March 2016: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

[☯Emily , moderator]

We are reading Treasure Island in March. Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "buccaneers and buried gold". It was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881 and 1882 under the title Treasure Island, or the mutiny of the Hispaniola. It was first published as a book on 14 November 1883 by Cassell & Co.

Treasure Island is traditionally considered a coming-of-age story, and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action. It is also noted as a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality—as seen in Long John Silver—unusual for children's literature. It is one of the most frequently dramatized of all novels. Its influence is enormous on popular perceptions of pirates, including such elements as treasure maps marked with an "X", schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen bearing parrots on their shoulders. (This information was provided by Wikipedia.)

I hope everyone enjoys reading this book.

[Nina]

Yaay, looking forward! My copy has been staring at me for weeks!! Just need to make sure now that I finish my other book this weekend...

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

I hope I enjoy it, haven't read it before.

[RitaSkeeter]

I'll be re-reading it. I've never overly cared or RLS but will see if that's changed!

[Powder River Rose]

This is a great story that RLS wrote for his 12 year old son. I listened to Treasure Island for the first time in January 2015 and was so thrilled that I found several of his other works at the library and listened to them also. While I won't be able to listen this time around I'll enjoy hearing what participants have to say.

If you're interested here's some very good information on RLS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...

[Becko]

I'll be reading this one - looking forward to it since I love pirate stories.

[Myst]

Starting a bit early as my tbr list for the month is pretty long.

[Kirsten]

Just started listening to the audiobook this morning while walking my dog. It really engages you first thing. (Though, I don't care for the "voice" of Jim.)

I love RLS' other classic Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. Looking forward to this one.

[Nina]

Part 1:
Im enjoying the read quite a hit. I like the way the narration goes, it's definitely catching my attention enough to keep reading, it's not a very difficult read - so far -, nice break after some more difficult books and I somehow wish I would have read it as a child. I am sure I would have loved it.

[Nina]

Part 3: Still enjoying it a lot. I like Jim, though it seems unrealistic that he's only a boy. But that's fine, nothing in this book it supposed to be too realistic I guess. I wonder at the naivity of the doctor and the squire still going on this voyage despite the squire clearly talked about the treasure. Everything doesn't smell right straight from the beginning.

[Ciera]

I agree with you Nina, Jim seemed much older to me as well. I also love Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! It's one of my favorites!

[Myst]

The makeup of the ship's crew (42% into the book) appears to have been mostly awful pirates vs honest seamen. Did the guy who put together the crew know he was getting foul pirates or did he just think he was getting people who knew how to sail?

Long John appears to have been the worst choice so far, as it sounds like he was on the expedition that buried the treasure to begin with.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

Myst wrote: "The makeup of the ship's crew (42% into the book) appears to have been mostly awful pirates vs honest seamen. Did the guy who put together the crew know he was getting foul pirates or did he just t..."

Eh, they may have been semi decent but the promise of greed and group mentality pushed them over that immoral line

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

Ciera wrote: "I agree with you Nina, Jim seemed much older to me as well. I also love Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! It's one of my favorites!"

I agree, although I really liked Jim overall

[Holls]

Myst wrote: "The makeup of the ship's crew (42% into the book) appears to have been mostly awful pirates vs honest seamen. Did the guy who put together the crew know he was getting foul pirates or did he just t..."

My take was that the Squire was such an inveterate chatterbox that every pirate in port would have been hard-pressed not to have heard the details and made sure that they were conveniently available.

I read this book for the first time when I was about 9 years old and I've remembered it for 20+ years since as being deathly dull. Now that I'm re-reading it as an adult, it's pretty exciting and nothing is how I remember it! The only part that stuck with me from my first read was the black spot in the Admiral Benbow, but even the circumstances of that aren't at all the way I've remembered them all these years. Shows how much my 9 year old self knew! :-)

[Myst]

Ended up a bit disappointed in the book...90% of it seemed to be setting up the story and then fighting each other on the island. Only about 5% of the story actually was the treasure hunt.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

Myst wrote: "Ended up a bit disappointed in the book...90% of it seemed to be setting up the story and then fighting each other on the island. Only about 5% of the story actually was the treasure hunt."

I agree, I expected a bit more.

[Holls]

I've just finished the story. Rather thrilling, I thought. John Silver is a monstrous old rogue, isn't he? Can't help admiring his adaptability and nimble thinking. I liked him more than any of the protagonists!

The treasure itself seems to me to be a honking great MacGuffin, and the anaemic hunt for it at the end a symptom of that. I do confess to cackling aloud when the pirates discovered it had already been plundered.

[Myst]

With all the descriptors on the map before they left, I did expect more of a hunt. Even a chase between the 2 groups and fighting along the way would've been slightly more thrilling than 1 group got drunk on the beach, the other group holed up in some structure, randomly being raided and killing each other.

What ever happened to the guy who'd been marooned on the island? Did he ever get his cheese?

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

Myst wrote: "With all the descriptors on the map before they left, I did expect more of a hunt. Even a chase between the 2 groups and fighting along the way would've been slightly more thrilling than 1 group go..."

Yeah, the doctor had some cheese stored on the boat when Jim talked to him and explained about the man wanting cheese.

I expected more for the hunt too, but also was wanting to see hidden dangers and adventures on the island, but the author apparently just wanted to focus on the internal struggles

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

Holls wrote: "I've just finished the story. Rather thrilling, I thought. John Silver is a monstrous old rogue, isn't he? Can't help admiring his adaptability and nimble thinking. I liked him more than any of the..."

Yeah, John Silver was pretty much fascinating. He stold page time when he came onboard.

[Rebecca]

I read this book last year and it really cracked me up. So much yo ho ho and pirate speak that sometimes it was hard to follow, but it really pulled you into the hunt for treasure. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, but still only a 3 star story for me.

I agree with others that most of the time I was thinking okay when do we get to the action and the treasure. I think the beauty of this book is in setting the scene and introducing the pirates and their ways. I had to keep remembering that this book was written before there were tons of movies and shows and stuff about pirates.