Mi è piaciuto il libro e mi è piaciuto il personaggio Robinson Crusoe: un uomo pratico dalle mille risorse che si sa arrangiare, togliere d’impiccio, non si piange addosso riesce a ricrearsi un mondo senza avere niente, sfruttando il poco che possiede, le sue giornate sono piene di avvenimenti, di tentativi riusciti o meno di migliorare la sua condizione e quando abbandona l’isola lascia dietro di sé un mondo: una casa, confortevole e ben protetta, quasi una fattoria, terra coltivata, provviste...
Questo libro è un vero e proprio manuale di sopravvivenza, il libro che porterei sull’isola deserta per l’utilità pratica che potrei trarne.
I dialoghi sono ridotti al minimo, ma non se ne sente la mancanza.
Poi c’è l’interpretazione filosofica: la moralità del rapporto di Robinson con Venerdì, il tema discutibile della colonizzazione, ma per me rimane essenzialmente un libro di grande energia positiva e pratica, 35 anni di solitudine e non sentirli.

I read and reread "Robinson Crusoe" many times in my childhood and teen years. Now that I spotted it among the first 100 books of "1001 Books to Read Before you Die" list here on GR, I just had to mark it as Read.;)

'It happen'd one Day about Noon going towards my Boat, I was exceeding surpriz'd with the Print of a Man's naked Foot on the Shore, which was very plain to be seen in the Sand: I stood like one Thunder-struck ...'

Robinson Crusoe is one of the most famous adventure stories ever written. The account of a sailor shipwrecked on a desert island for twenty-eight years, it is also a tale of mythic proportions, an allegory, and a spiritual autobiography. I remember being fascinated with the industrious nature of Crusoe and his ability to develop survival habits while stranded, alone at first, until encountering the man whom he would name "Friday". In more recent years I have been able to understand better the historical and literary context, but the wonder of Defoe's story has not diminished with the years. This has been a favorite of mine since I was a young boy. I have read it several times and the Norton edition is the one I have most recently read.

THE TWO CRUSOES


“I want to be a sailor sailing out to sea.
I want to be a bandit
don't you understand it?" ~~Sinbad the Sailor


***Will contain spoilers. I suggest reading the book first.

What an exciting story that I would give ten stars if I could. I love survival/true adventure/adventure books but prefer them to be non-fiction. So, when the introduction to this book stated that Defoe wished to stay as close to the true story, it felt like this book would be more non-fiction than fiction. Ah, but after reading about the real Robinson Crusoe (Alexander Selkirk) in another book, I saw what liberties Defoe had taken. I was glad that I had read this book first.

For one thing, Alexander didn’t run into any cannibals, so Defoe added it to make the story more exciting. And Crusoe was a much nicer man, for which I am glad. Alexander was evil tempered, physically abusive, and quarrelsome. He had a wife and kids, and he also married another woman, making him a bigamist. He probably beat this s… out of her too. When he had a physical fight with his father, the elders(?) of his church asked him to come to talk with them, but since he wished to sail the seas, he didn’t go to meet the church members but left on a ship. The captain died and another man, one that Alexander could not get along with, became captain. After a terrible fight, Alexander asked to be dropped off at one of the three Juan Fernandez Islands, 400 miles off the coast of Chile. (This island’s name was Masa Tierra but was changed to Robinson Crusoe Island in the 1960s.) The captain obliged Alexander, giving him some supplies for survival. Then when Alexander realized that he would be left alone there, that some of the men went back to the ship, he changed his mind, but the captain ignored him. They returned for him 4 years and 4 months later. (Crusoe’s life on the island lasted 28 years.) Then, Alexander went on plundering other ships and towns and taking aboard slaves as usual. There is no mention of what happened to women that he had met along the way. He died of either Typhoid or Cholera in later years. I will add that Crusoe did the same in that he plundered and brought slaves aboard the ship to sell.)

What I loved best about this book was how he survived, and Defoe stayed very close to that story line. Crusoe, though, was of better temper and was shipwrecked upon this same island. He alone survived along with a dog and two cats that he took ashore with him. Then before the ship sunk, he took items from it for survival of it. Why I loved this part of the book and how he used these items for his own survival I do not know. But if you ever need a needle to sew up your torn clothing after a disaster, you can use a nail by pounding it down with a rock. This will take a long time depending. How you add a hole to it, I don’t know. Also, as I saw once when I went to a survival class when my niece was in the Camp Fire Girls, you can kill a deer and chew its tendons to make string. I do not know what the man teaching the class used for a needle, but for string, Crusoe, and Alexander as well, used their socks by unraveling them. Just a pleasant thought.

Cats were already on the island when Alexander arrived. He tamed them and slept with them to keep rats from chewing his toes and fingers at night. If you don’t like cats, well, now you can see what good they are. Plus, they eat mice and rats. I had a friend that hated them because they ate birds. Mankind has done more harm to them that all the cats in the world. Well, maybe. As for the dog, Crusoe barely mentioned him after they were ashore. He lived; he died. What happened to: “A dog is man’s best friend?” That was probably a very new saying, like maybe in the 1900s. Alexander taught his cats to dance, and he taught his tamed goats as well. May be this was due to boredom. Maybe he wasn’t quarrelsome with them either. Although, he ate his goats, one by one. Dance to your death. I did not like the killing of animals in this book, but you can find just so many grapes and other foods on a small island. And I am a meat eater; I just don’t kill them myself.

So, now we come to the Bible that both men carried off the ship. Alexander read his daily. Crusoe was repentant, but we never learn while he felt so sinful unless that is just a Christian thing to feel. (Well, I know it is.) Alexander had a lot to repent, but he didn’t write about it.

Then came along Friday. While I liked him, I felt that Crusoe should have told him that he was not his slave. (He was not part of Alexander’s story.) Still, he was an okay addition to this book, and Crusoe did not fight with him; instead, he taught him all about God and the forgiveness of sins, and he told him to stop being a cannibal. He even taught him English, then how to use a gun. Together they killed the cannibals that Defoe dreamed up.

And all too soon the book had ended, and I went on to read about the real Robinson Crusoe and will perhaps review it although much is now in this review. (The book: “The Real Robinson Crusoe, The True Story of Alexander Selkirk” by Fred Watson)

“There is a desire within each of us,
in the deep center of ourselves
that we call our heart.
We were born with it,
it is never completely satisfied,
and it never dies.
We are often unaware of it,
but it is always awake.

It is the Human desire for Love.
Every person in this Earth yearns to love,
to be loved, to know love.
Our true identity, our reason for being
is to be found in this desire.

Love is the "why" of life,
why we are functioning at all.
I am convinced
it is the fundamental energy
of the human spirit.
the fuel on which we run,
the wellspring of our vitality.

And grace,
which is the flowing,
creative activity, of love itself,
is what makes all goodness possible.

Love should come first,
it should be the beginning of,
and the reason for everything.”

Let us travel back in time. It is 1711. In that very year, a certain Alexander Selkirk had caused a sensation!!

Having run away to sea, he returned after spending five years as a friendless exile on Juan Fernandez Island off the coast of Chile. Selkirk, after a quarrel with his captain, had been put ashore the island at his own request, and was finally rescued by one Captain Woodes Rogers.

The ways in which the castaway had endured on his island, spellbound people, and several, accounts of his story were published on his return.

Never one to let a literary opportunity pass, Defoe wrote his most famous book, 'Robinson Crusoe', a fictional elaboration of Selkirk's adventures, couched in so plain and unadorned a narrative style that it appeared to be true.

Now, we all know that Crusoe has influenced numerous authors, including Swift (Gulliver's Travels), Stevenson (Treasure, Island) and, of course, Wyss (The Swiss Family Robinson).

Despite its unadorned, rudimentary style, 'Robinson Crusoe' has epic qualities, often reminiscent of Homer's 'Odyssey'.

As in Homer, the protagonist, here too, is repeatedly fucking frightfully isolated, sometimes sick, and often afraid.

This Crusoe bugger, manages not only to stay well-balanced during his long years of isolation, but to build a little civilization of his own on his island.

Defoe seems to be saying that no matter how morally weak the average man may be, he has unknown and untapped sources of courage, stamina, and ingenuity.

While a modern, writer would have been much more concerned with Crusoe's psychology, Defoe concentrates on his physical activities. Crusoe suffers, to be sure, from moments of awful loneliness and pangs of religious guilt for having disobeyed his parents.

But early in his stay on the island, he makes his peace with God, who, he feels, has mercifully spared his life and provided him with the means for existence.

From that point on, he spends his time in making a little England of his island.

The ingenuity and singlemindedness with which he goes about this task is the most interesting aspect of the book. When Friday appears on the scene, Crusoe, a slaveholder in Brazil, obviously makes him a servant and forms a two-man colonial system.

But Friday is also a valued friend who shows his loyalty and gratitude to his master in countless ways.

The people of Defoe's time had immeasurable faith in man's aptitude to carve a life for himself out of the wilderness.

This faith, which made possible the exploration and taming of the American continent, is implicit in almost every page of this tome.

I guess, I’ve read this book over 1000 times.. Takes me back to my teenage escapade days, every fucking instance.

Every instance my chips were down, I felt like calling it quits, Robinson was by my side. My eternal comrade-in-arms.

He taught me that, when in deep shit, strive that one ounce harder.

A timeless classic.

على الرغم من أنني قرأت النسخة العربية المختصرة من هذه الرواية. وشاهدت العديد من الأفلام التي اقتبست من القصة، إلا أن الرواية مازالت مشوقة للغاية ولم أشعر بالملل حتى صفحتها الأخيرة .. كان رائعا إستعادة أحداث رحلة روبنسون كروزو التي استغرقت 28 عاما على جزيرة غير مأهولة ومغامراته مع أكلة لحوم البشر وصداقته مع فرايدي ..لمن يحب قصص المغامرات لن يجد أجمل هذه الرواية الخالدة.

Lieber Robinson,

ich verlasse dich. Und ich werde höchstwahrscheinlich nie zurückkehren. Ich habe ja keinen „Fluch der Karibik“ erwartet, aber dein Leben ist einfach nur stinklangweilig, auch wenn du der Meinung bist, dass jedes kleine Detail desselben festgehalten werden soll. Und seien wir ehrlich, Frauen spielen in deinem Leben eh keine Rolle. Hast du nie geliebt oder zumindest begehrt? Natürlich nicht, du bist ja durch und durch das Ergebnis deiner puritanischen Erziehung. Und der Kolonialismus steckt dir ebenfalls in den Knochen. Da triffst du nach Jahren auf einen anderen Menschen und statt ihn zu fragen wie er heißt, bestimmst du seinen Namen. Statt seine Sprache zu erlernen, zwingst du ihm deine auf. Das war ja fast schon absehbar, als du dem Papageien eins über die Rübe gegeben hast und dich dann gewundert hast, dass er dir Jahre lang nicht nach dem Mund reden wollte.
Nein, ich kann dir nicht über 400 Seiten eine Gefährtin sein, begnüge dich mit dem armen Freitag.

Nur weil ich weiß, dass deine Geschichte viele Menschen inspirierte, und weil ein toller Verlag deiner Geschichte so ein wunderschönes Format verlieh, wirst du den Weg in mein Bücherregal finden. Verstaube in Frieden!

Big fat HURL. Wtf was this shit?
PLOT—There is no plot. It’s a dude getting shipwrecked on an island and surviving. I’ve seen a couple stories similar to this (Unbroken, Castaway) and it’s done much better. There are no stakes and Crusoe easily fixes every single problem. Raising goats? Done. Building a chair? No problem. Growing corn with no agricultural skill? WhO nEeDS SkILL wHEn yOu hAvE jEsUs. He’s too perfect so it feels like there is no threat.
And oh my god!!! SPOILER but after he leaves the island there is another FIFTY pages of him going back to England and fighting wolves and being rich?? Why?? Let me be free!

CHARACTER—Crusoe is boring as shit. Definitely an 18th century Chad. He has no character and only has relationships with two other people, Friday and the captain, whose only traits are loving and supporting Crusoe doggedly for literally no reason. Friday is the best character because he has ONE character trait (curiosity) but he’s made to be the inferior because he’s a pagan cannibal tribesman who isn’t European and needs the saving of Jesus. I get that Crusoe doesn’t want him to be a cannibal, but the fact every other trait needs to be “changed” is some colonizer racist bullshit.

STYLE—Boringgg. Slow pace, no interesting syntax, and those sentences were longer than a sermon. WHERE ARE THE PERIODS??? He’s going through grammatical menopause.

Apart from exactly three interesting quotes this is only good for fire fuel. I actually was going to rate it higher for his religious transformation because it is interesting even if I can’t relate to it, but once he is back in England, it doesn’t really shape the way he lives. His time on the island doesn’t even shape him bc when he gets back, he’s rich and he loves it!! The island taught him that money doesn’t mean much but then he froths over his wealth??!? Where is the development?? So fucking stupid.
If Jesus can’t give you a character, then nothing will. Defoe more like deHOE get out

I thought I was hating this, but then he casually enslaved a savage, made him worship him and do all the work, and proceeded to tell him about the wonderful Christian doctrine, so now I am also enraged.
Boring with a touch of racist.

Hoo-boy!
I'm surprised and amazed and dismayed by the ex post facto muy-contempo correct-nosity readings below...shouldn't be, I guess, but am.
Gee whillikers, kids, uhm, here's one of the great social and, perhaps even more, spiritual documents of Western Civ, and it's a ripping read that declared ongoing archetypes, and it's getting dissed for...for being a bit blind to its own time. Which of us won't end up wishing for at least that when our tombstone gets knocked over?
'sides which, how many first novelists can say they wrote the actual first novel? Hmmm?

3,5 estrellas en realidad.

Entretenido clásico literario inspirado en hechos reales.

Acá conocemos a Robinson Crusoe, único superviviente de un naufragio, que debe aprender a sobrevivir en una isla desierta con ayuda de su capacidad e Ingenio, enfrentándose a la naturaleza, la soledad y los peligros de las Islas vecinas.

Novela que he leído dos veces en mi vida encontrando en ambos casos una entretenida novela aventuras que me hizo pasar un buen rato. Narrada en primera persona, nos hace conocer a Robinson en diferentes facetas que iran de la luchadora y optimista a otras más sombrías, lo que hará que conectemos rápidamente con el personaje y su lucha, así como también con el ambiente que el autor se encarga de describir de forma amena y llevadera.

En cuanto a personajes secundarios, tenemos a Viernes, un nativo que tras unos cuantos hechos termina siendo el compañero fiel de nuestro protagonista, algo que agrega interés a la obra y nos da un sentido de honor y amistad en el solitario ambiente que se nos presenta.

Buena novela, recomendable, pese a ello, en lo personal no me termina de convencer al cien por cien, motivo por el que la leí dos veces. La primera vez se me terminó olvidando casi todo lo que había pasado y es que simplemente no fue muy significativa para mí, pensé que era problema mío, pero en la segunda lectura reafirmé mi impresión; Daniel Defoe nos entrega una buena historia, más no logra llevarnos a un gran clímax o punto álgido final que termine por hacernos alucinar.

Pese a ello, en lo que a supervivencia se refiere hay un muy buen trabajo.

¡Recomendable como clásico!

August 1651
Dear Diary,
Woo hoo! Run away to sea at last! Mum and Dad didn't want me to go but honestly, what's the worst that can happen? So far I'm loving life on the ocean wave and have only been a little bit sea sick. Anyway it's Bye bye Hull, hello Honolulu!
Yours, Robinson

January 1653
Dear Diary,
Sorry it's been so long. There was a minor incident with a shipwreck and just when I'd managed to find passage on another boat some pirates turned up and I ended up as a slave. I had to do loads of work for this Moorish guy and while it was all nice and exotic, it's not nice being stripped of all your civil liberties. Anyway I've just escaped with my buddy Xury and we're heading out to sea in order to see if we can flag down a bigger boat, er sorry, ship.
Yours, Robinson

March 1654
Dear Diary,
Just arrived in Brazil - wowee it is hot here. Much hotter than hull at any rate. I'm redder than a snapper on stick and am having a bit of trouble finding my feet. There's some sort of carnival on and I've seen a big hill which would like nice with a big statue of Jesus on it. I've met some nice blokes on the boat and they said they'd help me make my fortune. Someone is predicting that Brazil nuts will be the next big thing come Christmas next year so maybe I'll give that a go.
Yours, Robinson

June 1660
Dear Diary,
Well it's been a while and a lot has happened. I got myself all set up with a nice plantation and enjoyed the good life for a while here but I miss the salty tang of the sea air, the creak of the sails and the gentle rocking of the boat so I've decided to sink my money into slavery and am going to put to sea as soon as I can. I've realised I'm not one for a landlubbers life.
Yours, Robinson

November 1661
Dear Diary,
Well I am literally scuppered. My slaving venture didn't go too well. Guess I should have thought about my own time as a slave with that Moorish guy before I set out in order to profit from other peoples misery but hey, everyone else is doing it and even Bristol are getting in on the trade now by all accounts. Anyway that's all by the by now. We headed for Africa but a devil of storm came and dragged the ship and all the men on down to Davy Jones. I think I'm the only survivor and the sea has spit me up on this miserable sliver of land with only the clothes on my back. A couple of animals survived too. I've called the dog Defoe and the cats are called Swift and Behn. For now I just pet them but if I can't find any food then Defoe is going to make a tidy stir fry. Am off to set up camp now so will write upon my return.
Yours, Robinson

January 1662
Dear Diary,
I've settled in and created a quite minimalist base camp. It's taken a lot of ingenuity to make all the things I need. Wreckage from the ship and flotsam and jetsam have washed ashore and provided me with some raw materials like sails and timber, bits of rope and metal. It's not exactly the Radisson Blue but I'm quite proud of my little house. The cats and rats are multiplying quite ridiculously - I shudder to think what it's doing to the ecosystem. I kill and eat the goats and birds but they're getting wise to my tricks now. I've kept one of the birds as a pet and called him bird brian. I'm having to go further and further afield for food... the other month I fell into a ravine and broke a limb... I thought for certain I was a goner but the lord has been kind to me since I arrived here. I'm not normally one for solitude but the peace and quiet has been educational. I suppose I've become a bit introspective but I don't have much time to mope as staying alive takes up most of my days.
Yours, Robinson

August 1665
Dear Diary,
Visitors! Wish I'd baked something! Turns out they're cannibals though so I guess nice scones and a cup of honest to goodness tea bark probably is not their thing. Was tempted to smite them for being heathenish devils but I'm looking pretty heathenish myself these days and beggars can't be choosers over company at a time like this. One of them chose to stay behind. Can't understand a bloody thing about him and he's not one for chatter. I've called him Friday and he's put up no objections so far. Am looking forward to spending some time with my new friend
Yours, Robinson

March 1672
Dear Diary,
Seven years since I last wrote - well you could have knocked me over with a parrots feather when I realised! Friday and I have become firm friends. Still not a lot of chatter but then a man is glad of companionship without all the additional twittering. He's got a bit of a grip on my lingo now though and has shown an interest in the ways of our Lord. I told him about my big statue idea. He laughed.
Yours, Robinson

April 1685
Dear Diary,
Recently some other cannibals came to the island. They were planning to hot-pot someone but we soon put pay that idea. There was a bit of a to-do and now we have two newly saved captives on our hands. The island is starting to feel quite crowded. One of them is a Spaniard who says his country men are near by and could save us, the other bloke was none other than my man Friday's father. The two of them are off back to the mainland to rustle up a rescue party. I keep thinking about bacon butties.
Yours, Robinson

December 1686
Dear Diary,
Today was my last day on the island. Felt a bit sad to say bye bye. I've grown fond of all its nooks and crannies now, and though admittedly, I would give my eye teeth for a bacon sandwich and a nice cup of tea I suspect that never again shall I experience the resplendent solitude which I experienced on the island. Don't know if I'll ever get used to sleeping in a bed and not a hammock either. I'm thinking of writing about my experiences though. Wonder if this is the sort of thing that people would like to know about? Friday has agreed to come with me which is nice but I'm not sure what he'll think of Hull, after all it's no paradise island.
Yours, Robinson