Treasure Island
Ratings404
Average rating3.7
What can be said that hasnt been said already? It's a classic adventure of buccaneers and buried gold. And a perfect book for an afternoon.
This book contains everything you could expect from a story like this. Although this is one of the well-known classics, I had not read it yet. I am very happy that I have done so now.
The story follows Jim Hawkins who lives with his mother in the “Admiral Benbow” inn in a seaside town. When pirate Bill, who is a client at the inn, leaves a treasure map after his death, Jim sets off on an adventure to find the treasure. It is written in short chapters and after each chapter you want to know what Stevenson has in store for Hawkins and co. Because of the interesting story and the short chapters I read this fairly quickly.
If you have not yet become acquainted with this classic, it is highly recommended.
A brilliant narration of an engaging story
This is a dramatization, so you do feel like you're in the story with Jim, listening to the sea roar, seagulls and silver's parrot squawking in your ear.
This probably deserves 4 stars just for the creation of Long John Silver, one of the most magnificent characters in English literature. The reader winds up rooting for him as he manipulates his way out of each scrape, even though we know he's a conniving murderer. Stevenson is probably responsible for the entirety of modern pirate lore - our mythical notion of piracy full of amiable rogues and high adventure. Everything from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean to Talk Like a Pirate Day to Spongebob Squarepants owes so much to this story. And this story still stands up well against its more modern iterations.
I'd say the only thing I didn't like was the repeated cycle of Jim acting like a colossal idiot, only to find that his brainless decision has saved the whole crew. Often I'd pause and think, “Yup, this was clearly written to entertain a 12-year-old boy!” But at least Stevenson has the Doctor call Jim out on it!
When a young boy finds a treasure map in the chest of a dead pirate, he is all set for a grand adventure. However, loose lips and unscrupulous men lead for an adventure bigger than Jim and his small company bargained for.
When the squire hires men for a trip, he cannot help but talk about the treasure that they are going to find. As they sail through the seas, Jim overhears a conversation between two of the pirates, as they plan their mutiny. As the plan comes out and the pirates begin to take over the ship, Jim and his companions are not sure what will happen to them.
As they come upon the island where the treasure is buried the pirates make their move. But there is more to the small company of companions than the pirates give them credit for...
Any child will fall in love with this story! Let their imaginations take flight with these pirates and sail the seven seas in search of treasure and spoils galore!
thought i would like this more than i did but it was kind of dull a lot of the time and jim is an annoying protagonist... sorry. long john silver was the most interesting part of the book by far. the whole time i was reading this i was just thinking... I should rewatch treasure planet...
...what blood and sorrow, what good ships scuttled on the deep, what brave men walking the plank blindfold, what shot of cannon, what shame and lies and cruelty, perhaps no man alive could tell.
Entertaining and surprisingly complex for an adventure book originally intended for a teenage audience. I had a lot of fun with this one, because pirates are always fun. I don't care who you are.
Classic for a reason. I felt that this was significantly better than any of the movie adaptations.
I think I would've given this story 5 stars if I didn't have to google a word every other page because I don't know sailor lingo, but despite that I thought it was a captivating story and a fun read.
I was curious about this one for a while, and Ive found myself enjoying retellings of this story, so that tells me that the concept isn't the problem for me. I think the writing is just too dry, and I couldn't really engage with it past the halfway point.
bookclub4m November genre: Adventure fiction
“Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!”
I knew this story (probably through Wishbone), but I'd never read this book before - ancient classic like it is. I probably could have done with a copy that had historical - context footnotes or something but the adventure part was fully engaging. I have long loved seafaring adventure stories true and fictionalized from a young age.
After watching the streaming series Black Sails that is billed as a prequel to Treasure Island, I decided to pick up and read the original classic. Treasure Island has always been tilted toward a young adult readership. This is logical, since the main narrator and protagonist of the story is a young boy caught in an exciting, life-endangering pirate adventure. Even though many of the characters in Treasure Island appear in the streaming series prequel, I would never recommend the very adult themed streaming series to a young adult audience. It was interesting to see the continuing storylines and fates of many of the characters from the streaming series, so I can recommend this book to adults who watched Black Sails if interested in following the continuing story and to young adults as a stand-alone pirate adventure.
I am sure that I attempted this book when I was about twelve, when one would expect I would find this sort of adventure appealing. Reading it now, in tandem with my own child who is reading it for school, I know that I didn't finish it then and only finished now because I had to. There is nothing really wrong with the book, but there is also nothing very redeeming about it.
“There are sound scientific reasons why some in this world are rich and some are poor. It comes down to character, and no amount of piracy can counterbalance that. A pirate never died rich.”
“Unless he pretended he wasn't a pirate at all.”
I wasn't overly impressed by the story. It felt dry to me and I was looking forward to finishing it. Not bad, just lacking. If I read it before, I don't remember. I'm still glad to have read it.
The chapter where it switches to the Doctor was weird. I still don't understand why that was done.
The ending was odd too. Are we to believe that Jim has the parrot? Or is it part of his nightmares? The world may never know.
Shiver me timbers!
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I thought the book was rather dull. (I'm sorry, younger self.) For all its romanticizing of pirates and would-be treasure hunters, the actual meat and potatoes of the story lacked any real world-building in my opinion. Now, I'm not going to sit here and criticize one of my favorite books as a child, but I can't get the information I learned from the book Black Flags, Blue Waters, and other similar real-world accounts of the crews who flew the Jolly Roger out of my head.
Pirates were not that glamorous and did not live great lives, as you can imagine. Most were caught, incarcerated, starved, or worse. So, even though a part of my nostalgia died, the heart of the quest was still intriguing. I just remember it being a bit more descriptive. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
It's a fantastic book but descriptions aren't so good and when it talks about boats it may be boring
I can see why this would have been very exciting to read in 1893. LOL. Read this after becoming obsessed with Black Sails. I listened to it on audio and the actor was giving it all he had.