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    Treasure Island
    Treasure Island
    Treasure Island
    Audiobook (abridged)2 hours

    Treasure Island

    Written by Robert Louis Stevenson

    Narrated by Roger Blake

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Stevenson's classic tale of 18th-century intrigue, conspiracy and piracy has everything an adventure story should have, especially a resourceful young hero in Jim Hawkins. From the moment a drunken sailor arrives to menace the tranquillity of his father's inn, Jim is caught up in a web of plots. By chance rather than design, he finds himself the central figure in an attempt to recover the buried treasure of a pirate named Flint. Long John Silver's villainy and the search for this booty spark off skulduggery, murder and betrayal.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe Copyright Group
    Release dateJan 1, 2014
    ISBN9781780003795
    Author

    Robert Louis Stevenson

    Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson was born on 13 November 1850, changing his second name to ‘Louis’ at the age of eighteen. He has always been loved and admired by countless readers and critics for ‘the excitement, the fierce joy, the delight in strangeness, the pleasure in deep and dark adventures’ found in his classic stories and, without doubt, he created some of the most horribly unforgettable characters in literature and, above all, Mr. Edward Hyde.

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    Reviews for Treasure Island

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Treasure Island, a classic young adult adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, is largely deserving of its fame. Although the plot is fundamentally simple, it's tightly written and manages to include a couple small, unexpected twists. Surprisingly, the characters are one of the book's strengths: while none of them are terribly deep, they are all rendered with such color and personality that you get to know them (and like or dislike them) by the end of the book. Treasure Island is also unlike many modern novels in its combination of brevity and completeness: it successfully includes the entirety of a satisfying tale in a single, fairly slim book.Treasure Island tells of a turning point in the life of Jim Hawkins, a young, British teenager in the 1760s or 1770s. Partially by happenstance and partially through his own thoughtless actions, he uncovers a treasure map and becomes cabin boy on a voyage to recover gold buried on a remote island by the infamous pirate Captain Flint.Stevenson's writing doesn't give you a look inside Jim's head, so we only get to know him through his words and actions. Thus, the reader only comes to the gradual realization that Jim is a surprisingly dumb and foolish protagonist. Early on, it is evident that he has an excess of bravery. But apart from that, as scene follows scene, Jim repeatedly exhibits a certain naivete about the world that is not cured by his repeated realizations that he has erred. This may or may not be realistic- it's hard for me to say- but it's certainly not common for novel protagonists, who tend to be of above-average intelligence.We also get to know the other characters through their words and actions. Jim seldom passes judgment on any of the characters- and when he does, you have no confidence whatsoever in his feelings- leaving you to decide what you think of men like Squire Trelawney, Doctor Livesey, and above all, Long John Silver.Long John Silver is the star of the book- more complex, colorful, and just plain fun-to-read-about than any other character. Getting to know him is an important part of the book, so I won't say more about him here.The book does have flaws. It lacks any female or minority characters or viewpoints. The protagonist isn't particularly appealing, nor is he a good role model. The story leaves a glaring loose end (Trelawney's failure to keep the island's latitude and longitude a secret), the consequences of which I was waiting for throughout the entire book. And lastly, the simplicity of the tale precludes any particularly brilliant or impactful scenes or lessons. In short, the book doesn't attain greatness. But it's pretty good, and it achieves what it attempts to achieve.
    • 4/5
      deserved of its classic status.
    • 3/5
      Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day and the perfect opportunity to review Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. The narrator and young hero of the book, Jim Hawkins is a very likeable character and I can definitely understand why this book was so popular with boys; who wouldn't want to be young Jim? It was interesting to finally meet the characters of Captain Flint and Long John Silver and I enjoyed the pirate dialogue by thunder!I was somewhat surprised to find the plot a little more layered than I expected, being written for young boys. I can definitely imagine a young reader enjoying the adventure the first time through, but discovering and understanding more about the nature of men on the second read, perhaps several years later.I confess I feel a little late to the party - only reading Treasure Island in my 30s - but it's never too late to catch up on a classic. Having read it now, I can't rightly say what makes Treasure Island a classic though, or why it has endured. It was first published in 1883, but is still popular today.
    • 2/5
      Depressing, and occasionally surprising violent.

      It starts off in the same pattern of any children's adventure or fantasy novel. An ordinary boy, living a rather humdrum life, finds himself in the centre of some extraordinary events that lead to him being swept away on a great adventure.

      However, the adventure itself isn't the colourful, intoxicating affair we might expect. Treasure Island itself, far from being the beautiful Caribbean island we expect, turns out to be a hostile, oppressive place - the very air of which is suffocating for both fictional character and reader alike.

      There is no romanticising the pirate's profession here. The pirates are simply shown as regular crooks who want to get rich quick! Stevenson does create a couple of genuinely scary villains, however, in John Silver and Captain Flint. We never actually meet Flint, but the memory of his terrible deeds echoes throughout the book.

      It is a boys book, there's no doubt about that. I am not in this book's target demographic or gender! (There are quite literally NO females in this book, with the exception of Jim Hawkins' mother!) I found it a slow, dull read at times, but I struggled through (after a long hiatus in the middle during which I indulged in a couple of Georgette Heyers) and I am glad I did. It is a good book, albeit not my thing at all. I did, however, find it interesting as a:

      *Character study, particularly of Long John Silver, whose - ahem - forceful personality dominates the book. I also found the extraordinary relationship between Jim and John fascinating.

      *Coming of age story. Jim undergoes some extreme tests of character, and shows amazing maturity for his age (how old is he supposed to be? 12?). Nonetheless, he did and saw things that no child his age should have to be exposed to. Will there be repercussions later on in life? He survived through some terrible trials, and emerged with his moral integrity intact, but will he also bear scars from his experiences on Treasure Island? It's a short little book, and much is left unsaid. The fate of all the major characters upon their return to England is revealed at the end of the book. All the major characters, except Jim himself!
    • 5/5
      Fun and wonderfully told adventure story. It’s amazing how much of piracy in pop culture owes to Robert Louis Stevenson.
    • 2/5
      Never having been a fan of the pirate genre I entered communication with Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, one of its pillars, with some trepidation especially since as the author’s biographer Claire Harmon notes like his Jekyl and Hyde, it’s so well known that it hardly requires being read at all, “Long John Silver is more real to most people than any historical buccaneer.” I’d like to offer a narrative of rediscovering the genre, but young Jim Hawkins is such a greedy, repellent narrator and the various pirates so difficult to understand and the story points so subtly telegraphed, I was less thrilled than appalled. That Silver and Gunn are the most entertaining figures it does go without saying, but as Harmon hints because their old bones have been resurrected so many times since, the original now seems prosaic and slothful. But such things are not Stevenson’s fault, of course.
    • 3/5
      This is one of the classics I’ve wanted to read for a long time, but have put it off because I wanted to like it and wasn’t sure I would. Turns out, I liked it!As I mentioned on a Goodreads update, I pictured the entire cast based on that of Muppet Treasure Island because how could I not!? Sadly, there aren’t any original roles for Gonzo and Rizzo, so they were left out of my imaginings. The first half of the movie was surprisingly faithful to the book, song and dance numbers aside. Anyway!Jim is a smart lad, quick on his feet and fairly brave, which proves useful to his allies several times throughout the story. BookJim has less personality than MuppetMovieJim (ok, I know I need to stop comparing them) yet I found him more likable. Jim is young, around fourteen if I remember correctly (which I probably don’t), and therefore very excited about the chance of an adventure at sea. But he does show an impressive amount of caution once he realizes the danger he’s in. I enjoyed that he admitted his fear in several situations (he’s the narrator, by the way), yet soldiered on. There’s not a lot of a character arc for him (or anyone, really), but he kept my interest.The story was a faster read than I expected – some classics feel heavy due to the antiquated language and can get incredibly wordy. I flew through this book in a matter of days. The plot keeps a nice pace and the action is spread out amongst Jim’s musings and observations about life at sea and then the island itself. There were some scenes where I had no idea what the hell took place, however. I just know actions took place and as a result, the story moved forward (example: Jim somehow hijacked the ship all by himself) and rather than re-read to clarify, I just plowed forward. So that fault lies entirely with me, but I thought I’d mention it anyway.All in all, I wasn’t blown away. The story lacks a lot of detail in regards to world and character building (though I was happy to be spared the constant facial and clothing descriptions that often come with more modern works), but the simplistic style did make it easily readable. I’m not sure what the book was missing (Muppets maybe?!), but I wanted just a touch of something more. It was enjoyable, but not a classic I’ll return to. Fairly suitable for younger readers though, as there’s not much in the way of violence and what there is could easily be skimmed over.
    • 3/5
      Echt actieverhaal, maar van een bijzondere soort. Jim is een echte held, die ondanks naiviteit toch bepalend is voor de redding van de groep. Opvallend is vooral het dubbele portret van John Silver: moorddadige piraat, valserik aan de ene kant, maar ook romantische piraat, intelligent, goed wetend wat het goede is.
    • 3/5
      Finished reading this book aloud to the kids TODAY! Hooray- it took all of 6 months.. with *many* breaks in between.. But it was a great read aloud. We had to look up many of the nautical terms and lingo, but it was a good story over all. I think I said in my original post that I wouldn't have picked this book up on my own. It's an adventure story about seafaring pirates.. And that is not something that grabs me, but nevertheless I did enjoy reading it to the kids. And now we can say we've read Treasure Island!
    • 2/5
      The shortest form of this book which I ever read. Classic story about pirates, treasures on an uninhabited island, adventures. The first time I read this story when I was 10-year-old, right now I back to this book to improve my English, but I prefer whole story, so I hope- I'll read them soon.
    • 5/5
      Come 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.
    • 5/5
      Treasure Island is a classic pirate adventure story! I recently watched the 2012 TV movie "Treasure Island," and since I had not read this story as a kid, decided to read it as an adult. I can't believe I missed out on this adventure as a kid! The descriptions of the pirates and of life at sea and on the island are vivid and imaginative. The character Jim Hawkins is relatable and likeable. Definitely a fun bedtime story for kids - and adults!
    • 3/5
      I liked this a lot -- very exciting. I think the first few times I only read the beginning few chapters, though.
    • 5/5
      The classic tale receives illustrations it deserves! Outstanding story of mystery, intrigue, deception and treasure of course. The characters are fun: Jim Hawkins the boy, appears to be out of his league yet manages to overcome all obstacles. Long John Silver is a study in opportunism and deception.It's an excellent tale that should be read and re-read!
    • 3/5
      I know this is a classic and a must read for all children, but I'd never read it until now. The book stars Jim Hawkins, son of an inn keeper, who acquires a treasure map and sets out to find his fortune. Along the way he teams up with various characters, including Dr Livesey, Long John Silver and Ben Gunn. There are lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing what will happen next. Of course the ending is predictable (they get the treasure) but it's what happens along the way that makes this a great children's adventure. In my book the level of violence makes it unsuitable for reading to younger children, best wait until they are old enough to read it themselves.
    • 4/5
      I recently read the fictionalized account of R.L. Stevenson's life {Under the Wide and Starry Sky: A Novel (Nancy Horan)}.Doing the book in audio, I found I really enjoyed this rendition of his life.The only Stevenson I had read was The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, so it was time for another classic.I chose Treasure Island.I must admit I usually don't gravitate toward an adventure story of "buccaneers and buried gold."However, the characters were so vivid (especially my perception of a pirate) and the style of writing was intriguing.I'm happy with my choice.4★Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
    • 5/5
      (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)The CCLaP 100: In which I read for the first time a hundred so-called "classics," then write essays on whether or not they deserve the labelEssay #32: Treasure Island (1883), by Robert Louis StevensonThe story in a nutshell:Inspired by a doodle from his step-son and originally written as a rainy-day family diversion, the slim 1883 children's book Treasure Island (originally published serially in 1881 and '82) was not only the first novel of sickly genre author Robert Louis Stevenson's short career, but eventually one of his most famous. Essentially the tale of young adventurer Jim Hawkins, the story opens with him as a dutiful mama's boy off the southwest coast of England, helping to run a family inn that sees little action because of being located much more inland than most of the other local sailor-oriented hotels. Ah, but this is exactly what brings the drunken, scary Billy Bones there, where it becomes quickly apparent that he is on the run and in semi-hiding from a whole crew of mysterious, nefarious characters; and when they finally show up after Bones' alcoholism-related death, the family realizes that they are in fact pirates, on the hunt for a treasure map that Bones stole from a recent mutinous voyage that went horribly, horribly wrong. This then convinces a group of local Victorian gentlemen and family friends to go after the treasure themselves, eventually buying a boat and hiring a local crew to take them to this far-off tropical island; but little do they realize that the sailors they've hired are none other than the surviving pirates of the former mutiny, led by the charismatic yet psychopathic one-legged "ship's cook" Long John Silver, who plan on turning on the ship's owners once actually reaching the island and retrieving the treasure they were forced to leave behind during their last voyage. The rest of the book, then, is essentially an adventure tale, full of all kinds of legitimate surprises that I won't spoil here; let's just say that a lot of swashbuckling takes place, that many details regarding ship-sailing are faithfully recorded, and that the day is eventually saved by our fast-thinking teenage hero Jim, no surprise at all for a book designed specifically to amuse fellow teenage boys.The argument for it being a classic:Well, to begin with, it's arguably the most famous pirate tale ever written, and in fact established for the first time many of the stereotypes now known within the genre, including one-legged buccaneers, treasure maps with a big 'X' on them, shoulder-sitting parrots squawking "Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!," and even the very idea of British pirates being associated with exotic tropical islands in the Caribbean, an association now so strong that it's almost impossible to separate the two; and of course it's also the novel that created the unforgettable Long John Silver, now a thoroughly ingrained part of our Western culture at large. Add to this that it's simply an incredibly thrilling tale (rumor has it that England's Prime Minister at the time stayed up until two in the morning to finish his first reading of it), that it still holds up surprisingly well even 126 years later, and that it's also of immense importance to fans of Stevenson, a prolific author whose genius is just now starting to be widely recognized, after being dismissed by the literary community for almost a century as a frivolous "kiddie writer;" and now add to all this that Treasure Island is a surprisingly sophisticated examination of the era's ethics and moral code as well, taking an unblinking look at the "Victorian Ideal" as manifested in different ways among the stuffy gentlemen "heroes" (unable to improvise in changing circumstances, much to their detriment), the anarchic pirate villains (who almost kill themselves off just on their own, through drunkenness, ignorance and jealousy), and the ruthless yet principled Silver who straddles both these extremes.The argument against:A weak one at best; like many of the genre prototypes of the late Victorian Age, one could argue that this is simply too flippant a tale to be considered a classic. But we already established a long time ago here at the CCLaP 100 that genre stories are indeed eligible for "classic" status in this series, making this argument inapplicable in our case.My verdict:Holy crap! What an incredible book! And what a refreshing change in this case to not have to add my usual caveat to statements like these regarding late Victorian genre experiments: "...you know, for a century-old children's story that's kind of outdated and that you need to take with a grain of salt." Because the fact is that Treasure Island to this day still reads as fresh and exciting as the day it came out, which is a real testament to the writing skills of Robert Louis Stevenson (who I was already a big fan of before this essay series even started, because of his superbly creepy and also surprisingly relevant Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde); what a shame that this illness-plagued author ended up dying at the age of 44 in the prime of his career, instead of surviving to pen the truly mindblowing mature works I'm convinced that he had been capable of. And it's exactly for the reasons that his fans bring up that this book remains such an amazing one, and how it is that it can still easily be read for pleasure instead of having to force one's way through for historical purposes; because it is indeed not only a thrilling adventure tale, not only written in a style that largely rejects the purplish finery of the Victorian Age in which it was created, but is also a deceptively complex look at the entire nature of "gentlemanness" that was so prevalent at the time, gently poking holes in the entire notion of what it means to be a Refined Citizen of the Empire, even while acknowledging that a complete disavowal of these gentlemanly standards is even worse. There's a very good reason that Long John Silver has endured so strongly in our collective imagination over the last century, when so many other fictional pirates have fallen by the wayside, because he turns out to be a surprisingly complicated character worth coming back to again and again, a vicious killer but with a consistent internal moral code worth perversely admiring; it's but one of many reasons that I confidently label this book a undeniable classic today, and highly recommend it to anyone on the search for the best of 19th-century literature.Is it a classic? Absolutely
    • 3/5
      Ah, what a pleasure to read literary writing after several modern books full of tripe! My kids also enjoyed it and retained even more of it than I did with their young, spongelike minds. I've apparently made the right choice to feed them a steady diet of books rather than screens. I, on the other hand, spend way too much time on screens. "Do as I say, not as I do," my dad used to say as he ate graham crackers and peanut butter before dinner or made free use of swear words. I don't use that line on my own kids, but I certainly think it (although I do try to model "good" behavior as much as possible, at least while they're awake).Two stars off for how annoyingly good Jim is.
    • 5/5
      Treasure Island is perhaps THE classic pirate's tale. Robert Louis Stevenson, the author, created a rich story of adventure and treachery on the high seas all seen through the eyes of a boy named Jim Hawkins. Jim starts off as the son of tavern owners in a humble little port village. When an old seaman stays at the tavern, trouble soon follows him in the form of a pirate crew seeking revenge. I will not give away any more specific plot points, but events move forward to a great treasure hunt, treachery, and a surprisingly engaging story for adults as well as children.
    • 4/5
      YAAARR. This be a tale of scallywags and high seas. Adventure be at it's finest, and the rum flows like water me lads.
    • 4/5
      Rereading Treasure Island for the first time since adolescence, I was struck by how tightly plotted the story is, and also how much of the story I had missed as a young reader. Stevenson writes with what is surely deadpan humor - for example, an over-the-top passage where the Squire begs forgiveness from his mortally-wounded gamekeeper for having dragged him on a wild-goose chase for buried treasure, only to have the servant (1) reply that it wouldn't be proper for him to forgive his master, (2) forgive him, and (3) promptly die. When the young protagonist kills a pirate in self-defense, Stevenson wastes no time on the notion that a good character must throw up or feel paralyzed by the knowledge they have taken a life; instead he describes, coolly, the way the pirate sinks to the bottom of the crystal clear bay. The story moves at a steady clip, is totally unsentimental, and lets the protagonist drive all the main action of the story through his choices, wise and otherwise. This book has aged well.
    • 4/5
      I usually dislike reading classics because the writing style is so different from what we read every day. But, RLS style was not offsetting, maybe because I expected the “pirate” style of talking and so wasn’t distracted by mentally trying to rewrite the text. And, with any adventure story you must be in the frame of mind for the adventure. I put down several times because I couldn’t settle into the story, but once my attention was attached I could not put it down.
    • 4/5
      Another novel whose ideas have become so prevalent in the genre that it is hard to appraise as what seems trite now was seminal when the novel was written. An enjoyable adventure story and Long John Silver is a surprisingly nuanced character for this type of story.
    • 2/5
      Not as good as I’d hoped. A little boring and slow.
    • 4/5
      This was great, with a thrilling read by B.J. Harrison of the The Classic Tales podcast. I thought I had read this before, but I think that was just all the movies I have seen over the years. The actual book is so much more developed than I expected. I really need to check out more of these classic adventure stories.
    • 5/5
      Read this again for the first time! It's been many years and it was like reading it fresh again - ya gotta love getting old! A Classic and must-read; there are so many concepts, phrases and ideas that originated with this book. Very enjoyable. For a children's book, it is a bit rough by today's standards, but the moral lessons of loyalty are powerful - the moral ambiguity is a lesson.
    • 3/5
      Well enough entertaining, says I.
    • 5/5
      Certainly a classic - Treasure Island first captivated me as a child, and did not fail to hold my attention now as an adult. Like many books I've read again as I've grown older, there were things I understood better, plot twists I could see but that nonetheless took me on a wildly exciting adventure like the one of my youth. I think this will always be a favorite for me - I love pirates, and the ones in Treasure Island were my very first taste of them. Not the ninnies or idiots of more recent pirate movie standards, these are true swashbuckling terrors, and I will always admire Jim for his adventurous spirit.
    • 5/5
      A 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.
    • 4/5
      Good adventure story at any age. I never read it as a child as it was considered a boy's book. It's a great tale, very fast paced with interesting characters.