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sgjohnson2001's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Big colonizer vibes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Violence
maxreadssometimes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
I will say that this is one of the first "grown up" books I read when I was young, so my rating might probably be affected by a lot of odd nostalgia. A lot of problematic elements, very much a book of its time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Colonisation
Moderate: Animal death and Death
Minor: Alcohol
natashalg's review against another edition
I found the events of the book boring, and I couldn't bring myself to care about the main character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Colonisation
m4rtt4's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
i know the context, but no book has ever made me this uncomfortable with its blatant racism and white supremacism. Even if that was excusable due to the circumstances, I don't understand the status of this book as a classic, as it's so slow and boring and repetitive — the narration is basically just a list of "this year I did that and the next year I did that".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Slavery, and Violence
eli2k's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Racism, Slavery, and Religious bigotry
shaanzeh1_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism
Moderate: Racism and Slavery
franksreads's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Boring and racist, not worth anyone's time
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Colonisation
merakiforest's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism
talviuni's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Slavery
franchenstein's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
It's interesting rereading a book after somewhat 20 years, noticing that I have forgotten most of it. I had no recollection of Crusoe falling into slavery in Morocco, or of the last adventure by land in the Pyrenees. Most surprisingly, as a Brazilian, I forgot that the main character had land and slaves in my country, when he still called it the Brazils. I read it in Portuguese as a child and now I got the chance to read it in the original.
Frankly, it can be as exciting as it can be boring. Knowing that it's fictional and not a real journal, makes the ending kind of jarring. He keeps on adding adventures, way past their welcome. I could not care about his battle against wolves, or about Friday playing with a bear for five pages. It all sounded like too much of a tall tale after a very long tall tale. Also, the early modern obsession with listing and inventory often become a slog. Defoe's prose is not very elegant nor elaborate, but its simplicity is not that impactful either. He's often repetitive in a way that just makes the text drag.
It is an interesting window to the beliefs of Defoe's times. How unchallenged the notion of slavery goes, how women seem to be treated as merchandise, how one can go for 30 years on an island without a single sexual thought crossing his mind, how he reproduced unconfirmed claims about cannibalism as if they were the most obvious facts about the new world. How Crusoe is indeed, as Joyce says, the prototype of the English colonizer.
And still, there is a sense of wonder and tragedy in the unlucky story of someone who insists on his mistakes, in his unrelenting desire to explore frontiers even when his whole history shows that this is a bad idea. Boldness and curiosity beats security in forging a narrative.
Frankly, it can be as exciting as it can be boring. Knowing that it's fictional and not a real journal, makes the ending kind of jarring. He keeps on adding adventures, way past their welcome. I could not care about his battle against wolves, or about Friday playing with a bear for five pages. It all sounded like too much of a tall tale after a very long tall tale. Also, the early modern obsession with listing and inventory often become a slog. Defoe's prose is not very elegant nor elaborate, but its simplicity is not that impactful either. He's often repetitive in a way that just makes the text drag.
It is an interesting window to the beliefs of Defoe's times. How unchallenged the notion of slavery goes, how women seem to be treated as merchandise, how one can go for 30 years on an island without a single sexual thought crossing his mind, how he reproduced unconfirmed claims about cannibalism as if they were the most obvious facts about the new world. How Crusoe is indeed, as Joyce says, the prototype of the English colonizer.
And still, there is a sense of wonder and tragedy in the unlucky story of someone who insists on his mistakes, in his unrelenting desire to explore frontiers even when his whole history shows that this is a bad idea. Boldness and curiosity beats security in forging a narrative.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Cannibalism