3/26/2010

"Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe

My father in law recommended this book, and when I saw it on the shelf, I thought, "Sure, why not read it now?" It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really, really, really, really enjoyed reading this. I'm sad it's over.

First of all, I thought it would be dead boring because it's obviously not a romance, and there aren't any girl characters. But it was gripping. And the majority of the book is about his time as a castaway on an island, so you'd think that would also be boring, but it was by far more interesting than the beginning and end where there is action. I think it's that way on purpose, because the book isn't so much about his adventures, but his conversion story.

It's introspective, thoughtful, and I can't believe it was written in 1719. That's like 300 years ago, yet Robinson Crusoe was such a real character that I felt like I really knew him well by the end. It's one of those books where you really like the protagonist, even though he's imperfect. I had a lot of the same self introspection that I did when I read "the Screwtape Letters", because there's so many religious thoughts. But I think these ones will stay with me much longer.

There was one point in the book where I had an epiphone like experience thinking: "Wow, I totally know exactly what he means here." I could relate completely. I will try to find the quote, it's just SO GOOD.

I think the reason the book was so powerful and good for me to read was because I had never heard the story before. I had heard that there may be pirates, and I knew that basically he was a castaway on an island, but I had no idea for how long, or what happened there, or what would happen. And there were parts in the book that actually sent shivers down my spine, they were so scary/thrilling.

I would never read this book with an English class, if I were a teacher. It's only good if you read it yourself, because then you will actually care about the religious parts, which in fact is the main part, of the book.

I really liked the writing style. It was mostly in run-on sentences, and I feel like the last several posts I've written are mimicking that style. He also tells the story with lots of foreshadowing, or commentary like, "this would prove to be most useful to me hereafter" etc. which makes the story much more intriguing, I think. This book was so good, and I'm so glad I read it because I felt like I learned a lot, and it was a fun adventure.

What I've been wondering about now is what if the characters in these books met? Like, how would Robinson Crusoe react to Peter Pan, or Ethan Frome? I guess that's what you get when you read 3 books in 1 1/2 weeks.

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