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- Verified Buyer
Treasure Island, first published in book form in 1883, is THE pirate story. Many of the things we think of today as being trademarks of pirates (buried treasure, treasure maps, peg legs, parrots, desert islands) come more from Stevenson's tale than from history. But this book isn't about history, it's about pirates, adventure, and coming of age, and it delivers marvelously on all of those promises.The narrator, young Jim Hawkins, lives and works at an inn owned by his parents. One day, a mysterious seaman takes lodging there with an equally mysterious chest. After some time, other sailors arrive looking for the first seaman. Out of this, from the seaman's chest Jim manages to find a treasure map leading to the untold riches of a now-dead but still famous pirate named Captain Flint. Jim takes the map to a couple of country gentlemen, who decide to charter a ship to look for the treasure and take Jim along as cabin boy.Unfortunately for Jim and our heroes, but fortunately for the plot, they have a hard time finding sailors, and they turn to their new ship's cook, the one-legged Long John Silver, for "help" in rounding out the crew. Silver, as is hardly a spoiler, is actually a former pirate and crews the ship accordingly, having heard what they're after and eager to find those riches for himself.The excitement mounts as Jim goes on several daring adventures to save himself and the faithful party, and Silver struggles to keep control of his mutineers, all the while treasure is calling. Jim shows a great deal of growth, taking charge of several perilous situations and demonstrating considerable bravery he never possessed when dealing with the mysterious sailor in his parents' inn. Silver, meanwhile, is a savvy character who's self-interest and ability to play both sides against the middle knows no bounds. If you're looking for a master of duplicity and double-cross, Silver could give Jack Sparrow lessons.Stevenson's writing is fantastic. The colorful language of the pirates, and the refined speech of the gentlemen leading the faithful party, are a joy to experience. The drama steadily rises, despite the fact the book's story is well known and I've read it several times before. It's certainly no accident that this book has had such a powerful effect on an entire genre of fiction even 130 years later.I've also listened to the book as narrated by Ralph Cosham, who I've enjoyed greatly and listened to on several other stories. If you're considering which audio version to listen to, you can't go wrong with Cosham's.Treasure Island is about as easily available as a book can be, as every library will have it on hand, it's on Wikisource for free, Amazon has it for Kindle for free or in paperback for $2, and I've even seen it at Target for $1. It's also only 300 quick pages. Seriously, there is no excuse for not reading this book.
