I have owned this book for many, many years, but had never actually read it. So it was time. Since it was published in 1719, the language used and the writing style made this a slow read. My copy of the book had 397 pages and it felt like 1397. The first half of the book went faster for me because it details Crusoe's life before the shipwreck that strands him on the deserted island, and the 28 years he spent on the island. I enjoyed reading about his ingenuity for surviving on the island. Fortunately, the ship that was wrecked - causing everyone else to die - was initially accessible to Crusoe. He was able to get supplies, tools, weapons, food, clothing, etc. off of the ship before it shifted and sank. He was able to build a crude home for protection and hunt for food. As the years went by, and with all the time in the world, he became really creative in making tools, carving canoes out of tree trunks, weaving baskets, capturing baby goats which became his own personal herd so he had food, milk, cheese and didn't have to use his dwindling ammunition to shoot animals to eat. He also grew his own crops (grain and corn), which he discovered after he emptied out a container from the ship and there happened to be some seeds at the bottom. Over time, he realized what it was and he was able to plant seasonally and taught himself how to make a sort of bread (without yeast of course.)
While there were no wild animals that preyed on him on this island, there were "savages" who came to the island in their canoes to celebrate their battle wins by eating their prisoners. Yes, they were cannibals. There were different tribes (always fighting each other) that would show up on different sides of the island. They would stay to eat their prisoners and then leave. They had no idea that Crusoe lived on the island. He didn't know about them either for a long time. He had already fortified his home(s) so they were not easily seen, but as the years went on, the area surrounding his primary home was nearly impenetrable due to the thick foliage surrounding it. Eventually he saved some escaped prisoners who stayed extremely loyal to him from then on. One was a boy he named Friday. Then there were a group of Spaniards. Then Friday's father. When he finally was given an opportunity to leave the island, he took Friday with him and left the others there to maintain the goat herd, the crops, the homes, etc. It really surprised me when the story didn't end there! But no, all this happened, described in a very detailed account, in less than half the book.
The next 200+ pages described his further travels, worldwide. The various ships he traveled on, the countries he visited, the tragic encounters, the people he met. He actually married at one point and had a couple of kids, but after his wife died, he simply left the kids (somewhere?) to resume his travels. There were long sections about religion (paganism vs. Catholicism vs. Protestantism); a long journey over land (including Siberia); death, including a massacre; pirates; revisiting his island, which was now quite populated - which was also explained in detail; endless conversations with a variety of people. On and on and on. The last 50 pages were truly a struggle to get through! I pushed through but if the book had ended at page 189, I would have given it 4 stars. The rest of the book dropped it to a 3-star read for me. To give you some indication, Crusoe originally left his father's home as a teenager and he spent 28 years on the island. The book ended (finally!) when he was 72. It was a long, eventful life, I will certainly give him that!
Wendy's Rating: ***
No comments:
Post a Comment