Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by sean_kennelly
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
3.0
I don’t know why I never read this before, it felt like a classic as I was reading it. It gets off to a racing start as a mysterious stranger (pirate) appears at Jim Hawkins’ family pub The Admiral Benbow. He has with him a giant seachest and some not-too-distant enemies. Having keeled over in fright, this Billy Bones has his pockets rifled by Jim, leading to the discovery of the treasure map. With the local Squire and Doctor they recruit seamen in Bristol, notably a ship’s cook called Long John Silver. As it turns out nearly everyone they recruit is part of a band of pirates and once they get to treasure island they narrowly avoid getting murdered once the mutineers take over. Through many twists of fate Jim ends up saving the lives of the goodies with his spontaneous actions.
The highlight of the book is of course Long John Silver, a fascinating character with buckets of charisma. Despite being a cold-blooded killer, when the situation demands it he turns into quite the sweetheart, and had me convinced, even know I knew he was a baddie.
One thing I am still not sure about is why Bristol claims this book as its own. My copy even has a sticker say it was given out as part of Bristol’s “Great Reading Adventure”. The story kicks off in Devon, and about one short scene is set in a pub in Bristol, and that’s it! They set sail from there but the place is barely mentioned.
One thing I struggled with in this book was any time it got mired in nautical terms. It might as well have been in French for all I could understand. Also, the geography of the island is rather murky, despite the inclusion of a map. None of the key places are actually plotted on this map, and the geographical descriptions were unclear to me. This being the case, the last third of the book stagnated for me and did not live up to its faced-paced and fun beginning. I read in the appendix that Stevenson did indeed write the first part in a flurry, then finished it off later and only because he was encouraged by others. Unfortunately it shows in the ending.
The highlight of the book is of course Long John Silver, a fascinating character with buckets of charisma. Despite being a cold-blooded killer, when the situation demands it he turns into quite the sweetheart, and had me convinced, even know I knew he was a baddie.
One thing I am still not sure about is why Bristol claims this book as its own. My copy even has a sticker say it was given out as part of Bristol’s “Great Reading Adventure”. The story kicks off in Devon, and about one short scene is set in a pub in Bristol, and that’s it! They set sail from there but the place is barely mentioned.
One thing I struggled with in this book was any time it got mired in nautical terms. It might as well have been in French for all I could understand. Also, the geography of the island is rather murky, despite the inclusion of a map. None of the key places are actually plotted on this map, and the geographical descriptions were unclear to me. This being the case, the last third of the book stagnated for me and did not live up to its faced-paced and fun beginning. I read in the appendix that Stevenson did indeed write the first part in a flurry, then finished it off later and only because he was encouraged by others. Unfortunately it shows in the ending.