Total Page : 62
Publisher : Prentice Hall College Div
Publication Date : 1982 07
>> Treasure Island is a tale of high adventure on the seven seas with Jim Hawkins and the evil Long John Silver
Back in the days when young men and women read adventure tales there was none better in the adolescent genre that the imimitable Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 94 Stevenson was a Scottish Presbyterian who was trained in law but forsook it for the sake of fiction Among his classics are The Black Arrow Kidnapped and his great novella
Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde Stevenson was a sufferer of TB and died at the too young age of 44
Treasure Island was published in 1883 It began as a story Stevenson narrated to his wife s son Lloyd Osborne
It tells the thrilling tale of buried treasure on Treasure Island The island is fictional but Stevenson seems to have located it near the California coast He lived in California for a time Jim Hawkins is the teenage narrator When the old seadog Billy Bones comes to the Admiral Benbow Inn he carries with him a map of Treasure Island Bones had been a sailor on a sea expedition led by the pirate Captain Flnt he had just received a black spot sign of death from the blind sailor Pew
Hawkins joins forces with Squire Trelawney Dr Livesey and later Captain Smollett aboard the Hispanolia in search of the buried treasure On the ship there are 19 mutineers led by the one legged Long John Silver and his famous parrot Captain Flint After a series of adventures and much violence the treasure of 700 000 pounds is discovered and Hawkins returns home a rich young lad
Stevenson is good in melodramatic action and in characterization influenced by his mentor Sir Walter Scott Clearly drawn characters such as Silver Ben Gunn and the evil Israel Hands are colorfully drawn The author is adept at word painting excelling in lush descriptive passages of the sea journey and Treasure Island He has borrowed the parrot from Defoe s Robinson Crusoe Stevenson s Treasure Island featuring young Jim Hawkins is not a deep work but is purely and simply an adventure tale to be read and reread as long as the art of writing and the practice of reading are part of civilized life
>> Good classic novel
This was my first time around with Treasure Island and I must say it was a well written novel with plenty of action plot suspense and thrill Long John Silver was a well developed character and really defines the moral struggles of mankind The outright greed at first and then the ultimate fate he was to endure at the end of the story no spoilers was written in a way that I could identify with Jim was such a strong and courageous character that doesn t seem to avoid confrontation that he keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire book A few times during the thick of the plot I actually gasped aloud thinking it may be the end Altogether this was a very good and easy read I would recommend it to anyone looking for a classic sea/pirate/adventure novel and with the lack of foul language it is deemed appropriate for all ages
>> Pure adventure
Treasure Island is a story of pure adventure The pirate Long John Silver is the star character treacerous yet likable despite some seriously confusing pirate dialogue Heavy use of sailing lingo and the fictional style and language of the novel sometimes hindered my immersion while reading Despite these complaints the story s quick pace sense of adventure and characterization of John Silver made it a joy to read
