I am giving this review because of my recent desire to catch up on some of the old classics that I skipped in high school. It is a fictional autobiography of the main character, Robinson Crusoe - a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote island near Venezuela. Crusoe encounters Native Americans, wild beasts and mutineers before being rescued.

Robinson Crusoe is a great story, and it went really well with what I have been doing a lot lately - watching Lost. But parts of it were extremely dry for me. I realize that it was written in the 1700s, and stylistically that rings true but I found the overall writing a bit flat. At times it was a bit like reading a coma patient’s diary.

All gripes about the writing style aside, this is a pretty interesting tale. The things that go through Crusoe’s mind while he is figuring out how to survive is telling because the reader accompanies him while his thought process evolves. In the beginning he focuses on shelter. Then food. Next is the development of tools. Eventually (after over a decade of solitude) Crusoe notices that people have been coming and going on the island. And he needs to figure out what to do about it. He ends up doing very well for himself and a few others that need his help.

If you’ve never read Robinson Crusoe before, you probably should. But don’t expect anything that will completely blow you away.

3/5 Stars. 320 pages. Published 1719.