Treasure Island
4/5
()
Adventure
Pirates
Betrayal
Survival
Treasure Hunting
Treasure Map
Blind Seer
Loyal Crew
Treasure Island
Love Triangle
Hero's Journey
Chosen One
Prophecy
Sacrifice
Secret Heir
Fear
Treasure
Deception
Piracy
Treasure Hunt
About this ebook
Robert Louis Stevenson
Scottish poet, novelist, and travel writer Robert Louis Stevenson is one of Britain's best-loved authors. He is perhaps most famous for his children's adventure classics Treasure Island and Kidnapped, but he was also a writer of powerful and original novels and short stories, among them the perennially popular Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
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Reviews for Treasure Island
5,574 ratings173 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Long John Silver must be one of the most despicable characters in literature while Hawkins one of the luckiest. Silver is opportunistic, constantly switching sides in order to save his life. He did save his life compared to the other buccaneers. Well, to give him credit, he saved Hawkins from the hands of the other buccaneers. Interesting read though the buccaneers' lingo is almost impossible to understand, even Hawkins don't know what they are singing!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book is about as uninteresting as it's bland title suggests. Besides bringing to the forefront every childish pirate trope and swashbuckling cliché you can think of, Treasure Island offers little more artistic imagination than what you might expect for such a simple yarn, and leaves you with nothing but a belated yawn. It isn't necessarily bad, but it isn't great either, and I'm just like what's the point of it all?
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My only experience with this story has been through Wishbone and the Muppet version. With this background it was interesting to read the real story and get a feel for the plot that inspired those re-tellings. In my opinion the story's punch is only hampered by the overly wordy and didactic nature of the narrative. Writers of that time didn't show, they told and told and told. Lots of description and so forth. That being said, it was still enjoyable and young Hawkins surprised me as an exceptionally daring protagonist. Fun and rollicking!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A classic story. The determination of the characters is well done. If you have not read it....the chances are Earth is a very distant place for you.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Probably one of the most iconic pirate novels of all time and considered a classic piece of literature. The story is fine and the plot moves along although the flow definitely felt a bit more jilted than what current literature is. The characters tend to make the book with the main character and Long John Silver as the two preeminent ones; although there are other enjoyable ones. Honestly, I would have enjoyed the book more if there were more pirates and the story told more in their camp. Overall, a good book. However, I will commit literature heresy and say that it's not a great book. Final Grade - C
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I enjoyed this very much. I had only ever seen the movie, so at some point, I decided I really had to know the book, and the version read by Adrian Praetzellis is awesome.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of my favorite of Robert Louis Stevenson's.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I finally got around to reading Treasure Island I was so delighted with it and surprised how rip-roaring a tale it is. I read it as an adult and loved it... It's one of those things that is like the fountainhead for so much pop culture since it was published (pirates saying "arrrrr!" for one), there is something shocking about going back to the source. Perhaps the best-ever adventure novel of all time.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Some parts bored me, some confused me, but none excited me, but not badly written.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This classic adventure story featuring pirates and treasure continues to delight today's readers and listeners. Jasper Britton's narration was so well done I felt I listened to a full-cast narration instead of a single performer. Five audio versions were available to me through my libraries, and I listened to the samples of each, settling on this one, and I'm so glad I did.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Its Treasure Island, which I read when I was just a lowly 7th grader, aged 12 or 13. Did I like it than? I don't think so. Nor did I remember much of the plot besides Pirates! and Treasure. I was surprised at just how much of the action took place on the island. Which, I guess makes sense since the book is called Treasure Island....
So its an adventure book, and a well written one at that. However, nothing is surprising, and its a not a deep book. Perfect for a beach read, something to read that isn't very deep. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The writing is luxurious to read, or in my case listen to, even though a 150-year-old swashbuckler about pirates feels slow and meandering by today's standards.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not actually Volume 3 - the title is incorrect. I listened to the Michael Page audio version in the car on my iPhone. A clear reading, well told. I read the abridged version with my students, because the vocabulary and the dialect dialogue are so difficult, but the sequence of events is often clearer in the full version.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This 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. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I just really had trouble getting into this. The characters were so two-dimensional and the "action" went from a lot of talking to a lot of killing and back to a lot of talking. Not my cuppa Joe.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Like many clasics it was long and rambling, hard to follow the plot at points. It got easier halfway through, but I still had to push myself to finish it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A classic story. The determination of the characters is well done. If you have not read it....the chances are Earth is a very distant place for you.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A re-read of a favorite from my childhood. It held up beautifully and filled me with nostalgia.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I have always loved the story of Treasure Island by R L Stevenson.And also loved some of his other writings such as "The Pleasures of Travelling slowly". The story is such a classic that it really does not warrant comment so I will focus on the book itself. This is the Folio Society edition and, as always, the Folio Society does a pretty good job of book production. A nice hardback in a lovely book-case. I was mainly attracted to it by the illustrations by N C Wyeth. The publishers state that they were able to access the original paintings and took the plates from them. If this is the case then I am frankly disappointed. All the illustrations seem to have been colour shifted towards brown. Now this may, indeed, be the case with the original paintings but I was able to "Google" an exhibition of the same paintings and see some photographs of the original paintings there. Admittedly, this is a bit unreliable because I can't know how accurate the photos were in reproducing the colours of the originals but suffice to say that they were much brighter ...and I would think...more attractive to a younger audience. And the audience, in this case was boys. I must say that I'm somewhat convinced that the Folio Society might not have gotten their printing of the colour plates quite right because, when I look at the plate facing p 33...which is "Captain Bones routs Black Dog"....there is a small patch of sea in the background. In the bookplate it is virtually black. But the same plate enhanced a bit (lightened) with photo software shows it to be a cobalt blue. Now, I may be wrong but I suspect the the original has this enlivening cobalt blue and somewhere, over the years, this has disappeared. (maybe by the varnishing darkening). The bottom, line is that I am disappointed in the reproduction of the illustrations. They are all of remarkable composition and vigour but let down by the darkness of the tones. I have read the book many times....it was even a text in English for me at High School so I have not re-read the story in this Folio version. (They say, it closely follows the original). A great book, great illustrations by a favourite artist of mine from boyhood but, a bit let-down by the dark tones fo the illustrations. Recommended but not five stars.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book is not bad in any sense of the way. The issue I had when I read it is that I read it when I was already an adult when the audience is clearly young children (ideally 8-12 year olds).
A clean fantasy with pirates and a nice, easygoing narrative, it is an ideal fun story for a parent to read to their children. Give it a shot! - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island." Walt Disney
Treasure Island is an iconic adventure pirate story, it is the book that almost everyone has had in our childhood and is chock full of all the images of pirates we know today whether it be in literature or cinematography: dreadful Captain Flint, cunning John Silver with his peg leg, talking parrot, rum and the song about the dead man’s chest. All these characters can be seen in today in modern works like “The Pirates of the Caribbean” series. So why has it endured all these years?
The simple answer is that it has everything that we look for today in an adventure story: hidden treasure hunted for my goodies and baddies alike, a mutiny on the ship, a marooned ex-pirate and a skeleton used as a road sign and of course a talking parrot. However, perhaps the most important feature is the characterisation of the pirate leader John Silver. On one hand he is likeable, charming and brave yet despite his missing leg he is also calculating, tough and strong and there is also a real element of menace about him that sends shivers down our spines meaning that we feel exactly like Jim felt while he was hiding in the barrel and listening to the pirate talks.
The way that the pirates talk is also vital to the story. While the “good” characters speak proper English the pirates use jargon so distinguishing them as the “bad guys”. Such details help modern readers who know nothing about real life pirates can still vividly imagine them pirates as being outside of the norms of civilised society. Equally the narrative is written from the viewpoint of a teenage Jim Hawkins and we see the storyline through his eyes. He is curious, brave and noble, just as we would like to remember ourselves being at that age. Similarly there are no examples of racism or misogyny that might upset modern sensibilities.
Overall “Treasure Island” can be rightly regarded as the forerunner of the pirate adventure story and despite being first published in 1883 is still an interesting and entertaining read today whether you are a child or an adult.
"Fifteen men on a dead man's chest-
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5So there I was, drifting in Pandemic Land, wondering what to read next, when the soft dulcet voice of Lou Reed drifted into my sullen consciousness:
"I wish that I'd sailed the darkened seas
On a great big clipper ship
Going from this land here to that
On a sailor's suit and cap..."
And, then, right after that, this early Dylan lyric came crashing through the Pandemic Mayhem: "Haul on the bowline, we sang that melody...like all tough sailors do, when they're far away at sea!" In a moment, the die was cast. I knew that the next book I would read, or reread rather, would be Treasure Island, one that I read some, what, forty years ago, as a mere child? It was a great idea! What a treat! What pleasure! And the fact that the back cover said, "For children, aged 10-14," discouraged me not a whit! To make matters even better, it so happened that my edition was a facsimile of a 1911 one, illustrated by one NC Wyeth, the father of the very Andrew (Mansplain Alert!), who painted Christina's World (and not to forget the voluptuous Helga). But I digress. This adventure story was an unalloyed delight, a story of intrigue, treachery, courage, and a cast of characters right out of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland! I can say no more save this: English literature is awash (as we pirates say) with secondary characters of the highest order: Holmes' Dr Watson, Dickens Madame Defarge, King Arthur's Merlin, Alice's Cheshire Cat, and so on...so allow me to introduce another one, the charismatic Long John Silver, the humble, affable ship's cook in this gripping yarn...or was he only a cook? Read it to find out! - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the greatest adventure stories ever written. Perfect for those who would dream of being a pirate.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When an old seaman named Billy Bones comes to stay at the Admiral Benbow Inn run by Jim Hawkins and his parents, the young English boy finds himself unexpectedly caught up in an exciting adventure involving pirates and hidden treasure. Enlisted in the local squire's quest to find the treasure buried on the eponymous Treasure Island, Jim becomes a cabin boy on the voyage out, encountering treachery and dangers he did not anticipate...
Like many children's classics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Treasure Island was first published serially, in the Young Folks magazine, before being released in book form in 1883. An instant success, it has remained immensely popular ever since, published in innumerable editions, and frequently adapted for stage, film and television. Somehow, despite being well aware of it since childhood, I had never picked it up, until it was assigned as one of our texts in a class I took during the course of my masters. I'm so happy that I finally did get to it, as I found it immensely engrossing and entertaining. Atmospheric, exciting, it immediately grabs hold of the reader, and takes them along on an extraordinary adventure. The themes here are fascinating, and led me to include the book in a paper I wrote on the island as an example of the 'lapsed topos,' as envisioned by Jane Suzanne Carroll, in her Landscape in Children's Literature. Recommended to all readers who enjoy adventure stories, or who love tales of seafaring and pirates. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Not really my cup of tea, but I can understand why it's a classic.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5YAAARR. This be a tale of scallywags and high seas. Adventure be at it's finest, and the rum flows like water me lads.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent adventure story with pirates singing about bottles of rum & a dead man's chest, a one-legged rogue, and a talking parrot - I suspect that this book is responsible for all the pirate stereotypes I grew up with!
Frederick Davidson did a good job narrating, but I found his voices for a few of the characters didn't feel quite right to me. The doctor in particular was given a quick way of talking with some pauses in strange places. If not for these minor flaws, I would have given this 5 stars. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Come and join us in a wonderful adventure story. Pirates, parrots, treasure maps. One of the most complicated villains in all of Victorian literature. An exotic setting, an exotic time frame. Who could ask for more?
At a coastal inn, a mysterious and somewhat evil man takes up residence. Soon he’s pursued my creepy foes. What ensues is the most influential pirate story ever. Stevenson was admittedly aiming at a young male audience, but a reader would need to be unimaginative in the extreme not to get caught up in Jim Hawkins’ adventures on the high seas.
Definitely recommended. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My book club likes to choose at least one classic every year. This past year we had trouble settling on one that too many people hadn't already read or that were too long for the reading time frame so I suggested Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, a book I hadn't read since I was a child but one that I knew I'd be happy to revisit. After all, who doesn't like swashbuckling?
As a classic, the plot is probably familiar to most people but broadly drawn, young Jim Hawkins, son of an innkeeper, finds a map to Treasure Island in the late Billy Bones' belongings and sets out with a couple of old men eager to add to their wealth and a scurvy crew of mostly shifty sailors for the promised treasure. Along the way there is plotting, betrayal, and mutiny from the sailors, treasure unearthed, a battle fought, a maroon found, and ultimately the triumph of goodness, luck, and bravery.
This novel is in fact the original pirate tale, the one that has influenced so much of the pop culture portrayals of pirates to this day. It is a portrait of Britain in the Victorian age and of the romanticism of the high seas; it is pure adventure. The language in it is decidedly more difficult than what is presented to children today but the story, after a bit of a slow start, is still completely entertaining and engrossing. Young Jim is lucky, often in the right place at the right time, and he has invaluable instincts. Long John Silver seems charming and kindly but who hides his real, greedy and evil nature as long as possible. I first read this at our cottage by flickering gaslight and that was perfect for the atmosphere evoked here. If you don't have such a place to sink into this book, I suspect it would make a fantastic read aloud bedtime story. Be warned though, that the audience for the story will beg you not to stop at this chapter or that, wanting the whole adventure in one go. And good luck not getting "yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" or "sixteen men on a dead man's chest" stuck in your head after you read it! - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is an awesome novel! It manages to be a great adventure story, and a great Victorian period piece, without feeling dated or forced. Yes, the hero has things go unnaturally well for him, but it makes perfect sense in the story. It's a great read, and a great young adult read. The abridged versions, really, should be shot for the lame imposters they are.
And, on top of being a great story, this is where the whole pirate genre started, everything from buried treasure tropes, to the rules of "gentlemen of fortune." Every pirate aficionado should give this a gander.