Kidnapped (David Balfour, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Dec 30, 2020 Steve rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I liked it well enough, but I rank Kidnapped lower than Treasure Island, Master of Ballantrae (which I recently read), and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Kidnapped does contain one of Stevenson's greatest characters in the Jacobite soldier Alan Breck Stewart, who is a bantam bundle of swashbuckling energy.

The novel opens, interestingly, with the novel's hero, young David Balfour traveling to see his uncle and claim his fortune and rightful place within the family. There's been a rift between his Davi I liked it well enough, but I rank Kidnapped lower than Treasure Island, Master of Ballantrae (which I recently read), and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Kidnapped does contain one of Stevenson's greatest characters in the Jacobite soldier Alan Breck Stewart, who is a bantam bundle of swashbuckling energy.

The novel opens, interestingly, with the novel's hero, young David Balfour traveling to see his uncle and claim his fortune and rightful place within the family. There's been a rift between his David's recently deceased father and David's uncle. Stevenson would later return to this sibling rivalry in the later (1889) in the better developed novel Master of Ballantrae. In Kidnapped, the cause(s) of brotherly bitterness is later revealed in a late chapter info dump.

Anyway, David is sent on his way by the advice, direction, along with introductory letter by a kindly local minister. I really liked how Stevenson set this up, with his descriptions of landscape, weather, characters, etc. The early pages are almost surreal as David's journey strikes the reader as some sort of secular Pilgrim's Progress. Next to come are some comic meetings along the road with Canterbury-like oddballs, and the eventual confrontation with the comically bad uncle. David is a bit full of himself (and he stays that way through much of the novel), and thinks he has the measure his muttering, miserly, eccentric uncle. Instead David is set up and "kidnapped" by a sea captain in the uncle's pay, with his probable destination the 18th Century Carolinas and a probable life of indentured servitude.

At this point chance inserts itself in the (very unlikely) rescue of a Jacobite solder with a loaded money-belt named Alan Breck, who basically hijacks the rest of the story. Things soon get very Treasure Island, with betrayal, sword fights, gun play, and a siege. I thought this was the high point of the novel. There is an eventual storm, a wrecked ship, and what seems, at times, a long travelogue trek for David and Alan through remote Scottish Highlands, which was precipitated by an actual historical murder. This part of the story, murky as it is, is entertaining enough, but it did seem to drag on and I found myself starting to lose interest about the time the charming innkeeper's daughter, Alison Hastie, makes a saving appearance for our worn-out heroes. That said, I had some lingering questions about Alan's missing money belt, and his convenient nearby fishing at the time of the murder of a family foe. One could argue that such questions are artistic in nature, refusing to provide a tale with neat bow for the reader. I sensed instead compositional haste. Whatever, it's still a good read, and you'll never forget that proud rogue Alan Breck, with the bright twinkle in his eyes, and his ready and capable sword. ...more

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May 29, 2011 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it really liked it

Shelves: children-s-books, kids-1001, the-classics-club, adventure

A 1001 CBYMRBYGU.

Young David Balfour discovers after his father’s death that his family has unexpected wealth and power. David ventures off to meet up with his father’s only brother and finds a man who deceives him and sells him off into slavery, sending David off on a ship bound for America. On the ship, David meets lots more bad guys and there is a lot of shooting and fighting. He falls overboard, survives to live for a while on an isolated island, and then gets thrown into a Scottish struggle ...more

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Aug 29, 2021 Fee rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scottish

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 landsc ...more

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