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Robinson Crusoe
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's summary
This classic tale of shipwreck and survival on an uninhabited island was an instant success when first published in 1719, and it has inspired countless imitations.
In his own words, Robinson Crusoe tells of the terrible storm that drowned all his shipmates and left him marooned on a deserted island. Forced to overcome despair, doubt, and self-pity, he struggles to create a life for himself in the wilderness. From practically nothing, Crusoe painstakingly learns how to make pottery, grow crops, domesticate livestock, and build a house. His many adventures are recounted in vivid detail, including a fierce battle with cannibals and his rescue of Friday, the man who becomes his trusted companion.
Full of enchanting detail and daring heroics, Robinson Crusoe is a celebration of courage, patience, ingenuity, and hard work.
Featured Article: 40+ Motivational Quotes to Lift and Rev You Up
Doubting yourself? Need a push to keep on climbing? To give you a surge and get you back up and moving forward, we've collected 40+ quotes from folks who know a lot about motivational ebbs and flows: authors. Their works span a variety of genres, from classic literature to career success, and offer a diversity of perspectives. We're sure you'll find at least a few wise and uplifting words that speak directly to you and will soon have your motivation flowing.
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A classic tale of adventure and survival, The Swiss Family Robinson has been a best seller ever since it was published in 1812, just over 200 years ago. Written by Swiss pastor Johann David Wyss, it begins with a shipwreck. A boat carrying a family of settlers to a distant colony is driven onto a reef just off an uncharted tropical island. The sailors desert the ship in lifeboats, leaving the family onboard.
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Not as good as I hoped
- By Travis and Becky Pitcher on 01-30-21
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Candide (AudioGO Edition)
- By: Voltaire
- Narrated by: Jack Davenport
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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When first published in 1759, Candide became an instant best seller and is now regarded as one of the key texts of the Enlightenment. Voltaire’s preoccupations with evil and with various kinds of human folly and intolerance found a perfect vehicle in this philosophical tale. A master storyteller, he combined often wildly entertaining action with profoundly serious sense, parodying the traditional chivalric and oriental tales with which his public was more familiar.
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Guaranteed to keep you smiling if not LOL
- By Robert on 08-09-12
By: Voltaire
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Through Russian Snows
- A Story of Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow
- By: G. A. Henty
- Narrated by: Jim Hodges
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1812 Napoleon invaded Russia. Two brothers, diligent Frank and carefree Julian, end up on different sides of the conflict! Napoleon’s army of 500,000 defeat the Russians at Smolensk and Borodino, but wait too long after entering a deserted Moscow for Russia’s capitulation, which never comes. Retreat is the only option and a mere fifth of the army survive. Frank and Julian meet in Moscow under unexpected circumstances; one as the aid-de-camp to Sir Robert Wilson, the other having rescued the child of a Russian nobleman.
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I...JUST....CANT
- By Heidi Schwarzinger on 09-24-23
By: G. A. Henty
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Letters from the Earth
- By: Mark Twain
- Narrated by: Carl Reiner
- Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Here we see Twain on a somewhat personal level. Penniless and having just lost his wife and one of his children, Twain turns to writing about God, Christianity, and the many curious natures of man. This collection was so controversial that his daughter prohibited its publication until 52 years after his death.
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A must read for thinking people
- By Charles on 11-28-11
By: Mark Twain
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
- By: Frederick Douglass
- Narrated by: Walter Covell
- Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Frederick Douglass was an American abolitionist, women's suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer. He was called both "The Sage of Anacostia" and "The Lion of Anacostia" and is one of the most prominent figures in African-American history and United States history.
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Great Book!
- By Mama C on 03-05-11
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Tales from the Arabian Nights
- By: Andrew Lang
- Narrated by: Toby Stephens
- Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
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Toby Stephens takes us back to the world of cunning, adventure, mishap, and fun. Sheherezade, night after night, weaves her tales and Aladdin and his Magic Lamp, Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and other tales come alive. The unforgettable music of Rimsky-Korsakov sets the scene perfectly. A delightful treat for young listeners.
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I AM SINBAD THE SAILOR
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 04-27-17
By: Andrew Lang
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A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
- By: Samuel Johnson, James Boswell
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull, Alexander Spencer
- Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1773, 63-year-old literary giant Samuel Johnson joined James Boswell, a 32-year-old Scottish lawyer, on an historic horseback expedition across the Scottish Highlands to the Western Islands. The unlikely duo's travelogue records their fascinating conversations and encounters with great wit and incredible detail. Johnson, one of the 18th century's most celebrated writers, provided an elegant and stately account of everything from Loch Ness's medicinal waters to Scotland's puzzling lack of trees.
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Tasty, but abridged
- By Tad Davis on 08-22-13
By: Samuel Johnson, and others
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Mark Twain - The Complete Novels
- By: Mark Twain
- Narrated by: Lee Howard
- Length: 58 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Here you will find the complete novels of Mark Twain: 1. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Starts at Chapter 1, 2. The Prince and the Pauper Starts at Chapter 37, 3. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Starts at Chapter 70, 4. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Starts at Chapter 113, 5. The American Claimant Starts at Chapter 158, 6. Tom Sawyer Abroad Starts at Chapter 184, 7. Pudd'nhead Wilson Starts at Chapter 197, 8. Tom Sawyer, Detective Starts at Chapter 219, 9. A Horse's Tale Starts at Chapter 230, 10. The Mysterious Stranger Starts at Chapter 245.
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Content; GREAT! Performance.. .not so much😁
- By brian deis on 01-09-20
By: Mark Twain
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Typee
- A Peep at Polynesian Life
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Herman Melville is one of the greatest figures in literary history. His classic Moby Dick is generally considered the finest novel ever written by an American. Yet in Melville’s day, Typee was a far more popular book. Largely autobiographical, this classic adventure story is set in the South Seas, where a runaway sailor is captured by the Typees. Described as “a fierce and unrelenting tribe of savages," the islanders have no intention of letting their captive go.
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Peeping Typee is Tapu; Reading Typee is Noa!
- By Darwin8u on 04-21-14
By: Herman Melville
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First published in 1719 in London, the first edition of Robinson Crusoe gave credit to the work's fictional protagonist, Robinson Crusoe, as its actual author instead of Daniel Defoe. This led many readers to believe Robinson Crusoe was a real person and the book a true account.
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A Rewarding Classic
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Summer Tradition
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Shipwrecked and cast ashore onto an uninhabited island, Robinson Crusoe ingeniously carves out a solitary, primitive existence for 24 years. Eventually, he meets a young native whom he saves from death at the hands of cannibals. He calls him Man Friday and makes him his companion and servant.
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True classic
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A Little Princess
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Brought from India to chilly, fog-bound London, Sara Crewe is enrolled as a pupil at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies. Her doting father, Captain Crewe, has provided her with fine clothes and luxuries fit for a princess and she attracts envious attention. But Sara soon wins friends with her kindness, taking the school's misfits under her wing, and telling them wonderful stories to cheer them up. Yet despite her best efforts, her spiteful classmate, Lavinia, and mean headmistress, Miss Minchin, remain determined to dislike her.
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The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
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NOT whole book
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The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
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The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is a book written by Daniel Defoe. It is widely considered to be one of the top 100 greatest books of all time. This great novel will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, this gem by Daniel Defoe is highly recommended.
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More adventures, more cringes
- By Tad Davis on 10-26-12
By: Daniel Defoe
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Robinson Crusoe
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A Rewarding Classic
- By I'm all ears on 06-18-17
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Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719, was Defoe’s first novel and survives as his best-known work. Loosely based on a true account of a Scottish sailor—Alexander Selkirk—it is a tale of one man’s fall from grace and progress to redemption. The account of Crusoe’s life, scratched out with rationed indigo ink on a dwindling supply of paper salvaged from the hull of a wrecked ship, speaks eloquently of the tenacity and ingenuity of the human spirit.
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Summer Tradition
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Robinson Crusoe
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Shipwrecked and cast ashore onto an uninhabited island, Robinson Crusoe ingeniously carves out a solitary, primitive existence for 24 years. Eventually, he meets a young native whom he saves from death at the hands of cannibals. He calls him Man Friday and makes him his companion and servant.
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True classic
- By Nelson Mostow on 02-10-09
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A Little Princess
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Michael Maloney reads Daniel Defoe's timeless tale of a man who has to use all his own skills to survive alone on an island. Robinson Crusoe has a great desire to see the world and, against his father's wishes, goes to sea. After surviving a terrible shipwreck, however, Robinson Crusoe discovers he is the only person on a deserted island, far from any shipping routes or rescue.
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NOT whole book
- By Amazon Customer on 11-18-20
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The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
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The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is a book written by Daniel Defoe. It is widely considered to be one of the top 100 greatest books of all time. This great novel will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, this gem by Daniel Defoe is highly recommended.
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More adventures, more cringes
- By Tad Davis on 10-26-12
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After surviving a terrible shipwreck, Robinson Crusoe discovers he is the only human on an island far from any shipping routes or rescue. At first he is devastated, but slowly, with patience and imagination, he transforms his island into a tropical paradise. For 24 years he lives with no human companionship - until one fateful day, when he discovers he is not alone.... Lightly abridged for Puffin Classics.
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Wonderful adventure!
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Robinson Crusoe (AmazonClassics Edition)
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When mariner Robinson Crusoe sails from London to the African coast to Brazil, his unpredictable voyage takes a catastrophic course. The lone survivor of a shipwreck, he washes ashore on an Atlantic island. Resourceful and determined to contend with providence and nature, he finds his sovereignty empowering. Through the years he builds a civilization as a solitary man. Then he discovers a stranger’s footprint in the sand.
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returned book due to possible edit to narration
- By Ethan on 08-21-19
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Swiss Family Robinson
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The Swiss Family Robinson recounts the adventures of a father, mother, and four sons marooned on a tropical island. The story unfolds beginning with the tragic storm that claims their ship and the lives of the captain and crew, continuing with their own harrowing battle with the elements and dangerous landing on the remote island shore, and onward through their ingenious use of the materials at hand to survive.
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1812 Classic - served authors purposes
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Robinson Crusoe
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First published in 1719, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is commonly considered as the first novel in English. Based on the real-life experience of Alexander Selkirk, who spent four years on a Pacific island, it is the account of the 28-year stay of an English sailor on a nearly uninhabited island near America.
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Seriously Horrible
- By BP on 10-25-11
By: Daniel Defoe
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The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
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Popular from first day of publication, it is one of the most widely published books in history. Widely imitated in literature, film, television and radio. It’s name is used to define a genre: the Robinsonade.
By: Daniel Defoe
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Robinson Crusoe
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Robinson Crusoe is considered by many to be the first novel in the English language. The term 'Robinsonade' has even been coined to describe the various spin-offs of Robinson Crusoe. It is astonishing how much of the book has become part of the language; the very term 'Robinson Crusoe' has become synonymous with the concept of a castaway.
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Great performance by a great actor
- By Joseph L. Breckenridge on 09-29-18
By: Daniel Defoe
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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
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Jules Verne’s classic science fiction fantasy carries its hero - Professor Aronnax of the Museum of Paris - on a thrilling and dangerous journey far below the waves to see what creatures live in the ocean’s depths. In the process, Verne imagined a vessel that had not yet been invented: the submarine.
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Didn't enjoy the performance.
- By Nick A. Wyse on 12-10-19
By: Jules Verne, and others
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Treasure Island
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Stevenson's quintessential pirate adventure story, brilliantly conceived and executed! Created by actor/narrator Chris Hendrie, the characters immediately spring to life. Young Jim Hawkins tells his own coming of age story as he sets sail to find gold with his pirate friends, encountering the magnificent Long John Silver - one legged, quick, cunning, and genial.
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Well narrated and engaging story
- By D. Jones on 12-12-12
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Robinson Crusoe
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Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe tells the story of a young Englishman who, against the best advice of his father, decides to leave his comfortable surroundings and take to the high seas in search of adventure. However, upon securing his first voyage, he begins to realize that a sailor's life is not as easy as he had imagined - and the experience he goes through is just the start of a series of events that will eventually lead him to be stranded on a desert island for the best part of three decades.
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McCallion does an excellent job
- By Joel Wadman on 10-04-16
By: Daniel Defoe
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The Swiss Family Robinson
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"For many days we had been tempest-tossed...the raging storm increased in fury until on the seventh day all hope was lost." So begins this delightful adventure story. The Robinson family, a Swiss pastor, his wife, and four sons, will emerge alive from this terrible storm, bringing to land two dogs and a shipload of livestock: hens, pigeons, and geese.
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A review from my (10 year-old) son:
- By B. Junkin-Mills on 12-29-04
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Robinson Crusoe
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Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is presented as an autobiography of the title character (whose birth name is Robinson Kreutznaer)—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical desert island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers, before ultimately being rescued. The story has been thought to be based on the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on a Pacific island called "Más a Tierra", now part of Chile, which was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966.
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AI?
- By Anonymous User on 10-12-22
By: Daniel Defoe
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Paradise Lost
- By: John Milton
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- Unabridged
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John Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems in the English language. It tells the story of the Fall of Man, a tale of immense drama and excitement, of rebellion and treachery, of innocence pitted against corruption, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny.
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The most accessible reading of Paradise Lost
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By: John Milton
What listeners say about Robinson Crusoe
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tad Davis
- 10-25-12
Great story but with moments that made me cringe
Robinson Crusoe is a great story, but it has some cringe-able moments. The big one, the one I didn't remember from high school, was the purpose of Crusoe's voyage when he was shipwrecked on the island: he was the supercargo on a slave ship, intending to buy "slaves for trinkets" on the west coast of Africa, some of them destined for his own slave plantation in Brazil. It would be nice to report that by the end of the book, after his association with Friday, he came to realize the trade was evil, but such is not the case.
The first word he teaches Friday is the name he decided to call him by - the day of the week on which he rescued Friday from cannibals. (He never bothers trying to learn Friday's original name in his own language.) The second word he teaches him is the name by which he wants to be addressed: Master.
This bothered me enough that I spent some time looking up the history of abolitionism in England. Apparently it didn't really take off until another generation or two after the book was written (in 1719). So Defoe doesn't quite get a free pass in my book for this, but at least it can be argued that he was simply not ahead of his time on this issue.
Still, it's a great story, and well worth listening to. Crusoe pieces together a life of reasonable comfort, using flotsam from the wreck that stranded him on the island, and a bit of ingenuity. He keeps track of time by cutting notches in a post. He discovers living seeds among the trash he brought back, and by careful experimenting over several years, he is able to raise a respectable crop of wheat. He comes to a kind of accommodation with the cannibals who periodically visit the island: he realizes that he has no right to kill them just because he abhors their way of life.
But eventually he does kill a few and rescue one of their fellow cannibals, who was about to become a meal himself. This young man he names Friday. As Friday learns English and they begin having more substantial conversations, Crusoe tries to teach him Christianity. (I have to admit that I found Friday's questions and objections more persuasive than Crusoe's answers.) Eventually they are rescued and leave the island.
A major loose end in the plot concerns Friday's father and a small group of Spanish soldiers, whom Friday and Crusoe rescue from yet another band of cannibals. They return to the island they came from, where a larger group of Spaniards resides, to bring them news of Crusoe and the greater safety to be had on his island. But Crusoe returns to England before they get back. (This loose end is tied up neatly in the sequel, the Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.)
There are many excellent audio versions of this story available. The one by John Lee is also recommended. (It uses a different set of chapter breaks than this one: apparently Defoe published the story without breaks, and chapters have been added in different forms by later editors.) Simon Vance's version has a slight edge, in my opinion, because his Crusoe has a Yorkshire twang: Crusoe is, after all, a Yorkshireman. (My "expertise" in this comes from many years of watching Sean Bean and listening to Richard Sharpe audiobooks.) Vance, as always, gives a well-modulated, evenly-paced performance.
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73 people found this helpful
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Overall
- William
- 03-02-11
Fantastic Story and Excellent Narration
Exciting storyline and excellent narration really brings this book to life. I could listen to Simon Vance read the phone book. :)
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37 people found this helpful
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- MaugerDStaunton
- 05-20-12
Stands the Test of Time!
This classic by Daniel Defoe needs no introduction from me to be familiar to Audible readers. It is the work that Defoe is most well known for, and if you have read his other works you know why. Defoe was a political and religious propagandist and because of this most of his works are philisophical in nature and tend to bore most readers. Robinson Crusoe was his attempt to roll his propaganda into a fiction form that would captivate a reader long enough for him to get his message across. His success with Robinson Crusoe is probably why his later fiction works become saturated with his belief system and tend to dry out quickly and leave the reader feeling like they are being preached to rather than a story told. With this book he strikes a good balance however and creates the masterpiece that stands the test of time.
Simon Vance was the perfect reader for this work, and really made it come alive. His reading of Robinson Crusoe did it justice and was truly enjoyable to listen to.
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33 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 03-21-17
the prodigal without a return
? would it interest you to read the first english novel ever written
? does man's relation to God and the natural world interest you
? do you find introspection and self-reliance to be admirable male virtues
daniel defoe's seminal novel has intrigued readers for centuries
it resonates with old testament judgement, themes and consequences
the story aligns with jonah, the prodigal son and the israelites' exodus
the writing style is surprisingly practical and matter-of-fact
obstacles and efforts and the necessary details of survival predominate
our hero is often disconsolate but rarely depressed or defeated
the book has a significant dose of well presented calvinist theology
defoe assumes that man " left alone " naturally orients toward God
the novel presents true faith and salvation as personal and not institutional
a friend of mine, in college, said he re-read " robinson crusoe " every year
as a young man, this seemed far fetched to me and a bit foolish
now that i'm a grandfather, his choice seems reasonable and even wise
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32 people found this helpful
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- David S. Mathew
- 01-29-18
Adrift
This is probably Daniel Defoe’s best known story and possibly the first English language novel ever written. Inspired by the life of explorer Alexander Selkirk, Robinson Crusoe is the story of a shipwrecked English sailor as he struggles to survive while marooned on a tropical island somewhere off the coast of Africa. Despite being written in the early 1700s, the narrative hold up incredibly well. Some parts will strike a modern reader as fairly racist, but I could forgive that considering the time period. To this day, Robinson Crusoe remains an incredible, and surprisingly philosophical, adventure story of a lone man struggling to survive in the unforgiving wilderness.
As for the narration, I’m a huge fan of Simon Vance in general. That said, I think this might be his best work yet. He perfectly captures Crusoe’s voice and Vance’s own natural accent pushes a good performance into the realm of a fantastic one. Just click on the sample and you’ll see/hear what I mean. What are you waiting for? Beyond highly recommended!
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29 people found this helpful
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- Radish Bliss
- 03-30-12
If you think you know it, you are wrong
Any additional comments?
Don't pass by this book because you've seen too many movies of it.
This book is surprisingly not like those movies.
Now I'm thinking those movies had other agendas. Listen and you might know what I mean. Stop trying to change history! Bad stuff happened and still happens.
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10 people found this helpful
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- John
- 01-12-20
Gabriel Betteredge Knew What He Was Talking About
The head steward in Wilkie Collins’ masterpiece, The Moonstone, uses Robinson Crusoe in much the same way as Robinson Crusoe uses the Bible; as a book to open at random for advice, comfort, and even glimpses into future events. And the advice and comfort he finds there are obviously the source of Betteredge’s rock-like stability and uncommon common sense. Take this example of Crusoe's musings from chapter 9:
“I frequently sat down to meat with thankfulness, and admired the hand of God’s providence, which had thus spread my table in the wilderness. I learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less upon the dark side, and to consider what I enjoyed rather than what I wanted; and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts, that I cannot express them; and which I take notice of here, to put those discontented people in mind of it, who cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them, because they see and covet something that He has not given them. All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.”
I admit that this listen was a self-assigned duty. A book that looms so large in the popular imagination, from Wilkie Collins, Beatrix Potter and P. G. Wodehouse to Cary Grant and Pierce Brosnan films, needs to be encountered on its own terms (if for no other reason than to dispel the image of it foisted upon us by the popular imagination). But the duty soon became a pleasure. You’d think the story of 28 years of near-perfect solitude might drag; instead, its enlivened by the many struggles, both successful and unsuccessful, to survive those 28 years. The loss of a star for "Overall" and "Story" merely indicates that, for me, this early novel lacks the narrative grip that later practitioners of the craft would achieve (due in large part, I suspect, to the book's necessarily limited cast of characters). So, while not seeing eye to eye with Gabriel Betteredge’s opinion that Robinson Crusoe is the finest book ever written, I do agree that passing it over leaves one a less well-read person.
And once again, Simon Vance is a pleasure to listen to.
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9 people found this helpful
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- David Craft
- 04-05-09
Great adventure book
one of my favorite books of all time. i've read this book several times growing up and have always found the imagry of daniel defoes writings exceptional. i like to listen to this on my mp3 as i work out at the gym
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8 people found this helpful
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- Kelly
- 01-21-17
It doesn't stand up to other adventure stories.
I notice that almost all of the reviews are five star raves and I just cannot get there. Immediately before reading this book I read Ivanhoe (Scott) and Kidnapped (Stevenson). I was new to all of these books and read them for a personal challenge to read more classics. I did not like Robinson Crusoe as much as either of the other two I mentioned. I do have a few observations:
1. I had a hard time getting beyond the racism contained in this book. I recognize that it is a reflection of the times and is not inappropriate when that is considered, but I just couldn't deal with the continual referrals to "savages".
2. I do not like the moralizing found in so many books written in these days. I do not enjoy the religious dogma or the idea that only Christianity is acceptable. The second half of this book was rife with it and I had a hard time finishing.
3. This book felt a lot like a journal at some points. It was filled with descriptions of what the character did to build his life -- but they were presented more like a list than a picture painted with words. I expected to love this part of the book and I think I could have... it just didn't get there.
I enjoyed Simon Vance's narration. I found him quite believable as Robinson Crusoe.
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- Fredonna Walker
- 08-07-20
No. Just no.
I have never rolled my eyes as much as I did while listening to this book. Yes, I realize it is a product of its time, and I listened to it as such, but I didn’t enjoy it at all. HOWEVER, I must say that Simon Vance did a great job narrating it. So there’s that.
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5 people found this helpful