Treasure Island (Bantam Classics)

This was perfect read for this gloomy and rainy days. A bit of a reminder of the time when I've read this book, long time ago during my childhood.

It was high time I read the original version of this classic -- I'd read an illustrated condensed version as a child, and seen two film adaptations that took considerable liberties with the material ("Muppet Treasure Island" and "Treasure Planet"), but still hadn't read the original. And having now done so, I can definitely see why it's a classic. Its prose may come across as a little stilted nowadays, but it's still a highly enjoyable tale with some delightfully complex characters, and it helped forge the path for many of the pirate stories we know and love today, including "Pirates of the Caribbean" itself.Jim Hawkins has lived a fairly ordinary life as the son of innkeepers... and so when a pirate by the name of Billy Bones drops dead in the family's inn, leaving behind a treasure map and attracting a swarm of unsavory characters to said inn, it changes his life forever. Seeing the map as the call to adventure, he, along with a trusted doctor friend and a local squire, hires a ship and crew to sail to the island where the treasure is supposedly buried. But Bones left a cryptic message before his death -- "beware the one-legged man" -- and when the one-legged ship's cook proves to be treacherous, Jim and his friends find themselves not just hunting for treasure, but struggling to escape a bloodthirsty pirate crew with the greatest treasure of all... their lives.Given that this book was written and published in the 1800s, it uses language and phrasing that seems awkward and stilted by today's standards, and may entail a trip to the dictionary a time or two in order to make sense of some of the terms used. Despite this, it's still a rollicking adventure story, one that's still entertaining over a hundred years later. And if some of it seems a little trope-heavy by today's standards... well, that's because it's one of the early pirate novels that helped build some of those tropes and themes, so what seems old and tired today was still fresh and new back then.One thing that impressed me about "Treasure Island" was its surprisingly complex characters. Most of the main characters have believable flaws and strengths, multi-faceted personalities, and manage to be likable even if they can be jerks or act like idiots at times. Long John Silver, the villain, is a surprisingly complex villain, greedy and bloodthirsty but with a surprising amount of compassion and nobility as well. For people who think "Treasure Planet" softened this villain up too much... they were surprisingly true to the character in the book, believe it or not.A highly enjoyable and entertaining novel, "Treasure Island" is work a little work at getting through some of the antiquated language. If you're only familiar with this story via an adaptation, or if you're a "Pirates" fan, you owe it to yourself to check this classic out.

Much of what we know today about pirates in the 1700s came from Robert Louis Stevenson's research and his work in the well loved children's classic, Treasure Island. Robert Louis Stevenson, author of dozens of books, short stories, and poems, is most well known for Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and A Child’s Garden of Verses. The versatility he displayed in his writing genres was amazing. Robert was born in 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland to Thomas and Margaret Stevenson. As a child he was very ill and spent much of his time reading. Robert attempted to follow his father’s profession, and at age 17, attended school to become an engineer. He soon learned that he neither had the mathematical skills nor the desire for this and that he simply wanted to write. At his parents’ request he continued his education and earned a law degree and by age 25, passed the bar examinations. His health declined after this, however, and he began traveling in hope of finding a more suitable climate, writing articles as he traveled. On one of his voyages he met his future wife, Fanny Osborne. His first success as a novelist was Treasure Island, which was originally published as a series in the children’s magazine, Young Folks in 1881-1882. He later went on to write several other novels including Kidnapped (a historical adventure) and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which was inspired by a nightmare. In 1890 Stevenson and his wife and stepson moved to an island in Samoa where he wrote and worked among the natives until his death. At the age of 44 Stevenson suddenly grew ill one night and died, most likely of a brain hemorrhage. He was buried as he had requested on Mt. Vaea above his Samoan Island home. A tale of high adventure set in the eighteenth century by Robert Louis Stevenson, and his first published novel, Treasure Island is the story of a brave boy who sets off with an assorted cast of characters on a quest for buried treasure. When the story opens, Jim Hawkins lives with his parents who own and run the Admiral Benbow Inn near an unidentified British seashore. The arrival of Billy Bones the pirate changes their lives, first causing Jim’s father’s health to fail and leaving Jim and his mother to run the inn, and eventually sending Jim’s father to an early death. Soon afterwards, the arrival of another pirate to deliver the “black spot” (a death warning) to Billy Bones changes their lives even more. In fear and with a heart weakened from his rough lifestyle, Billy dies almost immediately, leaving a huge debt for his lengthy stay at the Admiral Benbow. Knowing other pirates are soon to come to the inn to claim Billy’s possessions, Mrs. Hawkins refuses to leave until she has taken enough from Billy’s sea chest to square the debt. With pirates on their trail, Mrs. Hawkins and Jim escape from the inn with a map from Billy’s sea chest. Jim and Mrs. Hawkins get help from Dr. Livesey and Squire Trelawney who identify the map as genuine. The squire goes to Bristol to find a ship and crew and put together a voyage for Treasure Island. His lack of discretion, however, regarding the quest for hidden treasure attracts a crew of pirates, though at the onset of the voyage, their true identity is unknown to the squire, Dr. Livesey, or Jim. During the voyage Jim overhears a conversation which reveals the crew’s true identity and, by the time they reach the island, the pirates have mutinied. Their leader turns out to be Long John Silver himself, the one-legged man Billy Bones most feared. A castaway named Ben Gunn is found on the island and befriended by Jim. With Ben’s aid through his knowledge of the island, Jim and his friends find the treasure and defeat the dreaded pirates.

Genial! J'adore l'histoire et cela m a permis d acquerir du vocabulaire sur le thème des pirates et de la mer.J ai un niveau intermédiaire Supérieur en anglais. Et avec la version kindle j'ai réussi à me lire plutôt facilement. C est une manière ludique de travailler mon anglais.L histoire et le style d'écriture est extraMerci Amazon car je l'ai eu pour 0 €Cela dit il est tellement génial que je compte acheter la version papier dans une belle édition!

I came to Treasure Island after watching Black Sails. I wanted to know what happened next. I was expecting it to be dry and old fashioned. However, it is exciting and full of unforgettable characters and scenes. I have read some Patrick O’Brien so the sea language made some sense. Thoroughly enjoyable. Now on to Kidnapped!

Good text size and quality of print.

Written just over 160 Years after Robinson Crusoe and just over 130 Years ago today; this is the Original Pirate Ship fantasy which has captivated our imaginations since.Stevenson's ability as an author is an ability to engage the reader quickly; and to condense complex details and characters in a short amount of pages without lapsing into the trend of over-use of the English language, which is a common standard of writing from that time.Pros: Quick into the action and convincing, lively characters, plot and narrative. A short (ish) yet adrenaline fueled adventure.Cons: Very few, if any. Maybe a bit beyond the literacy of very young readers which might benefit most from it; but a ripping bedtime story for parents who dare think the little ones will sleep after hearing a few chapters.

英語が非常に難しかった。たぶん出版された当時の英語でしょう。帰国子女レベルにしかお勧めできません。