WeBuzz

Reader discussion: Treasure Island

Public reader discussion about Treasure Island in the WeRead Catalog by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Something like Treasure Island

By readerhappy

Just about finished Treasure Island and I honestly loved pretty much all of it. Now I’m trying to find my next book—something with a lot of adventure and “whoa, don’t fall off that” energy, light enough to be fun but not so light it feels pointless. If it’s an older-style story, that’d be a bonus. I really liked the way the language sounded in Treasure Island; I’m into that old-school vocabulary, but I don’t want something that’s just a dry slog. For me, I’d call it a fun read. If I were giving suggestions, I’d point you toward the Alan Lewrie naval adventures—good history, but still genuinely fun. It doesn’t have to be naval stuff, though.

Treasure Island is an adventure novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson and published in 1883. Young Jim Hawkins finds a treasure map, Captain Flint's treasure, and decides to go in search of it with his companions.

By wanderingpanda1982

I just wrapped this up yesterday and I really liked it. If you’re into this one, you should probably check out Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.

Is there a version of Treasure Island in modern English?

By novel-panther2003

I’m reading Treasure Island with my 9-year-old daughter right now, and she’s really into it, but honestly we keep getting stuck on a bunch of the old-timey English words and phrases. I tried looking it up on Google, but I couldn’t really find a good answer.

A question about Treasure Island

By silver_yarn

I was browsing a local bookstore and found Treasure Island by Robert Stevenson. I know the story, but I’ve never actually read the book, so I picked it up for a buck. I realize different editions can vary, but I’ve seen that they’re usually over 300 pages. The copy I have is a 1961 Scholastic edition, and it’s only 229 pages. Is that the whole book, or is this some shortened kid’s version?

Treasure Island hardcover

By drizzleBottle2001

I’ve been digging through the random odds and ends—books, little items, that kind of thing. I found a copy of Treasure Island, but it’s missing a couple pages and I have no idea when it was printed. I tried looking it up with Google image search but nothing I’ve found so far is really helping.

Treasure Island (1883) by Robert Louis Stevenson

By key_page1998

Every time I see Ol’ Silver, I just can’t not think about that damn javelin throw he does with his crutch, straight into someone’s spine. I’m like…how much force would that take to actually kill someone? It’s wild. And he’s already crippled too, so it’s just insane lol.

[1993] The Legends of Treasure Island - Animated series loosely based on Robert Louis Stevenson's original story "Treasure Island". Starring Dawn French, Juliet Stevenson, Richard E. Grant, Hugh Laurie, David Jason and Chris Barrie.

By cocoabadger

Thanks a lot—really appreciate it.

Can i read Treasure Island pretending its like a proper sequel to Black Sails?

By MugSky

So I’m about to start Treasure Island for the first time, and I only bought it because of Black Sails. I know Black Sails leads into Treasure Island, but can I kinda read it like it’s a direct continuation of Black Sails? Like, I’m trying to picture it as the same story picking up right after, if that makes sense. I’ve heard Black Sails feels way more realistic and brutal, and Treasure Island is more like a kid’s adventure, so I’m not sure how easy it’ll be to imagine it’s the same Long John Silver and all that. Does anyone else feel weird about that?

Rare Grosset & Dunlap Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

By bookwormmoose1977

I was digging around at home and found a copy of *Treasure Island* from Grosset & Dunlap in really nice shape, and it has a pretty good dust jacket. (Here’s what it looks like.) The annoying part is there’s no date on the publication info, but the publishing page has a line along the lines of “produced under wartime conditions” and that it’s still complete/unabridged. Has anyone run into this specific “wartime” edition before? I’m kind of an amateur collector (mostly Stephen King stuff), and I can’t seem to find anything about this one. I *think* it might be World War I instead of World War II, just based on the paper and how the ink looks, but I’m not sure. Any ideas or places to look would be awesome. Thanks!

“Treasure Island” Illustrations ; Robert Louis Stevenson ; (Illustrator: N.C. Wyeth)

By Lucky_Bottle

I’m not really sure why this link is here. It just looks like a “read/see more” thing and doesn’t tell me anything about the book itself, so I’m kinda confused.

Looking for treasure island with colored illustration book

By motionGoose

I’m trying to find Treasure Island either with colored pictures or a really nice collector’s edition. It looks like Amazon is mostly selling pretty rough reproductions, so if anyone knows a good place to buy from (or has a link), I’d really appreciate it.

I don't care what anyone else says, Treasure Island is not an "Adventure Story." It is a horror novel and I stand by that.

By Midnight_Door2001

It’s genuinely scary. And on a writing level too, it really feels like horror if you think about it. - Big sin driving everything? Greed, absolutely. - Innocent kid stuck with the worst guy around? Yep, Jim Hawkins and John Silver. - Violence being a huge part of it? For sure, especially once Blind Pew shows up. - That constant feeling of panic and doom, like you’re trapped and something terrible is coming? Jim’s basically on a ship in the Caribbean with a bunch of killers led by Death itself, headed for Murder Island. So yeah, I’d call it a horror novel. People kind of forget Stevenson was a horror writer too. Jekyll and Hyde, The Body Snatcher, Thrawn Janet, all that. Even The Waif Woman was apparently so disturbing he kept it for years before it finally got published long after he died. My guess is Stevenson was writing horror, but publishers just weren’t into it. Horror seems like it was fading in the late 1800s. It had been massive earlier with the Romantics, but Victorian books were more about adventure, sci-fi, and mystery, so he sort of ended up outside the main lane. And he was Scottish, which didn’t help. English publishers back then often didn’t want Scottish writers, Scottish settings, or Scottish characters. They wanted London stories and polished English gentlemen, mostly to push that image. Stevenson had to bend to that, which is probably why Jekyll and Hyde is set in London even though the map and street names are really Edinburgh. I think the first version was in Edinburgh and nobody would touch it. Feels like he just wrapped Scottish horror in whatever disguise publishers wanted. Want adventure? Treasure Island. Want sci-fi? Jekyll and Hyde. Want mystery? Suicide Club. But underneath, it’s all horror, and all of it has Englishmen in it. So yeah, I still think Treasure Island isn’t really adventure. It’s horror.

Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide, and his good friend David Kalakaua, king of Hawaii, 1889

By BlueRaven60

My favorite books I own is a 1924 copy of RLS’s *In the South Seas*—you can really feel how much he loved Polynesia and the people there, page after page. And later, when I read *Sailing Alone Around the World* by Joshua Slocum, the way Slocum wrote—like he was genuinely stunned to be allowed to sit at RLS’s desk in Samoa—made it feel even clearer how much of a legend RLS was to anyone with an adventurous streak.

Map of Treasure Island

By ivory-lynx67

I didn’t realize there was actually a map in every edition of Treasure Island. Supposedly the first one—drawn with his stepson and what kicked off the whole story—got lost in shipping to the publisher. So Stevenson had to rebuild it from memory, and then double-check the book text so all the references would match up with the new version. I find that kind of wild, honestly, like how much effort that must’ve taken.

Thoughts on Robert Louis Stevenson?

By basil1976

He’s probably my fourth favorite writer. I honestly don’t think many people can handle adventure the way he does. What do you all think though? And is there anything big you’d criticize about his writing style or the way he comes up with ideas? I really like how he can make a scene feel alive—like everything is moving, but you can still breathe in the details. The start of *A Lodging for the Night* is a good example, especially how he paints Paris with all that snow and quiet. No spoilers, but I’d love to hear thoughts on Stevenson in general. He’s been stuck in my head lately, since authors who die young always kind of mess with my brain.

Treasure Island

By Dawn-Hare20

Audible has Treasure Island as one of their free downloads, and I really liked it. It felt like they had like 6 or 8 different people doing the voices, because it was so fun and varied. It was definitely entertaining, and it honestly gave that old story a whole new feel.

I need book club ideas!

By Garden

Our book club meets once a month and we’re trying to pick what to read next. It’s all women—most are early 50s, one is in her 60s, and I’m 31. We usually go for literary/historical fiction, mysteries, classics, memoirs, and nonfiction, but we’re open to other genres too. We’d like something around 400 pages or less, and something popular enough to usually be available at the local library. Also, nothing with super explicit sex or a lot of foul language. We can handle plenty, but if it’s really graphic I’d rather not throw it out as a suggestion. Some recent reads we liked: *All the Light We Cannot See*, *Killers of the Flower Moon*, *The Giver of Stars*, *The Escape Artist*, and *Remains of the Day*. Books I’ve been thinking about: *Educated* by Tara Westover (I’ve meant to read it), *Once There Were Wolves* by Charlotte McConaghy (I read it this summer and would be up for discussing it), and *Treasure Island* (another classic I’ve been meaning to get to). Any ideas?

(Not so) Treasure Island

By PrologueHawk1994

Just wrapped up that book and figured I’d check it out myself. I always end up reading the super negative (or at least oddly eye-opening) one-star reviews, because they usually give me a different perspective on what I just read. Anyway, here are the main bits people pulled from the TI one-star reviews—most of them didn’t really go past what you can see here.

You're to be stranded on a desert island for life, what 5 books do you bring with you?

By Opens_Yarn73

If this is one of those fantasy situations where I don’t have to worry about surviving or anything, then I’d probably pick: 1. The Odyssey 2. The Upanishads 3. The Little Prince 4. Tales of Ordinary Madness 5. A Brief History of Time I guess the main thing is they’d keep me occupied, help with the isolation, and still feel a bit like home.

ELL Book Club

By fork_beest8092

I’m in a non-English-speaking country (English isn’t really even one of the main languages) and we’re not in Europe either. A few coworkers and I started a book club—part of it is for them to practice English and get into reading, and for me it’s mostly just fun to talk about books with people. The problem is I can’t seem to find good books they can actually access where we live, and that also match their level. We did Holes by Louis Sachar first and honestly it went really well for everyone. Most of them could understand most of the words, but there were still enough “wait, what does this phrase mean?” moments to have actual discussion. Also, if there was background stuff they didn’t know, it was pretty easy for me to explain as we went, and they could keep up without much trouble. After that I tried searching for recommendations around a Lexile level for adult ESL learners, but what I found was kind of useless. For example, The Book Thief is beautiful, but the language is so poetic it was harder for them to follow, and WWII is also not something most people here just automatically know about, so that background gap made it even tougher. We’re trying Treasure Island next because it keeps getting recommended and it looks like a fun short adventure, but the language is kind of old-school/archaic and it feels like you need more knowledge of pirates/ships and the words/vocabulary for it to fully land. It also needs more familiarity with spoken English, and a few things are spelled in a way that’s meant to sound a certain way, which throws people off. The other issue is my friends really don’t want anything fantastical or “silly.” One person specifically wants adventure novels. So I’m trying to find middle-grade-ish books that are not fantasy or sci-fi (daily-use language would be ideal), still fun, and okay for adults to read too—basically something that doesn’t require tons of cultural context to understand and enjoy. Another friend likes classics like Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights, but I feel like we’ll hit the same wall with old language and social stuff that would be hard to explain in a non-Western country context. Also, they all vetoed The Hunger Games because a lot of them have personal experience with political turmoil, and they don’t really want to read about kids dying. I do think they might like having English phrasing for what’s going on politically, but I don’t want to force them to sit with really graphic political violence when the bombing is something they hear near their home almost every day. Any ideas on what we should read next?