Robert Crews - Hardcover

Berger, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688119204 ISBN 13: 9780688119201

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1994

Synopsis

In a modern Robinson Crusoe tale, Robert Crews, a middle-aged alcoholic, embarks on a mythic survival adventure when his plane crashes, and encounters Friday, running from her husband

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

The eponymous hero of Berger's 19th novel (after Meeting Evil ) is a postmodern Robinson Crusoe--more dysfunctional and doubting than his 18th-century forebear. And he sets a greener example: whereas Crusoe established an enlightened despotism over nature, Crews must learn to survive with rather than in spite of his environment. Berger also owes a clear debt to Golding's Pincher Martin --to survive, Crews must purge himself, settle his debts with his past. In the novel's first half, when Crews is alone with his environment and his thoughts, the inherent pleasures of the genre--the battle of wits between nature and man where the stakes are survival--are as gripping as ever. Once Crews meets his Friday, however--in this case, a lissome young wife on the run from her husband--the narrative loses much if not most of its momentum. Berger's ear for language, so keen in his descriptions of nature and in Crews's internal monologues, becomes clogged in reams of inert dialogue. A latent strand of Iron-Johnishness also rears its shaggy head, as man and woman liberate their inner selves in the forest's primal twilight. The climax only confirms the novel's schematic and rather smug affirmation of nature over culture--the clear, powerful lines of the opening chapters are only a blurred memory.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Robert Crews is a drunk who has squandered his father's fortune, betrayed his mother's hopes, and ruined three marriages. He holds himself in contempt, and it's the correct attitude. An old college buddy, who regards Crews as nothing more than a stooge, invites him to join a party of fishermen bound for the North Woods. The plane crashes in a lake, and only Crews escapes to tell. He is forced to be sober and to live on his wits--teaching himself how to construct a shelter, build a fire, and catch fish. These are the most original and entertaining scenes of Berger's novel, despite how heavily they lean on the original Robinson Crusoe. In an obvious twist, Friday ends up being a woman, brought to the wilderness by her cowardly husband with the thought that, as the two confront the purity of nature, they can repair their marriage. Predictably, the wilderness brings out the beast in the husband, the courage and honor of our hero. Berger sustains interest with some insights about civilization and the wilderness, women and men, but the humor of his early work is missing, and his style seems too formal for his simple story. Berger's name will sell books, but, unfortunately, the most original thinking here belongs to Daniel Defoe. John Mort

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0688119204
• ISBN 13: 9780688119201
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240