Just finished reading this classic. Like some books are to be consumed in 1 sitting and 1 slowly enjoyed over a few sittings. I have actually seldom read books that are to be consumed slowly. Perhaps my excitement lead me in the past to devour books whole. But this book, I at the start did attempt to devour but found it difficult and found it much more enjoyable to read some, then sit back and contemplate a bit and read some more.
Now to the book itself. It is about the journey of Robinson Crusoe and written in the style of it being his journal, thus in the first person. He comes from a middle class family but never had the inclination to stay in England not for want to rise in stature but want of adventure. So he assigned as a sailor and was off to sea. His first voyage saw his boat capsized in a storm. He prayed to God and swore if he was saved he would return to England and be a good son. This promise was forgotten the moment he was saved by another ship. He was so ashamed of going to sea in the first place that he did not return home at all and went on living in London and came into acquaintance with some wealthy tradesman. As he was looked favorably by his new companions, they gave him financial assistance in setting to sea again.
Again he ran into complications again, the ship being taken by pirates and him taken as a slave. He remained so for a period of time and made his escape when the situation presented himself. He made his escape successfully and set up a plantation in Brazil. He was quite wealthy in this endeavor but his lively spirit again saw him enter upon an agreement with some merchants to bring back slaves from Africa. Setting off on this voyage, his ship was again lost in a heavy storm and him washed up on a desolate island. Crusoe being the sole survivor of the ship.
Crusoe was at first dismayed and saddened by his situation. But after a while began to accept his situation and looked to improve his living situation. He found a cave to stay in and with time made it comfortably habitable. He also through patience and diligence was able to plant crops and tame the goats for sustenance. The bulk of his time was spent to improve upon his living condition. During this time, he also found appreciation for his situation and gave himself to God, that everything has its reason even his seemingly horrible situation of being stuck on an island alone.
However as he got comfortable with this, there occurred an event which deeply troubled him. He found the human remains on the beach which showed the signs of a cannibalistic ritual having taken place. He was deeply fearful for his safety and lived ill at ease for some year. These rituals occurred once in maybe a year or two but he was constantly afraid for his life. So one time he saw the boats of the natives arriving on his island and resolved to do something about the situation. He saw one of the victims running for his life and shot at his pursuers and managed to kill both of them. The other natives did not pursue their missing companions and left once the ritual was done. The native being saved was so grateful for Crusoe, he swore his life to belong to Crusoe and be his loyal servant. Crusoe gave this native the name Friday for that was the day he saved him.
With that Crusoe's life became much more at ease as he had a companion to talk with and take care of his daily work and watch for potential danger. After a year or so, they stumbled again upon a group of boats coming to the island. From this, they attacked the natives and were able to save the victims again and a foreigner, a Spanish merchant. One of the natives was Friday's father and the both rejoiced at the reunion. They stayed there for one season and the Spaniard and Friday's father returned to their mainland to retrieve the rest of the Spanish merchants which survived the destruction their ship too to the island. They set off and promised to be back to the island and attempt to make for Brazil together.
It was again Crusoe and Friday alone again at the island. In that time another interesting event occurred. There came an English ship. This ship was overtaken by the crew as they mutinied. The captain and a few loyal crew members were taken prisoner and were left on the beach whilst the other mutineers explored the island. Seeing this, Crusoe and Friday rescued the captain and the loyal crew. They then with cunning and trickery was able to regain control of the English ship. They left some of the mutineers behind on the island as an act of empathy for if they were brought back to England would surely be hanged for their treacherous act. So Crusoe was able to return to England.
After this he resolved to set his finances and situation in order. With his previous plantation, he had a reasonable amount of money to live comfortably and be the sponsor of his family also. He sold his plantation and after a voyage to settle his matters made back for England. This time he went on land from Portugal and made for land through Spain, France, then a short ways across the channel. This was from fear of his bad luck out at sea. But on land he also faced upon some problems like the winter cold and wild animals during the travels. In the end he was able to make it back to England alive and well.
This book was wonderful though the ending was a bit abrupt. As I found out, there's still the sequel and a book of poems. So I shall look for that. In itself the book is wonderful and is known widely to be the first English novel (so as wiki tells me). Overall, it is great and absolutely worthy of being the classic it is.
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