I took a picture of the cover myself because I found this pocket sized second hand copy extremely cute! And this cover is unique too... Classics have this habit of being wordy and theme-heavy, weighing you down with their profound thoughts. But not “Kidnapped” by Robert Louis Stevenson. Ah, such a delightful book! It starts off with David Balfour, an 18 year old lad, discovering that he might be the probable heir to a fortune. He goes to meet his parsimonious uncle who turns out quite wily too. He orchestrates David’s kidnapping and the boy finds himself on a ship, full of some fairly off characters. But this is where he meets his faithful friend Alan Breck and from then on David’s adventures truly begin.
Told in a charming mix of Scottish English (Stevenson was Scottish), this out and out boys’ adventure tale holds your attention without letting go for even a second till the end. David’s portrait is wonderfully drawn showing both the inexperience as well as the canniness that is particular to youth. Alan Breck is perfectly sketched as the fearless outlaw with a soft heart for his friends and who will stand by them no matter what.
Kidnapped might seem like a potboiler with all the necessary ingredients for a successful adventure – robbers, scheming uncles, exotic sounding isles, war, the sea and the couple of heroes who obviously will achieve what they set out for in the end. What saves Kidnapped from slipping into being a mere template is its power of narration and some honest depictions of friendship. Alan and David share such an open and true friendship that I was quite touched at a few points. One of them is when the two of them have a fine disagreement, the most serious they have had. After a lot of verbal sparring they come around as David falls sick and suddenly realizes that he had been behaving badly towards Alan.
“If I die, ye’ll can forgive me, Alan? In my heart, I like ye fine – even when I was the angriest.”
Alan is completely melted and he begins to sob as all the pent up sadness and frustration loosens,
“Davie,” said he, “I’m no a right man at all; I have neither sense nor kindness; I couldnae remember ye were just a bairn, I couldnae see ye were dying on your feet; Davie, ye’ll have to try and forgive me.”
In today’s times, it’s not such an easy task to find a steadfast friend. Alan and David are a heartwarming pair, hard to draw parallels to.
Perhaps, their romp over the Scottish moors gets a tad long but I loved it. This book should be taken purely as an adventure to be enjoyed to the hilt without looking too deep into the rationalities of some of the incidents. Things just happen and that’s what makes it so much fun!
Rating: 5/5
Verdict: If you like romping adventure, then this should be on your list!
Enjoyed reading your review of 'Kidnapped'. Robert Louis Stevenson is one of my favourite authors - have loved all his swashbuckling adventures - 'Treasure Island', 'Kidnapped', 'The Black Arrow' and also his 'Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde'. I still remember the scene in 'Kidnapped' where David Balfour climbs to the top floor of his uncle's house and discovers that the stair end in the air and one further step would have ended his life. It was pretty scary for me when I read it the first time in school.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by at my blog. Your blog is wonderful too and I will look forward to reading your book reviews.
I also like the fact that you have given a link to Peter Owen books in your blog. Peter Owen is one of the independent publishers that I like very much - I have a few books published by Peter Owen out of which my favourite is 'Narcissus and Goldmund'.
Thanks Vishy :) I loved Kidnapped so much that I now went and bought Treasure Island... Wow, you have published books? Do let me know what you write about! :)
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