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A review by hazelalaska
The Blue Lagoon by Henry de Vere Stacpoole
3.0
2.5 stars
This one wasn't for me. I have no idea why I got this, probably because it was free. Looking at the synopsis again, I was kind of weirded out, not sure why. Maybe because the two children are cousins, though back then people marrying their cousins wasn't as taboo as it is today. Ordinarily I would probably have dnfed this, but I was reading it for a readathon and I had already dnfed one book for that prompt already. It was short enough that I decided to push through, but I knew from the first few chapters that it wasn't going to be getting a high rating from me. I know a lot of other reviews were talking about the movie from the 1980s, which is where they knew the story from, but I had no idea there was a movie and after watching the trailer I have no desire to watch it, as it seems kind of cheesy.
The only thing for me that made this worth reading was the descriptions. They could be very picturesque and beautiful. The story itself I found kind of boring, especially in the beginning before they got to the island.
I kind of hate Mr. Lestrange because it is clear early on in the book that he has coddled the children and been very overprotective, to the point where it is simply making them ignorant. No one really wants to talk about death to children, but it is a reality of life and hiding it from them will only make it more of a shock later on. He acts like they don't know and that they won't find out from somewhere else. Also, the fact that the children, who are supposedly around 8 years old, can't really read. Dick can a little, but it seems like Emmeline really couldn't. It doesn't seem like they are poor, so I don't think there is any excuse for this if they are 8 years old. To me, at the beginning of the book, they seemed more like they were 5 or 6, rather than 8. Usually, children in classics tend to seem more mature for their age than children today would be, at least to me, but these two didn't.
I wish Emmeline had better characterization, as the author seems to be very sexist, as was normal for the time period when this was written. She is portrayed as always lesser than Dick; while he is strong and capable, she is nervous, more emotional, and always does things wrong, according to the description in the book. She is certainly not his equal. At one point he is in trouble and she gives him the means to get himself out of it, and then he takes all the credit and she doesn't say anything. Only when Dick falls in love with her does he start helping her with the cooking and things like that, which made me mad, because where has he been for the previous five years? Yes, he did do other work like gathering food, but he still could have helped.
Spoilers!
Honestly the "romance" part of this book seemed like an afterthought. This plot point, the element described in the synopsis of the plot, only really occurs 3/4 of the way through the book. There's not any build up to it, just a previous passing mention about how they each perceive changes in the other person, but it is not described extensively. It felt very much like insta-love, because Emmeline hits Dick by accident and he slaps her, and that touch is enough and suddenly they're kissing. We were never inside the character's heads getting to know exactly what they were thinking. I think this might have helped, maybe seeing each of them watching the other and noticing little things about them they hadn't noticed before.
I also disliked the ending, how at the end of book 2 we see Dick, Emmeline, and Hannah being carried away from the island by the tide, and then book 3 follows Mr. Lestrange exclusively, and ends with him finding the boat the three of them are in. We don't really get his reaction to seeing them alive again, as it ends on a sort of cliffhanger. There are 2 more books in this series, but I have no desire to continue.
This one wasn't for me. I have no idea why I got this, probably because it was free. Looking at the synopsis again, I was kind of weirded out, not sure why. Maybe because the two children are cousins, though back then people marrying their cousins wasn't as taboo as it is today. Ordinarily I would probably have dnfed this, but I was reading it for a readathon and I had already dnfed one book for that prompt already. It was short enough that I decided to push through, but I knew from the first few chapters that it wasn't going to be getting a high rating from me. I know a lot of other reviews were talking about the movie from the 1980s, which is where they knew the story from, but I had no idea there was a movie and after watching the trailer I have no desire to watch it, as it seems kind of cheesy.
The only thing for me that made this worth reading was the descriptions. They could be very picturesque and beautiful. The story itself I found kind of boring, especially in the beginning before they got to the island.
I kind of hate Mr. Lestrange because it is clear early on in the book that he has coddled the children and been very overprotective, to the point where it is simply making them ignorant. No one really wants to talk about death to children, but it is a reality of life and hiding it from them will only make it more of a shock later on. He acts like they don't know and that they won't find out from somewhere else. Also, the fact that the children, who are supposedly around 8 years old, can't really read. Dick can a little, but it seems like Emmeline really couldn't. It doesn't seem like they are poor, so I don't think there is any excuse for this if they are 8 years old. To me, at the beginning of the book, they seemed more like they were 5 or 6, rather than 8. Usually, children in classics tend to seem more mature for their age than children today would be, at least to me, but these two didn't.
I wish Emmeline had better characterization, as the author seems to be very sexist, as was normal for the time period when this was written. She is portrayed as always lesser than Dick; while he is strong and capable, she is nervous, more emotional, and always does things wrong, according to the description in the book. She is certainly not his equal. At one point he is in trouble and she gives him the means to get himself out of it, and then he takes all the credit and she doesn't say anything. Only when Dick falls in love with her does he start helping her with the cooking and things like that, which made me mad, because where has he been for the previous five years? Yes, he did do other work like gathering food, but he still could have helped.
Spoilers!
Honestly the "romance" part of this book seemed like an afterthought. This plot point, the element described in the synopsis of the plot, only really occurs 3/4 of the way through the book. There's not any build up to it, just a previous passing mention about how they each perceive changes in the other person, but it is not described extensively. It felt very much like insta-love, because Emmeline hits Dick by accident and he slaps her, and that touch is enough and suddenly they're kissing. We were never inside the character's heads getting to know exactly what they were thinking. I think this might have helped, maybe seeing each of them watching the other and noticing little things about them they hadn't noticed before.
I also disliked the ending, how at the end of book 2 we see Dick, Emmeline, and Hannah being carried away from the island by the tide, and then book 3 follows Mr. Lestrange exclusively, and ends with him finding the boat the three of them are in. We don't really get his reaction to seeing them alive again, as it ends on a sort of cliffhanger. There are 2 more books in this series, but I have no desire to continue.