Kidnapped

I had an edition of this when I was wee that said ‘A Boy's Book' on the cover, and that is exactly how it reads - as a book written for boys in the 1900's. I've seen it described as swashbuckling, but my swashes remain firmly unbuckled. I wish I'd loved it more because my Dad adored it, and I definitely caught glimpses of him in these pages, but it just didn't do it for me. After the first third or so I was bored, and the only thing that kept me going were the descriptions of the Scottish landscape and the few encounters with its people. I kept having to check in with the Wikipedia description of the plot because the writing was often so wandering I ended up completely lost. I'll give Jekyll and Hide a go and see if I get on any better with that but I suspect RLS's time has passed for me.

I read this as an early teen, and more than thirty years later all I could remember of it was a lot of scrambling about in heather. There was no lasting impression. It was my first and (for the time being) last attempt to read Stevenson. Reading it again now, I see why. The historical background and geography would have been entirely lost on the 14-year-old me, along with Stevenson's rendering of Scotch English, and what would have seemed an interminable scramble across Scotland. I'm now wondering if I even made it through to the end!

To a 46-year-old man of the world, however, “Kidnapped” is an entirely different pan of drammach. It's a history lesson, a geography lesson and an adventure all rolled up in one quick, satisfying read. The ending is strange though. It cuts off almost as if there were some pages missing from the manuscript when it was handed to the publisher and nobody noticed. Maybe some of these loose ends will be resolved when I read “Catriona”?

Still, “Kidnapped” remains one of the great adventure novels, and very worthy of its prominent place in the pantheon.