X Marks the Spot (52 Weeks of Books Challenge Week Fifteen)

I'm sitting in my living room, sipping on some Dr. Pepper, catching up on this season of The Voice, and writing this review. Today is a good day.

Treasure Island

Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883

(cover art from early 2000s Kingfisher Classics Edition)

Summary:

Treasure Island is the classic adventure story of pirates, treasure, and betrayal on the high seas. Published serially in 1881 and 1882 in a children's magazine, its popularity got it published in novel form in 1883. Its depiction of the pirate life in the 18th century has had a huge influence on how we view that time period today.

Why I Read It:

I saw a lot of the classics on Google Play Books, and went a little crazy with the downloading. Treasure Island was one of the victims.

Opinion:

Sometimes I have a little bit of trouble with the classics, but I am willing to concede it could be because my reading tastes have skewed towards more modern writing styles.

That is not a problem I've had with Treasure Island, though. I had a much easier time because the original format was serial, its original audience was older children, and because I knew the arch of the story when I started reading it. Most of the time, knowing the arch makes it a lot harder for me to invest in a story, but the hard part for me to put the story down at night without knowing what was going to happen next. I wanted to see how Jim survived to the end. I wanted to see just how horrible Long John Silver got before the end.

And when a writer can keep a girl hooked, that's probably a good thing.

Conclusion:

Classics are usually classics for a reason. That is as true for Treasure Island as any other. I don't know why I didn't read it when I was younger.

52 Weeks of Books Challenge? What is that? What book is Cat reviewing next week?

Read up here! Link: http://www.catpollockwrites.com/p/blog-page_30.html

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