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manwithanagenda 's review for:
Kidnapped
by Robert Louis Stevenson
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
This was not the second piratical, high seas adventure I'd been expecting after 'Treasure Island', but it was a good yarn.
'Kidnapped' is actually only half of the novel Stevenson meant to write, the other half being 'Catriona' (or 'David Balfour' depending on the edition you have). It concerns a young boy, recently orphaned and awfully plucky about it, too. He sets off to his only living relative, an Uncle Ebenezer, at the ancestral home. This sets off a chain of events that leads him up the Scottish coast and across wild highlands.
David and his unlikely comrade Alan Breck make this a much more comfortable buddy adventure than the one shared between Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver, probably because Alan very quickly stops trying to kill him. Stevenson's dedication to historical accuracy and the vividness of his picture of the highlands in the late 18th century makes this a compelling read for an adult, and the action is swift enough to keep the kind of child to pick this up in the first place more than occupied. I urge readers to finish the story the way Stevenson wanted it to be by picking up 'David Balfour/Catriona' as soon as possible while the details are fresh.
David Balfour
Next: 'Catriona'
'Kidnapped' is actually only half of the novel Stevenson meant to write, the other half being 'Catriona' (or 'David Balfour' depending on the edition you have). It concerns a young boy, recently orphaned and awfully plucky about it, too. He sets off to his only living relative, an Uncle Ebenezer, at the ancestral home. This sets off a chain of events that leads him up the Scottish coast and across wild highlands.
David and his unlikely comrade Alan Breck make this a much more comfortable buddy adventure than the one shared between Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver, probably because Alan very quickly stops trying to kill him. Stevenson's dedication to historical accuracy and the vividness of his picture of the highlands in the late 18th century makes this a compelling read for an adult, and the action is swift enough to keep the kind of child to pick this up in the first place more than occupied. I urge readers to finish the story the way Stevenson wanted it to be by picking up 'David Balfour/Catriona' as soon as possible while the details are fresh.
David Balfour
Next: 'Catriona'