Customer Reviews

Selkirk's Island: The True and Strange Adventures of the Real Robinson Crusoe

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Souhami's book is awful for the simple fact that she bases so much of Selkirk's actions on his sexual appetite for goats. This may be true, however Souhami bases this gross assertion on the anecdote of one unnamed islander. Forget Selkirk's own testimony. Forget the fact that Defoe's interviews with Selkirk led to a powerful story of an individual wrestling with the providence of God. Forget that when Selkirk lived the idea of throwing off the shackles of moral convention wasn't part of the common individuals frame of reference. No,instead Souhami is clear in her conviction that Selkirk's whole being was centered on a randiness for goats. Unfortunately this leads Souhami to defend this outrageous claim throughout the rest of the book. Defoe, closer to the source, was inspired to write a story that captured the dynamic and driving spirit of Western cultural achievement(Not that it always benefitted everyone). Souhami instead jams a narrow modern interpretation on a classic and we're left with one of the least inspiring tales ever fabricated.

This could have been an excellent book. The author extensively researched the relevant personalities to the story (e.g. Selkirk and the rest of the crew). However, she merely repeats what facts she has found. She provides no analysis and puts nothing in perspective. For example, it appears obvious that a lot of men were seeking their fortunes at sea, but why - what were the conditions like at home? She notes that the conditions on Selkirk's ship is dismal, but what was it like on other ships? Perhaps Selkirk's ship was quite the norm. She makes no mention of the society in England - what period in time are we discussing? E.g. she writes the dates in the margin of her text. Is the reader supposed to understand what was happening during that time around the world.

On a smaller scale, but related, the author makes all kinds of comments such as this, "by 17xx the war with the Spanish had ended." (Selkirk was afraid of being captured by the Spanish.) Couldn't the author have told us why the war ended, who won, what were the conditions, etc. Nope. Simply, the war had ended.

Finally, the book is over 220 pages, but less than 40 pages are devoted to Selkirk's stay on the island. So many basic things that the author could have researched and given us information on are omitted. For example, the detail given regarding the island's climate doesn't get much better than "the climate was moderate". Well, I don't need to know the month by month breakdown, but "moderate" means something different to somebody from Canada than it does to somebody from Mexico. Couldn't she have stated, "70 degrees on average in the summer". What about the water temperature - was it ice cold? Was this Gilligan's island or was it Antarctica? I still don't know...

I usually love these kinds of books and seek them out. I was all excited when I got this, and offered to loan it to a couple friends when I was done. Not now - I won't waste their time.

I have read all the reviews here and have read the book too, enjoying it thoroughly. I find Souhami's meandering style and graphic imagery fascinating. There is no way she could write a book that is just about Selkirk's sojourn on the island, there just isn't enough information. So instead, she weaves a tapestry of the harshness of eighteenth century sealife and lets us imagine for ourselves what it would be like to sail the seas with men like William Dampier in search of booty.
Alexander Selkirk was not a nice guy and he travelled in the company of others who were also not nice guys. But these rough men had their own code and sense of fair play, so when Selkirk argued with and refused to obey his incompetent superior, he was marooned rather than executed as he probably would have been under similar circumstances in the Royal Navy.
Selkirk was of an age when people knew how to do things with their hands, they had to in order to survive. With a bare minimum of necessities, he was able to carve out a lonely yet comfortable existence on his isle of exile. Souhami paints a beautiful portrait of how the lush the island was and how bountiful it must have seemed to the marooned sailor. Her descriptions of the flora, fauna, and topography are very evocative.
Beyond the isle itself, Souhami expands on the geopolitical situation and the position of the English vis-a-vis the Spanish in the struggle for control of the seas and thus of trade. I learned quite a few interesting things about the Spanish settlements and inter-settlement communications reading this book. Souhami's prose makes the era come alive.
Despite all the privations of life at sea, pirates and privateers were guys who were truly free. Selkirk's life is one of breaking the bonds of social custom and morality. His instincts were basic, he was fatalistic, and he had no real interests beyond satisfying his urges and doing what it took so that he could indulge his fancy. His sham marriages show that he saw women the way he saw the goats of his island, as objects of sexual conquest.
Selkirk's Island is a book filled with fascinating facts woven together with logical conjecture. I recommend it as a spellbinding read for anyone who is comfortable thinking "outside the box".

A jumbled narrative of conjecture, useless facts and footnotes. The author seemingly doesn't know what story she wants to tell and when she deviates from the main storyline you are left confused as to why she is boring you with anecdotal background that does little to help the story. I would rather suggest you read Batavia's Graveyard. A story of shipwreck and mutiny in which the background (The rise and operation of the Dutch East India Co.) is as interesting as the shipwreck itself.

Others have said this book would be for any audience, but beware! Her description of Selkirk's amorous relations with goats is quite distasteful (and the author phrases this fact in the most vulgar way possible, with the f word). You will never look at goats in the same way again.
The story in the book is quite interesting, but the writing could use some work. Maybe it's the use of commas after the subjects that bothered me (such as The author of this book, is named Diana).
Anyway, I'd choose to read the Defoe book again rather than this one.

While Souhami does an admirable job describing what life MAY have been like for Selkirk, it is mostly conjecture, as Selkirk left no journal behind to document his life on the island. Instead, most of the book is about Selkirk's voyages at sea, including his quest for riches with the famous buccaneer William Dampier. Souhami also spends some time reviewing the major works of literature emanating from Selkirk's travails, but her discussion of them adds little to our understanding of Selkirk's experiences after he was rescued. In the end, we know very little about Selkirk's days marooned, and even less about their effects on the rest of his life.

There seems to be the impression that the rush to publish multiple books after a well publicized disaster/achievement/incident is something unique to our time. This desire to cash in has in fact always been with us! This is one of the things that struck me the most as I read this very interesting book. In Selkirk's time when he returned from his 4 year 4 month marooning on an island in the South Pacific off of Chile this is exactly what happened. 3 different people, with varying connections (some rather remote) to Selkirk, raced to publish an account of his extraordinary experience. The veracity of the books varied, and I was amused to read how the authors responded to the pressure of their publishers to emphasize the information about Selkirk on the book's title page, which I get the impression was in those days the blurbs or jacket description to tempt readers into buying. After these 3 books were published Daniel Defoe was inspired to write _Robinson Crusoe_.

I enjoyed _Selkirk's Island_ and think Souhami did a great job piecing together a story based on scant bits and pieces from a variety of sources. She really helps you get a sense of the intense rivalry among England, France, and Spain to dominate the high seas and the ongoing efforts of pirates and privateers to plunder rich galleons. The sailors endured awful hardship and disease. I was also fascinated to find that after the success of _Robinson Crusoe_ Defoe wrote 2 sequels (yes, they even had sequels in those days!) that have been completely forgotten.

I was disappointed, though, with some of the things missing from this book. First, while she emphasized how these authors wrote their accounts of Selkirk's adventure expressly for the money, aside from Defoe's book she never discussed how well the books sold, and whether in fact the authors became wealthy from them. Selkirk is portrayed as being very money-oriented, yet I am surprised why he did not seek to make money from his tale when he saw others doing so. The book is silent on this question. Detailed maps would have helped a great deal in following the action more closely.

I also agree with some of the other reviewers' feelings that Souhami's prose is often pretentious and the book could've used tighter editing. There's also the grievous error of indicating a ship near the Baja peninsular sailing *east* to Guam.

All in all, though, a very enjoyable and recommended read! I am also looking forward to a book being released on May 28, 2002, _In Search of Robinson Crusoe_ by Tim Severin. Severin argues that Selkirk was only a small part of Defoe's inspiration for _Robinson Crusoe_.

This book was a disappointment to me, both stylistically and in terms of content. There's very little here that a Google search wouldn't turn up or that a bright high school junior couldn't slap together. The main point- Selkirk's life on the Island- gets 32 skimpy pages. I was disturbed by Souhami's preoccupation with Selkirk's supposed sexuality, unsubstantiated, disrespectful and demeaning to him (but he's dead, so he can't defend himself.) She tried to set a "heavy" and dramatic tone not through presenting the stuff of his experiences (because she seemed to have little to present)- which would have been the genuine way- relying instead on hackneyed literary devices, including foul vulgarities, of which there seemed to be a greater proportion than facts and information. Her persona was so in the forefront that it was difficult to see Selkirk as Selkirk- he seemed more like the hen-pecked husband of some dominant termagent, as if he'd have no personality without her. To my mind and taste, she committed most of the worst errors weak writers are capable of- this was painful reading made so much more acute by not satisfying the curiosity it evoked. I don't feel as though I learned much, and I have doubts about many of her light weight observations. Get it at the library if you want to check this out- but certainly don't make the mistake I did in buying the book.









9

When I chose this book I thought I would enjoy it, because the story sounded really interesting and the book features countless references and footnotes. The book is, indeed, very accurate and the descriptions of pirates life are interesting. But the story it promises to tell you is reduced to a few pages. When you buy a book about a marooned seaman who survived four years in absolute solitude on a Pacific island you expect to read about his experience on that island. But the author confines this description to less than twenty pages. The rest of the book is a endless diary of pirate actions and unlucky sea travels that took place before and after Alexander Selkirk permanence on the island. I realize that the author has put considerable effort in writing this book, but reading it I was disappointed from not finding what I wanted and I was bored from finding what I did not want to find. This book is suited for readers interested in pirates life and 1700's navigation, but, then again, those who are into the subject may find better titles to refer to.

Two subjects have fascinated people through the ages. 1) the weather and 2) being stranded on a desert island. We are inexhaustibly interested, and Daniel Defoe struck gold by implementing #2.

In this well researched book, the author tells us about Andrew Selkirk, the prototype of Robinson Crusoe, and his life before, during and after his four and one-half year incarceration on the Isle of Juan Fernandez (now renamed Robinson Crusoe Island.) The island lays 340 miles off the Chilean coast, far in the southern hemisphere. Fortunately for Andrew, it was a hospitable place, with fresh water, many goats and seals, and a temperate climate.

Andrew Selkirk came from a poor Scottish family and went to sea as a young lad. Two traits were life-long with him: a violent temper and a propensity to walk away from difficulties. Unfortunately, he did not keep a diary or journal, so our only direct information about him comes from others. He was a good seaman, quiet to the point of being dour, and was careless with money. He displayed remarkable self-sufficiency and physical hardiness when marooned on The Island.

The author's research into conditions aboard a ship in the early 18th century is extensive and well done. To this reader, it seems that no clergyman had to explain hell to a sailor; one seafaring expedition was an ample description. The provisions were rotten and scanty, the ships were cramped and barely seaworthy, scurvy and all manner of disease decimated the crews, and the work was backbreaking. To the sailors of the day, the worst punishment was being marooned. I find this hard to believe; I can't think of anything worse than being confined to one of those ships for 18 months at a time. In fact, Selkirk begged, pleaded and tried to force his way back aboard ship when left on The Island.

Ms. Souhami quotes many contemporaries of Selkirk and weaves brilliant character studies of contemporaneous notables: a piratical rogue of a captain who couldn't navigate his way out of a paper bag deserves a book of his own. There was more of the ecology of the island and environmental concerns than I thought necessary. I felt the book was weakest when the author assigned thoughts and feelings to Andrew during his time on the island. As he left no writings, it is all conjecture, and I don't think Selkirk was an introspective man. He probably thought more about where his next meal was coming from rather than contemplating the cosmos.

This book will appeal to a wide range of readers: travel, adventure, history and personalities. Highly readable.