An ode to the perserverance of Man. Review on Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe

This book--bar none--is one of the finest examples of well-written first-person perspective novels that I have ever read; held up against these pages, many a modern book of the same perspective pales and shrivels itself up into a ball of shame.

With Robinson Crusoe , Defoe proved himself to the ages as a considerably-talented storyteller and mastered the art of including the five senses in his journal-like prose and so in a natural progression, all without becoming 'stuck' in any one part of the story. One can easily imagine a weather-beaten old salt telling this tale in full seated by a small pub fire, with a tankard of ale in hand, with Defoe sitting inconspicuously in one corner scribbling madly on the margins of his merchant documents and shipping manifests. The son of a chandler (candle maker) and a merchant by trade, Defoe survived much hardship in his childhood, including the death of his mother, the Great London Plague of 1665 and the Great London Fire of 1666. Already a popular essayist, pamphleteer and satirist by the time he reached age 40, Defoe did not begin writing novels until the last 15 years of his life. Robinson Crusoe was his first, and it is considered by most of the literary world to be the first English novel.

The story begins with a brief but quite satisfactory history of young Robinson, told in a rather memoir-type style. It is a basic story of rebellious youth, but throughout these initial pages is woven a refreshing thread of honest lament, where the wiser Crusoe questions the leaving of his home and loved ones so unnecessarily, with the only the foolish goal of pursuing ambitious adventure. As one reads, it is quite apparent that something terrible will happen but the chronological re-telling of these ship-borne events is penned so well, with such logical thought and artistic description that the reader realizes they are being led by a master writer, and thus cannot help but to continue reading.

Robinson falls into the loose-moral life of a merchant sailor, working aboard in many climates, earning percentages and drinking the nights away with his mates. A series of sea storms shakes his wayward resolve a little, but not enough to keep him from embarking on the voyages again and again. At one point he is taken captive and held as a slave for some weeks, before he stages an escape with a fellow slave; they sail a dangerous journey to a friendly port. Crusoe ends up in Brazil, with enough credit to his name to buy a small tobacco plantation. He earns a growing pile of coin from his farming endeavors, but once again the wanderlust of discontent grips him; he sells his lands, puts together a handsome shipment of goods and heads out on a new merchant vessel once more, with the goal of reaching England with his spoils.