read: 08.06.19 - 21.06.19

Summary

Roxana (1724), Defoe's last and darkest novel, is the autobiography of a woman who has traded her virtue, at first for survival, and then for fame and fortune. Its narrator tells the story of her own 'wicked' life as the mistress of rich and powerful men. A resourceful adventuress, she is also an unforgiving analyst of her own susceptibilities, who tells us of the price she pays for her successes. Endowed with many seductive skills, she is herself seduced: by money, by dreams of rank, and by the illusion that she can escape her own past. 

Review 

I was taken aback by how much more I enjoyed this book than I initially thought I would. It was full of excitement, adventure, and most of all a narrator that I loved to hate, and hated because I loved her. She was at once both sympathetic and hyperbolic, moral and immoral - almost creating her own moral conduct to stick by.

Planted within the text were a series of moral teachings, things that made me question the world around me as well as the actions of the characters in the book. It was scandalous and brilliant, and I thoroughly enjoyed the story of watching the cresting and falling success of this woman. 

I only read because it was assigned on my first term reading list, but I am glad that I have done so because I think it provided a very insightful picture into the lives of women at the time. 

rating: 8/10