As 18th century Robinson Crusoe knockoff's go, this was a fun one :) (i've just realised this was published only 8 years after the original). The main issue this author seemed to have with Crusoe is why anyone would want to leave such an island. So this book is all about how much better it is to be away from the cares of the wider world.

There are several other differences too. Our protagonist is much more obviously flawed than Crusoe being a bigamist and in fact several of his dream sequences seem to have rather attractive women in them.
Although on one level just as religious as crusoe its a more general and less dogmatic faith, almost philosophical rather than religious. His dreams also tend to have more of a Greek myth flavour than christian. Father Time appears in several of them and Mother Nature in another, she's apparently really hot and has 3 pairs of breasts, did i mention he likes women? ;) .

Theres some pretty interesting descriptions of wildlife on this island including monkeys, one of which becomes a sort of servant, yay monkey butler! :) .

The island is not in the middle of nowhere as you might expect but relatively close to a coast, protected simply by the harsh reefs surrounding it. This is a cannibal free zone but our protagonist does have some incidents with nasty french fishermen. Which while not physically dangerous are both quite moving and also a little funny.

Like a lot of stuff from this era the writing can be a bit plain and monotone on occasion but was decent overall and the book isn't too long. ( )

Once as popular as Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. Interesting in that the shipwrecked sailor has an ape Friday.

Text here: http://www.erbzine.com/mag18/hermit.htm ( )