A friend gave this book to my 7 year old second grader. Her son had liked it. I was initially hesitant to read an abridged version of a classic because I'd seen such books that didn't seem very well done. My son and I both loved this version. The adapter did an excellent job. I read most of it to him but it was at a level that he could read it himself too.

My 7 year old loved this shorter version of the classic. He is just getting into chapter books and this was a great read aloud book that we could read together. It kept both his interest and my own through out the story. Maybe when he's older, we'll read the classic together, but for now this is a GREAT book for his age. The other books in this series are also just as good as this one. I recommend them all.

My son, a 10 year old, needed a book which he could read easily and independently, but, more importantly, would not talk down to his intellect. This book is a great fit. It tells a gripping adventure story in plain, accessable language - which would not be too difficult for children in younger grades to read on their own. However, I would not reccommend this book for a child younger than 4th or 5th grade to read independently. It has quite a bit of understated death and violence in it - for instance, a man gets his head chopped off - pet animals die and get eaten - and hungry cannibals abound. Thus, it may be more appropriate for the older reader. I also worried that it was not a good idea give a child a condensed version of a classic - but then, this one seems to maintain the integrity of the original. I think the book is a real find - and I am happy that my son finds it the first book he read (on his own) that he was "really in to."

This book was really boring. It had basically the same idea as Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and the title, "FOE," came from Daniel DeFOE. I didn't really like Robinson Crusoe, and I thought that this book was just too much like it. It was boring, and not very fun to read. If you've already read Robinson Crusoe, don't bother reading this; there are a few differences, but it's mostly the same stuff.

First of all, I enjoyed this book. It's surreal and dreamy, and Cruso is a great character, undeserving of the scorn that has been heaped (in tiny, feckless, literary-journal-sliced rashers) upon him. Read this for Cruso, a Mersault with a moral compass of his own devising. He lives well. I would take that last, suitably rendered in the past tense, as my epitaph.

Still, the contortions that are going on here are a bit much. Coetzee is a published critic of English literature, and this novel seems to be his Shelob, a creature set down to trouble a weary age (probably not quoting my Tolkien just right). He writes that there was "No footprint" for example--well, the footprint in Robinson Crusoe is like THE most important, self-created-reality-skewing device that DeFoe employed to show Robinson's idyllic world upset by the mere hint of savagery.

Susan Barton, the main character, encounters a dead infant on her agonizing jaunt across England. The symbolism could not have been more pungent. Or more open to interpretation. Ditto the ending: cryptic enough to rattle rarefied lit-journal cages from here to 2040.

Coetzee is pretty cool, in any case. When I finish my grad courses I might read more of his stuff. Maybe if I hadn't had to read all the schlock criticism (oxymoron?), and had just picked this up, I would have been blown away.

This slim volume was beautifully written and held a rich story. I have not read Robinson Crusoe, but I knew enough about the story to enjoy this version, that is a thoroughly engaging story, but also offers existential and linguistic food for thought. The characters are written in a dream-like way; one isn't sure of their reality or hold on reality, but as the reader, I just kept wanting to know more.

I recommend this. It's lighter than Coetzee's Master of Petersburg, but it is a similar style to that book and evocative of the same emotions.

An eighteenth century novel recounting the life and survival of a strong willed Moll Flanders, a woman who, abandoned as an infant, finds her way to self sufficiency, in a world then dominated by men. Through ingenius schemes she still some how always regains the illusion of imaginary high standing and good reputation throughout it all.

I found Moll Flanders to be resourceful and ingenious in her methods for securing her own survival. The book puts prostitution and premarital sex in a whole new perspective. As one can deduce from this book, life was not so simple for women in the 18th century, especially if they were abandon as children, or even if they husband died and left them without means to exist. Moll takes her position as a dependent woman and finds power in her mind to devise schemes which will allow her a secure lifestyle without compromising her self.

I found Moll to be a woman of character and repute, with self esteem, who made her own way in a world where women had no power, money or choices aside from their dependence upon men.

This is one of the most fun pieces of literature that I have ever read. It is fast paced, and doesn't get boring. She goes through numerous marriages, even more affairs, and dabbles in theft. She unknowingly becomes part of an incestuous relationship!

It should be noted that this book is action driven, although Moll Flanders still undergoes considerable character development. For example, when she begins her extremely successful career as a thief, she is doing it for survival reasons. But after a while, she is doing it for greed. It is interesting to see what causes her to change in various situations.

I highly recommend this book.

Daniel Defoe's 1722 novel, "Moll Flanders," remains a fascinating imaginative work, and is in many ways more interesting than his famous first effort, "Robinson Crusoe." Having seen bits of two recent film adaptations in the last couple of months on television, and being a budding 18th century scholar, I decided it was time I picked up my own copy of "Moll Flanders" and see the actual product on its own terms. A story no less about a castaway and delinquent than "Crusoe," in "Moll Flanders," Defoe attempts to set down the history of a woman with a wild and often desperate life. A character of infinitely more interiority and reflection than Crusoe, Moll gives us through a first person narrative, a look into various stations of life in 18th century England and America.

The novel begins with a tip of the hat to that fine progenitor of the novel, "Don Quixote," a Gines-like acknowledgment that Moll, as the author of her own story, cannot complete that story within the text of the novel, unless people can write when they are deceased. Amusements aside, Moll begins her story as Crusoe begins his, with an immediate acknowledgment of the instability of the modern self - the corruption of her own name. Born in Newgate prison, and having never known her mother, Moll finds herself among gypsies and landed gentry before settling in Colchester for the term of her youth. Here, she founds her sense of social ambition, unusual even for Jane Eyre in the 19th century, as one in which she figures to be a gentlewoman by earning her own living. Various mishaps and misadventures lead her through marriages, whoredom, and thievery as Moll attempts to find her place in the world as a woman of common birth. Early on she learns the lessons that will aid her on her journey, viz., the value of money, quick wit, and a sense of her own sexuality.

While Defoe certainly does not sugar-coat the wrongs of woman in the early 18th century - delving deeply into issues of feminine helplessness before the law, the difficulties of procuring stable employment, and various reproductive issues such as adoption, abortion, and infant mortality - yet he maintains a consistent character of Moll as an extremely strong, adaptive, and resilient female character. The most riveting facet of Moll throughout is her own sense of self-worth and importance, especially in her own history. For instance, while chronicling an encounter with a former lover, Moll tells us that while his adventures are worth their own narrative, this is "my story, not his." Moll's strength in the midst of doubt, desperation, and general loneliness keeps the reader's constant interest and admiration.

Defoe's exploration of inter-gender relationships are worthy of note themselves for the sheer variety of social, economic, and personal situations he includes in the novel. The economic theme stands out among these, and provides a link back to the preoccupations of "Robinson Crusoe." Like Crusoe, Moll is always aware of the value of her personal possessions, and conscious of how to exploit and husband her resources to best advantage. Also like Crusoe, "Moll Flanders" is keenly aware of the possibilities and drawbacks of English colonial ventures in America. Defoe's efforts to link all these themes to the lot of the English prison population, the family unit, and indentured servants and African slaves, are all managed extremely well within the text of the novel. For all this, "Moll Flanders" remains an entertaining, satisfying, relevant novel, and stands for me above "Crusoe" as a work of high literary value.

Told in the first person, this is the tragic story of the life of the social climbing Roxana - it reads (as I suppose it was intended to read) as a guilt-ridden confession.

Abandoned (with her five children) by her profligate and irresponsible husband, Roxana rises to wealth by a series of affairs with well-connected men. Not to give away the ending, but the achievement of wealth does not result in anything like happiness.

Due to the way she was treated, Roxana has a highly critical view of marriage, and advocates equal rights for women. Although he puts such opinions in Roxana's mouth, Defoe makes it clear that (for the time) these were extreme views - Roxana goes too far in her cynicism and amorality. I thought that Defoe's point was that women should be treated far more humanely than they were, but not that they should be treated as equals.

Defoe also explores interesting issues surrounding the moral effects of both extreme poverty and great wealth: "... for tho' Poverty and Want is an irresistible Temptation to the Poor, Vanity and Great Things are as irresistible to others..."

In the edition I was reading, the editor had done his best to maintain Defoe's original spelling and style. You have therefore to put up with the peculiarities and inconsistencies of Defoe's grammar and spelling. Either you're into this or you're not, but I prefered it that way. The lack of chapters or other breaks in the text was a bother: I don't know enough about the literature of Defoe's time to judge whether that was normal, or whether Defoe deliberately avoided the use of such "artificial" stylistic devices in order to maintain the feeling that this was someone giving her confession. Unless you're able to sit down and read the novel at one sitting (I wasn't) it means that you have to judge carefully when to create your own breaks.

Although "Roxana" had plenty of points of interest, I felt that it was over-long. Defoe had made his case long before the end, and although the ending is shocking and tragic, the pathway there could have been shorter.

This novel follows the progress of a woman who is left by her husband with only her servant. She vows never to be poor again, and climbs her way back up the social ladder by using men and her body. The novel, while possibly intended as a conduct book to show women what happens to those who sin, reads today as a portrait of a woman trapped between society's views and her own upward movement. A very interesting, and at times disturbing, read.

Daniel Defoe has a way with words, lovely piece of words. I would advise you to read this book slowly to eat up the words.

Robinson Crusoe has always been Dafoe best known work but in my opinion Moll Flanders is far superior piece of literature. We follow Moll throughout her life of poverty, five marriages, live in crime and at last she finds lasting happiness or contentment. That, of course, is brought about her repentance for the "wicked" life she had led. The novel is written in a format that Moll tells her story in the first person to the audiance of a journalist. If this was a movie the format would be best described as a "Mocumentary". The language is at times difficult but for anyone who has read Shakespeare or other literature from that time it should not be an obstacle. If this story would be published today with contemperary caracters it would in all likelyhood be considered pulp fiction but Moll Flanders is anything but.

This is obviously one of Defoe's more obscure works. Part I begins in 1630. A young English nobleman, a second son, though his father's favorite, decides to see something of the world and begins traveling on the continent with a friend. He signs on with the troops of Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, who's aiding German Protestants against, I think, the Catholics. This ten-year period occurs near the end of the Thirty Years War. My knowledge of seventeenth-century European history is practically nonexistent, so I didn't really understand the issues involved and didn't learn much more from this book.

In Part II, our nameless hero returns to England, where the Civil War between the Cavaliers (the king's troops) and the Roundheads (Puritans) is about to get underway. (It was at the end of the Civil War that Charles I was beheaded, after which the Commonwealth took over for eleven years until the restoration of Charles II in 1660.) I thought this part might be more interesting, as I do know something about English history, and it was.

Like A JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR, this book, too, has a fictional narrator in a historical setting. If you like Defoe, you will not dislike this book. If you don't like Defoe, this book won't change your mind.

I am William Minto (wminto@talk21.com) the great grandson of Professor William Minto and I am undertaking some research into the family and if anyone can profer an extract of this or can give me furthet information I would love to hear from them

Though I'm happy to say that I've read this book as a member of the English-literature canon, it has been a dry read. Inspired to approach it by the movie Castaway (Note however that the film is not based on the novel), I'm confronted by a overwhelming need for a modern interpretation of the stranded-isle genre.

Slow in action; ponderous with 18th century circuitious, flowery and repetitive prose; haphazardly concerned with supportive plot details -- it wasn't a long read, but about as enjoyable and juicy as a Mexican pastry.

I'd be surprised if this is still on school reading lists today considering it reflects an appauling stance on slavery and white supremacy (though true to the era). Furthermore, it openly espouses a fundamental, Calvinist theology that most school districts would altogether avoid.

Crusoe's spiritual journey is the sole theme of the book that addresses any sort of intellectual character development. Even though it grows distastful in some respects, expunge this topic from the novel and your left with a comic book. And if reduced to a characture, why wouldn't you opt for something like Stevenson's child-friendly Swiss Family Robinson? Something filled with adventure, intrigue, humor and drama?

To make this novel more enduring it would certainly have benefitted to analyze Crusoe's enduring lonliness and its effects on his psyche. Until the character Friday appears, Defoe barely mentions solitude even being an issue for Crusoe. Is not man a fundamentally social creature? Would there not be painful, enduring mental extirpations to work through?

Sigh...what else is there to say but it's a book to check off the list and move on.

Robinson Crusoe is one of the first English novels. Written by Daniel DeFoe in the early 18th century during the rise of economic theory, this book chronicles the struggle of an economic hero shipwrecked on an island. He takes advantage of people, always looking to make money or increase economic value. Although Crusoe has religious experiences and gets preachy at times (DeFoe was of Puritan stock at a time when Puritanism was a significant force), Crusoe is a practical man. He does not let morals get in the way of carving out a prosperous life -- there are scenes where the main character is no role model. The novel is episodic, with Crusoe hopping from one scene to another. The narration isn't smooth. However, the "flaws" when compared to later writings may be forgiven because Robinson Crusoe is an early novel. Writers had not worked out the fine points of the genre. DeFoe is an important early English novelist who cobbled together economic theory, religious opinion, travel writing, and borrowed material from a contemporary shipwreck victim to create a work of fiction. Robinson Crusoe is often mislabelled as a childrens book. Perhaps in a watered down abridgement, it is a good children's book. The original, complete, unabridged work is a literary classic that should be read by any student of English literature.

Robinson Crusoe is best taken at two levels, the literal adventure story of survival on an isolated island and as a metaphor for finding one's way through life. I recommend that everyone read the book who is willing to look at both of those levels. If you only want the adventure story, you may not be totally satisfied. The language, circumstances, and attitudes may put you off so that you would prefer to be reading a Western or Space-based adventure story with a more modern perspective.

Few books require anyone to rethink the availability and nature of the fundamentals of life: Water, food, shelter, clothing, and entertainment. Then having become solitary in our own minds as a reader, Defoe adds the extraordinary complication of providing a companion who is totally different from Crusoe. This provides the important opportunity to see Crusoe's civilized limitations compared to Friday's more natural ones. The comparisons will make for thought-provoking reading for those who are able to overcome the stalled thinking that the educated, civilized route is always the best.

One of the things that I specially liked about the book is the Crusoe is an ordinary person in many ways, making lots of mistakes, and having lots of setbacks. Put a modern Superhero (from either the comic books, adventure or spy novels, or the movies) into this situation, and it would all be solved in a few minutes with devices from the heel of one's shoe. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I liked the trial-and-error explorations. They seemed just like everyday life, and made the book's many lessons come home to me in a more fundamental way.

Have a good solitary trip through this book!

In the literary world it is perhaps blasphemy to say a bad word against Daniel Defoe's most acclaimed novel. So here goes. The fact that the book was originally titled The Life And Strange Surprising Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe illustrates the major flaw in Defoe's literary form. Put simply, this would be a far more interesting and gripping story were it not so superfluously lengthy. The author makes a habit of repeating himself, especially when it comes to the act of dispatching kittens, which seems to be more of an obsession here than octogenarian ladies are to MatronsApron. It is difficult, you may think, to keep the subject matter fresh when describing the daily tribulations of a fellow stranded on an island for thirty years, without occasionally repeating yourself. True, but perhaps a straightforward solution to this diminutive quandary would be to simply truncate the duration of the story. There are some wonderfully intriguing and suspenseful moments, and some juicy action to boot, but sadly these are gratuitously diluted by lengthy descriptions of the unremarkable everyday goings on in Crusoe's life, and rather than serving to build up the suspense, they merely obstruct the reader's relationship with the more exciting parts of the story.
However, those with more patience than my ignorant self will find in Robinson Crusoe a delightful tale, which as well as being a fictional documentary of the most unusual thirty years of Mr. Crusoe's life, also has time to ponder upon philosophical and theological ideas, in a style that makes the reader feel as if they are involved in the conflicts between the functionalist and cynical thoughts going on in Crusoe's mind. It may not be a gripping white-knuckle adventure, being rather more leisurely and acquiescent, but it is still rather easy to see why Robinson Crusoe is regarded by some as one of the greatest novels of all time.

Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe never lived with a number of other people on his deserted island, competing for food and immunity icons every week, a television camera constantly in his face. Crusoe lived his solitary life not for the entertainment of others, but to suffer the plight of the lonely.

Ignoring the advice of his wise father, who begged him to choose an honest life close to home, Crusoe heads to sea and almost dies three times before ending up on his deserted isle. He chooses a life of a plantation owner, hiring slaves to do much of his work. He chooses to ignore the teachings of God, and puts himself at the top of his own kingdom. On a journey to collect slaves to increase productivity on his plantation, his ship wrecks on the rocks of an island. All are lost but him. He saves some provisions from his ship, but has to work the land on his own to survive nearly three decades in solitude. It isn't until one lucky Friday that Crusoe's isolation ends and his purgatory is over.

Defoe's book is really a treatise on humility, of suffering for the sake of one's soul and finding one's place in the world. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Crusoe, alone for 400 pages, keeps our attention to the end.

This is a children's edition, put out by Simon and Schuster's Aladdin Paperbacks. What makes this a children's addition is the foreword by Avi, a children's author, and the reading guide at the end worded for children.

But there's little, really, to distinguish this edition from others. As a book for children, Robinson Crusoe needs more than a few simplistic questions and a wispy introduction. There is much in this book from another age that parents and children will want to discuss: racism, slavery, misuse of your fellow man, cannibalism, butchery. Defoe's readers believed that cannibals inhabited many of the unchartered islands of the southern hemisphere, and the children of today, though not stupid, will need guidance to disavow them of this same incorrect thought and others. We should not censor this book -- it's as much historical document as it is literature -- but parents should be aware of what their children are reading, read it with them, and help them understand the world as it was (and wasn't) 300 years ago.

I would have given this book 5 stars (Robinson Crusoe alone deserves 5 stars) except for the mistakes on the back cover --Unabridged spelled "Unabrdiged" -- and in Avi's foreword -- foreword spelled "foreward," comma splices, and a reference to Crusoe's 24 years on the island (he was on the island 28 years!). Errors creep into most books, but in a children's book a publisher should take more care to ensure that the information is accurate.

This is a beautiful edition, marred by errors and lacking in supporting reading. Any other edition would suffice.