Selkirk's Island: The True and Strange Adventures of the Real Robinson Crusoe [Hardcover]

Souhami's book is awful for the simple fact that she bases so much of Selkirk's actions on his sexual appetite for goats. This may be true, however Souhami bases this gross assertion on the anecdote of one unnamed islander. Forget Selkirk's own testimony. Forget the fact that Defoe's interviews with Selkirk led to a powerful story of an individual wrestling with the providence of God. Forget that when Selkirk lived the idea of throwing off the shackles of moral convention wasn't part of the common individuals frame of reference. No,instead Souhami is clear in her conviction that Selkirk's whole being was centered on a randiness for goats. Unfortunately this leads Souhami to defend this outrageous claim throughout the rest of the book. Defoe, closer to the source, was inspired to write a story that captured the dynamic and driving spirit of Western cultural achievement(Not that it always benefitted everyone). Souhami instead jams a narrow modern interpretation on a classic and we're left with one of the least inspiring tales ever fabricated.

I have read all the reviews here and have read the book too, enjoying it thoroughly. I find Souhami's meandering style and graphic imagery fascinating. There is no way she could write a book that is just about Selkirk's sojourn on the island, there just isn't enough information. So instead, she weaves a tapestry of the harshness of eighteenth century sealife and lets us imagine for ourselves what it would be like to sail the seas with men like William Dampier in search of booty.
Alexander Selkirk was not a nice guy and he travelled in the company of others who were also not nice guys. But these rough men had their own code and sense of fair play, so when Selkirk argued with and refused to obey his incompetent superior, he was marooned rather than executed as he probably would have been under similar circumstances in the Royal Navy.
Selkirk was of an age when people knew how to do things with their hands, they had to in order to survive. With a bare minimum of necessities, he was able to carve out a lonely yet comfortable existence on his isle of exile. Souhami paints a beautiful portrait of how the lush the island was and how bountiful it must have seemed to the marooned sailor. Her descriptions of the flora, fauna, and topography are very evocative.
Beyond the isle itself, Souhami expands on the geopolitical situation and the position of the English vis-a-vis the Spanish in the struggle for control of the seas and thus of trade. I learned quite a few interesting things about the Spanish settlements and inter-settlement communications reading this book. Souhami's prose makes the era come alive.
Despite all the privations of life at sea, pirates and privateers were guys who were truly free. Selkirk's life is one of breaking the bonds of social custom and morality. His instincts were basic, he was fatalistic, and he had no real interests beyond satisfying his urges and doing what it took so that he could indulge his fancy. His sham marriages show that he saw women the way he saw the goats of his island, as objects of sexual conquest.
Selkirk's Island is a book filled with fascinating facts woven together with logical conjecture. I recommend it as a spellbinding read for anyone who is comfortable thinking "outside the box".

This book appears to be a biography of Alexander Selkirk, but is actually a well-researched historical novel. The author knows her sources. There are many footnotes, quotes, and factual details. You want to believe she had some way of knowing the intimate details she supplies--how people saw their situations, what their motives were, and the vivid details of their experiences that bring the story to life. After all, historical sources sometimes provide such background, and in this case we do have some sources for Selkirk's thoughts, feelings and experiences. Soon enough, however, one sees that Souhami has simply assumed the authorial omniscience of a novelist. She states as plain fact many things that she could not possibly know, including things that only Alexander Selkirk could have known and that he would not likely have revealed.

After she tells how Selkirk masturbated against palm trees while he was marooned on the island, a serious reader continues to read only to see how far she will go. At the same time it is interesting to note how she painstakingly documents some details that are not especially interesting--perhaps this is a tactic to make the book seem more like a solid historical narrative.

Her most imaginative invention is Mr. Selkirk's having sex with wild goats on the island. We do know, from his own account, that he ran down goats for sport and food, and either killed them to eat, or else notched their ears and released them. We do not know that he indulged in any other kind of sport with them. Certainly Selkirk had an abnormal capacity for violence and survived in a pirate culture that was a home for the most dysfunctional dregs of humanity. He could have been guilty of screwing goats or even kinkier things. But there is no way to know. Ms. Souhami only provides a footnote in support, implying that a present-day native of the island gave her the idea: "It is always that way with men who are alone," he tells her. Selkirk's sex with goats is not just a passing conjecture. It is a theme to which the author returns, to encapsulate Selkirk's life on the island, and to portray his attitude towards women.

I enjoyed her discussion of the myth-making that followed Selkirk's life, especially the few pages where she analyzes the public appeal of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe fantasy, which was based on Selkirk's adventures as a castaway. But she has invented another myth--one that is likely to last. In other reviews here you'll see that some readers uncritically believe her tale.

This book received the Whitbread award, in the category of biography. That was a big mistake, unless history is now to be done the way Hollywood does it. Much effort went into this book, some talent, and a commendable concern for the preservation of habitat on Selkirk's island, but no professional ethic regarding the responsibilities of historians. We'll never know whether Selkirk screwed goats, but we do know that Souhami screwed this story.