Robinson Crusoé Review

Daniel Defoe relates the tale of an English sailor marooned on a desert island for nearly three decades. An ordinary man struggling to survive in extraordinary circumstances, Robinson Crusoe wrestles with fate and the nature of God.

The story revolves around Robinson, an unfortunate man who receives numerous warnings about the dangers of a journey on the high seas, yet the ocean calls to him—the call of adventure. After setting sail, he is captured, smuggled, enslaved, and eventually escapes. After all this and managing to return to solid ground, he sets out once again, this time for Brazil, where he becomes a landowner. Unable to remain still, he travels to Africa in search of slaves and suffers a shipwreck along the way. On the island, he remains for 28 years, engaging in a deep internal dialogue about God and faith. He catechizes an Indigenous man he meets there and, in the end, manages to escape from the island.

My biggest issue with the book is the fact that the protagonist, in a story about isolation and God, changes nothing after leaving the island. His experience had no impact on him. I understand its historical importance as a precursor to the modern novel, but unfortunately, it lacks meaningful character development.