Scan barcode
mint_the_muffin's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
mdrosend's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
geovanachi's review against another edition
3.0
It was fine.. not that adventurous tale but it has some very good parts.. David has been through a lot and with good luck everything he wanted has been accomplished!
الكتاب كان عبارة "رحلة في ربوع بلادي"
الي هي كانت مرتفعات سكوتلاندا
الكتاب كان عبارة "رحلة في ربوع بلادي"
الي هي كانت مرتفعات سكوتلاندا
eclecticlittleadventures's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
taneilcasey's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book, just as much, if not a little more than Treasure Island. It follows David Balfour as he is kidnapped, shipwrecked, and falls in with an outlaw.
One thing that I liked about this book, is that despite Alan and David's differences of politics, and other things, they got along extremely well. It was a good example of not making a fuss over things that are not really important under the circumstances.
Also, I really liked Alan Breck.
One thing that I liked about this book, is that despite Alan and David's differences of politics, and other things, they got along extremely well. It was a good example of not making a fuss over things that are not really important under the circumstances.
Also, I really liked Alan Breck.
acejolras's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The ultimate Gary Stu adventure serial, which it does an excellent job of, but in the end it wasn’t that interesting to read. David seems like a nice guy but not particularly interesting to read about.
I realized I must have read this as a kid when some of the scenes with his uncle came back to me, but I didn’t remember anything else. Even now, my lack of knowledge of contemporary Scottish politics and language kept me from getting fully invested.
I realized I must have read this as a kid when some of the scenes with his uncle came back to me, but I didn’t remember anything else. Even now, my lack of knowledge of contemporary Scottish politics and language kept me from getting fully invested.
lanceschaubert's review against another edition
5.0
From May to July in 1886, RL Stevenson published a boys’s novel Kidnapped in the magazine Young Folks. Everyone from Henry James, Jorge Luis Borges, and Hilary Mantel cited it as an influence. It’s a delightful little novel by RL Stevenson. I only know him through Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. (A novel I need to review, since it’s an extended allegory of Romans 7; the true and the false self; the ongoing horror of whether the false self will reemerge).
What’s the full title?
It’s a Sufjan Stevens-esque title if ever I saw one:
Kidnapped: Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: How he was Kidnapped and Cast away; his Sufferings in a Desert Isle; His Journey in the Wild Highlands; his acquaintance with Alan Breck Stewart and other notorious Highland Jacobites; with all that he suffered at the hands of his Uncle, Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws, falsely so-called: Written by Himself and now set forth by Robert Louis Stevenson.
I mean, be honest: are book publishers even trying anymore?
In any case, Kidnapped struck me first through its linguistic interest. It’s written in both English and Lowland Scots (Broad Scots). Broad Scots? A West Germanic language that evolved from Northumbrian Old English and Early Northern Middle and has, it seems, completely given way either to Gaelic and Modern English. It’s weird to step into a novel written clearly in a modern language you understand as your home tongue, yet written in dialog with a people group whom — at least linguistically — have been all but wiped from the planet. Yet here we sit.
It’s a historical adventure novel (not historical because RL Stevenson is a historical figure, but the events were his history). As such, I feel as if Kidnapped made a better outlander novel than Outlander, to be frank. Especially considering the theme of outlander castaway who slowly becomes a Jacobite sympathizer. The novel features several real historical figures including Alan Breck Stewart and features the Appin Murder:
The Appin Murder (Scottish Gaelic: Murt na h-Apainn[1]) was the assassination of Colin Roy Campbell, the Clan Campbelltacksman of Glenure, on 14 May 1752 near Appin in the west of Scotland. The murder occurred in the aftermath of the Jacobite Rising of 1745 and led to the execution of James Stewart of the Glens, often characterized as a notorious miscarriage of justice.[2]The murder inspired events in Robert Louis Stevenson‘s 1886 novel Kidnapped. [2]
— wiki for Appin Murder
Full review here:
https://lanceschaubert.org/2023/03/07/rl-stevenson-kidnapped/
What’s the full title?
It’s a Sufjan Stevens-esque title if ever I saw one:
Kidnapped: Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: How he was Kidnapped and Cast away; his Sufferings in a Desert Isle; His Journey in the Wild Highlands; his acquaintance with Alan Breck Stewart and other notorious Highland Jacobites; with all that he suffered at the hands of his Uncle, Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws, falsely so-called: Written by Himself and now set forth by Robert Louis Stevenson.
I mean, be honest: are book publishers even trying anymore?
In any case, Kidnapped struck me first through its linguistic interest. It’s written in both English and Lowland Scots (Broad Scots). Broad Scots? A West Germanic language that evolved from Northumbrian Old English and Early Northern Middle and has, it seems, completely given way either to Gaelic and Modern English. It’s weird to step into a novel written clearly in a modern language you understand as your home tongue, yet written in dialog with a people group whom — at least linguistically — have been all but wiped from the planet. Yet here we sit.
It’s a historical adventure novel (not historical because RL Stevenson is a historical figure, but the events were his history). As such, I feel as if Kidnapped made a better outlander novel than Outlander, to be frank. Especially considering the theme of outlander castaway who slowly becomes a Jacobite sympathizer. The novel features several real historical figures including Alan Breck Stewart and features the Appin Murder:
The Appin Murder (Scottish Gaelic: Murt na h-Apainn[1]) was the assassination of Colin Roy Campbell, the Clan Campbelltacksman of Glenure, on 14 May 1752 near Appin in the west of Scotland. The murder occurred in the aftermath of the Jacobite Rising of 1745 and led to the execution of James Stewart of the Glens, often characterized as a notorious miscarriage of justice.[2]The murder inspired events in Robert Louis Stevenson‘s 1886 novel Kidnapped. [2]
— wiki for Appin Murder
Full review here:
https://lanceschaubert.org/2023/03/07/rl-stevenson-kidnapped/