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Robinson
January Marlow, our unsentimental heroine, is one of three survivors out of twenty-nine souls when her plane crashes, blazing, on Robinson's island. Presumed dead for months, the three survivors must wait for the annual return of the pomegranate boat. Robinson, a determined loner, proves a fair if misanthropic host to his uninvited guests; he encourages January to keep a journal.
In Robinson, under the tropical glare and strange fogs of the tiny island, we find a volcano, a ping-pong playing cat, a dealer in occult as well as lucky charms, flying ants, sexual tension, a disappearance, blackmail, and - perhaps - murder.
175 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
20 people are currently reading
443 people want to read
About the author
Muriel Spark
222 books1,289 followersDame Muriel Spark, DBE was a prolific Scottish novelist, short story writer and poet whose darkly comedic voice made her one of the most distinctive writers of the twentieth century. In 2008 The Times newspaper named Spark in its list of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Spark received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1965 for The Mandelbaum Gate, the Ingersoll Foundation TS Eliot Award in 1992 and the David Cohen Prize in 1997. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993, in recognition of her services to literature. She has been twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, in 1969 for The Public Image and in 1981 for Loitering with Intent. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". In 2010, Spark was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize of 1970 for The Driver's Seat.
Spark received eight honorary doctorates in her lifetime. These included a Doctor of the University degree (Honoris causa) from her alma mater, Heriot-Watt University in 1995; a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris causa) from the American University of Paris in 2005; and Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Oxford, St Andrews and Strathclyde.
Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel, The Comforters, in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, published in 1961, and considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film.
Spark received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1965 for The Mandelbaum Gate, the Ingersoll Foundation TS Eliot Award in 1992 and the David Cohen Prize in 1997. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993, in recognition of her services to literature. She has been twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, in 1969 for The Public Image and in 1981 for Loitering with Intent. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". In 2010, Spark was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize of 1970 for The Driver's Seat.
Spark received eight honorary doctorates in her lifetime. These included a Doctor of the University degree (Honoris causa) from her alma mater, Heriot-Watt University in 1995; a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris causa) from the American University of Paris in 2005; and Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Oxford, St Andrews and Strathclyde.
Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel, The Comforters, in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, published in 1961, and considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film.
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July 15, 2020
Cuando Robinson se sentó a la mesa, Jimmy se dirigió a mí:
-¡Ajá! -dijo-. Ningún hombre es una isla.
-Algunos lo son -dije-. El único suelo que comparten está sumergido en el mar. Si las palabras tienen algún sentido y si las islas existen, entonces algunas personas son islas.
Con el correr del tiempo me fui transformando en un adicto a las novelas que publica La Bestia Equilátera, una editorial distinta, fresca y por sobre todo, original.
Tiene la costumbre de editar a aquellos escritores que han sido olvidados, que son ignotos pero excelentes, que tal vez escribieron pocos libros pero de gran factura o que son casualmente lo que esta editorial pregona: la originalidad.
Cada vez que compro uno de sus libros me sorprendo y este no fue la excepción. Seguramente, muchos lectores conocen a esta interesante escritora escocesa llamada Muriel Spark. Yo reconozco que no, pero seguramente no es fácil encontrar material suyo editado. Por suerte está LBE.
Leyendo sobre la autora, descubro que es tuvo una obra fecunda que abarca novelas, comedias, libros para chicos y hasta obras de teatro y que este es su segundo libro.
Es de destacar el sorprendente despliegue que hace en la trama con una economía de personajes notable: tres náufragos que sobreviven a un avión que camino a las islas Azores, se estrella en una isla remota llamada "Robinson", cuyo propietario es un misterioso personaje que también se llama Robinson.
En primer lugar, Spark le rinde ciertos honores al más famoso rey de su isla que se llamó Robinson Crusoe, creado por Daniel Defoe, pero por otro lado también se puede asociar a Robinson con el príncipe Próspero de la novela "La tempestad" de William Shakespeare que también incluye a náufragos.
Por el otro lado, nos regala una novela que encierra suspenso y que en cierta manera se desdobla en primer lugar en las complejas relaciones humanas que se dan entre los náufragos, January Marlow (qué casualidad, el apellido de un personaje de Joseph Conrad), Tom Wells (el apellido recuerda a H. G. Wells) y Jimmie Waterford y su anfitrión, el misterioso Robinson, con una personalidad que se puede asociar a otros personajes también misteriosos de las novelas de Verne, como Robur el conquistador o el capitán Nemo, que siempre encierran un secreto inabordable.
No debemos olvidar de mencionar a Miguel, un niño al que Robinson tomó como protegido y que lo ayuda con los quehaceres de la isla. Este personaje también tendrá preponderancia en los futuros acontecimientos que se desatarán en la segunda mitad del libro.
La segunda parte de la novela se pone aún más interesante ante la supuesta desaparición de uno de los personajes principales, lo que desatará aún más sospechas entre los que quedan en la isla y es aquí en donde la autora pone más énfasis.
La posibilidad de que se haya cometido un asesinato posiciona a cada personaje en un lugar incómodo. Todos desconfían de todos y el lector no sabe con quién quedarse o a quién creerle, puesto que se disparan teorías disímiles que incluyen también el suicidio.
Seguramente leeré otros libros de Muriel Spark que tiene la "chispa" (su apellido significa chispa en español) que enciende el interés y la intriga en el lector gracias a una narrativa muy cuidada y que hace hincapié en los momentos justos para atrapar al lector.
"Todo sistema que no contemple lo inesperado y lo inoportuno es una basura." dice January.
Me quedó en la mente esa frase. El sistema narrativo que utiliza Muriel Spark se enfoca precisamente en lo opuesto y creo que allí reside el sentido de esta novela.
-¡Ajá! -dijo-. Ningún hombre es una isla.
-Algunos lo son -dije-. El único suelo que comparten está sumergido en el mar. Si las palabras tienen algún sentido y si las islas existen, entonces algunas personas son islas.
Con el correr del tiempo me fui transformando en un adicto a las novelas que publica La Bestia Equilátera, una editorial distinta, fresca y por sobre todo, original.
Tiene la costumbre de editar a aquellos escritores que han sido olvidados, que son ignotos pero excelentes, que tal vez escribieron pocos libros pero de gran factura o que son casualmente lo que esta editorial pregona: la originalidad.
Cada vez que compro uno de sus libros me sorprendo y este no fue la excepción. Seguramente, muchos lectores conocen a esta interesante escritora escocesa llamada Muriel Spark. Yo reconozco que no, pero seguramente no es fácil encontrar material suyo editado. Por suerte está LBE.
Leyendo sobre la autora, descubro que es tuvo una obra fecunda que abarca novelas, comedias, libros para chicos y hasta obras de teatro y que este es su segundo libro.
Es de destacar el sorprendente despliegue que hace en la trama con una economía de personajes notable: tres náufragos que sobreviven a un avión que camino a las islas Azores, se estrella en una isla remota llamada "Robinson", cuyo propietario es un misterioso personaje que también se llama Robinson.
En primer lugar, Spark le rinde ciertos honores al más famoso rey de su isla que se llamó Robinson Crusoe, creado por Daniel Defoe, pero por otro lado también se puede asociar a Robinson con el príncipe Próspero de la novela "La tempestad" de William Shakespeare que también incluye a náufragos.
Por el otro lado, nos regala una novela que encierra suspenso y que en cierta manera se desdobla en primer lugar en las complejas relaciones humanas que se dan entre los náufragos, January Marlow (qué casualidad, el apellido de un personaje de Joseph Conrad), Tom Wells (el apellido recuerda a H. G. Wells) y Jimmie Waterford y su anfitrión, el misterioso Robinson, con una personalidad que se puede asociar a otros personajes también misteriosos de las novelas de Verne, como Robur el conquistador o el capitán Nemo, que siempre encierran un secreto inabordable.
No debemos olvidar de mencionar a Miguel, un niño al que Robinson tomó como protegido y que lo ayuda con los quehaceres de la isla. Este personaje también tendrá preponderancia en los futuros acontecimientos que se desatarán en la segunda mitad del libro.
La segunda parte de la novela se pone aún más interesante ante la supuesta desaparición de uno de los personajes principales, lo que desatará aún más sospechas entre los que quedan en la isla y es aquí en donde la autora pone más énfasis.
La posibilidad de que se haya cometido un asesinato posiciona a cada personaje en un lugar incómodo. Todos desconfían de todos y el lector no sabe con quién quedarse o a quién creerle, puesto que se disparan teorías disímiles que incluyen también el suicidio.
Seguramente leeré otros libros de Muriel Spark que tiene la "chispa" (su apellido significa chispa en español) que enciende el interés y la intriga en el lector gracias a una narrativa muy cuidada y que hace hincapié en los momentos justos para atrapar al lector.
"Todo sistema que no contemple lo inesperado y lo inoportuno es una basura." dice January.
Me quedó en la mente esa frase. El sistema narrativo que utiliza Muriel Spark se enfoca precisamente en lo opuesto y creo que allí reside el sentido de esta novela.
April 5, 2019
There are some vague thoughts. And I need to organize them. Will write a review later.
The Story:
Do not worry! I am not giving any spoilers. I will be stating that is on the back cover with few spoiler-free additions. A plane bound for Azores island crashes in an isolated island which is almost thousand kilometers far away from any post office. The island is isolated but not uninhabited. It is inhabited by one Mr. Robinson (the proprietor of the island) and he is assisted by a small orphan boy, Miguel. There are three survivors from the crash who are saved by Robinson and are nurtured back to good health. These are the protagonists. Among the three survivors, there is the heroine - Mrs. January Marlow, a recent convert to Catholicism. One woman among four men and a boy.
The initial efforts at search failed to notice the island. They are forced to wait for three months when the annual pomegranate boat arrives to the island to carry the stock produced and also to bring in the necessary supply for the occupant. The stay looks idyllic. But wherever two or three are gathered there are bound to be tensions and misunderstandings. This novel is about such a human adventure.
A bonus point: The second half of the novel reads like a murder mystery. It keeps you fully charged.
Catholic Faith:
But what interested me most in the novel is the Catholic faith and discussions on the Marian devotion.
Let me elaborate:
Robinson is a 'Catholic' but not a conventional Catholic. He aspired to become a priest once. But for the over emphasis on the Marian devotion in the Catholic Church, he could not accept it. He comes out and writes a book titled The Dangers of Marian Doctrine. This is the view of Robinson: "Mariology was identified with Earth mythology, both were identified with superstition, and superstition was evil."
Elsewhere another character, a Catholic, says the similar view. He says: "These people make more fuss of the Blessed Virgin than of Jesus Christ. That's dangerous." This character is the one of the brothers-in-law of our lady protagonist Mrs. January Marlow. He is a born English Catholic and he cannot stand anything of the 'excess' associated with Marian devotion. He hates what Catholics do in Italy, France, Spain and South America. He says yet in another place, pointedly making his observations about Marian devotion in those countries, thus: "Awful old crones hobbling along after the statues, clinking their rosaries, mumbling their Hail Marys, as if their lives depended on it. And the sickening thing, young people, people in their prime, caught up in the mob hysteria. That sort of thing corrupts the Faith."
Our heroine is a recent convert and she likes to pray rosary. In fact, it is the only object that she had in her coat pocket as she was projected from the plane. But Robinson does not want her to pray it and so takes away the object from her coat pocket.
Let me now come to one other character, Tom Wells (one of the survivors). He is a dealer in lucky charms associated with the Druid religion. He believes in few lockets bringing luck and desired results. He has many number of such wares in his suitcase which is salvages from the wrecked plane. Miguel who is unschooled in any religion takes to both objects (lucky charms and rosary) in the same way. He is fascinated by both. That provides interesting situation to produce two observations:
1. what is religion other than what one teaches the other?
2. Is there a difference between a magic charm and a rosary?
I am sure that Muriel Spark always grappled with the question of her new found faith - Catholicism. She was not a person who blindly embraced a practice. She reasoned it out. These are her own struggles to understand Catholic faith. This novel came out in 1954. The questions pressed on in her mind and later she gives an answer in her other book that came out in 1988. The book in question is A Far Cry from Kensington. There she writes: "my religion in fact went beyond those Hail Marys which had become merely a superstition to me." By which she meant in that novel that a mere uttering of certain words at a certain time would not be called a religion. She wanted to get to the heart of religion. Elsewhere in one of her interviews she had replied thus about her reason to conversion to Catholicism: "The simple explanation is that I felt the Roman Catholic faith corresponded to what I had always known and believed; the more difficult explanation would involve the step by step building up of a conviction."
The travel from Robinson to A Far Cry from Kensington was in fact a step by step building up of her faith. She was not a conventional Catholic. But she was a true Catholic trying to understand her faith fully.
Final Word:
Just because I had discussed elaborately about Catholic Faith in the novel, do not take it to be a Catholic novel through and through. It is a great entertainer like any other Spark novel. Being a Catholic myself, and interested in the faith journey of Spark, I could not but look for such details when they are so evident.
Sorry if I had bothered you with my ramblings.
The Story:
Do not worry! I am not giving any spoilers. I will be stating that is on the back cover with few spoiler-free additions. A plane bound for Azores island crashes in an isolated island which is almost thousand kilometers far away from any post office. The island is isolated but not uninhabited. It is inhabited by one Mr. Robinson (the proprietor of the island) and he is assisted by a small orphan boy, Miguel. There are three survivors from the crash who are saved by Robinson and are nurtured back to good health. These are the protagonists. Among the three survivors, there is the heroine - Mrs. January Marlow, a recent convert to Catholicism. One woman among four men and a boy.
The initial efforts at search failed to notice the island. They are forced to wait for three months when the annual pomegranate boat arrives to the island to carry the stock produced and also to bring in the necessary supply for the occupant. The stay looks idyllic. But wherever two or three are gathered there are bound to be tensions and misunderstandings. This novel is about such a human adventure.
A bonus point: The second half of the novel reads like a murder mystery. It keeps you fully charged.
Catholic Faith:
But what interested me most in the novel is the Catholic faith and discussions on the Marian devotion.
Let me elaborate:
Robinson is a 'Catholic' but not a conventional Catholic. He aspired to become a priest once. But for the over emphasis on the Marian devotion in the Catholic Church, he could not accept it. He comes out and writes a book titled The Dangers of Marian Doctrine. This is the view of Robinson: "Mariology was identified with Earth mythology, both were identified with superstition, and superstition was evil."
Elsewhere another character, a Catholic, says the similar view. He says: "These people make more fuss of the Blessed Virgin than of Jesus Christ. That's dangerous." This character is the one of the brothers-in-law of our lady protagonist Mrs. January Marlow. He is a born English Catholic and he cannot stand anything of the 'excess' associated with Marian devotion. He hates what Catholics do in Italy, France, Spain and South America. He says yet in another place, pointedly making his observations about Marian devotion in those countries, thus: "Awful old crones hobbling along after the statues, clinking their rosaries, mumbling their Hail Marys, as if their lives depended on it. And the sickening thing, young people, people in their prime, caught up in the mob hysteria. That sort of thing corrupts the Faith."
Our heroine is a recent convert and she likes to pray rosary. In fact, it is the only object that she had in her coat pocket as she was projected from the plane. But Robinson does not want her to pray it and so takes away the object from her coat pocket.
Let me now come to one other character, Tom Wells (one of the survivors). He is a dealer in lucky charms associated with the Druid religion. He believes in few lockets bringing luck and desired results. He has many number of such wares in his suitcase which is salvages from the wrecked plane. Miguel who is unschooled in any religion takes to both objects (lucky charms and rosary) in the same way. He is fascinated by both. That provides interesting situation to produce two observations:
1. what is religion other than what one teaches the other?
2. Is there a difference between a magic charm and a rosary?
I am sure that Muriel Spark always grappled with the question of her new found faith - Catholicism. She was not a person who blindly embraced a practice. She reasoned it out. These are her own struggles to understand Catholic faith. This novel came out in 1954. The questions pressed on in her mind and later she gives an answer in her other book that came out in 1988. The book in question is A Far Cry from Kensington. There she writes: "my religion in fact went beyond those Hail Marys which had become merely a superstition to me." By which she meant in that novel that a mere uttering of certain words at a certain time would not be called a religion. She wanted to get to the heart of religion. Elsewhere in one of her interviews she had replied thus about her reason to conversion to Catholicism: "The simple explanation is that I felt the Roman Catholic faith corresponded to what I had always known and believed; the more difficult explanation would involve the step by step building up of a conviction."
The travel from Robinson to A Far Cry from Kensington was in fact a step by step building up of her faith. She was not a conventional Catholic. But she was a true Catholic trying to understand her faith fully.
Final Word:
Just because I had discussed elaborately about Catholic Faith in the novel, do not take it to be a Catholic novel through and through. It is a great entertainer like any other Spark novel. Being a Catholic myself, and interested in the faith journey of Spark, I could not but look for such details when they are so evident.
Sorry if I had bothered you with my ramblings.
October 21, 2021
Primer contacto con la escritora escocesa Muriel Spark, y si bien no han saltado chispas (sparks), tengo que reconocer que me ha intrigado por lo original de sus planteamientos para ser una novela escrita en 1958, de hecho la segunda que escribió. Creo que sus obras posteriores van mejorando, así que no descarto leer algo más, aunque esta no me ha acabado de convencer.
Lo positivo:
- Un punto de partida interesante: dos hombres y una mujer van a parar a una isla cuando se estrella el avión en que viajaban. Como el nombre de la isla es Robinson y su único propietario y habitante – junto con el pequeño Miguel – se llama Robinson, enseguida nos llegan ecos de Daniel de Foe, del Próspero de La tempestad y de otros muchos hitos literarios que parten de esta premisa, sin olvidar la versión televisiva de Lost.
- La voz de la narradora, que es January, una de las supervivientes y la única mujer de la isla. La frescura y la mirada cínica y llena de humor que proyecta sobre el entorno y las relaciones que establece con los otros, todo hace que la lectura valga la pena.
- La creación del ambiente de la isla, con su peculiar forma de gigante caído del cielo, y la manera en que los personajes la recorren descubriendo sus rincones misteriosos.
- La intriga que se va gestando a fuego lento y la tensión que se crea entre los distintos personajes, hasta que a mitad del libro un misterio detectivesco aviva nuestro interés.
Lo negativo:
- Predomina un tonillo absurdo, raro, tanto en la trama como en las conversaciones, que hace que no sepas si estás leyendo una novela realista o una caricatura. Por ejemplo, el parentesco de Jimmie con Robinson, y que haya ido a parar por casualidad a la isla.
- Hay un exceso de reflexiones sobre la religión – en particular la católica – producto al parecer de la reciente conversión de la autora y sus cuitas particulares, pero que aquí me han parecido traídas por los pelos.
- El misterio no da lo que promete, en general el libro parece que te enrolla demasiado para no ofrecer conclusiones brillantes, no se toma en serio a sí mismo. Como lectora me he sentido desorientada en más de un momento, no sigue ninguna convención de género, lo cual desde algún punto de vista puede ser un mérito, pero a ratos me ha resultado reiterativo y poco entretenido.
En resumen, 3 estrellas, pero tengo que reconocer que es una lectura bastante agradable y que tiene destellos muy interesantes.
Lo positivo:
- Un punto de partida interesante: dos hombres y una mujer van a parar a una isla cuando se estrella el avión en que viajaban. Como el nombre de la isla es Robinson y su único propietario y habitante – junto con el pequeño Miguel – se llama Robinson, enseguida nos llegan ecos de Daniel de Foe, del Próspero de La tempestad y de otros muchos hitos literarios que parten de esta premisa, sin olvidar la versión televisiva de Lost.
- La voz de la narradora, que es January, una de las supervivientes y la única mujer de la isla. La frescura y la mirada cínica y llena de humor que proyecta sobre el entorno y las relaciones que establece con los otros, todo hace que la lectura valga la pena.
- La creación del ambiente de la isla, con su peculiar forma de gigante caído del cielo, y la manera en que los personajes la recorren descubriendo sus rincones misteriosos.
- La intriga que se va gestando a fuego lento y la tensión que se crea entre los distintos personajes, hasta que a mitad del libro un misterio detectivesco aviva nuestro interés.
Lo negativo:
- Predomina un tonillo absurdo, raro, tanto en la trama como en las conversaciones, que hace que no sepas si estás leyendo una novela realista o una caricatura. Por ejemplo, el parentesco de Jimmie con Robinson, y que haya ido a parar por casualidad a la isla.
- Hay un exceso de reflexiones sobre la religión – en particular la católica – producto al parecer de la reciente conversión de la autora y sus cuitas particulares, pero que aquí me han parecido traídas por los pelos.
- El misterio no da lo que promete, en general el libro parece que te enrolla demasiado para no ofrecer conclusiones brillantes, no se toma en serio a sí mismo. Como lectora me he sentido desorientada en más de un momento, no sigue ninguna convención de género, lo cual desde algún punto de vista puede ser un mérito, pero a ratos me ha resultado reiterativo y poco entretenido.
En resumen, 3 estrellas, pero tengo que reconocer que es una lectura bastante agradable y que tiene destellos muy interesantes.
June 12, 2024
I've long admitted to loving a bit of intertuality regardless of whether I've read the texts being referenced, which in this case I haven't. As with JM Coetzee and Foe, this is Muriel Spark's take on Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.
January Marlow becomes the cigarette-pilfering Catholic-convert narrator of a largely humorless novel when the plane on which she is a passenger crash lands on Robinson's island somewhere in the Atlantic. This isn't a story of survival of the fittest, or of battling the elements and instead there's a cat who plays ping-pong.
Events do take a turn--mayhaps it's not for nothing that the island is shaped somewhat ridiculously like the chalk outside of a corpse at a crime scene, but a murder mystery would be just too conventional for Spark.
The ending, like a volcano that merely fizzles (or screams) after promise of an eruption, was underwhelming, which seems to be a trend among Spark's early novels. January Marlow, although I loved her messy backstory, is no Fleur Talbot (Loitering with Intent) unfortunately.
January Marlow becomes the cigarette-pilfering Catholic-convert narrator of a largely humorless novel when the plane on which she is a passenger crash lands on Robinson's island somewhere in the Atlantic. This isn't a story of survival of the fittest, or of battling the elements and instead there's a cat who plays ping-pong.
Events do take a turn--mayhaps it's not for nothing that the island is shaped somewhat ridiculously like the chalk outside of a corpse at a crime scene, but a murder mystery would be just too conventional for Spark.
The ending, like a volcano that merely fizzles (or screams) after promise of an eruption, was underwhelming, which seems to be a trend among Spark's early novels. January Marlow, although I loved her messy backstory, is no Fleur Talbot (Loitering with Intent) unfortunately.
August 29, 2019
An aircraft crashes on a small island in the North Atlantic. Just three survivors, including our narrator and companion January Marlow, are tended by a man called Robinson.
Muriel Spark's writing is bright, descriptive and clever. She wraps and unwraps the people and personalities who are thrust together.
What follows is an interesting tale of survival, relationships, manipulation, suspicion and even possible murder.
Muriel Spark's writing is bright, descriptive and clever. She wraps and unwraps the people and personalities who are thrust together.
What follows is an interesting tale of survival, relationships, manipulation, suspicion and even possible murder.
February 24, 2024
Muriel Spark's books aren't as fun or engaging as other books I rate 4 stars, but they are clever and memorable and the most enjoyment I get is pondering over them.
While the book's title is clearly inspired by Robinson Crusoe, this isn't a survival story, it's a story of building tension between a small of of people. The novel brings up some interesting themes, feels very 1950's in its dialog and characters and was, like everything I've read by Spark, a fast but deep read.
While the book's title is clearly inspired by Robinson Crusoe, this isn't a survival story, it's a story of building tension between a small of of people. The novel brings up some interesting themes, feels very 1950's in its dialog and characters and was, like everything I've read by Spark, a fast but deep read.
October 7, 2024
I have now read all 22 of Muriel Spark's novels; here is my ranking as of this moment.
1) The Comforters
2) Loitering with Intent
3) The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
4) A Far Cry from Kensington
5) The Abbess of Crewe
6) Robinson
7) The Hothouse by the East River
8) The Only Problem
9) The Girls of Slender Means
10) The Driver’s Seat
11) Memento Mori
12) Territorial Rights
13) Not to Disturb
14) Symposium
15) The Ballad of Peckham Rye
16) The Finishing School
17) The Public Image
18) The Mandelbaum Gate
19) The Bachelors
20) Aiding and Abetting
21) The Takeover
22) Reality and Dreams
1) The Comforters
2) Loitering with Intent
3) The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
4) A Far Cry from Kensington
5) The Abbess of Crewe
6) Robinson
7) The Hothouse by the East River
8) The Only Problem
9) The Girls of Slender Means
10) The Driver’s Seat
11) Memento Mori
12) Territorial Rights
13) Not to Disturb
14) Symposium
15) The Ballad of Peckham Rye
16) The Finishing School
17) The Public Image
18) The Mandelbaum Gate
19) The Bachelors
20) Aiding and Abetting
21) The Takeover
22) Reality and Dreams
August 18, 2012
Not Muriel Spark's finest hour for me. To be honest, I gave up halfway through because I was so bored. It lacked the necessary suspense to keep me interested. I'm glad I've already read so many of her novels because I wouldn't have been inspired to do so had this been the first.
January 26, 2018
3.5* rounded up.
I didn't care for this one as much as some of her others as I found it lacked much of the humor in Loitering With Intent (for example). However, now that a few days have passed since I finished it, I find that certain aspects of it are sticking with me more than I expected.
Spark does an excellent job describing how the suspense and fear occasioned by the discovery of impacted January Marlowe's perceptions of the people around her and their actions. Marlowe in her journal as well as in her thoughts tried to be rational and logical but her personal feelings about the other people involved couldn't help influencing her.
Another aspect which stands out for me is the religious one. Marlowe, like Spark herself, is a convert to Catholicism. She finds herself at odds with Robinson (and her brother-in-law back in England) who has an extreme aversion to Marianism (which I guess is the worship of the Virgin Mary), and indeed any sort of physical object of worship other than the crucifix, which he regards as superstition. As a result he This feeling impacts another of the survivors, Tom Wells, who sells "lucky charms". The reader is invited to consider whether Catholic ritual is indeed integral to the religion or whether it is just a superstition like Wells' lucky charms (or indeed conversely if the belief in lucky charms might be religious!).
Don't get me wrong, this isn't really a "religious" book and for those not interested in this theme, it is just part of the background to the story.
I didn't care for this one as much as some of her others as I found it lacked much of the humor in Loitering With Intent (for example). However, now that a few days have passed since I finished it, I find that certain aspects of it are sticking with me more than I expected.
Spark does an excellent job describing how the suspense and fear occasioned by the discovery of impacted January Marlowe's perceptions of the people around her and their actions. Marlowe in her journal as well as in her thoughts tried to be rational and logical but her personal feelings about the other people involved couldn't help influencing her.
Another aspect which stands out for me is the religious one. Marlowe, like Spark herself, is a convert to Catholicism. She finds herself at odds with Robinson (and her brother-in-law back in England) who has an extreme aversion to Marianism (which I guess is the worship of the Virgin Mary), and indeed any sort of physical object of worship other than the crucifix, which he regards as superstition. As a result he This feeling impacts another of the survivors, Tom Wells, who sells "lucky charms". The reader is invited to consider whether Catholic ritual is indeed integral to the religion or whether it is just a superstition like Wells' lucky charms (or indeed conversely if the belief in lucky charms might be religious!).
Don't get me wrong, this isn't really a "religious" book and for those not interested in this theme, it is just part of the background to the story.
December 2, 2019
I have one of the first reviews of the book from the Times Literary Supplement, June 27, 1958. Whoever reviewed it was hot and cold towards it: "Robinson is a fine written, suggestive, and irritating book......Miss Spark has real talent and a vivid imagination (though it is a trifle misty at the edges) but so far she appears to be using these gifts to tease and to mystify rather than to enlighten and explore; so that what in fact lingers in the mind is not some satisfying aesthetic pattern or overall impression, but individual felicities here and there."
October 27, 2017
This is Muriel Spark's 2nd novel, and it is as good as it gets. It's part mystery, part philosophical and religious treatise, and part character study. Three people (2 men and a woman narrator) survive a plane crash on an island in the Atlantic. The sole occupant is a middle-aged man named Miles Mary Robinson, who owns the island. He is somewhat odd, but he helps to nurse the three back to health and provide for them as they wait for the next ship to come in to take them back to England (about 2 months). In the process there appears to be a bloody murder and the remaining characters play a cat and mouse game to figure out who the killer be.
This is a very quirky novel, but it reads very well. I was very absorbed in it. At times it reminded me of a cross between Agatha Christie and Shirley Jackson. And as well as spinning a nifty tale, the author had much to report on the human condition and judgement. The narrator has a tendency to pigeonhole people, both on the island and at home. There are shades of Pride and Prejudice in revealing how easy it is for us humans to prejudge people and be incorrect about them.
The writing is very clever and a bit playful at times. It was written in the late 1050s by a true master of the novel, and it was a wonderful brief excursion for this reader.
This is a very quirky novel, but it reads very well. I was very absorbed in it. At times it reminded me of a cross between Agatha Christie and Shirley Jackson. And as well as spinning a nifty tale, the author had much to report on the human condition and judgement. The narrator has a tendency to pigeonhole people, both on the island and at home. There are shades of Pride and Prejudice in revealing how easy it is for us humans to prejudge people and be incorrect about them.
The writing is very clever and a bit playful at times. It was written in the late 1050s by a true master of the novel, and it was a wonderful brief excursion for this reader.
July 4, 2019
My fifth Muriel Spark novel, her second, and this the best I’ve read (yet), though I’ve enjoyed them all. It’s a castaway tale, in the image of Defoe and Wyss, but also Agatha Christie at times as well.
The crash of an Azores-bound plane on the mist-covered mountain slope on a small island disrupts the reclusive life of a man who has named his island after himself, Robinson. Three survive, our narrator January Marlow, a journalist, and two men. On the surface of it, it is a mystery novel, and can indeed be read as such. Spark’s skill though, is to tell the story in retrospect, and blur what is real with what is not. It is therefore an account of what has stuck in Marlow’s memory, as she reads her journal and looks back, with a sense of the allegorical. My guess is that Spark intends the reader to be sympathetic towards the narrator, Marlow, but for me, it was for Robinson, who has his hermitic existence interrupted by unwelcome and ungrateful visitors.
The crash of an Azores-bound plane on the mist-covered mountain slope on a small island disrupts the reclusive life of a man who has named his island after himself, Robinson. Three survive, our narrator January Marlow, a journalist, and two men. On the surface of it, it is a mystery novel, and can indeed be read as such. Spark’s skill though, is to tell the story in retrospect, and blur what is real with what is not. It is therefore an account of what has stuck in Marlow’s memory, as she reads her journal and looks back, with a sense of the allegorical. My guess is that Spark intends the reader to be sympathetic towards the narrator, Marlow, but for me, it was for Robinson, who has his hermitic existence interrupted by unwelcome and ungrateful visitors.
Read
February 3, 2022Before there was Gilligan's Island or Lost, there was this story complete with a murder mystery. Good, short read.
August 20, 2024
“Of course, it was a strain of Jan’s nerves, but she was a brick…”
Would that I were, I thought, and I would hurl myself at his fat head.
Would that I were, I thought, and I would hurl myself at his fat head.
June 19, 2025
By the time I finished this book I really wanted to give it 5 stars. But I had to confront that I do have a soft spot for Muriel Spark. This one was definitely hard going and did not pick up in terms of ease of reading and interest until at least the last third, potentially quarter, of the novel. However the plot twist was superb and did make me want to read it again.
October 12, 2025
I found this Gulligan’s Island precursor tiresome. I’m a huge Spark enthusiast on my quest to read all her work. For anyone else, this one can be skipped. Our narrator is January who crash lands on “Robinson” the island owned by a man of the same name. She is one of three survivors, the other two being men. Clearly an homage to Robinson Crusoe, there is a young “brown” boy who follows Robinson everywhere, a reference to the native Friday. The novel’s setup takes too long to develop and it is only when the owner Robinson goes missing and presumably murdered that it gets dramatic. Unfortunately, that drama feels tired and predictable.
January is definitely one in a line of plucky Sparkian heroines. Her writing is key to her self-expression though she has to be prodded to journal by Robinson. She stands up to the men in her life at great personal risk and she comes out on top. However she is a bit too impulsive and without the shining cleverness the later incarnations display.
There is also a brief discussion of Catholic doctrine. Robinson has quit the Catholic Church over what he perceives as its Virgin Mary idolatry. This is biographically interesting because this book is written shortly after her conversion to Catholicism. There is a critical notebook that gets stolen and stealthy behavior that support Sparkian themes of privacy and writing as essential to living. But neither of these themes are developed thoroughly and the book mostly falls flat.
Second reading:
Reading this novel as autobiographical, it lands much differently. In this go round I see January clearly as Spark and her impetuous, assertive and arbitrary nature is a necessary one given the way she as a woman artist is perceived and tested by the men or man? in her life. While writing Robinson her relationship with Derek Stanford had deteriorated. Is Stanford reflected in the Olympian disdain of Robinson, the brute insistence of Wells and the ineffectual nature of Jimmie? If Sparks’ novels are a reworking of her reality rather than purely imaginative efforts does that mean Sparks is as a fictional character in her work? I have no answers just a new way to read her work.
January is definitely one in a line of plucky Sparkian heroines. Her writing is key to her self-expression though she has to be prodded to journal by Robinson. She stands up to the men in her life at great personal risk and she comes out on top. However she is a bit too impulsive and without the shining cleverness the later incarnations display.
There is also a brief discussion of Catholic doctrine. Robinson has quit the Catholic Church over what he perceives as its Virgin Mary idolatry. This is biographically interesting because this book is written shortly after her conversion to Catholicism. There is a critical notebook that gets stolen and stealthy behavior that support Sparkian themes of privacy and writing as essential to living. But neither of these themes are developed thoroughly and the book mostly falls flat.
Second reading:
Reading this novel as autobiographical, it lands much differently. In this go round I see January clearly as Spark and her impetuous, assertive and arbitrary nature is a necessary one given the way she as a woman artist is perceived and tested by the men or man? in her life. While writing Robinson her relationship with Derek Stanford had deteriorated. Is Stanford reflected in the Olympian disdain of Robinson, the brute insistence of Wells and the ineffectual nature of Jimmie? If Sparks’ novels are a reworking of her reality rather than purely imaginative efforts does that mean Sparks is as a fictional character in her work? I have no answers just a new way to read her work.
January 29, 2018
With The Comforters, I felt that Muriel Spark really set out her stall so to speak, her debut novel giving us a real taste of what was to come. However, with her second novel Robinson, she shows we might not want to be too quick to pigeon hole her work. As if a writer like Muriel Spark could ever be accurately pigeon holed anyway.
There are layers to Robinson, which make the whole – reasonably slight – novel, deceptively complex. However, it is very readable and gloriously compelling. In this novel, Spark plays homage to Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, often said to have been the first novel. However, as Candia McWilliam points out in her introduction to my Polygon edition, we can also be reminded of another island Robinson – the Swiss Family Robinson (they made me want a tree house). Muriel Spark’s son was called Robin – he lived with her parents and the two appear to have spent most of his life estranged. Layers, of fascinating possibilities to what might have inspired or driven Muriel Spark to write this extraordinary novel.
Religion plays a big part, Spark’s conversion to Catholicism which was in such evidence in The Comforters is present here too in the character of January Marlow, and in the arguments and discussions between her and other characters.
The plot premise is what made me want to read the book – which of us hasn’t wondered about being marooned on a remote island? (ok just me then).
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2018/...
There are layers to Robinson, which make the whole – reasonably slight – novel, deceptively complex. However, it is very readable and gloriously compelling. In this novel, Spark plays homage to Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, often said to have been the first novel. However, as Candia McWilliam points out in her introduction to my Polygon edition, we can also be reminded of another island Robinson – the Swiss Family Robinson (they made me want a tree house). Muriel Spark’s son was called Robin – he lived with her parents and the two appear to have spent most of his life estranged. Layers, of fascinating possibilities to what might have inspired or driven Muriel Spark to write this extraordinary novel.
Religion plays a big part, Spark’s conversion to Catholicism which was in such evidence in The Comforters is present here too in the character of January Marlow, and in the arguments and discussions between her and other characters.
The plot premise is what made me want to read the book – which of us hasn’t wondered about being marooned on a remote island? (ok just me then).
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2018/...
October 29, 2018
Read as part of Spark's Satire
Spark's second novel is an entertaining but rather slight comedy that touches on several other genres. The title is an allusion to Robinson Crusoe, and like all the best adventure stories it starts with a map.
The narrator January Marlow is one of three survivors of a plane crash on a remote Atlantic island named after its owner Robinson, who lives a reclusive life accompanied only by a boy he has adopted. He accommodates the three in his house, and much of the comedy arises from the interaction between the five mismatched individuals. The others are Robinson's heir Jimmie and the sinister Tom Wells. A subplot involves Robinson's views on religion - he is a Catholic but disapproves of the adulation of Mary.
When Robinson disappears leaving a trail of blood-stained clothes, the tone gets darker as the three fight to escape suspicion.
Spark's second novel is an entertaining but rather slight comedy that touches on several other genres. The title is an allusion to Robinson Crusoe, and like all the best adventure stories it starts with a map.
The narrator January Marlow is one of three survivors of a plane crash on a remote Atlantic island named after its owner Robinson, who lives a reclusive life accompanied only by a boy he has adopted. He accommodates the three in his house, and much of the comedy arises from the interaction between the five mismatched individuals. The others are Robinson's heir Jimmie and the sinister Tom Wells. A subplot involves Robinson's views on religion - he is a Catholic but disapproves of the adulation of Mary.
When Robinson disappears leaving a trail of blood-stained clothes, the tone gets darker as the three fight to escape suspicion.
October 28, 2019
Muriel Spark has become my go-to author when I need a little cheering up. ‘Robinson’ is not one of her most gripping novellas in my opinion, yet it still contains the essential characteristics of her oeuvre that I enjoy so much: sardonic and unconventional female narrators, strange social situations, witty dialogue, unexpected twists, and memorably peculiar details. That combination is sufficient to lift my spirits. In this case the narrator, a widow named January, is marooned on an island with three men and a boy after a plane crash. The uncomfortable dynamic within the group is further unsettled when one of them vanishes under suspicious circumstances. I liked January and her comparisons between life on the island and in London. The best detail in the story is her teaching a cat to play table tennis, initially a throwaway comment that is later elaborated upon to excellent effect. The three men with January on the island are rather too tiresome to be terribly interesting, but I enjoyed the plot twist. The island itself remains largely abstract, despite the helpful inclusion of a map. And only now do I realise that Robinson was almost inevitably named after Crusoe. I see what you did there, Spark.
October 12, 2019
Descubrí a Muriel Spark con La intromisión, y de inmediato me cautivó su forma de escribir, su humor satírico, sus personajes decadentes y sus diálogos que rayan la incoherencia. Cuando leí la sinopsis de Robinson supe que ese libro me iba a gustar, y no me falló la intuición.
Esta novela narra la historia de tres personajes que son los únicos supervivientes de un accidente aéreo y quedan varados en una isla habitada por un misterioso ermitaño y su hijo adoptivo. A partir de ese momento, las personalidades tan dispares de los nuevos habitantes de la isla empiezan a chocar y generar todo tipo de situaciones que ponen en peligro la convivencia y su propia seguridad.
Se trata de un libro corto y de buen ritmo. Los personajes son excelentes; como siempre, es genial meterse en la cabeza de los personajes de Muriel Spark, personas comunes y corrientes, decrépitas y hasta un poco absurdas.
En fin, disfruté muchísimo leyéndolo y lo recomiendo un montón.
Esta novela narra la historia de tres personajes que son los únicos supervivientes de un accidente aéreo y quedan varados en una isla habitada por un misterioso ermitaño y su hijo adoptivo. A partir de ese momento, las personalidades tan dispares de los nuevos habitantes de la isla empiezan a chocar y generar todo tipo de situaciones que ponen en peligro la convivencia y su propia seguridad.
Se trata de un libro corto y de buen ritmo. Los personajes son excelentes; como siempre, es genial meterse en la cabeza de los personajes de Muriel Spark, personas comunes y corrientes, decrépitas y hasta un poco absurdas.
En fin, disfruté muchísimo leyéndolo y lo recomiendo un montón.
March 16, 2018
Sometimes people say to me, 'If only you hadn't undertaken that journey . . . ' 'What a pity you didn't catch an earlier plane . . . ' or 'To think that you nearly went by sea!'
I am inclined to reject the idea behind these remarks in the same way as I reject the idea that it is best to have never been born.
I've signed up for a Muriel Spark Centenary Reading challenge and this is the first book I've read for it.
The story is told from the point of view of January Marlow, a widowed woman who is one of three survivors of a plane crash on an isolated island near the Azores. The only inhabitants of the island are Robinson, who bought the island from its previous owner and renamed it after himself, and an 11-year-old boy named Miguel who has been living with Robinson since his father's death.
Of the survivors, Jimmie is hardly injured, while January is knocked unconscious but doesn't take long to recover, and Tom is bed-bound with broken bones, with January reluctantly nursing him. Having failed to attract the attention of searching planes after the crash, the three survivors will be stuck on the island for several months until the arrival of the boat bringing the workers who will harvest Robert's pomegranates, as Robinson does not have a radio.
In general, January does not seem to be fond of men, with Robinson and Tom reminding her of her brothers-in-law, neither of whom she likes, although she does concede that one of them has some good qualities as her is kind to her son. January is an enthusiastic Catholic convert, while Robinson is now very anti-Catholic, having left the church due to dismay over the rise of Marian idolatry, and Tom's business interests include running an occult magazine and selling lucky charms, so religious tensions feed into the personality clashes.
When Robinson disappears, and blood-stains are found near the house, Miguel is distraught and the survivors of the crash suspect each other of murder,
I am inclined to reject the idea behind these remarks in the same way as I reject the idea that it is best to have never been born.
I've signed up for a Muriel Spark Centenary Reading challenge and this is the first book I've read for it.
The story is told from the point of view of January Marlow, a widowed woman who is one of three survivors of a plane crash on an isolated island near the Azores. The only inhabitants of the island are Robinson, who bought the island from its previous owner and renamed it after himself, and an 11-year-old boy named Miguel who has been living with Robinson since his father's death.
Of the survivors, Jimmie is hardly injured, while January is knocked unconscious but doesn't take long to recover, and Tom is bed-bound with broken bones, with January reluctantly nursing him. Having failed to attract the attention of searching planes after the crash, the three survivors will be stuck on the island for several months until the arrival of the boat bringing the workers who will harvest Robert's pomegranates, as Robinson does not have a radio.
In general, January does not seem to be fond of men, with Robinson and Tom reminding her of her brothers-in-law, neither of whom she likes, although she does concede that one of them has some good qualities as her is kind to her son. January is an enthusiastic Catholic convert, while Robinson is now very anti-Catholic, having left the church due to dismay over the rise of Marian idolatry, and Tom's business interests include running an occult magazine and selling lucky charms, so religious tensions feed into the personality clashes.
When Robinson disappears, and blood-stains are found near the house, Miguel is distraught and the survivors of the crash suspect each other of murder,
October 1, 2019
Wryly funny and strange. This leans on the Robinson Crusoe story, set on an island in the mid-Atlantic where a plane has gone down. The 3 survivors are rescued by a man called Robinson, who owns the island, and lives there with his adopted son Miguel. Tensions rise in the group until they discover some bloodied clothing. What has happened and to whom? You’ll have to read it to find out! Muriel Spark’s second novel is quite different from her first , but just as enjoyable.
March 5, 2021
There’s a plane crash and too much description of an island that doesn’t exist and of people who aren’t worthy of existing, even in our minds. Terminally boring for more than half the book.
What saves it is that I love how bitchy Muriel Spark is, how cold her humor can be.
Grade: C
What saves it is that I love how bitchy Muriel Spark is, how cold her humor can be.
Grade: C
January 5, 2025
You know how there’s understated British humor? Imagine that but so understated it’s undetectable. Imagine that but a whole book. Things happen for no reason I can figure out, but which are probably hilarious. Also, there’s a good amount of funny and obvious jokes.
I like it and I can’t explain it. So it’s art.
I like it and I can’t explain it. So it’s art.
April 25, 2022
i wish i liked this more than i did to be honest
February 1, 2023
Bit of fun
May 15, 2025
Paired beautifully with my current LOST journey
January 21, 2018
I've just finished Spark's second novel, Robinson. Still reeling. I want everyone who picks up this book for the first time to be as shocked and riveted as I was; so much depends on not knowing the next twist.
Brilliant as her first novel was, she blows away all competition with her second. Anyone else writing in 1958 may as well have put away their typewriter.
Girl got some serious range.
An homage to Irish novelist Daniel Defoe's 1719 Robinson Crusoe (considered by most literary scholars to be the first novel), in Spark's second work three passengers survive a plane crash on a remote island while en route to the Azores. Pulled to safety and nursed by the owner of the island - a man who's re-christened himself "Robinson" - and a young boy he's taken under his care - Miguel - the three learn they have several months until a crew coming to harvest and take away the island's pomegranate crop will call for rescue.
A writer on assignment, sent to research three islands, January Marlow narrates. Handed a notebook by Robinson, who figures this will keep her occupied and her mind off the horror of surviving a crash dozens didn't, she begins recording what will come to be an increasingly strange and menacing life on the island:
... without any effort of will, my eye recorded the territory, as if my eyes were an independent and aboriginal body, taking precautions against unknown eventualities. Instinctively I looked for routes of escape, positions of concealment, protective rocks; instinctively I looked for edible vegetation. In fact, I must have been afraid.
Widowed after the death of a much older husband who married her on a bet when she was a schoolgirl and he aged 58, January has a young son back home in England. It crosses her mind he and all her family will assume she's dead in the months before she returns. She carries on, knowing rescue will come eventually. There's nothing more she can do but record the experience.
Tom Wells, huckster salesman of pseudo-mystical trinkets, suffered the worst injuries from the crash, breaking several ribs. Confined by a make-shift brace ingeniously constructed by Robinson, he spends weeks in recovery. Once he's up and around, what an irritating character he becomes. Honestly, you'll want to slap him.
The third survivor, Jimmie Waterford, reveals to January he's been sent by Robinson's family to bring him back to run the family business, which he's inherited - a motor-scooter business headquartered in Tangiers. Only concussed by the crash, Jimmie suffered the least physical damage. Aside from companionable time spent with Robinson, Jimmie will come to be January's most trusted friend and confidante.
Having established a well-appointed home in a pre-existing 19th century house, Robinson lives a mostly solitary life on the island, surviving on tinned provisions brought once a year by the pomegranate men. Young Miguel was the child of one of these men, taken in by Robinson after the boy's father died.
Not a native English speaker, naive from lack of life experience, Miguel is Spark's child version of the character "Friday" from Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. He serves as a guide around the island, as well as a handy extra set of hands when there's work to be done.
Settling in, January finds it annoying that Robinson has a beautiful, well-stocked library in glass-enclosed bookshelves, because they're mostly uncut first editions, for display and obviously unread. At home, she recalls, her books are all a mess, thrown about, edition be damned. When he generously offers up his books for her use, she barely looks at them. Mostly classical works, none appeal.
For modern readers, the uncut bit refers to the 19th century and prior publication of books containing pages that weren't cut in production. Readers would need knives to separate the pages as they read. Cutting the pages was an added expense for the publisher.
A former bookseller myself, I've owned uncut books. Believe me, I felt the same about their previous owners as our heroine January, though the fact a 19th century book was uncut increases its value. It's like owning a rare car that's never been driven. A bit of trivia thrown in as a bonus, you're very welcome.
Robinson is a linear novel, told from January's perspective. The banter between the characters has a tense quality, always a bit of unease to keep the reader from becoming too confident s/he knows precisely what's going on, who's a goodie or baddie. Distrust is sown and fed. Spark keeps us on our toes. It's difficult to know who can be trusted, if anyone's being sincere or what's motivating them.
Except January. Maybe I should say it's the men you aren't certain you can trust. But then, it's January keeping the journal, isn't it.
The book is filled with Spark's imaginatively descriptive exploration of an island richly varied, containing sandy beaches, volcanic formations, secret tunnels and caves, even an active volcano referred to as the Furnace. The Furnace sighs, even screams, when things are thrown into it. It's sulphurous and powerful. In the midst of a beautiful island paradise, there's palpable menace.
The rest of the island sounds like a paradise. I have to wonder if she used a real location, if she drew from personal experience. It's so vivid:
In direct sunlight a variety of greens twinkled suddenly, glimpses of mossy craters. Curious red lights appeared, which I later discovered were caused by vapours rising from the soil like rusty dew ... The shallower pits were filled with iridescent blue and green pools. This was the moonish landscape of which Robinson had spoken. The feel of the earth underfoot, the colours, even the air, were strange.
The plot pivots past the halfway point, becoming much darker, when one of the characters disappears in a way suggesting great violence. From here the characters actively begin to turn on each other, suspicious. January, as the narrator, analyzes the situation in her notebook, trying to crack the case. There are only five people on the island. Of that she can be reasonably certain. Might one of them be a murderer?
But who?
And why?
Each one of them has some motivation for wanting the missing person dead, some conflict that could appear damning if twisted just the right way. Each has had a run-in the others have witnessed.
I'm sorry. You're not getting any more spilled beans out of me.
The Catholic Element
Similar to Caroline Rose from her first novel, The Comforters, and an autobiographical tip of the hat to Spark herself, January Marlow is a Catholic convert. Religious discussion crops up between the characters, culminating in January's determination to introduce young Miguel to the rosary, partly to counteract Tom Wells and the ridiculous stories he tells the boy about his "miracle" artifacts.
Robinson is adamant the boy receives no religious instruction. A born Catholic who left the faith while in the seminary, he orders her to leave the boy alone and Tom Wells to stop feeding the boy nonsense. Mystified, Miguel is drawn to what seems magical and otherworldly, yet he's easily distracted by pretty much anything, so there's not much danger either side will influence him. He is a very simple soul.
Muriel Spark's conversion to Catholicism had a strong influence on her novels. She used the topic of Catholicism in her first two books, and no doubt will later, but interestingly there's no effort to expound on dogma. It's more peripheral than concrete, and so far in her books leads to conflict between characters. I haven't seen anything overtly positive coming from religion in either The Comforters or Robinson.
In both novels, Spark also refers to superstition and the occult. It isn't clear to me yet what, precisely, she's trying to say. Or perhaps she isn't making any judgment, just presenting both.
I'm looking forward to learning more about her own life as I get further into Stannard's biography, noting how she uses religion and what message she's trying to convey. Why did she convert, and what did religion mean to her? I'd like to know.
Robinson really staggered me with its depth of detail - natural description and plot-wise - as well as that madly twisty-turny storyline. I didn't see her wicked humor as much in her second novel, but it would have been obvious she had one hell of a career ahead of her if she was turning out books like this so soon.
I could turn this into a lengthy piece of literary criticism if I deconstructed the book, but honestly, I just want you to know it's a damn fine read. Sometimes you're just not in the mood to be a literary critic, you know?
Just read Muriel Spark.
Brilliant as her first novel was, she blows away all competition with her second. Anyone else writing in 1958 may as well have put away their typewriter.
Girl got some serious range.
An homage to Irish novelist Daniel Defoe's 1719 Robinson Crusoe (considered by most literary scholars to be the first novel), in Spark's second work three passengers survive a plane crash on a remote island while en route to the Azores. Pulled to safety and nursed by the owner of the island - a man who's re-christened himself "Robinson" - and a young boy he's taken under his care - Miguel - the three learn they have several months until a crew coming to harvest and take away the island's pomegranate crop will call for rescue.
A writer on assignment, sent to research three islands, January Marlow narrates. Handed a notebook by Robinson, who figures this will keep her occupied and her mind off the horror of surviving a crash dozens didn't, she begins recording what will come to be an increasingly strange and menacing life on the island:
... without any effort of will, my eye recorded the territory, as if my eyes were an independent and aboriginal body, taking precautions against unknown eventualities. Instinctively I looked for routes of escape, positions of concealment, protective rocks; instinctively I looked for edible vegetation. In fact, I must have been afraid.
Widowed after the death of a much older husband who married her on a bet when she was a schoolgirl and he aged 58, January has a young son back home in England. It crosses her mind he and all her family will assume she's dead in the months before she returns. She carries on, knowing rescue will come eventually. There's nothing more she can do but record the experience.
Tom Wells, huckster salesman of pseudo-mystical trinkets, suffered the worst injuries from the crash, breaking several ribs. Confined by a make-shift brace ingeniously constructed by Robinson, he spends weeks in recovery. Once he's up and around, what an irritating character he becomes. Honestly, you'll want to slap him.
The third survivor, Jimmie Waterford, reveals to January he's been sent by Robinson's family to bring him back to run the family business, which he's inherited - a motor-scooter business headquartered in Tangiers. Only concussed by the crash, Jimmie suffered the least physical damage. Aside from companionable time spent with Robinson, Jimmie will come to be January's most trusted friend and confidante.
Having established a well-appointed home in a pre-existing 19th century house, Robinson lives a mostly solitary life on the island, surviving on tinned provisions brought once a year by the pomegranate men. Young Miguel was the child of one of these men, taken in by Robinson after the boy's father died.
Not a native English speaker, naive from lack of life experience, Miguel is Spark's child version of the character "Friday" from Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. He serves as a guide around the island, as well as a handy extra set of hands when there's work to be done.
Settling in, January finds it annoying that Robinson has a beautiful, well-stocked library in glass-enclosed bookshelves, because they're mostly uncut first editions, for display and obviously unread. At home, she recalls, her books are all a mess, thrown about, edition be damned. When he generously offers up his books for her use, she barely looks at them. Mostly classical works, none appeal.
For modern readers, the uncut bit refers to the 19th century and prior publication of books containing pages that weren't cut in production. Readers would need knives to separate the pages as they read. Cutting the pages was an added expense for the publisher.
A former bookseller myself, I've owned uncut books. Believe me, I felt the same about their previous owners as our heroine January, though the fact a 19th century book was uncut increases its value. It's like owning a rare car that's never been driven. A bit of trivia thrown in as a bonus, you're very welcome.
Robinson is a linear novel, told from January's perspective. The banter between the characters has a tense quality, always a bit of unease to keep the reader from becoming too confident s/he knows precisely what's going on, who's a goodie or baddie. Distrust is sown and fed. Spark keeps us on our toes. It's difficult to know who can be trusted, if anyone's being sincere or what's motivating them.
Except January. Maybe I should say it's the men you aren't certain you can trust. But then, it's January keeping the journal, isn't it.
The book is filled with Spark's imaginatively descriptive exploration of an island richly varied, containing sandy beaches, volcanic formations, secret tunnels and caves, even an active volcano referred to as the Furnace. The Furnace sighs, even screams, when things are thrown into it. It's sulphurous and powerful. In the midst of a beautiful island paradise, there's palpable menace.
The rest of the island sounds like a paradise. I have to wonder if she used a real location, if she drew from personal experience. It's so vivid:
In direct sunlight a variety of greens twinkled suddenly, glimpses of mossy craters. Curious red lights appeared, which I later discovered were caused by vapours rising from the soil like rusty dew ... The shallower pits were filled with iridescent blue and green pools. This was the moonish landscape of which Robinson had spoken. The feel of the earth underfoot, the colours, even the air, were strange.
The plot pivots past the halfway point, becoming much darker, when one of the characters disappears in a way suggesting great violence. From here the characters actively begin to turn on each other, suspicious. January, as the narrator, analyzes the situation in her notebook, trying to crack the case. There are only five people on the island. Of that she can be reasonably certain. Might one of them be a murderer?
But who?
And why?
Each one of them has some motivation for wanting the missing person dead, some conflict that could appear damning if twisted just the right way. Each has had a run-in the others have witnessed.
I'm sorry. You're not getting any more spilled beans out of me.
The Catholic Element
Similar to Caroline Rose from her first novel, The Comforters, and an autobiographical tip of the hat to Spark herself, January Marlow is a Catholic convert. Religious discussion crops up between the characters, culminating in January's determination to introduce young Miguel to the rosary, partly to counteract Tom Wells and the ridiculous stories he tells the boy about his "miracle" artifacts.
Robinson is adamant the boy receives no religious instruction. A born Catholic who left the faith while in the seminary, he orders her to leave the boy alone and Tom Wells to stop feeding the boy nonsense. Mystified, Miguel is drawn to what seems magical and otherworldly, yet he's easily distracted by pretty much anything, so there's not much danger either side will influence him. He is a very simple soul.
Muriel Spark's conversion to Catholicism had a strong influence on her novels. She used the topic of Catholicism in her first two books, and no doubt will later, but interestingly there's no effort to expound on dogma. It's more peripheral than concrete, and so far in her books leads to conflict between characters. I haven't seen anything overtly positive coming from religion in either The Comforters or Robinson.
In both novels, Spark also refers to superstition and the occult. It isn't clear to me yet what, precisely, she's trying to say. Or perhaps she isn't making any judgment, just presenting both.
I'm looking forward to learning more about her own life as I get further into Stannard's biography, noting how she uses religion and what message she's trying to convey. Why did she convert, and what did religion mean to her? I'd like to know.
Robinson really staggered me with its depth of detail - natural description and plot-wise - as well as that madly twisty-turny storyline. I didn't see her wicked humor as much in her second novel, but it would have been obvious she had one hell of a career ahead of her if she was turning out books like this so soon.
I could turn this into a lengthy piece of literary criticism if I deconstructed the book, but honestly, I just want you to know it's a damn fine read. Sometimes you're just not in the mood to be a literary critic, you know?
Just read Muriel Spark.
May 28, 2014
The narrator, January Marlow, is a catholic convert and has a son. Remind you of anyone? Robinson is an island named after its owner.
The story goes quite well till Robinson disappears, assumed murdered. However, it occurred to me as I read it that the blood on the clothing was the goat's, since no one sees the goat die, and that Robinson had done a Reggie Perrin. And this turned out to be the case. Maybe without John Stonehouse and Reggie Perrin I would not have thought of this, but I did. Furthermore, January – who lists all logical possibilites in her journal - doesn't list this one, though it is as logical as any she does list. She would have thought of it, but the author cannot include it for fear of revealing her plot in advance.
In fact, it seems to me the main interest is in catholic theology with two characters, Robinson himself and one we only meet second hand, Ian Brodie, both having it in for the Virgin Mary and her cult. We learn, second hand from Brodie's wife, that he is impotent. He is also very interested in January's love life, if she has one, after the death of her husband. In short, his hostility to Mary is sexual in nature. He is, of course, able to claim that Jesus is taking second place to Mary among her followers, but this logical point is not what motivates him. Robinson's hostility to Mary is not so clearly motivated, though he has written a book on the subject – somewhat in advance of Brodie's letters of complaint to the catholic press. He is hostile to superstition, including such things as rosary beads, but does not appear to consider that rising from the dead on the third day might fall into that category.
The real reason for the Mary thing, in my view, is to be found in the word 'virgin'. Mary had a husband, yet Jesus was a virgin birth. A woman who is not a virgin is somehow considered to be unclean by the peoples of the book. This comes out in many ways, including the will of Mohammed Atta who, like others of his ilk, had religion as a virus of the brain. If Mary had been on her third husband there would be no cult. But this issue is not dealt with in the book. It is significant, though, that January, a woman, contests with both these men on this point. She is also falsely modest, not taking the argument too far with Brodie since he can cite more sources than she can. But she knows she's right. Which she is.
It may be that in Spark's mind the mutual suspicions floating about after the presumed murder of Robinson are of great interest. I didn't find that.
She used the word 'minimist' at one point, where I would have expected 'minimalist'. I don't like minimist, do you?
The story goes quite well till Robinson disappears, assumed murdered. However, it occurred to me as I read it that the blood on the clothing was the goat's, since no one sees the goat die, and that Robinson had done a Reggie Perrin. And this turned out to be the case. Maybe without John Stonehouse and Reggie Perrin I would not have thought of this, but I did. Furthermore, January – who lists all logical possibilites in her journal - doesn't list this one, though it is as logical as any she does list. She would have thought of it, but the author cannot include it for fear of revealing her plot in advance.
In fact, it seems to me the main interest is in catholic theology with two characters, Robinson himself and one we only meet second hand, Ian Brodie, both having it in for the Virgin Mary and her cult. We learn, second hand from Brodie's wife, that he is impotent. He is also very interested in January's love life, if she has one, after the death of her husband. In short, his hostility to Mary is sexual in nature. He is, of course, able to claim that Jesus is taking second place to Mary among her followers, but this logical point is not what motivates him. Robinson's hostility to Mary is not so clearly motivated, though he has written a book on the subject – somewhat in advance of Brodie's letters of complaint to the catholic press. He is hostile to superstition, including such things as rosary beads, but does not appear to consider that rising from the dead on the third day might fall into that category.
The real reason for the Mary thing, in my view, is to be found in the word 'virgin'. Mary had a husband, yet Jesus was a virgin birth. A woman who is not a virgin is somehow considered to be unclean by the peoples of the book. This comes out in many ways, including the will of Mohammed Atta who, like others of his ilk, had religion as a virus of the brain. If Mary had been on her third husband there would be no cult. But this issue is not dealt with in the book. It is significant, though, that January, a woman, contests with both these men on this point. She is also falsely modest, not taking the argument too far with Brodie since he can cite more sources than she can. But she knows she's right. Which she is.
It may be that in Spark's mind the mutual suspicions floating about after the presumed murder of Robinson are of great interest. I didn't find that.
She used the word 'minimist' at one point, where I would have expected 'minimalist'. I don't like minimist, do you?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2012
Everyone loves a good fictional island – Kirrin Island in the "Famous Five" series (Enid Blyton), Azkaban in "Harry Potter" (JK Rowling), Da Zhi Dao in the Chinese masterpiece "Return of the Condor Heroes" (Jin Yong)… the list goes on. The better fictional islands though, are the ones where isolation is integral to plot integrity – Okishima Island in "Battle Royale" (Koushun Takami), the unnamed island in "Lord of the Flies" (William Golding) and Lilliput Island in "Gulliver’s Travels" (Jonathan Swift). The best fictional islands are, however, the ones where the island itself is a character. Despite obvious references to the other famous Robinsons – Crusoe and the Swiss Family, this lesser known novel falls into the last category.
Cleverly cultivating morbid foreboding, nervous religious tension and blood-splattered clues, Muriel Spark lines up a distinct troupe of other-wordly characters. They are led by her prototypical surrealist female protagonist January Marlowe, as one of three survivors of a plane crash, marooned on an island shaped like a man. It is owned by the mysteriously detached Robinson who drags them back into health, assisted by his native sidekick Miguel. Is he Robinson the island or Robinson the person? I have not read Muriel Spark's entire oevure, but this is the only novel I know of which features animals, somewhat whimsically, in the form of a ping-pong playing cat and a sick goat. Equally compelling though, are the screaming volcano, vivid mustard fields, and mossy tunnels slick with secrets.
Probably not a novel I will re-read - it is neither fraught with the suspense of "The Drivers Seat" (my gold standard Spark), nor mercilessly driven by the egocentric desperation of "Miss Brodie"... but a well- deserved 3 stars nonetheless!
Cleverly cultivating morbid foreboding, nervous religious tension and blood-splattered clues, Muriel Spark lines up a distinct troupe of other-wordly characters. They are led by her prototypical surrealist female protagonist January Marlowe, as one of three survivors of a plane crash, marooned on an island shaped like a man. It is owned by the mysteriously detached Robinson who drags them back into health, assisted by his native sidekick Miguel. Is he Robinson the island or Robinson the person? I have not read Muriel Spark's entire oevure, but this is the only novel I know of which features animals, somewhat whimsically, in the form of a ping-pong playing cat and a sick goat. Equally compelling though, are the screaming volcano, vivid mustard fields, and mossy tunnels slick with secrets.
Probably not a novel I will re-read - it is neither fraught with the suspense of "The Drivers Seat" (my gold standard Spark), nor mercilessly driven by the egocentric desperation of "Miss Brodie"... but a well- deserved 3 stars nonetheless!
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