the Defoe's fictionalized account. Just reconsider the role of those goats. Harriet Klausner
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