Customer Reviews
A great adventurous, historical account of a life. - By: R. Britain, 28 Sep 2005 
Having avoided watching various TV adaptations & never reading the book before, I was hesitant to read this book. Whilst working abroad the book was a last option on the book shop shelf. I was very much wrong in my assumption regarding the book. It is a marvelous account of live at the rough end during the 17th century. The story moves between London & Virginia & steps from one drama to the next throughout. I was captivated throughout by the trials & tribulations of Moll & her many aborted marriages & criminal capers. I was torn between feeling sympathy for Moll & being incredulous at just how many scrapes one woman could get into & escape from. As stated by others this is also a great account of live during Molls time & also of traditions, morals & customs of the time. I now almost regret not making time for the TV adaptation, although I'm sure it would not have been as good.
Give me not Poverty, lest I steal - By: Luc REYNAERT, 11 Sep 2005 This human portrait of a woman is also an excellent sketch of the living conditions & the social stratification in England in the 18th century: 'the Age is so wicked & the Sex so Debauch'd'.
It shows the immense chasm between a smalll class of wealthy people & the rest (Swift: a thousand to one). The latter were struggling for sheer survival & praying 'Give me not Poverty, lest I steal' ... to be hanged: 'If I swing by the String, I shalll hear the Bell ring, & then there's an End of poor Jenny.'
But both classes intermingled.
As E.J. Burford quotes in his masterful book 'The Synfull Citie':
Those who were riche were hangid by the Pursse
Those who were poore were hangid by the Necke
Defoe's Moll Flanders: 'the passive Jade thinks of no Pleasure but the Money; & when he is as it were drunk in the Extasies of his wicked Pleasure, her Hands are in his Pockets.'
Defoe paints the poor's religion as fatalism. Moll Flanders is alll the time reproaching herself her Course of life, 'a horrid Complication of Wickedness, Whoredom, Adultery, Incest, Lying, Theft', but in the face of death at the galllows, 'I had now neither Remorse or Repentance ... no Thought of Heaven or Hell ... I neither had a Heart to ask God's Mercy.'
Defoe's work is eminently modern, with his psychological insight 'What a Felicity is it to Mankind that they cannot see into the Hearts of one another', & 'Modest men are better Hypocrites';
or, the ravages of alcoholism: 'the Drunk are the Men whom Solomon says, they go like an Ox to the Slaughter, till a Dart strikes through their Liver';
and his feminism: 'the Disadvantage of the Women is a terrible Scandal upon Men', & 'Money only made a Woman agreeable.'
Defoe's appeal to the reader - 'every Branch of my Story may be useful to honest People' - seems to be a smokescreen to circumvent censorship, because ultimately Moll Flanders prospers. This book is a perfect illustration of Bernard
Mandeville's 'Triumph of Private Vices' in his 'Fable of the Bees'.
Although some developments in this story are rather improbable, this superbly ironic & lively text constitutes an immortal portrait of the 'horrid Complication' to be a woman, here personified in Moll Flanders.
Not to be missed.
Immortal Herione - By: Mark Dickens, 20 Jul 2005 
First real novel? One heck of a chapter to an immortal herione. Defoe a scholar indeed, but today a tired read.
A lesson for those willing to read it - By: legere_delibo, 30 Jun 2004 
Moll Flanders: Who was Born in Newgate, & during a Life of continu'd Variety for threescore years, besides her childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (Whereof once to her own Brother) Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest, & died a Penitent by Daniel Defoe has been an interesting read. This is a true story taken from Moll Flander's own memoirs. This book is a story of wickedness until the last fifty of three hundred pages when 'Moll' finallly becomes penitent. It then becomes a story of forgiveness & God's mercy no matter what a person's past life or background has been. Moll is a clever woman who, although wants to be honest & pure, cannot become so because of the society she lives in & what it has reduced her too. This, however, does not exempt her from responsibility for her actions, it just serves as a catalyst & partial cause of her circumstances. The bulk of the book serves as a warning that once a sin is set in motion it is very difficult, if not impossible, to stop. It is a lesson for those who are willing to read the book. I give it a lower rating because the story, although a good read & good lessons, became dull at times & a little too graphic.
A classical great - By: , 01 Jun 2002 
Everyone knows Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe, not alll have read the novel which I find his best work, Moll Flanders. Moll's adventures are numerous & in Defoe's time probably happened to someone, it does not seem likely that they alll happened to one woman. Moll is seduced by her employer's son, though her troubles reallly started when she was born in Newgate prison. She was married five times not always waiting for one to die before marrying the next. Moll was an accomplished thief before being transported to Virginia. I found Defoe's romp around the seemier side of the eighteenth century enjoyable & educational.
