Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
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The story is, at its heart, very straightforward. A treasure map is discovered. A ship is acquired and a crew assembled to find the island depicted. The crew, it turns out, largely consists of seasoned pirates. Naturally, they mutiny, wanting the booty just for themselves. The account is narrated mostly by Jim Hawkins, a twelve-year-old boy caught up in the adventure. Standard pre-pubescent boyhood fantasy - it could happen!
This is, in fact, my second recent Robert Louis Stevenson novel. In August, I read Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde (reflection here). My gripe with that book was a lack of compelling characters - once you get past the whole transformation thing, that is. Treasure Island, on the other hand, has one highly fascinating character, indeed: Long John Silver.
Silver is a prototype in his own right for the morally ambiguous antagonist. He is indispensable ally at the beginning of the journey only to turn ruthless, greedy murderer. Regardless of his place on the ethical spectrum, the story was always most interesting when he was involved. I missed him whenever the narrative shifted focus to other characters. I didn't care nearly as much about Jim or his supposed good guy friends.
Largely because of Silver, I preferred Treasure Island to Jeckyll and Hyde. The text is richly detailed, especially in regards to setting - Stevenson's wheelhouse. My nautical vocabulary is quite lacking so the description of the sea voyage was not as meaningful as it might have been. As with Jeckyll and Hyde, I am glad to have read it for my own cultural literacy and will henceforth keep an eye out for Stevenson inventions in other pirate tales.
Isn't it fun to find a classic you really like? The Deerslayer was like that for me.
ReplyDeleteIt is fun. I'm not sure RLS is my guy, though. I've long been devoted to Mark Twain and the more nineteenth century authors I read, the more I'm convinced MT was truly one of a kind.
DeleteAlas... I never read this.
ReplyDeleteBut I did like the Disney "remake" of the story. Probably because I went to see it with daughter. That always made everything better than it was.
I really enjoy your book reviews.
cheers, parsnip
forgot to add, adore the cover art !
DeleteI like it, too. However, this was not the cover for the edition I read.
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ReplyDeleteI had my kid read TI a while back. He had a hard time with the start, but I told him to just keep going. He ended up loving it and has read many RLS works, now. Blind Pew is a horrifying character, the kind to give you nightmares. And Long John has become... well, he has his own restaurant chain, now. heh
ReplyDeleteI love J&H. That book would never get published now because of the passive nature of the story. None of the action is experienced first hand until the very end, but the figuring out of what is going on is very compelling.
You should read Kidnapped! That was the one I really loved as a kid. I should go back and read it again.
Kidnapped is on the to-read stack - should be getting to it soon.
DeleteI don't remember if I've read Treasure Island. It would've been in my earlier days. I've definitely read Jekyll & Hyde, though, maybe about ten years ago. I loved its atmosphere, captured foggy London perfectly, which was the element that made the whole thing work, sort of like if Frankenstein had remained in the framing narrative the whole time. Have you heard of or seen the film Mary Reilly? At the time of its release it was supposed to symbolic the fall of Julia Roberts as a popular actress (she made a spectacular comeback a few years later, so don't worry about her), but it's really a brilliant version of Jekyll, and may have discovered the character you thought was missing. Stevenson's creation also appears in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as the Hulk surrogate. I'm not sure if it's as nakedly obvious in the original comics as in the underrated film, but there it is. One of the highlights of that effort, anyway, and rings even better post-Avengers, which uses basically the same character arc for, of course, the Hulk.
ReplyDeleteLeague of EG was actually my initial inspiration for reading J&H. I think the Hulk parallel is pretty obvious.
DeleteI have not seen Mary Reilly. I'll keep an eye out for it.
I'm sad to say I have not read this book yet. Found you through a few blogs today!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, for following and for signing up for the Coffeehouse! I'll be by to visit soon.
DeleteI haven't read Treasure Island, though I recently acquired a copy, so I'm glad to read your review. I may go ahead with it.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right, Mark Twain is just special. I started reading him as a child and I'm still devoted to him today.
I took a class devoted to Twain in college - lots of fun.
DeleteGrowing up on the Cornish coast pirate stories are an integral part of childhood imaginings- TI feels like a tale told by an old Uncle in the back bar at a good lock in. I love it and go back to it for largely nostalgic reasons. Silver reminds me of how children see their hero figures: then the very human disappointment of discovering that human nature is rarely all altruism. He's a rite of passage character. Have to admit also that my very favourite film version is by The Muppets!
ReplyDeleteI can certainly understand your nostalgic tug.
DeleteSilver as a rite of passage character - I like that. To me, he is also the most believable.
As much as I adore the Muppets, their interpretation didn't work for me. I'm thinking I should watch it again, now that I've read the book.