Son of a middle-class Englishman, Robinson Crusoe takes to the sea to find adventure. And find it he does when on one of his voyages he is shipwrecked on a deserted South American island for thirty-five years.

After scavenging his broken ship for useful items, he had only his skills and ingenuity to keep him alive as there was to be no one else on the island for the next twenty-four years. In the middle of that twenty-fourth year he rescued a native about to be eaten by cannibals who were using his island for a place of feasting. Crusoe named this man Friday, after the day of his rescue. Friday became his faithful servant and friend, even returning with him to England after their deliverance by an English ship.

Listeners will enjoy Crusoe's determination for survival against all odds and admire the spirituality that gave him the strength to survive. A hero through the ages, he richly deserves the admiration that has endured over three centuries.

Though sometimes tedious and moralistic, Crusoe has become an emblem of human survival in a lonely and hostile world. In this recording British reader Tom Casaletto preserves Defoe's tone and point of view with perfect fidelity. There isn't much dialogue until the end of the book when Friday appears, but that is fully and richly voiced. If, like me, you haven't visited Crusoe's island since your youth, this excellent recording is the perfect opportunity for a return trip. P.E.F. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

 

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) was an English novelist, pamphleteer, journalist and political agent. He is best known for his novels Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders, and for his Journal of the Plague Year.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Continue Browsing		View Wish List