Fionnáin reviewed Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Shiver me Timbers
3 stars
What to say about one of the most famous books of all time?
Most people know something of the story's synopsis: a teenage boy meets an ex-pirate and inherits a treasure map. He enlists the help of an educated doctor friend, who in turn enlists a squire, who puts together a crew. The squire is naive and inexperienced so relies on on the advice of a very helpful ship's cook, Long John Silver, to select the crew. They mutiny, many die, the treasure is lost, and lots of adventuring happens in between.
The story is a wild, swashbuckling tale. It features real names of pirates that once sailed the seas (such as Izzy Hands). It uses archaic tropes, such as how the distrustful pirates all have some disability or disfigurement that betray their darkness. It is a colonial tale, told by a wealthy white English boy who looks …
What to say about one of the most famous books of all time?
Most people know something of the story's synopsis: a teenage boy meets an ex-pirate and inherits a treasure map. He enlists the help of an educated doctor friend, who in turn enlists a squire, who puts together a crew. The squire is naive and inexperienced so relies on on the advice of a very helpful ship's cook, Long John Silver, to select the crew. They mutiny, many die, the treasure is lost, and lots of adventuring happens in between.
The story is a wild, swashbuckling tale. It features real names of pirates that once sailed the seas (such as Izzy Hands). It uses archaic tropes, such as how the distrustful pirates all have some disability or disfigurement that betray their darkness. It is a colonial tale, told by a wealthy white English boy who looks down on, and outsmarts, the lower educated pirate mutineers. It is a book of men (and a boy) with almost no women mentioned since the boy's mother leaves the story a short way in. It is violent, but generally those who suffer are the pirates, who garner little sympathy from the narrator. And even with these glaring issues, it is a great romp, a properly fun tale that justifies its enduring legacy as a popular favourite. It's also brilliantly written, richly described, with great characters. Worth a read with open eyes, for the characters and the setting alone.
