Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe || Review

Title: Robinson Crusoe
Author(s): Daniel Defoe
No. of pages: 302
Genre: Classic literature, Adventure
Publication date: April 25th 1719
Date read: April 28th 2019
3.5/5 ★

Robinson Crusoe is the account of the life of Robinson Crusoe: a fictional character who’s been longing for the sea all his life. Finally, against his father’s advices, he joins a crew and sails away. This book is not only about his life (for 28 years!) on the desert island, but also how he became a slave and a little about his plantation in Brasil.

This book was very different from what I thought it’d be. Now that I think of it, I didn’t really have any expectations, except for Crusoe ending up on a desert island and finally finding a loyal friend in Friday. Robinson Crusoe was actually a quite detailed story on how to survive when you’re cast ashore a desert island, all by yourself. I was looking forward to Crusoe finding a mate in Friday, but that didn’t happen until far into the story.

I quite liked reading this story, but I have to say it can be a bit tedious at times, especially for today’s readers. Sometimes Crusoe merely talks about stuff that doesn’t really seem to be important to the plot line. This is why I skimmed over most of the ending, because it didn’t seem like it was actually going anywhere 🤷🏻‍♂️ Of course, I kept in mind that this book was published exactly 300 years ago when I read it. Those were entirely different times, so that’s why I’ve given it 3.5 stars instead of 2.5. When I think of it though, this is one of the works from that time that was actually quite easy to get through, yet still a bit too wordy 🙈

So, all in all, it was a nice and educating read, but expect to be reading about a lot more than just Crusoe exploring the island and surviving.