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mascha_blue 's review for:
Kidnapped
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Overall I enjoyed this story of a 17-year-old from Scotland set in 1751. David Balfour finds himself orphaned when his father, not a paragon of good planning, dies with minimal information or resources for his son's future. David finds out from the local clergyman that he should go to his uncle, who is the owner of a large estate. The uncle turns out to be a Relative from Hell, as he's a miserly coot who tries to kill him. When the uncle doesn't succeed, he has David kidnapped by a sea captain whose ship is bound for the Carolinas in America, where David is meant to be enslaved. But the ship has a mishap, and David and his friend Alan find themselves in the Scottish Highlights.
The rest of the story is about their friendship, and their attempt to return to the Scottish Lowlands where David has claim to the family estate, given rules of primogeniture (David's father was older than David's uncle, so David should is the rightful heir).
The story has become somewhat difficult for modern readers as it uses Scottish terms from the 18th century and because some of the conflict stems from difficulties between the Protestant Whigs and the Catholic Jacobins, not something most modern readers can relate to. Although the author wrote the book for a young audience, today apparently most of its readers are adults. I would recommend it to adult readers who are interested in the geography and time period, as the story serves as historical fiction.
The rest of the story is about their friendship, and their attempt to return to the Scottish Lowlands where David has claim to the family estate, given rules of primogeniture (David's father was older than David's uncle, so David should is the rightful heir).
The story has become somewhat difficult for modern readers as it uses Scottish terms from the 18th century and because some of the conflict stems from difficulties between the Protestant Whigs and the Catholic Jacobins, not something most modern readers can relate to. Although the author wrote the book for a young audience, today apparently most of its readers are adults. I would recommend it to adult readers who are interested in the geography and time period, as the story serves as historical fiction.