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    Moll Flanders
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    Moll Flanders
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    Moll Flanders
    Audiobook (abridged)55 minutes

    Moll Flanders

    Written by Daniel Defoe

    Narrated by Siobhan McKenna

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Born in Newgate Prison and abandoned soon after, Moll Flanders is searching for a secure place in society. Her desire to belong propels her into all kinds of trouble from numerous marriages, bigamy and incest to theft. Charting her progress from an innocent but determined young girl to a contentedly resigned elderly woman, Defoe’s novel casts a light on the splendours and iniquities of life in 18th century England and America. It is a tale of sin and repentance, portrayed through a rich pageant of comical scenes.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe Copyright Group
    Release dateJan 1, 2014
    ISBN9781780001142
    Author

    Daniel Defoe

    Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), son of a London butcher, James Foe, took the pen name Defoe in 1703, the year he was pilloried and jailed for publishing a notorious attack on the religious hypocrisy and intolerance of the English political class. His imprisonment ruined his lucrative trade as a merchant but made him a popular figure with the public. Freed by the intervention of rising statesman Robert Harley, Defoe became a renowned journalist, but also a government spy. Robinson Crusoe, his first work of fiction, was published in his sixtieth year, but was soon followed by other lasting novels, including The Life and Adventures of Mr Duncan Campbell, Moll Flanders, A Journal of the Plague Year and Roxana.

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    Reviews for Moll Flanders

    3.5/5

    1,149 ratings49 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Although written by a man in the early eighteenth century, Moll is vivid and entirely believable - and even something of a pragmatic feminist. Moll recognises that marriage is important because women don't have the same freedom as men to have careers. She is a survivor in a hostile world. At the end she claims to repent some of the more 'immoral' aspects of her life, but she doesn't seem to mean what she says, and - unlike many 'bad' women in fiction - she isn't made to suffer for her sins, which in itself is refreshing. [Feb 2004]
    • 3/5
      Audiobook on CD. Book written detailing the adventures of Moll Flanders who lives by her wits and her body. Her fortune is made several times by herself, but is lost again, mostly due to her poor choice in men (drunks, womanisers, already married etc). Narrative is bawdy, jolly etc. It is both a serious (about a world where a woman can rarely survive on her own and with few rights to even her own money) and not-serious tale (she goes through husbands with almost every chapter). As a result of these dalliances, she has plenty of children, of which little is heard off once they are packed off somewhere else, to ensure that Moll isn’t hindered by a flock of children following her. I dont know if a woman would really do this, or whether this is Defoe's "wishful thinking" of fertile women not actually having children in tow. Overall an enjoyable lighthearted 18th century romp
    • 4/5
      Moll Flanders by Daniel DefoeConsidered one of the great classic novels, Defoe's book follows Moll Flanders as she struggles to avoid the deadly poverty of 17th-century England. From a prison birth to final prosperity Moll considers love, theft and prostitution in terms of profit and loss. She emerges as an extraordinary character.This is the vivid saga of an irresistible and notorious heroine. Her high misdemeanors and delinquencies, her varied careers as a prostitute, a charming and faithful wife, a thief, and a convict endures today as one of the liveliest and most candid records of a woman's progress through the hypercritical walks of society ever recorded.Moll isn't the most proper of women. She isn't the cleanest. She isn't the most trust worthy. She isn't a lot of things. But what Moll Flanders is; is an exceptional character of literature. I loved Moll! I can't wait to give this one a reread.
    • 4/5
      I finally finished reading Moll Flanders, and I loved it.

      I have heard such negative reviews about this book. I have heard it said that the heroine is not likeable. She is painted as a whore and a thief. I came away with an entirely different view.

      Her character hooked me from the start. A beautiful and skillful woman, she is intelligent but unworldly. She meets with great success in the beginning of the book due to her own personal accomplishments, aspirations, and personality. She takes what little she has and uses it as best she can. She keeps running into bad luck which she works hard to overcome. I just adored her.

      I love everything about the book. This isn't pulp fiction. I was recently inspired listening to a cambridge professor on the radio commenting on the idea of reading for fun. He criticised the idea that we read pulp fiction for fun, and suggested that we should read good novels for fun, he suggested Anna Karenina etc. The idea struck home with me, these are well written and highly enjoyable pieces of literature, why are they often considered too hard. I read Anne Karenina recently and found it fabulous, it blew me away.
    • 4/5
      "Moll Flanders" is the tale of an innovative woman who will stoop to the lowest of trades in order to be a "lady." Married five times, Moll is at varying times a thief, a whore, a convict, and a prisoner. This book was interesting, though not exactly a page turner. Defoe, as is to be expected, is quite fond of rambling on about every little detail, which is accentuated due to a lack of chapters or page breaks.Few characters are given a name, which can also make the book a bit confusing. Even Moll never reveals her true name, always insisting to the reader that Moll Flanders is just a nick name she is given later in life. I got more than a few of Moll's many husbands confused at different points, because they were all "him." Eventually everyone just became "that guy" in my mind.I liked the character of Moll, because she was different, and certainly unique for a book written in Defoe's time. She seems shameless and unscrupulous from the very beginning, which she seems to justify in her mind as a way of survival.When her friends and comrades in crime are hung, Moll voices no sorrow over their deaths, only fear that she may soon share the same fate.There is no doubt that Moll is not exactly a blameless character. She uses her beauty to snare potentially rich husbands, and she mentions a few times having children and then they are never mentioned again. In fact, I remember her saying that she had "gotten rid of" her children, or some similar phrasing, by giving them to a friend or family member. She has a few very low moments, such as when she steals a piece of jewelry from a young child, or when she steals a family's things while their house is burning down. However, there is something likable to Moll, and I would never classify her as one of those hero-villain types. Perhaps it is how clever and innovative she is, just trying her best to make her way in the world the best that she knows how.Her schemes becoming increasingly creative as the book progresses, and I loved when she began her disguises - a man, a lady, a begger, a widow, a foreigner. Though Moll is always calling herself "wicked" or "sinful," she seems unwilling to fully acknowledge it. Such as, just after she has stolen something, she says: "I confess the inhumanity of this action moved me very much, and made me relent exceedingly, and tears stood in my eyes..., but I could never find in my heart to make any restitution."When Moll is at least caught in her schemes and locked in Newgate Prison, I felt that I knew her for the first time in the story. Defoe's writing style doesn't exactly allow you to become all that close to Moll through out the story, but we feel that we have seen her entire life leading up to this point when at last she is thrown into the jail.She seems to fear Newgate more than anything, perhaps because it forces her to think of herself as not a great lady, like she always strove to be - but a common criminal. I loved how even after thrown in jail and sentenced to death, Moll never ceased her scheming, and rather than sink into despair over the verdict, she immediately begins planning a way out of it.*Mild spoilers in the next paragraph*The ending surprised me a little, as I had honestly expected Moll to meet as unfortunate an end as the rest of her life reflected. But the ending was, instead, a happy one, and I closed the book smiling."Moll Flanders" is a good character study about a very interesting, notorious woman.
    • 3/5
      What if there were a drunken Chatty Cathy sitting next to you at a dinner party and wanted to tell you her life story? That's what Moll Flanders reads like. In the end, it became the same thing over and over again. I would have liked it a lot more if it had been about half as long.
    • 2/5
      Moll Flanders (by Daniel Defoe) was the first book I've had to read for class now I'm at university. This is for my "introduction to the novel" module, and it's considered to be one of the earliest English novels, and is part of the canon as my university sees it. In my opinion, it's not quite there -- Defoe "marketed" it as a true story, and in terms of style or plotting like a novel, there's little. It's just the straight, stream-of-consciousness tale of a woman in the seventeenth century who has loose morals. There are no chapters, the story is entirely linear, and it doesn't follow the same conventions as what we'd now consider a novel.

      Which is not to say I don't see where it comes into the canon: it's clearly fictional, and reminds me quite a lot of books like Go Ask Alice, only for the seventeenth century! It's interesting to observe how different things were then: the weird punctuation, random capitalisation and italicisation, the lack of chapter breaks, the lack of speech marks. Very strange to think how much the novel has evolved.

      In terms of plot, it's not as shocking as I was expecting it to be given the blurb: "Moll Flanders follows the life of its eponymous heroine through its many vicissitudes which include her early seduction, careers in crime and prostitution, conviction for theft and transportation to the plantations of Virginia", etc. There's not honestly much prostitution, although she has lots of husbands, and the sex stuff is all skipped over quickly. One of the stories within the story is quite weird: the story of how she marries her brother. The theft part doesn't show up until later on, although that isn't half-hearted and a lot of her clever heists are described.

      As a character, Moll gets quite a lot of depth; but at the same time, you expect that from a novel of this length that is written entirely in her head! I didn't really feel any emotional connection to her, though, and she didn't feel 'real' to me, really. I found the whole book quite boring and difficult to read. Worth a look, though, if you're interested in early novels. I could probably do a better, fuller review of this after my lecture next week -- heck, I might come back and edit some more interesting stuff in. Right now, though, I need to go off and make notes on the portrayal of women in it, before I forget!
    • 3/5
      Pretty good, except for the moralizing.
    • 5/5
      I have always loved to read, since I was a child. I devour books like hungry people devour food. However, I hated reading so-called "classics" required in school. Words cannot express how much I hated "The Catcher in the Rye", "Heart of Darkness" and "Grapes of Wrath." It wasn't until I became a senior high school that I finally came across two classics that I enjoyed, A Scarlet Letter and Moll Flanders. Perhaps I just wanted to read about rebellious, independent women?Moll Flanders has every bit the adventure of Robison Crusoe, just more scandalous for the time since she was a woman. I loved how she overcame adversity to live her life on her own terms. While the language is a bit formal compared to modern prose, the story transcends. Heartily recommended - especially to those like me who have resisted classic literature.
    • 4/5
      Moll Flanders is a young woman without prospects during the early 1700s in England. The book was published in 1722. Early on she is offered two paths; she must choose which way to go. The path she chooses and the results thereof are the remainder of the story.To say this book is about Prostitution is not quite accurate. The main character, "Moll," certainly goes that route, but I believe the book is more about survival in a time where there were very limited options for young, unattached women. Moll is given an option, but she sees that the other way holds an easier prospect for more gain. In fact, she is always on the lookout for what will bring gain to her. Having stood on the edge of the abyss of poverty, she wants to stay as far away from that as possible, whatever it takes. Her character is an extreme pragmatist, even when it comes to her children and spouses. Are they good for gain? I will love them, they are dear to me. Will they be a drain on me, or offer no gain? They are dead to me and I will be rid of them.I enjoyed reading this. Daniel Defoe pulls no punches and writes in a straightforward way. You will not find flowery descriptions, no lengthy chapters about nature, architecture or other distractions from the plot. In fact, no chapters at all. Some of the conversations drove me to distraction, people talking all around a thing, but I believe social etiquette required that verbal play at that time. It reminded me of Jane Austen's novels in that way. Not in any other way. This was a good insight into the lives of those not so nice as the characters in Austen's novels in the 1700s. I probably won't read it again, but glad to have done so once.
    • 5/5
      This is a re-read of this classic novel which I previously gave up on a decade ago, now approaching its 300th anniversary (published in 1722). It is colourful, rambling and sometimes frustrating read, one that is typical of 18th century picaresque literature. Moll (not her real name, which we never find out) is born in Newgate prison to a woman sentenced to transportation and is brought up by gypsies and then in a household where, as she grows into a young woman, she is seduced by both of the brothers of the household. In all she has six marriages or quasi-marriages (including one to a man with whom she moves to Virginia and who turns out to be her own brother, whom she had not seen since young childhood, and where she also re-encounters her transported mother) and gives birth to numerous children over the next thirty years or so. After this time, reduced to poverty, she perforce turns to theft to keep body and soul together. But, as she grows richer through the proceeds of crime, it becomes its own motivation and she cannot give it up, becoming a member of a crime gang led by "the governess". After years of close shaves, she is eventually caught and taken to Newgate. She is sentenced to death but this is commuted to transportation. In Newgate she encounters one of her ex-husbands who has been arrested as a highwayman and they get together again for the voyage to Virginia. By dint of her links to a now reformed "governess", she is able to reacquire some wealth which enables her to turn over a new leaf and build a prosperous future in Virginia, where she is also reconciled to her son by her ex-husband/brother. A decade later in comfortable old age, Moll and her husband return to England in 1683.This breathless account does, however, mask some problems with the narrative. It is one continuous course, not divided into chapters or sections; and, perhaps worse for readers' recall, almost none of the characters have names. We find out the first names of a couple of her husbands, and one or two other minor characters, but the vast majority are not named. I got used to this after a while, but had to make notes as I was going along to keep tabs on her relationships. A great read, though, dealing with issues in a way that most mainstream literature did not again for over another two centuries.
    • 4/5
      Riotous! This book was written in the early 18th century, and I can understand why it would have been a bit of a sensation. Its tale is now pretty tame for our current time and place.
      Spaced throughout the novel there are several pages regarding the condition of women at the time, and how they were at the mercy of a male dominated world in everything from their virtue, marriage, childbirth, and employment. While for me, it sometimes became tiring to read such moralizing, it did also make me grateful I live in THIS century.
    • 4/5
      I am sometimes afraid that we will have nothing to say to each other at our reader discussion groups. Hah! We talked for over an hour and a half about this picaresque classic. How much was to be considered 'true', considering that it was supposedly a memoir of a repentant woman? How could she say so little about her children? Did she exploit her sexuality or just make the best of the society? She confessed to liking the thrill of theft even after she no longer needed more money, trimmed her stories to her circumstances and her audience, barely mentioned the hardships of crossing the Atlantic (I wonder if Defoe ever did?), learned to make and manage money, and in general navigated a society that was not kind to women without status and means. Was Defoe as tuned in to the hardships of women as this book suggests? Or was he more interested in writing a sly, picaresque adventure with the allure of a female protagonist? Did we believe the 'woman's voice'?Defoe shows us the society of the time, the narrow path between servant and master class in the late 17th century in an urbanizing country as well as a new world. The book is filled with incident - in fact, when Moll has achieved, however temporarily, a quiet life, we hear nothing about it except how it ends. Moll ('not my real name') tells us at the beginning that she ends up in London, secure, married, content, mature, repentant of her sinful life. So the traditional suspense is absent - it was all about how it happened. But it was fun to read, watching her journey and learning about the times.
    • 3/5
       Moll Flanders is a strange book. It's a cautionary tale, but it also feels like a sermon on promiscuity and greed. The book follows the life of Moll Flanders from her infancy, being born to a criminal in prison, all the way through her life which also ends in crime. She grows into a beautiful woman and ends up marrying one man after another. Her horrible circumstances move her from one bad situation to another. One husband dies, another ditches her, and another turns out to be her half-brother! I enjoyed the first half much more than the second. The story’s moralistic tone echoes that in the author’s other famous work, Robinson Crusoe.
    • 2/5
      “If a young women once thinks herself handsome, she never doubts the truth of any man that tells her he is in love with her; for if she believes herself charming charming enough to captive him, 'tis natural to expect the effects of it.”The full title of this classic novel is 'The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders' and this in many respects an apt summary of this book. It tells the life story of the titular character.Moll Flanders was born in Newgate Prison, London, the daughter of a convicted felon who is subsequently transported to America shortly after Moll's birth. Moll is initially brought up by the state and later taken by benefactors. She grows up to be a beautiful woman determined to be someone other than a servant. This she attempts to do by marrying a variety of wealthy man, one of whom she later learns to her horror after bearing him several children, is actually her half-brother. As various marriages fail for various reasons, her fear of poverty leads her to commit many forms of theft. This way of life she later finds impossible to give up so that even when she became relatively wealthy, she continued stealing.Through a variety of guises and some quick thinking Moll manages to evade prison for many years, unlike a number of her accomplices who are caught then hung or transported to the colonies, until she became the richest thief in London. Perhaps inevitably, she was finally arrested and taken to Newgate Prison whereupon she is sentenced to transportation to the American colonies. In prison Moll chances upon her most recent living husband, himself a highwayman awaiting sentencing. Whereupon both are transported to Virginia before moving on to Maryland where they become successful plantation owners in their own right.At the age of almost seventy, Moll returned to London with her husband, where they planned to live out their lives in repentance for their past crimes.There are several themes that run through this book but perhaps the most prominent one is Greed. The author seems to take great efforts to paint Moll as covetous. Moll sees people in particular her husbands as commodities — they appear little more than business transactions. Then when here first husband dies she seems happy to abandon her children to the care of their paternal grandparents. Then later in life even when she becomes relatively wealthy as a thief she is unable to forsake her criminal ways despite the main initial driving force, notably poverty, no longer applies. She continually raises the financial target where she states she will go on the straight and narrow. After her arrest repentance then becomes a major theme but even here Defoe seems to aim to paint Moll in a poor light. She repents about not giving up her criminal ways earlier rather than than the actual crimes themselves. She never seems to feel sorry for the people that she wronged.Now initially I must admit that I found the early years of Moll's life rather tedious and I was tempted on more than one occasion to throw in the towel. However, I persevered and as she re-counted her criminal career I found it much more entertaining. On the whole I found this a little laborious but ultimately am pleased that I managed to finish it but may leave it a while before I challenge another classic.
    • 2/5
      Story has sad, but honest beginning which moves into Moll's willing seduction by the elder son of her kind and generous patrons. Character has little to recommend and plot quickly becomes repetitive, tedious, and too boring to continue...
    • 1/5
      Loved this on PBS, but couldn't stand reading it. Quit before 100 pages
    • 3/5
      Too long ago to remember. I do remember she ends up in the American colonies for a happy ending
    • 5/5
      The quality of Defoe’s work varies wildly and if you have been stung before, fear not, for this is one of the good ones. It’s a proper page turner, but there’s far more to it than that. All the way through there’s this counterbalance between reason on the one hand and crime on the other, caused by either inclination or necessity. You can read it just as a series of plot less set piece scenes but what really fascinated me in Moll’ character was her treatment of her own children. It’s almost psychopathic. Seriously, she abandons all her, what, nine or ten children. I think this behaviour all ties in to being (unintentionally) abandoned by her own mother in Newgate and I think this ties to the reason / crime argument. She’s a sinner, not by inclination but because of the appalling events of her life. An argument that’s still going on today, and this novel explores the idea better than anything else I’ve read.
    • 4/5
      “…let the Experience of one Creature compleatly Wicked, and compleatly Miserable be a storehouse of useful warning to those that read.” Daniel Defoe’s summation (at the bottom of p.250 in the 2002 Modern Library paperback edition I just read) in the mouth — or at least in the thoughts — of Moll Flanders is, thankfully, as close to didacticism or morality as the author ever comes. It’s also a good illustration of the non-standard spelling, capitalization, punctuation and syntax of his era (he finished the book in 1683), which may be the greatest obstacle to an otherwise clear and thorough enjoyment of the text.

      To print Moll Flanders in the original was a conscious choice on the part of the publisher — and a choice I’m not entirely certain I agree with. As I had a similar difficulty with John Cleland’s Fanny Hill, let the reader beware. (Imagine trying to dig through the unedited manuscript of a contemporary writer whose writing mechanics are, to say the least, primitive, and you’ll get the picture.)

      That caveat notwithstanding, Moll Flanders is a grand story — and eminently worth reading — no less than Fielding’s Tom Jones or John Cleland’s Fanny Hill. And one of the more interesting aspects of this novel is the point of view: in this case, first-person singular. In other words, a man (Defoe) tells the story through the eyes and heart — and, however obliquely, between the legs — of a woman (Moll). Moreover, he does so — in my opinion — quite convincingly.

      What is perhaps most remarkable about the author of Moll Flanders (but also of the more popular if not necessarily more notable Robinson Crusoe) is that Defoe first turned his hand to fiction only at the age of fifty-nine! One has to wonder whether he was an example and an inspiration to Benjamin Franklin, who first turned his hand to the violin at fifty-three. Who says — on the basis of this evidence — you can’t teach a (smart) old dog new tricks?

      RRB
      10/21/13
      Brooklyn, NY
    • 3/5
      Moll Flanders1996, Recorded Books LLC, Read by Virginia LeishmanWant to Read“I am giving an account of what was, not of what ought or ought not to be.”Having read Moll Flanders many years ago in university, in the usual panicked rush which characterized that time, I wanted to visit it again for a clearer sense of it. Too, it’s in [1001 Books], and I like to make some effort to read a number of these each year. I decided to listen to Defoe this time, and am happy to highly recommend Viriginia Leishman as a wonderful narrator.What struck me about Moll’s character in the first half of the story were her contrasts: she has experienced a great deal of life and yet is naïve; she is an intelligent woman and yet a foolish woman – or at least one who makes foolish decisions. As her story unfolds and as she matures, she becomes much more weathered in the ways of her world: a seasoned con (and later convict), bold thief, wary whore. I wondered whether Moll chose her way of life, or whether having set out on that wrong path, albeit perhaps unintentionally, it was impossible to find her way back. Part of me thinks the latter, particularly as a woman living in the 17th century; and yet I believe she enjoys her wily, wicked ways. In the novel’s concluding chapters in which Moll falls into favour with the gift of a grown son and a handsomely profitable plantation in Virginia, I was amused at her humility and penitence in the face of Providence – after all, what’s a woman to do? Whatever the case, I don’t intend to spend any more time with the character. Having read [Robinson Crusoe] and [Moll Flanders] within a few months of one another, I’ve decided that I can appreciate Defoe for his contribution to the form of the modern novel; but he really is not one I can treasure. I’m glad to have read and reread some of his work presently, but probably with leave him with this final word.
    • 5/5
      A wild, chaotic ride through 17th century London, culminating in an unplanned trip as an exile to the New World. Moll Flanders is an amoral opportunist who tries to turn every situation to her advantage when she discovers that as a young woman alone, the deck is stacked against her. She learns not only how to survive, but how to thrive until it all comes crashing down in a legal case that threatens her very life.
    • 5/5
      We get a real taste of old England. Very well written in the King's English. If you are a little unsure about the subject matter, the great writing will make you happy you picked up the book. The leading character always has your sensibilities uppermost in her mind, so no worries.
    • 4/5
      For a book published in 1722, this sure was smutty! It was a good reminder that the Victorian Era prudery was not in full force until Queen Victoria. This is the story of Moll Flanders, a first person account of the life of a woman who lives a life of debauchery and crime in the mid-1600s. Midway through the book, Moll sums up her life thus as she contemplates marrying yet another man who thinks her a good sort:"What an abominable creature am I! and how is this innocent gentleman going to be abused by me! How little does he think, that having divorced a whore, he is throwing himself into the arms of another! that he is going to marry one that has lain with two brothers, and has had three children by her own brother! one that was born in Newgate, whose mother was a whore, and is now a transported thief! one that has lain with thirteen men, and has had a child since he saw me! Poor gentleman!"Well, Moll does go on to hide her past successfully and marry this man, have 2 more kids, and marry another man after he dies. Oh, and she turns to stealing when she gets too old to attract more husbands.There are some interesting themes to consider in this book, especially the limited options that a woman had in those days to earn her keep. Overall, I didn't love this book though. Because it's written in first person, we only see Moll's experiences of how she attracts and marries men and there are almost no other characters. In this respect, the book was a bit too narrow for me. There are also some threads that are lost - like the many children Moll has that seem to just be conveniently forgotten with no mention of who takes care of them.But then again, considering the time period it was written in, that it is an early example of the novel, and the interesting fact that a man chose to write a first person woman's voice, it was kind of fun to read. And there are some great quotes."I began . . . to have the scandal of a whore, without the joy"
    • 5/5
      Davina Porter does a marvelous narration. Since the book is written in the first person, she has become Moll to me!
    • 3/5
      I read this book for a course entitled "History of Prostitution." In this course we really questioned what a prostitute was, since we don't have very clear lines in written law. I felt this book lent a lot of historical insight as to how women were treated and how easy it would be for someone to become a "fallen woman." It's well written, if not a little dry. It is worth the read if the history of women is one of your interests.
    • 4/5
      Two things stood out for me:
      It's a first-hand look at the underside of early 18th-century life in England and the American colonies, particularly the economic constraints on women.
      Defoe was a skillful writer: compare Robinson Crusoe, Journal of the Plague Year, and Moll Flanders. Each differs from the others in the handling of how Defoe presents himself as the author, how he creates a supposed narrator, and how the characters speak (or not) about themselves.
    • 5/5
      It's delightful when a book you have been hearing about your whole life lives up to expectation. Dear Moll, or whatever your real name was, what a pleasure it was to sit by your side. What is remarkable is that a book told to us entirely in summary could be so rich and deep and satisfying. Moll has the mic, everything we learn is filtered through her unreliable filter and yet because she is so utterly human you are charmed. I loved how Moll would advise us that she couldn't possibly tell someone something just before she does. Apparently the lives of criminals in her day and age were very popular and that Defoe was working in a popular genre, maybe even basing Moll on an actual woman. The tragedy of the book occurs when Moll announces that she hopes to be a gentlewoman and is laughed at. What she means is independent, self sufficient, what they mean is aristocratic. But however much Defoe based it on a person his hand is there. Whenever something good happens to Moll, like she married an upright decent guy, he's killed off quickly. Most frightening at least from the sociological standpoint is Moll's relationship to her many children. With one exception - the child born of incest in Virginia - there is none. They don't even receive names. So we are very much looking at the world during a period in which one didn't become too attached because of the frequency with which they died.
    • 3/5
      I've been trying to read early English 'novels' (and related things), and this is a distant fourth so far, behind Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels and Joseph Andrews. On the upside, there are some memorable scenes and characters. But it doesn't really cohere too well, and there's a little hint of paid-per-word about the whole criminal activities section. Supposedly most people are really into Moll's thieving, but frankly I found her whoring and intra-familial reproduction much more gripping.
    • 5/5
      A masterpiece, I thoroughly enjoyed Defoe's, Moll Flander's. It would be interesting to do a comparative study of the various heroines in classic fiction; Nana, Lady Chatterley, Madame Bovary, and Anna Karenina, to name a few. I look forward to reading Samuel Richardson's Clarissa/The History of a Young Life (which is an 18th century creation, like Moll Flanders’) this summer to add to my increasing repertoire of fascinating female heroines.