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vasha's review against another edition
I'll bet a lot of people here have read Kidnapped, but few will have read it together with its second half Catriona. This I attempted, only to find out for myself why it isn't often done. For a brief recap, Kidnapped is the story of David Balfour whose scheming uncle has him abducted; he escapes (details omitted, no spoilers) and later is falsely implicated in a murder and has to flee from the forces of the law. At the end of the novel he satisfactorily deals with his uncle, but the issue of the murder is unresolved, with an innocent man on trial and possibly able to be saved by Balfour's testimony, if he could give it... The book breaks off almost in the middle of a paragraph. I don't know why Stevenson couldn't finish it at the time, but when he finally did, seven years later, the result was rather a mess. In my opinion the work as a whole is what's known as a "curate's egg." Catriona resolves the trial business at considerably more length than necessary; that section has the merit of interestingly continuing some political themes that were touched on in the first volume, but it's diffuse. It's even interrupted by a stay on an isolated island, not uninteresting but a digression, and the telling of a lengthy folktale... And to roll even more genres into one novel, there are some not-too-interesting attempts at the comedy of a naive young man in good society, and after the trial concludes, a long and wearisomely Victorian love story. That last was what finally forced me to stop reading 80% through. It's too bad, because I think I can see the outlines of an effective conclusion to Kidnapped that would have included about 1/3 of the material in Catriona, somewhat rearranged. Even the love story could have contributed; it could have tied in nicely to the political and cultural themes of the book, if shorn of a vast amount of piffle. Oh well, no use regretting the great novel that could have been; I'll do as most people do, read Kidnapped and imagine how it should end.
manwithanagenda's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I can understand why readers might be put off by 'Catriona' ('David Balfour' if you're a stickler), and leave it unfinished, but it really should be given a chance. I enjoyed it a lot more than 'Kidnapped' in fact.
David proves himself to be a grown man and worthy of the rewards of his inheritance in his defense of Alan Breck - no matter the personal cost. In the course of the book he also falls in love with the titular Catriona and navigates the political waters of 18th century Scotland which is still in the shaky grip of a government under Jacobite threat. There may not be the action or breathless views of wild country, but the glimpse into urban life and customs are a fair exchange.
Favorite Quote:
"You deal with me very frankly, and I thank you for it,' said I. 'I will try on my side to be no less honest. I believe these deep duties may lie upon your lordship; I believe you may have laid them on your conscience when you took the oaths of the high office which you hold. But for me, who am just a plain man--or scarce a man yet--the plain duties must suffice. I can think but of two things, of a poor soul in the immediate and unjust danger of a shameful death, and of the cries and tears of his wife that still tingle in my head. I cannot see beyond, my lord. It's the way I am made. If the country has to fall, it has to fall. And I pray God, if this is wilful blindness, that He may enlighten me before too late.”
-David, in defense of Alan Breck
David Balfour
Previous: 'Kidnapped'
David proves himself to be a grown man and worthy of the rewards of his inheritance in his defense of Alan Breck - no matter the personal cost. In the course of the book he also falls in love with the titular Catriona and navigates the political waters of 18th century Scotland which is still in the shaky grip of a government under Jacobite threat. There may not be the action or breathless views of wild country, but the glimpse into urban life and customs are a fair exchange.
Favorite Quote:
"You deal with me very frankly, and I thank you for it,' said I. 'I will try on my side to be no less honest. I believe these deep duties may lie upon your lordship; I believe you may have laid them on your conscience when you took the oaths of the high office which you hold. But for me, who am just a plain man--or scarce a man yet--the plain duties must suffice. I can think but of two things, of a poor soul in the immediate and unjust danger of a shameful death, and of the cries and tears of his wife that still tingle in my head. I cannot see beyond, my lord. It's the way I am made. If the country has to fall, it has to fall. And I pray God, if this is wilful blindness, that He may enlighten me before too late.”
-David, in defense of Alan Breck
David Balfour
Previous: 'Kidnapped'
csd17's review against another edition
4.0
Now I know why Stevenson didn't write girls into his stories.
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