What do you think?
Rate this book
Crusoe's Daughter
In 1904, when she was six, Polly Flint went to live with her two holy aunts at the yellow house by the marsh - so close to the sea that it seemed to toss like a ship, so isolated that she might have been marooned on an island. And there she stayed for eighty-one years, while the century raged around her, while lamplight and Victorian order became chaos and nuclear dred. Crusoe's Daughter , ambitious, moving and wholly original, is her story.
309 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
134 people are currently reading
1420 people want to read
About the author
Jane Gardam
67 books543 followersJane Mary Gardam was an English writer of children's and adult fiction and literary critic. She also penned reviews for The Spectator and The Telegraph, and wrote for BBC Radio. She lived in Kent, Wimbledon, and Yorkshire. She won numerous literary awards, including the Whitbread Award twice. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 266 reviews
February 14, 2017
I have now read four of Jane Gardam 's books. All four I have given four stars:
Bilgewater
Crusoe's Daughter
Old Filth
The Man in the Wooden Hat
With this success rate I am not about to stop here.
Infallibly good writing. The story is cleverly composed and contains some really great lines. Lines that make you think. I appreciate that each book has something specific and something different to say. You read to understand what at first is not made clear. Sort of a puzzle to be solved, but no, not like a mystery. Unless of course, like me, you see life and human behavior as a mystery to be understood. Rather than focusing just on characterizations, the figures are used to convey a message, but a message the reader is left to ponder. We are given no answers. We are enticed by the story to think and draw our own conclusions. In this way we solve the puzzle. There is subdued humor tied to literature, art, politics, religion and people's behavior.
This book is about why the central character, Polly Flint, loves Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. You need not reread Defoe’s book to appreciate Crusoe's Daughter. You don’t even have to have read it. This is part of the talent of the author. She tells you exactly what you need to know, peu à peu. You don’t understand until you understand at the end why you have been told what you have been told. At the end all makes sense and you marvel how every component of the story holds together. Do you see what I mean by comparing this to a puzzle?
As we learn about Crusoe and about Polly Flint, we travel from 1904, when she is a six-year-old orphan, to the ripe old age of eighty-seven. We travel not only through both World Wars but also Polly’s own personal battles. This book is about “a life lived”. A life lived during the 20th century, influenced of course by world events but also by the people she rubbed shoulders with. It is not the historical/political events that are the central focus, but rather how one might look back at one’s own life when near its end. What do we look back on? Mistakes, accomplishments and those special memories we hold dear. In some ways we change; in some ways we remain the same. I liked the mix of the two as it is drawn here. Even if Polly does change, she also remains true to the Polly we have come to recognize as Polly. Lots happens, but only the important events are told. This isn’t a long novel. It is succinct.
By following Polly’s life we think about the relationships we have with others, about religion, about literature and what we choose to do with our lives. When a person helps another, why do they do it? How far do you lend a hand? What pushes a person to say, “Everyone is no one to me!”? What is done in the name of religion? What is good literature and what should we demand of it? A sentence I loved was: “A novel must be novel.“ Why is it that one person loves and another sees nothing in the same book? Some books give solace; some books disturb and some arise because the storyteller needed to tell them. What makes us change? When does one’s occupation become a place to hide? All these questions are explored through Polly’s life.
This is a book that is meant to make you think.
When you start the book you don’t understand where it is going. Be patient.
The audiobook I listened to is narrated by Nicky Baker. I thought the intonations used well expressed the different characters. The listener hears differences in characters’ age, sex, social status and provenance.
Bilgewater
Crusoe's Daughter
Old Filth
The Man in the Wooden Hat
With this success rate I am not about to stop here.
Infallibly good writing. The story is cleverly composed and contains some really great lines. Lines that make you think. I appreciate that each book has something specific and something different to say. You read to understand what at first is not made clear. Sort of a puzzle to be solved, but no, not like a mystery. Unless of course, like me, you see life and human behavior as a mystery to be understood. Rather than focusing just on characterizations, the figures are used to convey a message, but a message the reader is left to ponder. We are given no answers. We are enticed by the story to think and draw our own conclusions. In this way we solve the puzzle. There is subdued humor tied to literature, art, politics, religion and people's behavior.
This book is about why the central character, Polly Flint, loves Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. You need not reread Defoe’s book to appreciate Crusoe's Daughter. You don’t even have to have read it. This is part of the talent of the author. She tells you exactly what you need to know, peu à peu. You don’t understand until you understand at the end why you have been told what you have been told. At the end all makes sense and you marvel how every component of the story holds together. Do you see what I mean by comparing this to a puzzle?
As we learn about Crusoe and about Polly Flint, we travel from 1904, when she is a six-year-old orphan, to the ripe old age of eighty-seven. We travel not only through both World Wars but also Polly’s own personal battles. This book is about “a life lived”. A life lived during the 20th century, influenced of course by world events but also by the people she rubbed shoulders with. It is not the historical/political events that are the central focus, but rather how one might look back at one’s own life when near its end. What do we look back on? Mistakes, accomplishments and those special memories we hold dear. In some ways we change; in some ways we remain the same. I liked the mix of the two as it is drawn here. Even if Polly does change, she also remains true to the Polly we have come to recognize as Polly. Lots happens, but only the important events are told. This isn’t a long novel. It is succinct.
By following Polly’s life we think about the relationships we have with others, about religion, about literature and what we choose to do with our lives. When a person helps another, why do they do it? How far do you lend a hand? What pushes a person to say, “Everyone is no one to me!”? What is done in the name of religion? What is good literature and what should we demand of it? A sentence I loved was: “A novel must be novel.“ Why is it that one person loves and another sees nothing in the same book? Some books give solace; some books disturb and some arise because the storyteller needed to tell them. What makes us change? When does one’s occupation become a place to hide? All these questions are explored through Polly’s life.
This is a book that is meant to make you think.
When you start the book you don’t understand where it is going. Be patient.
The audiobook I listened to is narrated by Nicky Baker. I thought the intonations used well expressed the different characters. The listener hears differences in characters’ age, sex, social status and provenance.
September 1, 2012
It's hard to write a review for a book I loved so much because I want to gush over it. I have read a couple of other Jane Gardam books and loved them, but this one really resonated with me on a very personal level. In short, Polly Flint read "Robinson Crusoe" as a child and used him as a guide for her life. She was marooned with two very religious maiden aunts in a house by the sea, but created a landscape for herself from the fiction she read. It's a book about how fiction can save us, and how we can also get lost in it if we're not careful. Like Crusoe, she finds her Friday who helps to save her from an island of her own making. Eighty years in the life of a woman who uses a book written in the eighteenth century to navigate her life in the twentieth. Wonderful!
November 19, 2020
Ein Roman der still daher kommt und dann umso lauter nach hallt. Anfangs hatte ich etwas Schwierigkeiten in die Geschichte ein zu tauchen und der Protagonistin zu folgen,die in Rätseln spricht,weil sie selbst einiges nicht direkt begreift. Dann hat mich Pollys Geschichte aber so gepackt und ich fühlte mich an Jane Eyre erinnert und war gebannt von der Tiefe und der Tragik gebündelt mit einer Prise Witz und Charme. Das Leben von Polly hat mich sehr beeindruckt, eine wunderbare und starke Frau,die mit Hilfe eines Buches überlebt und ihr Leben erlebt.
October 5, 2017
The story starts with a six year old orphan arriving to live with two aunts, her life with them is isolated and not getting the love from them she needs she clings to a book, Robinson Crusoe. Polly was a hard character to get to know, parts of the book I struggled to enjoy, the second half was much more interesting. I do like it when a book follows someone through their life but this can also seem sad too, to see a child age and grow old over a few days of your life. Polly didn't seem to find the footprint in the sand she was looking for, at the end Polly seems to have come full circle although the arrival of two young people which to me was the most interesting point in the book with regards to how Polly would react to this and how her life would change was left for the reader to fill in the blanks. 3.5 stars
March 24, 2014
3.5 One of her earliest books and from the note in the front of her book, this was her favorite. Northern England, 1904, and young Polly Flint is brought to stay and to be raised by her two very Christian aunts. Books are her solace and Robinson Crusoe her favorite. Throughout the years she would turn again and again to this book, so identifying with him and his situation.
She would very seldom leave the island again, due to circumstances, tragedies and obligation. She would compare the plight of being a woman as being stuck and imprisoned, like her hero Robinson Crusoe.
Although she would seldom leave, history would be brought to her, World War I and II, would both change her life in various ways.
Although this is an early Gardam, her wonderful writing ability, which would only get stronger in subsequent books, is already apparent. Beautiful descriptions, especially of the marsh, humorous passages, quirky characters and a story that covers over six decades in very few pages.
A profound and entertain look at a young woman's survival, her fight to find a life for herself within the limitations and tragedies inherent in her situation. Enjoyed this very much. Made me want to re-read Robinson Crusoe.
She would very seldom leave the island again, due to circumstances, tragedies and obligation. She would compare the plight of being a woman as being stuck and imprisoned, like her hero Robinson Crusoe.
Although she would seldom leave, history would be brought to her, World War I and II, would both change her life in various ways.
Although this is an early Gardam, her wonderful writing ability, which would only get stronger in subsequent books, is already apparent. Beautiful descriptions, especially of the marsh, humorous passages, quirky characters and a story that covers over six decades in very few pages.
A profound and entertain look at a young woman's survival, her fight to find a life for herself within the limitations and tragedies inherent in her situation. Enjoyed this very much. Made me want to re-read Robinson Crusoe.
August 6, 2012
This is one of my favourite books, I have read it two or three times and re-read it recently - everytime I read it I cry at a certain point in the story, even though I know it's coming. Each time I read it i discover more detail and parts thati hadn't fully appreciated. It tells the story of Polly Flint who is orphaned as a young girl and sent to live with two maiden aunts who live on the north east coast of England, in a house that's almost like a ship beached on an island, surrounded by sand. The aunts are kind but rather unworldly, she struggles with loneliness and battles her way through life using Robinson Crusoe as support,philosophy, a role model.We see the whole of her life pass by, with many near heartbreaking moments and also a great deal of humour - the end is both satisfying and uplifting. Jane Gardams clear, direct prose is a joy to read. I will read it again!
April 25, 2017
I have discovered Jane Gardam only relatively recently, and love her spare and elegant style.
I enjoyed this book very much. The young orphan cared for very kindly by her comparatively elderly aunts, who knows almost nothing of the real world and shares much of her life with her hero, Robinson Crusoe. Despite her reclusive life, it is for her full of rich incidents as she lives through most of the tumultuous 20th century.
Highly recommended.
I enjoyed this book very much. The young orphan cared for very kindly by her comparatively elderly aunts, who knows almost nothing of the real world and shares much of her life with her hero, Robinson Crusoe. Despite her reclusive life, it is for her full of rich incidents as she lives through most of the tumultuous 20th century.
Highly recommended.
Read
August 14, 2012Crusoe's Daughter by Jane Gardam (Europa Editions, 2012. First publ. 1985)
I had read The Man in the Wooden Hat (a sequel to Old Filth, both published by Europa Editions) and fell in love with Jane Gardam’s sensuous style. By “sensuous” I don’t mean “lavish” or “lush.” I simply mean that her writing has a strong capacity to evoke feelings and states, and thus, to appeal to our senses. There are few contemporary writers who give one (me, at least) that feeling of intense pleasure we used to have when we read as children, and Gardam is one of them. This may be because she was herself—as one can see from this novel—a child in love with reading. Crusoe s Daughter is a metaphor for someone (in this case, a woman) who lives in isolation and creates a whole universe in the same way Crusoe created his island and God the world. It is also a testimony to the narrator’s (and I assume, the author’s too) love for this great classic and for reading fiction, in general.
The narrative starts when the protagonist is six years old and, orphaned, moves in with her aunts in a remote yellow house by the sea, and ends when she is in her eighties. The novel’s best parts are probably those in which “nothing happens,” save for the everyday rhythm of life in a small fishermen’s village. The second best are the scenes taking place at the Thwaite villa (Mr. Thwaite is a Dickensian character who, initially, has a marginal role, but in the end—like in those early nineteenth-century novels that have inspired this book—turns out to be closely related to our protagonist). The descriptions of the artists and the poets who are hosted there are witty and funny, and the bohemian atmosphere is so vivid that one can’t help longing for such an idyllic place.
Jane Gardam is one of the wittiest and most talented writers writing in English today.
I had read The Man in the Wooden Hat (a sequel to Old Filth, both published by Europa Editions) and fell in love with Jane Gardam’s sensuous style. By “sensuous” I don’t mean “lavish” or “lush.” I simply mean that her writing has a strong capacity to evoke feelings and states, and thus, to appeal to our senses. There are few contemporary writers who give one (me, at least) that feeling of intense pleasure we used to have when we read as children, and Gardam is one of them. This may be because she was herself—as one can see from this novel—a child in love with reading. Crusoe s Daughter is a metaphor for someone (in this case, a woman) who lives in isolation and creates a whole universe in the same way Crusoe created his island and God the world. It is also a testimony to the narrator’s (and I assume, the author’s too) love for this great classic and for reading fiction, in general.
The narrative starts when the protagonist is six years old and, orphaned, moves in with her aunts in a remote yellow house by the sea, and ends when she is in her eighties. The novel’s best parts are probably those in which “nothing happens,” save for the everyday rhythm of life in a small fishermen’s village. The second best are the scenes taking place at the Thwaite villa (Mr. Thwaite is a Dickensian character who, initially, has a marginal role, but in the end—like in those early nineteenth-century novels that have inspired this book—turns out to be closely related to our protagonist). The descriptions of the artists and the poets who are hosted there are witty and funny, and the bohemian atmosphere is so vivid that one can’t help longing for such an idyllic place.
Jane Gardam is one of the wittiest and most talented writers writing in English today.
September 30, 2012
Britain’s multi-prize-winning author Jane Gardam was relatively unknown in America until the publication of her delightful novel Old Filth in 2004. That book brought her the long-overdue attention she deserves.
Gardam’s writing is smart, bright and impressionistic: she colors places and characters deftly but never lingers too long on description or dialogue. Her novels are remarkable for their insinuation of the emotional undercurrents of ordinary lives.
Crusoe’s Daughter is Gardam’s own favorite among her many novels. With the fine tip of her word-brush, she paints a portrait of an intelligent, bookish girl who, at the turn of the 20th century, goes to live on the isolated northeast coast of Yorkshire with her spinster aunts and remains there into her own old age.
Crusoe’s Daughter, Gardam explains in her preface, was the “deeper” book she wanted to write after her initial successes, a story imagined from her mother’s experience of an “old-fashioned” world that had ceased to exist. Gardam says: “But it would not be a nostalgic, romantic or historical novel of bonnets and bustles and tea parties and endless summer days. I would show women of the early nineteenth [sic] century as I knew they had been—starved of money, employment, sex and the love of men who were not their ‘class’. Their success in life in these immovable, unrelenting country places was judged by their ability to get married as soon as possible to a suitable man who could support them, to breed, to live chaste and never to think of working for their living.”
That description pretty well sums up the book she wrote. It is quiet and exciting at the same time, full of ordinary events and emotion, much of it repressed. Protagonist Polly Flint’s attraction to the story of Robinson Crusoe becomes a leitmotif, and although the theme at times feels overdone (its use at the end is odd and not quite satisfying), Gardam creates a female character who is as determined, strong, rational and sexless as Defoe’s.
Gardam’s writing is smart, bright and impressionistic: she colors places and characters deftly but never lingers too long on description or dialogue. Her novels are remarkable for their insinuation of the emotional undercurrents of ordinary lives.
Crusoe’s Daughter is Gardam’s own favorite among her many novels. With the fine tip of her word-brush, she paints a portrait of an intelligent, bookish girl who, at the turn of the 20th century, goes to live on the isolated northeast coast of Yorkshire with her spinster aunts and remains there into her own old age.
Crusoe’s Daughter, Gardam explains in her preface, was the “deeper” book she wanted to write after her initial successes, a story imagined from her mother’s experience of an “old-fashioned” world that had ceased to exist. Gardam says: “But it would not be a nostalgic, romantic or historical novel of bonnets and bustles and tea parties and endless summer days. I would show women of the early nineteenth [sic] century as I knew they had been—starved of money, employment, sex and the love of men who were not their ‘class’. Their success in life in these immovable, unrelenting country places was judged by their ability to get married as soon as possible to a suitable man who could support them, to breed, to live chaste and never to think of working for their living.”
That description pretty well sums up the book she wrote. It is quiet and exciting at the same time, full of ordinary events and emotion, much of it repressed. Protagonist Polly Flint’s attraction to the story of Robinson Crusoe becomes a leitmotif, and although the theme at times feels overdone (its use at the end is odd and not quite satisfying), Gardam creates a female character who is as determined, strong, rational and sexless as Defoe’s.
July 22, 2025
Extraordinary. So much to think about with this one, but mainly I just have so much love for it.
July 30, 2025
What a book! I'm glad Dominika told me to finish it--this absolutely must be finished to get the full arc of the character development. There were a couple times in the middle that felt quite challenging, almost claustrophobic, being in Polly Flint's head, but the ending is superb. I hope to write more soon!
March 8, 2019
Ik was begonnen in Kate Morton – The House at Riverton, en amuseerde me zoals ik soms naar series kijk op tv: met één oog. Met het andere ben ik dan aan het twitteren of pinteresten, of ik ruim intussen de vaatwasser in. De serie is leuk en gezellig maar gaat me niet aan het hart. De sfeer in het boek is Downton-Abbey-achtig, maar dan op afstand. Na een half boek kan ik niet beoordelen of deze perspectiefkeuze terecht was, maar hij maakt wel dat de personages me niet veel kunnen schelen. Een stokoude vrouw kijkt terug op haar leven, nadat ze door een fimmaakster is benaderd om de sets te beoordelen van de film over het huis waar zij ooit dienstmeisje was, en waar een dichter zelfmoord pleegde.
Toen ik dan ook een mailtje kreeg van de biep dat Crusoe's Daughter was gearriveerd, legde ik Morton meteen aan de kant.
En oh, Jane Gardam, wat ben je toch geweldig.
Waar Morton tamelijk vermoeiend begint met een film treatment, gevolgd door een brief van de regisseuse, en dan een nachtmerrie van de vrouw over wie het gaat, valt Gardam letterlijk met de deur in huis.
I am Polly Flint. I came to live at the yellow house when I was six years old. I stood on the steps in the wind, and the swirls of sand, and my father pulled the brass bell-knob beside the huge front door.
Nu ik het overtyp bedenk ik pas: wat een mooie naam ook, voor de dochter van Robinson Crusoe (die ik overigens nooit gelezen heb). Flint. Vuursteen.
In een biepboek mag je natuurlijk niet strepen, dus ik heb niet allemaal citaten bij de hand om mijn betoog mee te onderbouwen. Maar het is een boek vol onvergetelijke personages, over wie je állemaal wel een heel boek zou willen lezen (net als in Old Filth).
De moederloze Polly komt in huis bij twee oude tantes. Ze gaat niet naar school maar wordt thuis goed onderwezen. Bovendien zijn er boeken, en Robinson Crusoe wordt haar bijbel. Het huis staat vlak aan zee, ze groeit echt geïsoleerd op. Pas later maakt ze kennis met andere families.
Ze vertelt over haar leven, zo levendig en nuchter alsof ik naast haar zit. Als er mensen doodgaan, voel ik haar verdriet en ontreddering, zonder dat het ooit tearjerkerig wordt.
Eigenlijk spelen hier dezelfde thema's als in Old Filth. Waar houd je je aan vast als het leven met je doet wat het wil? Wat wordt je levensfilosofie, hoe verweer je je? Waaraan ontleen je geluk? Een leven lang in het gele huis.
Aan het eind van haar leven zit ze in de kamer met de boeken. Ze wisselt van gedachten met haar held.
Crusoe: You know, when my wife died, there were children. There was a daughter. We don't hear about the daughter. What became of her?
Polly Flint: Goodbye, Crusoe, Robin Crusoe.
Crusoe: Goodbye, Pol Flint.
Wat een allemachtig mooi boek.
Toen ik dan ook een mailtje kreeg van de biep dat Crusoe's Daughter was gearriveerd, legde ik Morton meteen aan de kant.
En oh, Jane Gardam, wat ben je toch geweldig.
Waar Morton tamelijk vermoeiend begint met een film treatment, gevolgd door een brief van de regisseuse, en dan een nachtmerrie van de vrouw over wie het gaat, valt Gardam letterlijk met de deur in huis.
I am Polly Flint. I came to live at the yellow house when I was six years old. I stood on the steps in the wind, and the swirls of sand, and my father pulled the brass bell-knob beside the huge front door.
Nu ik het overtyp bedenk ik pas: wat een mooie naam ook, voor de dochter van Robinson Crusoe (die ik overigens nooit gelezen heb). Flint. Vuursteen.
In een biepboek mag je natuurlijk niet strepen, dus ik heb niet allemaal citaten bij de hand om mijn betoog mee te onderbouwen. Maar het is een boek vol onvergetelijke personages, over wie je állemaal wel een heel boek zou willen lezen (net als in Old Filth).
De moederloze Polly komt in huis bij twee oude tantes. Ze gaat niet naar school maar wordt thuis goed onderwezen. Bovendien zijn er boeken, en Robinson Crusoe wordt haar bijbel. Het huis staat vlak aan zee, ze groeit echt geïsoleerd op. Pas later maakt ze kennis met andere families.
Ze vertelt over haar leven, zo levendig en nuchter alsof ik naast haar zit. Als er mensen doodgaan, voel ik haar verdriet en ontreddering, zonder dat het ooit tearjerkerig wordt.
Eigenlijk spelen hier dezelfde thema's als in Old Filth. Waar houd je je aan vast als het leven met je doet wat het wil? Wat wordt je levensfilosofie, hoe verweer je je? Waaraan ontleen je geluk? Een leven lang in het gele huis.
Aan het eind van haar leven zit ze in de kamer met de boeken. Ze wisselt van gedachten met haar held.
Crusoe: You know, when my wife died, there were children. There was a daughter. We don't hear about the daughter. What became of her?
Polly Flint: Goodbye, Crusoe, Robin Crusoe.
Crusoe: Goodbye, Pol Flint.
Wat een allemachtig mooi boek.
December 19, 2012
I'm an ardent Jane Gardam fan, and will read all of her 21 books...someday. She deserves all acclaim. "Crusoe's Daughter" is 6-year old Polly Flint brought to live with two aunts by her sea-faring captain dad in 1904. They live in a seaside town in northern England. The aunts begin Polly's German, math, writing, and church training. The writing is rich and thoughtful. We follow Polly as becomes a teenager, an aunt goes off to Africa with the pastor, Polly goes to her grandfather's artist's colony, Polly comes back, opens a boarding house, writes a book, gets drunk, and sorts out life in her 80s--always with reverence to her idol Robinson Crusoe. It all sounds very blase' and it is, to some extent--but this is a book that comforts English majors and reminds them of books they read long ago. There's a heavy nod to Robinson Crusoe, but also "Pippi Longstockings," Barbara Pym, "Little House on the Prairie," Charles Dickens and maybe "Anne of Green Gables." As she says about Robinson Crusoe: "I go on reading it, I have done since I was eight. Everybody loves it. Crusoe's everybody's hero. I laugh and I cry. I expect Dickens was jealous...(Crusoe) just always was. He's very human and at the same time almost a god." I think Gardam loves to show how people have a small life island, and are saved in strange ways, traveling through a sea of unknown. I liked her book "Old Filth" for the same reason.
December 8, 2018
This one I really like - good evocation of past and descriptions of a particular place - by the sea, the marsh, the villages around etc. I picked up Bilgewater next and have not been able to get past the first 3 chapters.
abgebrochen
February 10, 2024Übersetzt von Isabel Bogdan
Nach 20% (64 Seiten)
Leider das erste Opfer in 2024 meiner strengeren Abbruch-Regeln. Die ersten 20% konnten mich leider nicht so sehr fesseln, dass ich Lust habe mehr über Polly Leben zu erfahren, die bei ihren sehr kirchentreuen Tanten aufwächst. Auch wenn Polly mir als leicht rebellisches Kind mit der Liebe zum Roman Robinson Crusoe schon recht sympathisch war, zog mich die Geschichte nicht in ihren Bann und meine Lust weiter in dem Buch zu lesen wurde merklich geringer.
Den Schreibstil fand ich grundsätzlich schön und die Beschreibungen der Landschaft und Szenerien sehr plastisch, aber aktuell zieht es mich nicht zu solch ruhigeren Geschichten. Zumindest nicht diese. Das weitere Leben von Polly habe ich in einer Rezension nachgelesen, was mich aber auch nicht wieder zu diesem Buch führte.
Nach 20% (64 Seiten)
Leider das erste Opfer in 2024 meiner strengeren Abbruch-Regeln. Die ersten 20% konnten mich leider nicht so sehr fesseln, dass ich Lust habe mehr über Polly Leben zu erfahren, die bei ihren sehr kirchentreuen Tanten aufwächst. Auch wenn Polly mir als leicht rebellisches Kind mit der Liebe zum Roman Robinson Crusoe schon recht sympathisch war, zog mich die Geschichte nicht in ihren Bann und meine Lust weiter in dem Buch zu lesen wurde merklich geringer.
Den Schreibstil fand ich grundsätzlich schön und die Beschreibungen der Landschaft und Szenerien sehr plastisch, aber aktuell zieht es mich nicht zu solch ruhigeren Geschichten. Zumindest nicht diese. Das weitere Leben von Polly habe ich in einer Rezension nachgelesen, was mich aber auch nicht wieder zu diesem Buch führte.
Read
March 13, 2021-abgebrochen- ...leider konnte ich so gar keinen Zugang zu Polly und ihrer Geschichte finden und habe es nun erstmal abgebrochen 🤗
February 20, 2021
'Ik ben Polly Flint. Ik kwam in het gele huis wonen toen ik zes jaar was'. Dit zijn de eerste twee zinnen van De dochter van Crusoë van Jane Gardam. Jane Gardam schrijft het verhaal van Polly, die bij haar twee tantes komt te wonen. Een vrolijke tante en een sombere tante. Haar vader, kapitein op een schip had haar eerst ondergebracht bij pleeggezinnen, een hard leven, vol armoede en geweld. Polly is in eerste instantie een halve wees, en kort daarna een hele wees. Polly groeit op bij haar Tante Mary en Tante Frances, in hun gele huis aan de Engelse kust in Yorkshire. Ze is eenzaam en leidt een geïsoleerd leven zonder andere kinderen. Ze leer Frans en Duits van Mevrouw Woods die ook in het huis woont, en pianospelen van haar Tante Frances.
Gardam schetst het leven van een vrouw in de 20e eeuw. De onzichtbare regels, de plicht om te trouwen, religieus te zijn, en wat er gebeurt als je niet helemaal het gangbare pad bewandelt. Polly is een eigenzinnig meisje, en een eigenzinnige vrouw.
Het boek Robinson Crusoë is haar houvast van kinds af aan. Crusoë is eenzaam, maar deugdzaam. Hij gaat zijn eigen weg, hoe moeilijk dat soms ook is. Hij vindt een manier om zijn angsten onder controle te krijgen. Bij alle moeilijke momenten, zoals een stukgelopen liefde, vindt Polly steun bij Crusoë.
En ondertussen komen grote vragen voorbij: waarom is iemand religieus, wat is literatuur, hoe hou je vol als het moeilijk is, wat is de zin van het leven, wat is deugdzaamheid, wat is liefde? En Gardam schetst de wereld in prachtige volzinnen, beeldend en treffend: 'Zij was mooi; zelfs haar haveloosheid had iets majesteitelijks. Ze had een beetje een wilde uitdrukking in haar ogen, die in heel diepe kassen in haar gezicht lagen, en haar mondhoeken hingen op een troosteloze en gespannen, maar lieve manier naar beneden'.
Prachtig boek.
Gardam schetst het leven van een vrouw in de 20e eeuw. De onzichtbare regels, de plicht om te trouwen, religieus te zijn, en wat er gebeurt als je niet helemaal het gangbare pad bewandelt. Polly is een eigenzinnig meisje, en een eigenzinnige vrouw.
Het boek Robinson Crusoë is haar houvast van kinds af aan. Crusoë is eenzaam, maar deugdzaam. Hij gaat zijn eigen weg, hoe moeilijk dat soms ook is. Hij vindt een manier om zijn angsten onder controle te krijgen. Bij alle moeilijke momenten, zoals een stukgelopen liefde, vindt Polly steun bij Crusoë.
En ondertussen komen grote vragen voorbij: waarom is iemand religieus, wat is literatuur, hoe hou je vol als het moeilijk is, wat is de zin van het leven, wat is deugdzaamheid, wat is liefde? En Gardam schetst de wereld in prachtige volzinnen, beeldend en treffend: 'Zij was mooi; zelfs haar haveloosheid had iets majesteitelijks. Ze had een beetje een wilde uitdrukking in haar ogen, die in heel diepe kassen in haar gezicht lagen, en haar mondhoeken hingen op een troosteloze en gespannen, maar lieve manier naar beneden'.
Prachtig boek.
February 19, 2021
In 1906, Polly Flint's father leaves her in the care of two elderly aunts in a large house on a windswept coast. For the rest of her life, this house is central to Polly's existence. She compares herself to Robinson Crusoe, marooned in a house instead of on an island, and not entirely sure which century she belongs to. But Polly's life isn't static: she falls in love, she meets writers and artists, she takes in refugees, and her life is full of huge tragedies and small despairs. Polly is an utterly believable heroine, often acting against her own best interest, and yet trying her hardest. The world in which she lives is full of tragedies: the death of children, the loss of companionship, the loneliness of existence, and yet richly populated by literature, reading and the imagination. Friendship and love appear in unexpected places, and class or social barriers quickly break down. This a strange and moving book, with a strong narrative voice and a believable central character. Both deeply melancholy and strangely optimistic, I enjoyed it.
November 20, 2012
Crusoe's Daughter followed a path that I didn't expect, and I liked not knowing where it was leading or how to react to the long progression of years. It was moving, I felt despair, joy and hope for Polly Flint.
You come to know the characters the same way a child does, at first just superficially and then as years go by with the deeper understanding and forgiveness that maturity brings. The revelation that Polly's life is remarkable presents itself slowly over time too. There was a dreamy, magical quality to the story and the writing was evocative especially when describing the yellow house by the sea where she lived and where I would love to spend an afternoon reading near a sunny window.
You come to know the characters the same way a child does, at first just superficially and then as years go by with the deeper understanding and forgiveness that maturity brings. The revelation that Polly's life is remarkable presents itself slowly over time too. There was a dreamy, magical quality to the story and the writing was evocative especially when describing the yellow house by the sea where she lived and where I would love to spend an afternoon reading near a sunny window.
April 15, 2015
I love any story from a girl's point of view, especially one set in such a beautiful place, but this story just dragged on and on. I liked the beginning with descriptions of her simple life with her aunts in the yellow house, but the story got very boring after awhile. I think a turning point was her visit to Thwait's. Even writing that name makes me kind of cringe because it was so dull. The end really didn't line up with the beginning at all. It's as if she wrote the first half then took a year break and quickly finished it. She's a young girl for most of the book, then all of a sudden becomes an alcoholic school marm who gains custody of two surviving children of the Holocaust. If all that wasn't enough, it was riddled with spelling errors and typos. So distracting!
January 1, 2013
This was a very odd book. I kept working on it and finally at the very end, something real happened. The author has won awards for her writing, and this is her favorite book of her work, but I cannot really recommend it. I appreciated what she was trying to do, but it was just an odd, coming of age story that stretched out for 28 years like Robinson Crusoe's time on the island. It didn't take me that long to read it, but it kind of felt that way.
October 30, 2019
Actual rating: 4.00
March 14, 2013
It is worth noting that I have read 4 of Jane Gardam’s novels prior to “Crusoe’s Daughter,” (Old Filth, The Man in the Wooden Hat, Queen of the Tambourine and God on the Rocks) and have her “Last Friends” on my list for this year. Outside of John Irving, and excluding fantasy or science fiction works, Jane Gardam may be my most widely read author of fiction. The novel is her admitted favorite among her already quite long list of works and was inspired by Gardam’s own mother. Going into “Crusoe’s Daughter,” Ms. Gardam would have had to write something truly abysmal for me to dislike it and I am happy to report that of the many adjectives one could use to describe “Crusoe’s Daughter,” abysmal is most decidedly not one of them.
Elegant would be more appropriate; moving, graceful, poetic, rich and bitingly witty also apply here. In short, everything that makes all of Jane Gardam’s works so very “her” are in full supply here, evidenced by lines like: “Fortunately, it was the beginning of influenza—or something in the nature of the week had informed the influenza it might be worth calling in.” Polly Flint’s life story, from early childhood to old age proves simply fascinating. Raised by her two aunts, Polly experiences little of what many would call a normal life, even by the standards of an early 20th century rural English life. With no father figure, and little in the way of motherly affection, Polly finds herself completely unsuited to the realities and expectations of the world outside her yellow house, Oversands, situated on the marshes with a view of the sea.
Polly finds herself consistently surprised and thus unprepared for the realities of an adult life, from societal and class differences and the necessary steps one must take in order to secure money for food, lodging and the like. Her one source of wisdom and comfort is books, specifically “Robinson Crusoe,” by Daniel Defoe. While those around her may not universally share her love and admiration for the book, “Crusoe” becomes her life’s obsession and guidepost.
One could argue that through Crusoe Polly finds strength and support when she feels she has none, but alternately one could also reasonably argue that Polly’s fixation with Crusoe in some ways becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. There are segments of Polly’s life where I wondered if the island apart Polly inhabited was a self-inflicted condition rather than the result of the world turning away from Polly. Responding to Alice’s insistence that “everyone” in town was discussing her, Polly replies “Who is everyone? Everyone’s no one to me.” Are these the words of one life has put outside the rest, or one who simply found themselves there and has chose to remain?
Gardam has a way in everything of hers I have read of using her characters and plot machinations to address, and often criticize English societal norms in the 20th century. Her depictions of women’s rights and freedom, the importance of religion and propriety are biting and hilarious. “Crusoe’s Daughter” is no exception. The reader is left to wonder what her life would be like had she had been raised outside of the closeted world in which she came up. We see glimpses of that life in other characters, like the housekeeper Charlotte, the Zeit family and the adorably endearing Mr. Thwaite. Class, religion and propriety bring heavy consequences for each of these characters in their own way.
I’ve not read “Robinson Crusoe,” thus I do not know if Gardam’s plot moves forward in much the same way or if there are significant parallels between the two stories. I do know that Polly is among the most fully-formed, developed and rich a character I’ve read in some time. She inhabits this work so completely that I felt what she did; I mourned and celebrated with her, discovered and despaired at the twists of fate life pulled her through and thought, this is someone I would gladly sit with and have a cup of tea. There are passages I connected to on such a personal level, “Had Moll Flanders, Cleopatra, Emily Bronte loved Theo Zeit they could not have told him so with more passion and with less restraint. And they were I dare say the wiser women,” reminding me of the times I have felt the same way.
“Crusoe’s Daughter was a welcome addition to my collection of Europa Editions by Jane Gardam. If you are a fan of her previous works, or looking for a great way to jump into them, you will enjoy this. I’m glad it was not my first however, seeing many of her familiar themes flowering at their fullest here was appreciated more because of my familiarity with them in prior works of hers. “Last Friends” has a pretty high bar to meet.
Elegant would be more appropriate; moving, graceful, poetic, rich and bitingly witty also apply here. In short, everything that makes all of Jane Gardam’s works so very “her” are in full supply here, evidenced by lines like: “Fortunately, it was the beginning of influenza—or something in the nature of the week had informed the influenza it might be worth calling in.” Polly Flint’s life story, from early childhood to old age proves simply fascinating. Raised by her two aunts, Polly experiences little of what many would call a normal life, even by the standards of an early 20th century rural English life. With no father figure, and little in the way of motherly affection, Polly finds herself completely unsuited to the realities and expectations of the world outside her yellow house, Oversands, situated on the marshes with a view of the sea.
Polly finds herself consistently surprised and thus unprepared for the realities of an adult life, from societal and class differences and the necessary steps one must take in order to secure money for food, lodging and the like. Her one source of wisdom and comfort is books, specifically “Robinson Crusoe,” by Daniel Defoe. While those around her may not universally share her love and admiration for the book, “Crusoe” becomes her life’s obsession and guidepost.
One could argue that through Crusoe Polly finds strength and support when she feels she has none, but alternately one could also reasonably argue that Polly’s fixation with Crusoe in some ways becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. There are segments of Polly’s life where I wondered if the island apart Polly inhabited was a self-inflicted condition rather than the result of the world turning away from Polly. Responding to Alice’s insistence that “everyone” in town was discussing her, Polly replies “Who is everyone? Everyone’s no one to me.” Are these the words of one life has put outside the rest, or one who simply found themselves there and has chose to remain?
Gardam has a way in everything of hers I have read of using her characters and plot machinations to address, and often criticize English societal norms in the 20th century. Her depictions of women’s rights and freedom, the importance of religion and propriety are biting and hilarious. “Crusoe’s Daughter” is no exception. The reader is left to wonder what her life would be like had she had been raised outside of the closeted world in which she came up. We see glimpses of that life in other characters, like the housekeeper Charlotte, the Zeit family and the adorably endearing Mr. Thwaite. Class, religion and propriety bring heavy consequences for each of these characters in their own way.
I’ve not read “Robinson Crusoe,” thus I do not know if Gardam’s plot moves forward in much the same way or if there are significant parallels between the two stories. I do know that Polly is among the most fully-formed, developed and rich a character I’ve read in some time. She inhabits this work so completely that I felt what she did; I mourned and celebrated with her, discovered and despaired at the twists of fate life pulled her through and thought, this is someone I would gladly sit with and have a cup of tea. There are passages I connected to on such a personal level, “Had Moll Flanders, Cleopatra, Emily Bronte loved Theo Zeit they could not have told him so with more passion and with less restraint. And they were I dare say the wiser women,” reminding me of the times I have felt the same way.
“Crusoe’s Daughter was a welcome addition to my collection of Europa Editions by Jane Gardam. If you are a fan of her previous works, or looking for a great way to jump into them, you will enjoy this. I’m glad it was not my first however, seeing many of her familiar themes flowering at their fullest here was appreciated more because of my familiarity with them in prior works of hers. “Last Friends” has a pretty high bar to meet.
May 21, 2014
If James Joyce was not a show-off Irish man but a sly English woman, then "Crusoe's Daughter" might have resulted instead of Ulysses. Like "Ulysses", "Crusoe's Daughter" is dependent on another text for the structure of the novel. In addition, "Crusoe's Daughter" plays with all the different modes of narrative. But very unlike "Ulysses" where Joyce was all "Look at me!!!!" in crafting each chapter in its own style derived from different models, Gardam takes on the history of the novel and very subtly guides the reader through the journey that the novel has taken in the last 300 or so years.
The skill that Gardam employs in burying what she is doing is incredible. "Ulysses" taunts the reader to figure out what Joyce is doing (artist as an artificer and puzzlemaker) and the result is that the book is kind of dependent on the puzzles. Whereas in "Crusoe's Daughter", Gardam has enough confidence in her characters and stories to let her framework lie in the background.
What is the evidence for this in "Crusoe's Daughter". First of all, Gardam, about 3/4 of the way through, explicitly gives the game away with a passage from the main character that can be read as a manifesto for the book itself. I don't have the book at hand, but it reads as a boast that the work will be done so skillfully that the reader doesn't even know it is happening.
Secondly, as the main character grows, she is put into situations that seem very like (but not *too much*) from other novels - of course there is Robinson Crusoe, but there is Charles Dickens in the orphan story and the wonderful, humorous and wise side characters, there is an epistolary episode that brings up Clarissa Harlowe: Or, The History of a Young Lady, Vol. 1, there is the comedy of manners and society a la Jane Austen in the heroine trying to live with her aunts, there is the gothic sensibility of the Brontë's in the dark and stormy Yorkshire seacoast and not least, the self-effacement and heroism of Jane Eyre (another orphan). And in modern times we get E.M. Forster (the houses of Thwaite and Zeit particularly remind me of Howards End) and Virginia Woolf (who actually springs up as a comedic guest at Thwaite) when the heroine finally has a room of her own to write but drives herself as crazy as Mrs. Dalloway. The novel ends with a wonderfully poignant postmodern coda.
I found all this stuff (and many could debate whether Gardam put it there, but eppur si muove and all that) but the novel emphatically does not need the reader to know it is there. It reads as a bildungsroman on its own terms as we empathize with the heroine from her orphanhood to her spinsterhood, hardly leaving the North of England. It sound so boring - but Gardam is too good of writer to leave the reader bored. Her silence and cunning in depicting the exile of Crusoe's daughter has this Joyce fan in awe.
The skill that Gardam employs in burying what she is doing is incredible. "Ulysses" taunts the reader to figure out what Joyce is doing (artist as an artificer and puzzlemaker) and the result is that the book is kind of dependent on the puzzles. Whereas in "Crusoe's Daughter", Gardam has enough confidence in her characters and stories to let her framework lie in the background.
What is the evidence for this in "Crusoe's Daughter". First of all, Gardam, about 3/4 of the way through, explicitly gives the game away with a passage from the main character that can be read as a manifesto for the book itself. I don't have the book at hand, but it reads as a boast that the work will be done so skillfully that the reader doesn't even know it is happening.
Secondly, as the main character grows, she is put into situations that seem very like (but not *too much*) from other novels - of course there is Robinson Crusoe, but there is Charles Dickens in the orphan story and the wonderful, humorous and wise side characters, there is an epistolary episode that brings up Clarissa Harlowe: Or, The History of a Young Lady, Vol. 1, there is the comedy of manners and society a la Jane Austen in the heroine trying to live with her aunts, there is the gothic sensibility of the Brontë's in the dark and stormy Yorkshire seacoast and not least, the self-effacement and heroism of Jane Eyre (another orphan). And in modern times we get E.M. Forster (the houses of Thwaite and Zeit particularly remind me of Howards End) and Virginia Woolf (who actually springs up as a comedic guest at Thwaite) when the heroine finally has a room of her own to write but drives herself as crazy as Mrs. Dalloway. The novel ends with a wonderfully poignant postmodern coda.
I found all this stuff (and many could debate whether Gardam put it there, but eppur si muove and all that) but the novel emphatically does not need the reader to know it is there. It reads as a bildungsroman on its own terms as we empathize with the heroine from her orphanhood to her spinsterhood, hardly leaving the North of England. It sound so boring - but Gardam is too good of writer to leave the reader bored. Her silence and cunning in depicting the exile of Crusoe's daughter has this Joyce fan in awe.
October 20, 2020
Polly Flint ist die kluge und gewitzte Protagonistin und Ich-Erzählerin, um die es in diesem wunderbaren Roman geht und die hier ihre 87-jährige Geschichte erzählt.
Das Buch der inzwischen 92-jährigen Jane Gardam, Grand Dame der englischen Literatur, ist bereits 1985, also weit vor ihrer berühmten und wunderbaren „Old-Filth-Trilogie“ im englischen Original erschienenen.
1904, kurz nach dem Ende des viktorianischen Zeitalters, wird Polly als 6-jähriges Waisenkind bei ihren beiden ältlichen und frommen Tanten Mary und Frances in einem abgelegenen Ort in North-Yorkshire/England abgegeben.
Obwohl noch so jung, hat sie bereits Aufenthalte in einigen Pflegefamilien hinter sich, weil ihre Mutter Emma verstarb, als sie ein Jahr alt war und sich ihr Vater, ein Seemann, nicht um sie kümmern konnte.
Zuneigung und Liebesbekundungen gibt es von der strengen Aunt Mary und der sanftmütigeren Aunt Frances kaum und Schulbildung bleibt ihr, abgesehen von den Schulstunden in Deutsch und Französisch beim verwitweten und strenggläubigen Hausdrachen Mrs. Woods nahezu verwehrt.
Unterhaltung und Abwechslung sind Mangelware, aber glücklicherweise gibt es hier, im Gelben Haus am Meer, viele Bücher. Sie sind alt und wertvoll und stehen in der umfangreichen Bibliothek von Grandfather Younghusband.
Polly vertieft sich in viele Werke des 19. Jahrhunderts und beschäftigt sich mit Autorinnen wie Jane Austen, George Eliot und den Brontë-Schwestern.
Sie liebt und verehrt den unerschütterlichen Seemann und Schiffbrüchigen Robinson Crusoe und liest diesen Roman von Daniel Defoe, in dem für sie das Geheimnis des Lebens und die Antworten auf ihre Fragen stecken, mindestens einmal pro Jahr.
Robinson wird zu ihrem Freund, Begleiter, Vorbild und Leitstern... deshalb auch der sehr treffende Titel „Robinsons Tochter“.
Polly schöpft Kraft und zieht Weisheiten aus diesem Werk, identifiziert sich mit Robinson und fühlt sich in ihrer Umgebung ebenfalls wie auf einer einsamen Insel, auf der sie im Grunde genommen ein isoliertes und eingesperrtes Leben führt.
Das brave Mädchen Polly wächst zu einer eigenwilligen Frau mit unabhängigem Geist und rebellischem Wesen heran.
Man nennt sie irgendwann „die komische Miss Flint“.
Von Religion, Glauben und frommem Getue hält sie nichts, die Konfirmation lehnt sie rundweg ab. Dass die gottesfürchtigen Tanten entsetzt sind, ist selbstredend.
Aber Polly lässt sich nicht unterkriegen und geht ihren eigenen Weg.
Verluste bleiben nicht aus. Ihre Tante Frances heiratet und geht nach Indien und auch andere bedeutsame Menschen wie Paul, in den sie sich mit 16 verliebt hat sowie Theo und seine jüdische Familie verlassen sie, so dass sie nach dem Krieg nur mit Ihrer Haushälterin zusammen in dem für sie beide viel zu großen Haus lebt.
Und hier kommt wieder Robinson ins Spiel. Er rettet sie vor der Einsamkeit und den Gefahren von Armut und Whisky.
Wie?
Indem sie das Buch mit ihrer vielleicht wichtigsten Bezugsperson ins Französische und Deutsche übersetzt.
Polly erlebt über die Jahre hinweg all das, was ein Menschenleben ausmacht: Freundschaften, Liebe, Enttäuschungen, Verluste, depressive Phasen.
Gardam ist eine exakte Beobachterin, die scharfsinnig, feinfühlig, raffiniert und mit Humor und Ironie erzählen kann.
Bis zum Ende erfreut und verblüfft sie den Leser mit Geheimnissen, Überraschungen und manch‘ surrealen Momenten.
Mir gefiel es, wie das Augenmerk zeitweise auch auf die schrecklichen Auswirkungen der aus dem ersten Weltkrieg heimgekehrten jungen Männer oder auf das Schicksal der jüdischen Kinder, die 1938/39 im Rahmen des „Refugee Children‘s Movement“ nach Großbritannien gebracht wurden, gerichtet wurde.
Ihre Figuren, allen voran Polly, zeichnet Jane Gardam tiefgründig und in all ihrer Vielschichtigkeit und Unterschiedlichkeit.
Durch die Ich-Perspektive wird dem Leser das Innenleben der Protagonistin sehr vertraut und man kommt ihr nahe wie einer guten Bekannten.
Gleichzeitig zu dieser Nähe wird aber durchgehend eine gewisse Distanz gewahrt, man wird, um in diesem Bild zu bleiben, nie zur besten Freundin, wodurch das gleichermaßen menschliche und zugewandte, wie reservierte und unangepasste Wesen Pollys noch deutlicher wird.
Ich möchte diesen leichtfüßig daherkommenden und besonderen Roman, in dem es u. a. um Selbstfindung und Emanzipation geht, unbedingt empfehlen.
Vor dem Hintergrund der historischen Ereignisse und der englischen Geschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts erzählt er die kurzweilige Lebensgeschichte einer Frau, die entschlossen und unbeirrt ihren Weg geht, kein dauerhaftes Glück bei den Männern findet und immer wieder aufsteht, wenn sie stolpert.
Er hat mir äußerst vergnügliche Lesestunden beschert und auch meinen Wunsch, anspruchsvolle, aber nicht unzugängliche und abgehobene Literatur zu lesen, befriedigt.
Ich bin froh, Polly Flint, eine außergewöhnliche, starke, mutige und liebenswerte Frau mit bewundernswerter Contenance und Standfestigkeit kennengelernt und über viele Jahrzehnte hinweg begleitet zu haben.
Das Buch der inzwischen 92-jährigen Jane Gardam, Grand Dame der englischen Literatur, ist bereits 1985, also weit vor ihrer berühmten und wunderbaren „Old-Filth-Trilogie“ im englischen Original erschienenen.
1904, kurz nach dem Ende des viktorianischen Zeitalters, wird Polly als 6-jähriges Waisenkind bei ihren beiden ältlichen und frommen Tanten Mary und Frances in einem abgelegenen Ort in North-Yorkshire/England abgegeben.
Obwohl noch so jung, hat sie bereits Aufenthalte in einigen Pflegefamilien hinter sich, weil ihre Mutter Emma verstarb, als sie ein Jahr alt war und sich ihr Vater, ein Seemann, nicht um sie kümmern konnte.
Zuneigung und Liebesbekundungen gibt es von der strengen Aunt Mary und der sanftmütigeren Aunt Frances kaum und Schulbildung bleibt ihr, abgesehen von den Schulstunden in Deutsch und Französisch beim verwitweten und strenggläubigen Hausdrachen Mrs. Woods nahezu verwehrt.
Unterhaltung und Abwechslung sind Mangelware, aber glücklicherweise gibt es hier, im Gelben Haus am Meer, viele Bücher. Sie sind alt und wertvoll und stehen in der umfangreichen Bibliothek von Grandfather Younghusband.
Polly vertieft sich in viele Werke des 19. Jahrhunderts und beschäftigt sich mit Autorinnen wie Jane Austen, George Eliot und den Brontë-Schwestern.
Sie liebt und verehrt den unerschütterlichen Seemann und Schiffbrüchigen Robinson Crusoe und liest diesen Roman von Daniel Defoe, in dem für sie das Geheimnis des Lebens und die Antworten auf ihre Fragen stecken, mindestens einmal pro Jahr.
Robinson wird zu ihrem Freund, Begleiter, Vorbild und Leitstern... deshalb auch der sehr treffende Titel „Robinsons Tochter“.
Polly schöpft Kraft und zieht Weisheiten aus diesem Werk, identifiziert sich mit Robinson und fühlt sich in ihrer Umgebung ebenfalls wie auf einer einsamen Insel, auf der sie im Grunde genommen ein isoliertes und eingesperrtes Leben führt.
Das brave Mädchen Polly wächst zu einer eigenwilligen Frau mit unabhängigem Geist und rebellischem Wesen heran.
Man nennt sie irgendwann „die komische Miss Flint“.
Von Religion, Glauben und frommem Getue hält sie nichts, die Konfirmation lehnt sie rundweg ab. Dass die gottesfürchtigen Tanten entsetzt sind, ist selbstredend.
Aber Polly lässt sich nicht unterkriegen und geht ihren eigenen Weg.
Verluste bleiben nicht aus. Ihre Tante Frances heiratet und geht nach Indien und auch andere bedeutsame Menschen wie Paul, in den sie sich mit 16 verliebt hat sowie Theo und seine jüdische Familie verlassen sie, so dass sie nach dem Krieg nur mit Ihrer Haushälterin zusammen in dem für sie beide viel zu großen Haus lebt.
Und hier kommt wieder Robinson ins Spiel. Er rettet sie vor der Einsamkeit und den Gefahren von Armut und Whisky.
Wie?
Indem sie das Buch mit ihrer vielleicht wichtigsten Bezugsperson ins Französische und Deutsche übersetzt.
Polly erlebt über die Jahre hinweg all das, was ein Menschenleben ausmacht: Freundschaften, Liebe, Enttäuschungen, Verluste, depressive Phasen.
Gardam ist eine exakte Beobachterin, die scharfsinnig, feinfühlig, raffiniert und mit Humor und Ironie erzählen kann.
Bis zum Ende erfreut und verblüfft sie den Leser mit Geheimnissen, Überraschungen und manch‘ surrealen Momenten.
Mir gefiel es, wie das Augenmerk zeitweise auch auf die schrecklichen Auswirkungen der aus dem ersten Weltkrieg heimgekehrten jungen Männer oder auf das Schicksal der jüdischen Kinder, die 1938/39 im Rahmen des „Refugee Children‘s Movement“ nach Großbritannien gebracht wurden, gerichtet wurde.
Ihre Figuren, allen voran Polly, zeichnet Jane Gardam tiefgründig und in all ihrer Vielschichtigkeit und Unterschiedlichkeit.
Durch die Ich-Perspektive wird dem Leser das Innenleben der Protagonistin sehr vertraut und man kommt ihr nahe wie einer guten Bekannten.
Gleichzeitig zu dieser Nähe wird aber durchgehend eine gewisse Distanz gewahrt, man wird, um in diesem Bild zu bleiben, nie zur besten Freundin, wodurch das gleichermaßen menschliche und zugewandte, wie reservierte und unangepasste Wesen Pollys noch deutlicher wird.
Ich möchte diesen leichtfüßig daherkommenden und besonderen Roman, in dem es u. a. um Selbstfindung und Emanzipation geht, unbedingt empfehlen.
Vor dem Hintergrund der historischen Ereignisse und der englischen Geschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts erzählt er die kurzweilige Lebensgeschichte einer Frau, die entschlossen und unbeirrt ihren Weg geht, kein dauerhaftes Glück bei den Männern findet und immer wieder aufsteht, wenn sie stolpert.
Er hat mir äußerst vergnügliche Lesestunden beschert und auch meinen Wunsch, anspruchsvolle, aber nicht unzugängliche und abgehobene Literatur zu lesen, befriedigt.
Ich bin froh, Polly Flint, eine außergewöhnliche, starke, mutige und liebenswerte Frau mit bewundernswerter Contenance und Standfestigkeit kennengelernt und über viele Jahrzehnte hinweg begleitet zu haben.
February 13, 2024
This was different from the half dozen other Gardam novels I have read, which have been about teenage girls coming of age. She writes about this so well, and with great comedic timing. Crusoe's Daughter is different, even though it too is a coming of age story (kind of). I kept thinking it would stop being vague and would come down to earth, but it just floated around purposelessly. I never did see the connection with Crusoe, other than it was the girl's favorite book, but the story never really held my attention for very long. I still like Jane Gardam though.
January 24, 2015
Hmmmm....well, I'm a big fan of Jane Gardam and I did enjoy this but not nearly as much as the others I've read. It's the tale of Polly Flint who is sent at the age of around 6 to stay with her aunts in a big old house by the sea in the North East of England. Polly is obsessed with Robinson Crusoe and he accompanies her through most of her life which we follow until nearly the end. I didn't feel really engaged with her until Polly was in her 30s. It's early Gardam (1985) so it may be that she hadn't quite perfected her style. The last third or so is more like her later books - the subtle, dark humour I love and expect, the unexpected turn of events - and I really enjoyed it from there on. I still can't give it more than 3 though in comparison with her other books.
May 29, 2012
Dazzling imagery as usual, as well as one of those character voices only she seems to get right--odd, but not coy, intelligent rather than off-putting, truly humorous without being tiresome and self-loving. Gardam's sleight of hand is infallibly engaging and admirable. It's an idiosyncratic story, told well, about an obscure life that is nevertheless remarkable. Her love for the character is evident, yet she never descends into letting her be cloying.
March 22, 2014
Celebrates the life of a true feminist. And be it the first decade of the 20th century or the 21st century- Polly would scarce be recognized as such. This is not a book that many moderns would enjoy, but this kind of ordinary life lived with authentic core to her own determinations! Priceless in any age.
May 12, 2021
Ich habe mir das Buch auf die Merkliste gepackt, nachdem ich viele begeisterte Stimmen über das Buch gehört habe.
Leider war das aber nicht MEIN Buch. Ich habe mich extrem schwer getan mit der Geschichte, mit dem Verlauf, mit der "Aussage"
Hauptprotagonistin ist Polly, die als junges Mädchen zu ihren zwei Tanten mütterlicherseits abgeben wird. Ihr Vater ist Seemann und kann sich um das Kind nicht kümmern, nach die Mutter verstorben ist und er wieder zur Seefahrt muß.
So und nun waren die beiden Jungfern also da mit einem Mädchen, sie muß mithelfen im Haushalt, bekommt Privatunterricht, aber so wirklich habe ich über das Leben in dem sogenannten "Gelben Haus" nicht gespürt. Mir fehlte da einfach der Zugang, zu Polly, zu den Tanten. Ich fand es unscheinbar und unaufgeregt.
Ich hatte irgendwie die Erwartung, dass Polly etwas wird wie "Anne auf Green Gable" aber Polly ist dazu zu introvertiert.
Sie lernt verschiedene junge Männer kennen, die ebenfalls von ihren Tanten unterstützt werden, sie kommt hierbe in die Erfahrung mit dem Tod, aber auch das hat mir Polly, ihr Denken, ihr Gefühlsleben kein bißchen näher gebracht.
Dann verliebt sich Polly in einen Jungen Dichter, mit dem sie bei einem Spaziergang die Nachbar Familie Zeits kennenlernt.
Diese nehmen sie herzlich auf wollen sie etwas aus der konservativen Haushalt befreien, aber Polly will nicht. Warum sie sich hier der sympatischen Familie nicht öffnet hat sich bei mir beim lesen nicht wirklich erschlossen?
Auch später, als ihr Liebe im Krieg stirbt und die Familie sie zu sich einlädt um ihr sein Erbe in Form von Briefen und Büchern zu übergeben, fand ich Polly sehr kühl und nüchtern und auch abweisend, denn auch diese FAmilie bietet ihr Gastfreundschaft an um dem Verstorbenen zu gedenken.
Der Plot spielt über das ganze Leben von Polly, sie erlebt den Krieg, sie wird als Lehrerin verpflichtet, sie nimmt Waisenkinder bei sich auf...
Sie ist eine starker Charakter, der sich sehr an eben Daniel Defoes Robinsons Crusoes Buch orientiert und später auch die Übersetzung des Buches schreibt.
Diese leider sehr kurzen Passagen, fand ich interessant zu lesen und hätte mir während dem Buch viel mehr davon gewünscht.
Alles in allem habe ich einfach keinen Zugang zu Charakter, Zeit, Ort, Gefühlen in dem Buch bekommen.
Leider war das aber nicht MEIN Buch. Ich habe mich extrem schwer getan mit der Geschichte, mit dem Verlauf, mit der "Aussage"
Hauptprotagonistin ist Polly, die als junges Mädchen zu ihren zwei Tanten mütterlicherseits abgeben wird. Ihr Vater ist Seemann und kann sich um das Kind nicht kümmern, nach die Mutter verstorben ist und er wieder zur Seefahrt muß.
So und nun waren die beiden Jungfern also da mit einem Mädchen, sie muß mithelfen im Haushalt, bekommt Privatunterricht, aber so wirklich habe ich über das Leben in dem sogenannten "Gelben Haus" nicht gespürt. Mir fehlte da einfach der Zugang, zu Polly, zu den Tanten. Ich fand es unscheinbar und unaufgeregt.
Ich hatte irgendwie die Erwartung, dass Polly etwas wird wie "Anne auf Green Gable" aber Polly ist dazu zu introvertiert.
Sie lernt verschiedene junge Männer kennen, die ebenfalls von ihren Tanten unterstützt werden, sie kommt hierbe in die Erfahrung mit dem Tod, aber auch das hat mir Polly, ihr Denken, ihr Gefühlsleben kein bißchen näher gebracht.
Dann verliebt sich Polly in einen Jungen Dichter, mit dem sie bei einem Spaziergang die Nachbar Familie Zeits kennenlernt.
Diese nehmen sie herzlich auf wollen sie etwas aus der konservativen Haushalt befreien, aber Polly will nicht. Warum sie sich hier der sympatischen Familie nicht öffnet hat sich bei mir beim lesen nicht wirklich erschlossen?
Auch später, als ihr Liebe im Krieg stirbt und die Familie sie zu sich einlädt um ihr sein Erbe in Form von Briefen und Büchern zu übergeben, fand ich Polly sehr kühl und nüchtern und auch abweisend, denn auch diese FAmilie bietet ihr Gastfreundschaft an um dem Verstorbenen zu gedenken.
Der Plot spielt über das ganze Leben von Polly, sie erlebt den Krieg, sie wird als Lehrerin verpflichtet, sie nimmt Waisenkinder bei sich auf...
Sie ist eine starker Charakter, der sich sehr an eben Daniel Defoes Robinsons Crusoes Buch orientiert und später auch die Übersetzung des Buches schreibt.
Diese leider sehr kurzen Passagen, fand ich interessant zu lesen und hätte mir während dem Buch viel mehr davon gewünscht.
Alles in allem habe ich einfach keinen Zugang zu Charakter, Zeit, Ort, Gefühlen in dem Buch bekommen.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 266 reviews