Book Review: Moll Flanders

 

“All the exploits of this lady of fame, in her depredations upon mankind, stand as so many warnings to honest people to beware of them, intimating to them by what methods innocent people are drawn in, plundered and robbed, and by consequence how to avoid them.”

Moll Flanders by, Daniel Defoe is the fictional narrative of “Moll Flanders,” (a fake name she uses to cover her true identity) in which she recaps her life and all the mistakes she’s made. She uses her beauty and charm to access wealth through men in order to obtain social comfort and status. However, this results in a life time of unfortunate events, from incest, infidelity, and thievery. The purpose of Moll Flanders telling her story is to show people what not to do. This type of drama … no one needs it. 

As engaging as this plot seems, this novel was dull, dull, dull and dull. However, before I dive into why this book was so soul crushing for me (and why I DNF’d with only 63 pages left to read), I will highlight some elements of the book that I think are fascinating. 

Overall, Defoe did a really good job narrating the voice of a woman and there were times throughout reading this that I had to remind myself that a man wrote Moll Flanders. 

The central themes of the novel are how, especially during this time period, women are a a disadvantage in marriage and how men have more flexibility when it comes to choosing a spouse.

“… beauty, wit, manners, sense, good humour, good behavior, education, virtue, piety or any other qualification, whether of body or mind, had no power to recommend. That money only made a woman agreeable. That men chose mistresses indeed by the gust of their affection, and it was requisite to a whore to be handsome, well shaped, have a good mien and a graceful behaviour. But that for a wife, no deformity would shock the fancy, no ill qualities, the judgement - the money was the thing.” 

Defoe also highlights how women, like Moll Flanders, who in a lot of ways have been dealt a difficult hand in life, have to rely on advantageous marriages and/or sex as a means to survive, whether this is what they want to do or not. However, our narrator makes it clear that she is not promoting the life she lived. 

 

“…we ought to be cautious of gratifying our inclinations in loose and lewd freedoms, lest we find our resolutions of virtue fail us in the juncture when their assistance should be most necessary. It is true, and I have confessed it before, that from the first hour I began to converse with him, I resolved to let him lie with me, if he offered it - but it was because I wanted his help and assistance, and I knew no other way of securing him than that.”

“… prompted by that worst of devils, poverty, returned to the vile practice, and made the advantage of what they call a handsome face be the relief to my necessities, and beauty be a pimp to vice.”

This first half of this novel is the strongest section and again, I think Defoe did a good job writing the voice of a woman - it did feel authentic and it made me ask the question, Can an author authentically write about someone else’s experiences?

For me, this is a rhetorical question. Yes, I believe an author can write about other people, placers or things, when they write it from a genuine place. As Diana Gabaldon stated in an interview (and I’m paraphrasing here), it’s impossible to make everyone happy, even when you consult experts. This is something I want dive into later. I just need to get my thoughts together and mentally prepare myself for making some people angry... 

 Moving on…

I also can’t deny that Defoe can write, I just don’t get one with his writing style.

So let’s talk about why I hated (yes, hated) Moll Flanders. 

This book bored me to tears. It was so tedious and repetitive, that after I got through the first half I would often say out loud while reading, “Ugggh I know! I get it! Stop talking! I hate this book!”  The narrator continues to drone on and on and it’s like listening to a lecture in a monotone voice. 

There are no chapters or page breaks in this book - it’s literally a 333 page monologue. Yes, there is some dialogue but it’s mainly narration and it’s painful. I just couldn’t take it and once I reached page 270, I literally could not force myself to read further. I even tried to skim the remainder and that was torture. 

I like the premise of this novel, but the execution was a fail for me. I just don’t think Defoe is for me, and that’s ok. I think if another author, like George Eliot, had written this, it would have been an entirely different reading experience. 

That being said, Moll Flanders brought to mind a well-known historical romance novel (that I haven’t read) called Forever Amber that was published in the 1940s. The main character, Amber, uses her beauty and charm to get what she wants and where Moll Flanders corrections her lifestyle, Amber does not. Forever Amber was considered to be a scandalous novel in its time, though now it’s tame for the modern reader. I’m thinking about reading that novel at some point and comparing it with this one. Perhaps the author Kathleen Winsor was inspired by Defoe?

Moll Flanders was a huge disappointment for me. Oh well, it happens and unfortunately I have to rate this a 1/5. It was such a slog that I wanted to pull my hair out and throw the book across the room. 

Rating: 1/5

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