| Rating: | ★★★★ |
| Category: | Books |
| Genre: | Literature & Fiction |
| Author: | Daniel Defoe |
340 pages
I chanced upon a copy of the classic "Robinson Crusoe" while browsing the shelves of the local Booksale. Being the curious sort of fellow that I was, and having heard about this book before, I snapped it up (as it was dirt cheap as well anyway).
The book was shelved for about 3 months before I got around to reading it (which based on it's size, would take me only an average of 16 hours or less. :P).
Robinson Crusoe is basically about an Englishman during the colonial era who had the misfortune of being marooned on an island somewhere (as far as I could infer from the book) in Caribbean. It tells of his struggles, his triumphs and mishaps as he lives his solitary existence for around 3 decades. He eventually fins a companion, the famous guy "Friday" and gets off the island to tell his story.
The edition I was able to procure was "complete and unabridged", and as such was written in older English, with some occasional grammatical errors which was probably the norm of the language during those days. I likened reading it to perusing through someones autobiography. The basic plot was in place that he would become a castaway and eventually be rescued, but the chronicle of his day-to-day struggles to survive come across as very spontaneous and random, which adds a little flavor of realism, although some situations documented therein are not outright believable. Often the protagonist would have these long boring ramblings about his revelations in faith during the times when he'd experience a religious epiphany of sorts, although the afterword reminds us that Defoe needed to place these certain elements of religiosity in order to make the book palatable to the audience of his time. Nonetheless, it is an excellent work of fiction and provided me with an entertaining read. I would say that it would serve as a template for "Being Marooned on an Island for DUMMIES". :P
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