Okay my turn! I must say, I am majorly impressed by every one's promptness. I'm fairly sure I read up to half, but I am in KL right now and my dang plug in isn't working so I can't even access my computer to check. Oh well. Here's what I think:
It's a great story. I agree with with Marc said about lacking depth, which I found kind of difficult to really 'dialogue' about. BUT, it has lasted this long for that one reason, being a super story. Visions of Muppet Treasure Island and Treasure Planet do keep popping into my head as well (so much so that I watched the Muppet one the other day), but it's cool to finally get the real story as written.
1) Dr. Livesay is my fav character. He's just straight up and solid...I like that.
2) Long John, dare I say I can't help but like him? Okay, he's a murdering lying pirate...but he has those minute hidden good qualities right? Maybe because I've seen the end of the movies and he appears to have a soft spot for Jim. Whether or not that proves true in the book, I guess I'll see, and make up my mind then.
3) It's not slow like I expected it to be. That's pleasant.
4) Jim is a good kid. He's genuine and young and frightened at necessary times, but he's certainly not a pittiful unintelligent wimp. Amiable.
Okay. That's what I got. I also really like Glynis's interpretation of Gunn. Nobody appreciates those people.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Jim, Jim, Jimmy, Jim-Jim-Jim.
So I didn't think I would get halfway by today, but hokey dinah: this book is engrossing! I wasn't aware! I'm into part five now! It just keeps getting better! If the ending is lame, I might have a bit of a fit.
Here I some things I didn't expect:
- INTENSITY. Like the part when Long John throws his crutch and breaks Tom's back. HE THROWS HIS CRUTCH AND BREAKS TOM'S BACK. And then leaps over to him, crutchless, and stabs him to death. Oh nelly. And then he retrieves his crutch as if nothing had happened.
- The Muppets Treasure Island and Treasure Planet scenes running through my head. Anytime one of the characters says "Jim, Jim" I think "Jim, Jim, Jimmy, Jim-Jim-Jim." And when they get drunk, I picture the goat saying, "What was that song? You know, 'Cabin fever, ahh!'"
- Dr. Livesey being so hardcore. In Treasure Planet he is a wuss.
- Foreshadowing. Jim keeps saying things like "as we would only find out later" or "later, we knew that it saved us." sometimes it bothers me, because I'm going to find it out later anyways, so why tell me out of continuity? It is a literary device that doesn't seem to be used very much anymore. Foreshadowing seems to be much more symbolic in more modern writing, you know: "Stella was hungry and then we knew that Magda was going to die. It was foreshadowing."
I have to admit, Ben Gunn is a trifle annoying. He reminds me of those people who feel like they have to lightly touch your arm every time they ask a question or make a point. And who really appreciates that from strangers? No one, that's who.
Having a map in the front of the book is handy, handy, handy! I would be lost without it. I am constantly referring to it and saying, "Oh, I see! The white rock is South EAST of the anchorage! Now I understand!" or "How the heck did Jim run so far? Is this map to scale?" or "They are running all over the treasure! Just dig already!"
I love the description of the island. It sounds so stifling and lonely and terrifying, what with marshes and weird tree-bushes and sudden clearings and strange rock formations all over it. And fever and dysentery! When Dr. Livesey was looking at the spring, I felt so happy for them. Mostly I just love all of the description. Stevenson puts in the perfect amount of poeticness.
Also, Long John Silver=Best Villain Ever. Imagine a Long John Silver and the Joker team-up.
And Screwtape Letters sounds great.
Here I some things I didn't expect:
- INTENSITY. Like the part when Long John throws his crutch and breaks Tom's back. HE THROWS HIS CRUTCH AND BREAKS TOM'S BACK. And then leaps over to him, crutchless, and stabs him to death. Oh nelly. And then he retrieves his crutch as if nothing had happened.
- The Muppets Treasure Island and Treasure Planet scenes running through my head. Anytime one of the characters says "Jim, Jim" I think "Jim, Jim, Jimmy, Jim-Jim-Jim." And when they get drunk, I picture the goat saying, "What was that song? You know, 'Cabin fever, ahh!'"
- Dr. Livesey being so hardcore. In Treasure Planet he is a wuss.
- Foreshadowing. Jim keeps saying things like "as we would only find out later" or "later, we knew that it saved us." sometimes it bothers me, because I'm going to find it out later anyways, so why tell me out of continuity? It is a literary device that doesn't seem to be used very much anymore. Foreshadowing seems to be much more symbolic in more modern writing, you know: "Stella was hungry and then we knew that Magda was going to die. It was foreshadowing."
I have to admit, Ben Gunn is a trifle annoying. He reminds me of those people who feel like they have to lightly touch your arm every time they ask a question or make a point. And who really appreciates that from strangers? No one, that's who.
Having a map in the front of the book is handy, handy, handy! I would be lost without it. I am constantly referring to it and saying, "Oh, I see! The white rock is South EAST of the anchorage! Now I understand!" or "How the heck did Jim run so far? Is this map to scale?" or "They are running all over the treasure! Just dig already!"
I love the description of the island. It sounds so stifling and lonely and terrifying, what with marshes and weird tree-bushes and sudden clearings and strange rock formations all over it. And fever and dysentery! When Dr. Livesey was looking at the spring, I felt so happy for them. Mostly I just love all of the description. Stevenson puts in the perfect amount of poeticness.
Also, Long John Silver=Best Villain Ever. Imagine a Long John Silver and the Joker team-up.
And Screwtape Letters sounds great.
Ye would think a pirate's favourite restaurant would be "Arrrby's"... but actually it's Long John Silver's
"Crap, is it the 15th? I've got that thing, right? You know, that book-club thing... What do you mean 'what book-club thing?' - that thing online that I agreed to be a part of, with Alex and Tyler and... what? Oh, Treasure Island. Yeah that one about the treasure... and the island. Geez...
I hafta write a review or response kinda thingie... I dunno, not too long. Why? Crap, how much? We have to read that for when? HOW MANY PAGES?!
Oh... well shiver me timbers..."
That's my inner dialogue.
Let it be known that my instructors decided to be gentle this semester and spare us the gratuitous violence of essay and research paper writing... by having us read half the bloody textbooks - overnight.
With that being said, I did, in fact, manage to read more than half of Treasure Island before this week got started, and thus - I AM prepared for this review, albeit only mildly. Two weeks from now will be a different story (but not a different tale, aha!)
After reading Tyler's review I have to agree with some points. Chiefly, while reading I was struck with the same sense of familiarity with the book, although I too have never read it. Maybe that's because the book is pretty formula. Being that it is rather old, I cannot call it cliche - it probably invented the genre of adventure fiction, or at least contributed vastly to the cannon.
It is an exciting read. My edition even mentions on the back that this will be a tale enjoyed by boys and old men alike (apparently it was published before women acquired the ability to read... yikes).
Of course the astute reader will almost instantly recognize Long John Silver as the "one-legged-man" that the Captain was all on about, and despite Jim's (and the author's) attempts to convince the reader otherwise, the suspense of double-crossing Silver has the wind taken from its sails, so-to-speak. So the reader is just left waiting for everyone to catch up to his or her own detective work.
I'm not sure how much I can really say about this book. It's not a hard read, and the characters are ... well, easy to read.
The "good guys" are pretty bland - stoic, righteous, and pious - while the "bad guys" are mostly idiots and drunks, with the notable exception of Silver himself. Long John Silver is easily the most nuanced character of the book (so far, but I don't expect anyone to surpass him). He is more an agent of chaos than a stereotypical pirate; to wit: instead of enjoying the same kind of reputation as the late Captain Flint, Silver employs subterfuge to gain leverage. He may very well take on honest work between pirate-outings just to keep up the personage of an trustworthy man, although I don't think that is ever explored. He also doesn't spend his fortunes the way several of the other mentioned notorious pirates do, but saves it up and gives it to his wife (HIS WIFE!) for safe keeping (clearly they didn't have shopping malls back then... )
In a lot of ways, Silver is much more of a modern pirate than a "ye olde fashioned" one - these days he'd be running an insurance corporation, screwing little old ladies out of health coverage... But I digress.
One thing I want to quickly mention, because Tyler brought it up, is that given our contemporary understanding of the stereotypical Caribbean style pirate, they didn't talk in the "yarr" kind of way, but spoke plain English-sounding English... They were English after all...
So the way the "good guys", who are (of course) vastly more educated... although - come to think of it, where the hell did Jim Hawkins learn to be a proper little gentleman? His parents owned a hotel... - the way they talk is much more 'civilized' without the "mateys" and "avasts".
By the way... if you want a book that's impossible to read without an accent, I suggest we tackle Trainspotting by Irving Welsh. It's written in the Scottish brogue, and its almost impossible to read quietly. I have to read it out loud.
Back to Silver. He's much more realistic of a character than any of them - the plucky young hero, the God-fearing Captain, the civilized and repentant maroon-ee Gunn, or any of the binging cirrhotic-riddled pirates. He has depth; something that this book, unfortunately, lacks.
I skipped ahead to the back of my edition because it has an Afterword critiquing the book and the author of that piece (a Mr. G.S. Fraser) agrees that what the book lacks in "maturity" it makes up for in storytelling.
Effectively, it's a comic book without pictures - the counterpart to a graphic novel. Not to say that I don't like it - I do - but it's not challenging.
With that I'll conclude by saying only, remember all that reading I have to do for school? It's kind of nice to not have to think too deeply about what I'm reading. Treasure Island fits the bill.
I hafta write a review or response kinda thingie... I dunno, not too long. Why? Crap, how much? We have to read that for when? HOW MANY PAGES?!
Oh... well shiver me timbers..."
That's my inner dialogue.
Let it be known that my instructors decided to be gentle this semester and spare us the gratuitous violence of essay and research paper writing... by having us read half the bloody textbooks - overnight.
With that being said, I did, in fact, manage to read more than half of Treasure Island before this week got started, and thus - I AM prepared for this review, albeit only mildly. Two weeks from now will be a different story (but not a different tale, aha!)
After reading Tyler's review I have to agree with some points. Chiefly, while reading I was struck with the same sense of familiarity with the book, although I too have never read it. Maybe that's because the book is pretty formula. Being that it is rather old, I cannot call it cliche - it probably invented the genre of adventure fiction, or at least contributed vastly to the cannon.
It is an exciting read. My edition even mentions on the back that this will be a tale enjoyed by boys and old men alike (apparently it was published before women acquired the ability to read... yikes).
Of course the astute reader will almost instantly recognize Long John Silver as the "one-legged-man" that the Captain was all on about, and despite Jim's (and the author's) attempts to convince the reader otherwise, the suspense of double-crossing Silver has the wind taken from its sails, so-to-speak. So the reader is just left waiting for everyone to catch up to his or her own detective work.
I'm not sure how much I can really say about this book. It's not a hard read, and the characters are ... well, easy to read.
The "good guys" are pretty bland - stoic, righteous, and pious - while the "bad guys" are mostly idiots and drunks, with the notable exception of Silver himself. Long John Silver is easily the most nuanced character of the book (so far, but I don't expect anyone to surpass him). He is more an agent of chaos than a stereotypical pirate; to wit: instead of enjoying the same kind of reputation as the late Captain Flint, Silver employs subterfuge to gain leverage. He may very well take on honest work between pirate-outings just to keep up the personage of an trustworthy man, although I don't think that is ever explored. He also doesn't spend his fortunes the way several of the other mentioned notorious pirates do, but saves it up and gives it to his wife (HIS WIFE!) for safe keeping (clearly they didn't have shopping malls back then... )
In a lot of ways, Silver is much more of a modern pirate than a "ye olde fashioned" one - these days he'd be running an insurance corporation, screwing little old ladies out of health coverage... But I digress.
One thing I want to quickly mention, because Tyler brought it up, is that given our contemporary understanding of the stereotypical Caribbean style pirate, they didn't talk in the "yarr" kind of way, but spoke plain English-sounding English... They were English after all...
So the way the "good guys", who are (of course) vastly more educated... although - come to think of it, where the hell did Jim Hawkins learn to be a proper little gentleman? His parents owned a hotel... - the way they talk is much more 'civilized' without the "mateys" and "avasts".
By the way... if you want a book that's impossible to read without an accent, I suggest we tackle Trainspotting by Irving Welsh. It's written in the Scottish brogue, and its almost impossible to read quietly. I have to read it out loud.
Back to Silver. He's much more realistic of a character than any of them - the plucky young hero, the God-fearing Captain, the civilized and repentant maroon-ee Gunn, or any of the binging cirrhotic-riddled pirates. He has depth; something that this book, unfortunately, lacks.
I skipped ahead to the back of my edition because it has an Afterword critiquing the book and the author of that piece (a Mr. G.S. Fraser) agrees that what the book lacks in "maturity" it makes up for in storytelling.
Effectively, it's a comic book without pictures - the counterpart to a graphic novel. Not to say that I don't like it - I do - but it's not challenging.
With that I'll conclude by saying only, remember all that reading I have to do for school? It's kind of nice to not have to think too deeply about what I'm reading. Treasure Island fits the bill.
halfsies
well well well... i'm startled to be the first to write because i have no expectations of what to write or what you're expecting. but cheers! now there won't be any meddling influence muhahaha.
first off... i've been reading the faerie queen as well (silly english experimental class) and it's in old old OLD renaissance english, which makes this book feel way easier, BUT at the same time, i cannot for the life of me stop thinking in this way of speaking. there are some 'yarrs' an 'mateys' every now and then, but the pseudo politeness and well intentioned phrases of almost all the characters (but especially good old narration jim) have my brain all messed and confused and laughy. i'm glad (but kinda sad) that my mouth doesn't translate it as well... thar fer shore'd be a sight to behold... (shakes head profusely)
this book is turning out to be far more bad-ass than i had originally expected. it's even given me the chills a few times, as well as sudden spurts of fear and anxiety (i read the first three parts, so i'm gonna assume i'm not gonna wreck anything by relaying what i've read onto here FROM the first three (hopefully (and if i do, i apologize))). jim on the island has me all hot'n bothered, and nervous like someone is gonna come barging into my room scaring the crap out of me, 'cept it's in a book and the only scream that would happen would be in my head. but it's for jim, not for me... i don't like my imaginations interpretation of a death cry. it's unwholesome. i'll be requiring some varying level of redemption for that... literary or mental, either will do. all in all, i'm super super excited to watch muppets treasure island and compare accuracy and memory from child hood. there is a definite familiarity about this book, although i'm 80% sure i didn't read this earlier in life... i say influences from pirates of the caribbean are attempting to fuse in with my nostalgia. bastards... wrecking the purity of written story!!! but seriously i'm enjoying this book on a very rewarding level, since i've been neglecting fiction books for some time; this is a solid re-entry into what i sometimes wish reality was. minus hopelessness caused by mutiny wrongly justified by plunder... why can't they just share?! toss the conflict out the door and enjoy each other. oh how i wish i wish the formula for a good story didn't require conflict. such is life.. what robots we would be without the tug of the heart... tangent over.
another thing i was very expectantly excited for was the appearance of the black dot, the most seriously and intense way to send a message these and those days. i thought maybe this was the book, and with glorious accuracy it showed it's vile face. bad-ass point number one. if i EVER receive a piece of paper with a black dot in the middle from anyone other than you lovelies, i'm gonna flip out. i'll return to sender with rainbows and bunnies on the paper to let them know i reject their threat as legitimate, and in return i want nothing but friendship and hugs. by the by, i can't see long john being that kinda dude. that may have been pew's game, but i see long john as a more decisive form of a murderer... aka poor tom.. no monkey business, straight up cold blood, no warning. puffin classics claims stevenson to be a 'vivacious man, with strong voice and gestures' (ps, he was an abnormally thin man. need to know? YES!) and i see that in his characters... i love his descriptions through jims narration of what kind of men they are... i don't think i'd enjoy any of them in conversation or physical presence, BUT i do enjoy reading about their conversations and presences... with the exception of benjamin gunn... who seems to me to be the first ever hippie. though not by choice... which i guess negates the title of hippie. but i still like him. he trots lightly and easily, which is something i think we can all admire.
i'll shut my yap for now, until a response is needed, but dang glynis, dang, good book choice. literary claps for you ma'am.
((this is a notice of business, not critique or comment (the double parenthesis!), but i was wondering what any of you think of reading 'the screwtape letters' (by c.s lewis) next... i think we'd get some amazing conversation going PLUS be reading a fantastic book (so i hear). let me know what you think. you are allowed to be repulsed by any idea i present, but tell me why. i have another book as a suggestion as well, but i want to see how this is taken first. business, OUT))
first off... i've been reading the faerie queen as well (silly english experimental class) and it's in old old OLD renaissance english, which makes this book feel way easier, BUT at the same time, i cannot for the life of me stop thinking in this way of speaking. there are some 'yarrs' an 'mateys' every now and then, but the pseudo politeness and well intentioned phrases of almost all the characters (but especially good old narration jim) have my brain all messed and confused and laughy. i'm glad (but kinda sad) that my mouth doesn't translate it as well... thar fer shore'd be a sight to behold... (shakes head profusely)
this book is turning out to be far more bad-ass than i had originally expected. it's even given me the chills a few times, as well as sudden spurts of fear and anxiety (i read the first three parts, so i'm gonna assume i'm not gonna wreck anything by relaying what i've read onto here FROM the first three (hopefully (and if i do, i apologize))). jim on the island has me all hot'n bothered, and nervous like someone is gonna come barging into my room scaring the crap out of me, 'cept it's in a book and the only scream that would happen would be in my head. but it's for jim, not for me... i don't like my imaginations interpretation of a death cry. it's unwholesome. i'll be requiring some varying level of redemption for that... literary or mental, either will do. all in all, i'm super super excited to watch muppets treasure island and compare accuracy and memory from child hood. there is a definite familiarity about this book, although i'm 80% sure i didn't read this earlier in life... i say influences from pirates of the caribbean are attempting to fuse in with my nostalgia. bastards... wrecking the purity of written story!!! but seriously i'm enjoying this book on a very rewarding level, since i've been neglecting fiction books for some time; this is a solid re-entry into what i sometimes wish reality was. minus hopelessness caused by mutiny wrongly justified by plunder... why can't they just share?! toss the conflict out the door and enjoy each other. oh how i wish i wish the formula for a good story didn't require conflict. such is life.. what robots we would be without the tug of the heart... tangent over.
another thing i was very expectantly excited for was the appearance of the black dot, the most seriously and intense way to send a message these and those days. i thought maybe this was the book, and with glorious accuracy it showed it's vile face. bad-ass point number one. if i EVER receive a piece of paper with a black dot in the middle from anyone other than you lovelies, i'm gonna flip out. i'll return to sender with rainbows and bunnies on the paper to let them know i reject their threat as legitimate, and in return i want nothing but friendship and hugs. by the by, i can't see long john being that kinda dude. that may have been pew's game, but i see long john as a more decisive form of a murderer... aka poor tom.. no monkey business, straight up cold blood, no warning. puffin classics claims stevenson to be a 'vivacious man, with strong voice and gestures' (ps, he was an abnormally thin man. need to know? YES!) and i see that in his characters... i love his descriptions through jims narration of what kind of men they are... i don't think i'd enjoy any of them in conversation or physical presence, BUT i do enjoy reading about their conversations and presences... with the exception of benjamin gunn... who seems to me to be the first ever hippie. though not by choice... which i guess negates the title of hippie. but i still like him. he trots lightly and easily, which is something i think we can all admire.
i'll shut my yap for now, until a response is needed, but dang glynis, dang, good book choice. literary claps for you ma'am.
((this is a notice of business, not critique or comment (the double parenthesis!), but i was wondering what any of you think of reading 'the screwtape letters' (by c.s lewis) next... i think we'd get some amazing conversation going PLUS be reading a fantastic book (so i hear). let me know what you think. you are allowed to be repulsed by any idea i present, but tell me why. i have another book as a suggestion as well, but i want to see how this is taken first. business, OUT))
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