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Apr 2020
8:01pm, 19 Apr 2020
17,271 posts
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Serendippily
Finished Robinson Crusoe, funny to be judging a classic on face value rather than contextualising but here goes:
Start and end we’re slow going.
I once saw a man at speakers corner with a sign round his neck saying “Things are going to get worse”. That was pretty much the first few chapters.
Then the end: what was that about? Was Trinidad really big on bears and wolves? How come he left Fridays dad and the Spaniards behind when they commandeered the ship? How come after all that religious epiphany he was none too sure what his religion was?
But the middle I enjoyed. I learned to skim through the various “worst was yet to come” stuff and there were times I was pretty sure Points Were Being Made but I liked all the husbandry, the crafting, the fear and exploration. The grief and the adaptation. The chance.
I was slightly confused by the early ploy of telling me what happened, then repeating this as journal extracts with annotation, and then carrying on like no journal existed. But I went with it as I assumed it was probably bedding the story into my subconscious in some clever way. Like a presentation: tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you’ve told them. That kind of thing.
After lots of judging I enjoyed the pious “it’s not for me to judge” comments and I wasn’t entirely convinced by him being angry, vengeful and then forgiving of the cannibals and pirates so quickly - which I guess is the problem with describing an event many years later as a series of felt emotions
But I still enjoyed it and went with it right up to when he was rescued. And the bit where he sees the footprint and goes through such a range of emotions - even convincing himself it must be his own footprint - has real emotional strength
So “Classics. Books everyone wants to have read and no one wants to read”. Only partly true  8/10
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Apr 2020
6:17pm, 22 Apr 2020
44,805 posts
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McGoohan
*Cracks knuckles*
It's a while since I read it, but I think RC is a bit of an exception in the world of fiction in that most authorities treat it as the first novel in English. There were precedents but RC sort of set the template. For this reason, and for all its flaws, I give it a lot of leeway. Defoe wasn't just writing an adventure book, he was creating a genre even if he thought he was only doing the former thing.
So: pacing and plotting and even characterisation are maybe not so consistent. It's not too sophisticated on the slow reveal of plot points. Instead it's all just told in a linear manner. There is also a *lot* about growing wheat to make your own bread. However, here we are 301 years later and it's still readable and entertaining in its own way.
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Apr 2020
6:23pm, 22 Apr 2020
35,485 posts
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LindsD
And we''re all about to plant wheat to make our own bread.
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Apr 2020
6:25pm, 22 Apr 2020
44,807 posts
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McGoohan
OMG! That's right. We're all Crusoe's stuck on our Covid-19 islands!
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Apr 2020
6:26pm, 22 Apr 2020
44,808 posts
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McGoohan
I apologise for the errant apostrophe. *Has self shot*
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Apr 2020
6:34pm, 22 Apr 2020
17,334 posts
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Serendippily
I didn’t I took it at face value but then I am not an authority but given it was published in 1719 it has weathered pretty well. But then so has the Canterbury tales and that was 400 yrs earlier and don Quixote which I probably enjoyed more but was perhaps kindly translated for later audiences
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Apr 2020
9:35pm, 22 Apr 2020
558 posts
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Peregrinator
Defoe was also one of the first journalists, so I suppose that defined a lot of his style. In Journal of a plague year, Defoe reworked stories that he'd heard into a narrative. Robinson Crusoe was also based on an actual case of a castaway. JOAPY worked for me as it was recognisably a story of someone living through difficult times. A bit worried about the slow going, but I'm quite good at ignoring whole books of boring bits.
So as a story with practical tips on how to survive in uncertain times, I feel I should move Robinson Crusoe from being a classic everyone else should have read, to one I should've read. And I can get it free on Kindle.
Goes off to sow wheat.
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Apr 2020
9:45pm, 22 Apr 2020
19,644 posts
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Columba
*rejoins thread after a lengthy and unaccountable absence, probably linked to the fact I'd forgotten to 'watch' it*
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Apr 2020
9:47pm, 22 Apr 2020
19,645 posts
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Columba
Have not yet finished A Pair of Blue Eyes, but not far from the end and can see Tragedy looming like a monstrous wave, travelling towards me at inescapable speed.
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Apr 2020
10:07pm, 22 Apr 2020
33,656 posts
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Night-owl
I have finished my book. Too be honest I was struggling to get into it, or indeed any reading, a sign of the times me thinks. But last few days gotten back into it. I shall talk more of it tomorrow as its getting late and I need my bed. And I'm back to work tomorrow.
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