The Storm (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Daniel Defoe (Author)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: May 31, 2005

On the evening of November 26, 1703, a hurricane from the north Atlantic hammered into Britain: it remains the worst storm the nation has ever experienced. Eyewitnesses saw cows thrown into trees and windmills ablaze from the friction of their whirling sails—and some 8,000 people lost their lives. For Defoe, bankrupt and just released from prison for his “seditious” writings, the storm struck during one of his bleakest moments. But it also furnished him with material for his first book, and in this powerful depiction of suffering and survival played out against a backdrop of natural devastation we can trace the outlines of Defoe’s later masterpieces, A Journal of the Plague Year and Robinson Crusoe.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Daniel Defoe (1660–1731), though best remembered for his fiction, including the novels Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders, also wrote on economics, history, biography, and crime and is considered the founder of British journalism.

Richard Hamblyn is the author of Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (May 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141439920
• ISBN-13: 978-0141439921
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #841,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An hurricane in Britain .. strange but real, January 28, 2008

By 

Luis Mansilla Miranda (Viña del Mar, Chile) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Storm (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

It was the evening of 26 November 1703 when a still powerful hurricane that crossed all the atlantic was about to hit Britain. Life was as usual althought climate had been very peculiar days before, with strong winds from the south. It was the time when the cathedral of St Paul was being reconstructed and it was the time of the very well known fiction writer, Daniel Defoe. In this, one of his first works, he provide a serie of accounts of the event from several sources, several stories of how this dreadful storm hit people's towns, houses and ships. 'Tis interesting to note that chimneys were the major killers in houses and that lots of trees were also lost, especially elms. People didn't blame climate change, too much C02 in the air or anything else, but God's fury.

What attracted me to this book was the very unique case, when an "extratropical hurricane" (not tropical), likely originated in the atlantic east of florida, diverted its path and managed to cross the whole Atlantic to reach Britain with such strong force, knowing that those waters in the north atlantic are very cold. A strange phenomena indeed, and an event printed in history by a great writer of the time, Daniel Defoe. Part of his life is depicted in the introduction chapter of the book and to tell you the truth, I'd really like to read his biography.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars obscured by fiction, May 5, 2006

By 

DH Dixon "whitespeck" (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Storm (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Until now Defoe's The Storm hasn't been in print as a single volume since the mid 19th century. The reason being that since the mid 19th century the public has preferred to see Defoe as a fictionist like Dickens, which has degraded the value of his Journal of the Plague Year and consigned The Storm to oblivion. These works form a pair, both being about national disasters of historic significance. The difference in style is that The Storm consists of Defoe's own observations and research, and a collection of eyewitness accounts from around the nation that Defoe advertised for, while A Journal of the Plague Year has the eyewitness account and Defoe's research blended together into one common narrative. No other journalist has ever done that (perhaps this is why the audacity of Jack Shephard's escapes appealed to him). But if you read the Plague Year as fiction it would be like trying to read The Storm as fiction.

Weather experts have always commented favourably on The Storm and it is legendary. Like the Plague Year, this book is great to read through and browse in afterwards as well - it is not a book to throw away. Penguin has retained the dynamics of Defoe's original punctuation, but I wish that the print was bigger and blacker and more comnfortable to read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, added value makes this public domain material worth buying, August 14, 2010

By 

JerseyTomato - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Storm (Penguin Classics) (Kindle Edition)

From the description in Works of Daniel Defoe. (30+ Works). Includes Robinson Crusoe, Dickory Cronke, Moll Flanders, Roxana, A Journal of the Plague Year, The Life Adventures ... the Famous Captain Singleton and more (mobi), The Storm is not included, and any free versions you'll find elsewhere won't include everything in this Penguin version. The book consists of three parts, one of which has never been available in book form before Penguin did it. In addition, there's a great introductory section which explains Defoe's writing style, his purpose in writing these particular works, interesting biographical information, and some general information about British society at the time. Having this context makes Defoe's actual work easier to understand, if you aren't used to an 18th century writing style. There's also a suggested book list for further reading which looks helpful. I haven't been able to plow through all of Defoe's version (it can be rather repetitive), but I wouldn't mind finding out more about the storm itself from a modern perspective.

I subtracted one star for a formatting problem: In the introductory section, there was a paragraph that kept repeating between new paragraphs about 4 or 5 times. Not a biggie in itself, but it makes you wonder if there are other less obvious problems in the main part of the book. Having never read this before, I don't know if anything else is missing, out of order, or just mixed up. I'm willing to pay $9.99 when it's warranted, but I'd like to be sure I'm getting something that's proofread as well as the print version.