Reading 1001 discussion

Finished 22 June 2018. 2 stars.

My last of the Defoe books on the 1001 books list!

So, this book is nearly 300 years old. And it feels like it. The language is dated and took some getting used to. The scandals wouldn't be so scandalous (not that I would want to be friends with "Roxana") today. And today, Roxana would not have to struggle to avoid marriage to keep control of her wealth. Of course, today it is a lot harder to lose someone (or to be lost yourself), so many of Roxana's problems would never have happened n the first place.

So, it is what it is. I do wonder who read this book c1724. I can't believe it was women and families--or would Roxana's behavior not be seen as shocking as much as offensive? Or was this written for men to read in clubs, and to laugh with their friends about? I should look into this.

Rating: 3 stars


A bit of a far-fatched story about a woman who marries at a young age, has a bunch of kids, and is left penniless by her husband. She proceeds to have more lovers and more kids (honestly, I lost count), but manages to increase her station in life. There are a lot of similarities I see to both Fanny Hill and Moll Flanders.

I found the character of Roxana fascinating. I found myself liking her but she is a terrible mother who abandons all her children and goes to almost farcical lengths (literally) to avoid confirming she is the mother of the only one who is interested in knowing her. She is greedy, duplicitous and ambitious but still manages to arouse sympathy.

Her arguments against marriage ring very modern but the author did not hold them himself and supplies (rubbish) counter arguments through the character of the Dutch merchant. This is Defoe's most psychological novel and it does not always work.

The ending is grating from a modern perspective and hits falsely like that of Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth does, for example. You would have to be very conservative to be outraged by Roxana's sexual escapades nowadays (the childrearing or rather, lack of, though!) Nowadays she would probably have her own reality show. Then, she got a rubbish ending.

I really enjoyed this book.

***

This was a bit meh, especially after having recently read Fanny Hill and Moll Flanders. Woman with a good-for-nothing husband and a trolley of kids gets abandonned by the said husband; kids taken away; then a rosary of relationship where the (rich) husband dies or disappears, leaving Roxana richer than ever. The third quarter of the book is spent showing all the lengths Roxana had to go to to preserve and repatriate her "hard-earned" riches. The last quarter of the book is spent trying to find other ways for Roxana to avoid meeting her legitimate daughter; annoying.

reason read: This is my October 2026 tbr takedown. Roxana is the last novel by Defoe. Oh what a tangled web we weave when at first we practice to deceive. It is a sort of autobiography by the narrator and explores female independence, moral compromise, and the cost of accumulating wealth in a patriarchal society. Most what I read was a woman who did what she had to do (in her opinion) to survive even if she also believed herself to be immoral. Her laiasons helped her acquire wealth and survive in stations above her normal means. She is a morally conflicted woman. She fears moral ruin but is driven by her desire for personal and financial independence, that is until she gets older and realizes that as an older lady she can't expect the same successes she had in her youth and beauty. I struggled with the whole getting pregnant and abondoning her children. This woman had very little maternal instincts. Defoe believed in that women should bear children and not exercise ways to prevent pregnancy but he also understood that children were a burden. Amy serves as Roxana's dark double. In the end, Roxana tries to borrow a "normal" persona but is trapped by multiple lies and she ends up a miserable person unlike Defoe's other characters who end up repenting, Roxana is consumed by spiritual dread.