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Since the big sculptural piece I'm making for the Tacoma project is in full swing, I'm spending several hours in the shop every night. Not all of those are spent listening to audiobooks, but it adds up quickly, particularly with playback at 2x. These two books are just the last week's worth.
Ivanhoe: Jolly good fun, for the most part. I had basically no idea of the plot going in, other than knowing it played with Saxon vs. Norman to some degree. I certainly had no idea that Robin Hood would show up! It didn't paint a particularly rosy picture of feudalism, which was nice. More antisemitism than I would have liked, but at least it was actively questioned, and real human motivations and feelings were given to the Jewish people being portrayed. (I recently finished Oliver Twist, so this is still a sore spot for me.) I definitely approved of how it called out the language differences between the different classes, emphasizing just how much of an occupying force the Normans were, originally. I wish it had used a lot more Old English, beyond having a character swear "by the rood" now and then, but I can't have everything. The study of Old English barely existed when the book was published, anyway.
Robinson Crusoe: I read Swiss Family Robinson as a kid, but never got around to this. (Sorry, Rousseau.) I knew the story, of course, at least in the general outline. Several details surprised me, like just how long he was on the island. 28 years! I appreciate, at least, that Defoe gave some realistic timeframes for how much Robinson accomplishes. Most such books vastly overestimate how much someone can accomplish while also needing to provide for all their own food! But, man, 28 years. This wasn't the a fun romp like, say, The Martian. This was most of someone's life. Related to that, I didn't expect all the god talk, nor Robinson's religious epiphanies playing such a major role. His moral awakening is pretty weird, from a modern perspective. It borders on downright relativistic at times, with him even questioning if it is right for him to oppose cannibalism in someone else's culture! But he never shows the slightest concern about slavery, nor questions his god given right as an Englishman to rule. On the finer level, I was surprised that something like five years passed between him seeing the footprint in the sand (a scene I was quite aware of) and him finally meeting Friday. I guess I shouldn't judge classic literature by remakes such as Disney's 1966 Lt. Robin Crusoe.
Ivanhoe: Jolly good fun, for the most part. I had basically no idea of the plot going in, other than knowing it played with Saxon vs. Norman to some degree. I certainly had no idea that Robin Hood would show up! It didn't paint a particularly rosy picture of feudalism, which was nice. More antisemitism than I would have liked, but at least it was actively questioned, and real human motivations and feelings were given to the Jewish people being portrayed. (I recently finished Oliver Twist, so this is still a sore spot for me.) I definitely approved of how it called out the language differences between the different classes, emphasizing just how much of an occupying force the Normans were, originally. I wish it had used a lot more Old English, beyond having a character swear "by the rood" now and then, but I can't have everything. The study of Old English barely existed when the book was published, anyway.
Robinson Crusoe: I read Swiss Family Robinson as a kid, but never got around to this. (Sorry, Rousseau.) I knew the story, of course, at least in the general outline. Several details surprised me, like just how long he was on the island. 28 years! I appreciate, at least, that Defoe gave some realistic timeframes for how much Robinson accomplishes. Most such books vastly overestimate how much someone can accomplish while also needing to provide for all their own food! But, man, 28 years. This wasn't the a fun romp like, say, The Martian. This was most of someone's life. Related to that, I didn't expect all the god talk, nor Robinson's religious epiphanies playing such a major role. His moral awakening is pretty weird, from a modern perspective. It borders on downright relativistic at times, with him even questioning if it is right for him to oppose cannibalism in someone else's culture! But he never shows the slightest concern about slavery, nor questions his god given right as an Englishman to rule. On the finer level, I was surprised that something like five years passed between him seeing the footprint in the sand (a scene I was quite aware of) and him finally meeting Friday. I guess I shouldn't judge classic literature by remakes such as Disney's 1966 Lt. Robin Crusoe.