About this title: Jim Hawkins, who narrates Stevenson's classic tale, is rewarded for his assistance to an old pirate, Billy Bones, with a map showing the way to buried treasure. He and his associates set sail for the island on a ship manned by a band of pirates--a fact they discover en route. The pirate king is the notorious one-legged cook Long John Silver, one of Stevenson's most delightfully conceived villains. The pirates are vanquished, the treasure is retrieved, and Stevenson's novel is widely loved, and admired as one of the great adventure novels of all time.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
"I don't know about the evolution of the pirate story before Stevenson, but it seems to me that in Treasure Island, written in 1881, I encountered many descriptions of those loveable fictitious scallawags that endure to this day: the fearsome one-legged pirate, the talkative shoulder-riding parrot, the mysterious and wild distant island on which great treasure is buried, and even the familiar "Shiver my timbers!" and "Yo ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"
Young Jim Hawkins lives in and helps to run a seaside inn on the coast of England. Into his life falls a roughened former pirate, now on the run from his shipmates who--of course--find him. Fearing for their lives, Jim and his mother flee but not before grabbing their guest's secret treasure map and, therefore, inviting danger to follow. With the aid of the local doctor and squire, a fresh expedition sets out for the elusive Treasure Island and not all who are serving aboard are quite what they seem, including the one-legged cook, Long John Silver. Much adventure and great fun follow.
New readers will need to become comfortable with some nautical terms and also the cadence of the pirates' speech which rolls along like this: "Before an hour's out, I'll stove in your old block house like a rum puncheon. Laugh, by thunder, laugh! Before an hour's out, ye'll laugh on the other side. Them that die'll be the lucky ones!" By the time you are done reading this you, too, will be declaring "Argh, me mateys, come about, ye swabs!""
"I had to read this book for school. I started some time in October, reading three or four chapters daily (excepting the weekends, of course). I finished today (the day it says I read this book).
It's a good book, but there's lots of hard-to-understand dialogue. But don't be scared away by that; there's a bunch of notes in the back you can refer to, as well as an overview of the plot (don't read it unless you've finished the actual book) and characters.
I wouldn't reccomend this book to people in early elementary school (excepting a version for younger readers; it's a Wishbone book), because there's lots of descriptive violence. The climax is completely unexpected, and the characters are complex.
But once you've read this book, you won't regret it. It's a guarentee!
Note: Spoilers in the following paragraph.
If you've read this book before, who can forget Long John Silver? The "sea cook" is constantly changing sides, and one of the most complex characters in the story. And don't forget about Ben Gunn, the marooned man who was hiding Captain Flint's treasure all along? He might have seemed a bit mad at first, yes, but he's certainly not worth ignoring. This is a memorable book. No wonder it's one of the classics!"
"Maybe it's because I grew up, along with how many tens of millions of others, with the mythology of pirates in my head, or maybe it's the adrenaline-pumping action of a good adventure story, but I absolutely loved this book. In fact, I had to force myself to set it aside for a few hours at a time, to draw it out as long as I could stand, to savor every aspect of the classic story. I was not, nor am I now, well-versed in pirate lore, or knew at all the tale of Treasure Island and Long John Silver. But I did see the Disney spin on the tale, Treasure Planet, and upon seeing that movie (which I really enjoyed), I knew I had to read the book counterpart. As I said, I loved it. From he foreshadowing and development, to the choice of words and phrase and buildup that left me breathless in all the right places (Hawkins and Hands fighting on the nearly-sinking Hispaniola, the six remaining mutineers finding the treasure has been taken long before they set foot on the island), to Silver himself, a man you can't help put love in spite of good conscience. It all coalesced so perfectly as to make a book that I am happy to add to my "favorites" collection. So, so, so worth the read!"
"Do you have a book that you've started multiple times and could never actually finish? Maybe some other book was more interesting, or maybe a different leisure activity came along or maybe you got busy, but for whatever reason, you've tried to read this book several times and never really got anywhere with it. Well, one of those books for me was Treasure Island. Yes, that Treasure Island, with Long John Silver and "fifteen men on a dead man's chest." The one that has long been regarded as a classic of literature. And until a few days ago, I could not get in to it. Which is kind of weird, because I think pirates are fascinating, and the book has no shortage of drama and adventure. But I just could never read it through. Until now!
And it was nice to read one of those books-that-everyone-should-read-because-it's-great-literature and really enjoy it, because I've been having a hard time with those sorts of books lately (see 1919 and The Handmaid's Tale). Treasure Island was great. I liked the characters and the plot was pretty interesting too. I was kind of surprised at the number of violent deaths in the book - Treasure Island has a reputation as being a children's story and it's been made into a movie plenty of times by people like Disney and the Muppets - but upon thinking about it a bit more, I realized, come on, they're pirates, so yes, there's bound to be some violence. And there's treasure and sailing ships and things like that, so it's pretty much got everything you need for a good story. If you have had problems getting into Treasure Island, like I did, give it another go. It's worth it!"
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
