The Swiss Family Robinson: A Simplified Robinson Crusoe

The Swiss Family Robinson (1812)- Johann David Wyss (256 pages)

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss surrounds the story of a family that is shipwrecked onto a tropical island in the East Indies. The narrative opens with the family aboard a ship en route to Port Jackson in Australia as a storm opens up. The crew abandons the ship and leaves the family to certain doom until the storm lets up. From there, the family sees land on the horizon and after arriving there safely the story really begins. For the rest of the tale, the family shows incredible ingenuity as they create a life for themselves on the island from building a home, to domesticating animals, and farming the land.

Wyss’s work has very strong readability. The narrative style, the subject matter, and Wyss’s own writing approach which typically does not have large passages of imagery creates one of the easiest reads I have found so far. The only times I encountered any difficulty were a few times when Wyss was describing an animal or plant on the island which I was ignorant of, and I simply wanted to see a picture of what was being described.

While Swiss Family Robinson’s readability is high, the thematic discourse was quite low. I think some simple narratives can use the façade of a simple narrative to allow for a rich exposition of themes, other times I think some narratives are just made to be simple and enjoyable. I think this novel is the latter. Aside from general themes of perseverance and ingenuity, I don’t think there is much to dissect here.

For the final segment on enjoyment, I think overall the work is very pleasant. It is not overly complex while still allowing the reader to explore the island with the family and be astounded by their attempts to civilize the land and create a true home for themselves. This read is a very simple, page-turning novel of an adventure that is sure to pique your curiosity.

Overall, I very much enjoyed Wyss’s tale. I would describe it as a simplified Robinson Crusoe. While both works surround being marooned on an island and their attempts to make a life for themselves on the island, Wyss’s is a much more straightforward narrative. Defoe has a tendency to have long passages describing the imagery of the land or attempts to describe some engineering feat that Crusoe just accomplished. Wyss does neither, creating a fun and simple tale of adventure.

As always, my scoring breakdown is below. Thanks for reading!

Overall: 6.3, an enjoyable work whose score is helped by my highest readability score yet.

Readability: 10, a very easy read great for all ages.

Thematic Questions: 2, very little if any thematic discourse.

Enjoyment: 7, after reading Ivanhoe, a verbose and complex narrative, this tale allowed for a relaxing and fun adventure.