Reading Lab
Book Review
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
We’ve all grown up to love those adventure-filled fantasy stories that our parents indulged us with before bedtime - the ones with happy endings and happily-ever-afters. Well, my novel selection, Robinson Crusoe, I would say is similar to that, but for more advanced readers. The main plot of the story is basically about a 17th century English merchant seaman, Robinson Crusoe, who was shipwrecked on a remote, deserted island, and eventually befriended a barbaric cannibal who he named Friday. After surviving years on the island, he was rescued by a ship, and took Friday with him--back to civilization. After reading the novel a second time, I picked up more details than I did before, as if I watching a movie over. I highly recommend this book for passionate readers who are looking for excitement, adventure, and even some violence in their books. I personally like the book not just because I read it, but for the author’s clever way of portraying the underlying themes, such as imperialistic assimilation, friendship, and man’s courage and instinct to survive when put in a precarious predicament. It is also about man’s will to survive if put in a desperate situation and that all human beings can communicate with each other no matter what language they speak.
As for the author, Daniel Defoe was born in 1660 in London, England to a well-off family - his father, James Defoe, a Presbyterian butcher, and his mother Alice. Throughout the course of his life and career, Defoe was known to be the author of about 370 publications, according to some sources I’ve come across. Back in his time period, there were rumors that he did write two more sequels to the original Robinson Crusoe, which had become an instant hit. The two subsequent books were titled The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719) and The serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe (1729). Due to the lack of recognition and publicity, over times these works have become a mere rumor in literary history credited to this author.
The only aspect about the book I did not like was the author’s style of writing, as it was written in Old English, so I had to slow down my reading a bit. Overall, I would give this book a nine out of ten score, because it is a great book, and I highly recommend it for pleasure reading. I would read Defoe’s other books if I come across them in the future. In conclusion, I would recommend this novel to all ages and I’m sure people will come to love the exciting themes and plots the story itself has to offer, even if you are just a casual reader.
Michael Doan
English 180
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