Holy crap two days in a row! Nah, j/k there's not a lot to talk about for me BUT we have our very first installment in my hopefully-ongoing series of book reviews! And today we are going to look fondly back at my very first reading (at 23 years old) of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.
In short, I thought the book was really really brilliant. I know it's a kids' book, or supposed to be, but honestly I'm not sure I would have really been able to hang with it when I was the same age as the narrator, Jim. Not because it's dense or complicated but because the jargon and language used would have been over my head. Maybe when I got to be around 15 or so.
Speaking of which, how old is Jim? I thought he was around 13 or 14, but then some of the stuff he did made me think he was maybe older. I don't know, it didn't really get in the way of my enjoyment of the book at all but I still wondered about it.
Anyway, aside from the language issues I would have no qualms about giving this book to a room full of middle schoolers. It's fun, it's a great adventure, and it has exactly the kind of hero that I like: a clever one. Too often these days our heroes get by on the shoulders of their friends (I'm looking at you, Harry Potter) or because they're bigger and stronger than anyone else. What happened to the clever heroes like Jim Hawkins? I miss them. Jim was also kind of a delightful smartass - abandoning the captain, the doctor and the squire to fend for themselves while he scurried off to do what he thought would be helpful was both brash, truant and brave. If it had gone wrong I would have been furious at him, and I think Jim would have been furious with himself (if he'd lived) but as it was it gave him the chance to really be brilliant all by himself, and to sort of save the day. The fact that the others recognized that, too, was a wonderful part of the book.
I also just enjoyed the setting of the book. I've always loved pirates, sailing, being on the ocean, etc. An interesting fact about my family is that back in the early 19th century, most of my mother's side of the family were involved in the business of piracy in some way or another, and while it's not honorable or glamorous it's a part of the family lore that's been passed down. I think a lot of my love of the ocean and nautical tales comes from the fact that my family has that tradition of being of the more nautical persuasion, even to this day. Boating is just a thing we do. I spent a lot of time when I was younger on my grandfather's Grady-White, and some of my fondest memories are from that period of time. So books about the ocean (and Jimmy Buffet songs, yes) always hold a special place in my heart. Just reading about Jim's time at sea, on the Hispaniola, and sailing her, made me all nostalgic and gave me the warm fuzzies inside. So admittedly I may have been biased from the start; I am not a good objective judge of books about pirates/sailing.
Much of Treasure Island's charm, though, comes from the story itself; the setting and the characters just make the whole experience all the richer. You have the clever, plucky hero who it honest and practical, and manages to come across something of incredible value. You are just as boyishly excited about the whole hunt as the main characters, and your distrust of Long John and the crewmen descends totally into despair as the mutiny comes around. Admittedly, I did know a great deal of the story before I even started, thanks to the Muppets, but really there is no comparison between the book and the movie. I love them both, yes, but the book was just incredible.
So yes, in conclusion, I really recommend Treasure Island, without any kind of hesitation at all. I only wish I'd heard more of what happened to Jim after the story was over, what he did with his share, but that wasn't really part of the story, I guess. I would think it sort of was, but alas.
And that concludes my first book review! Next in line is The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches us About what it Means to be Alive. Stay tuned!
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