Should have read classics discussion

This is the group read for January. This is another book that I have never read and I'm really looking forward to it.

Lisa wrote: "This is the group read for January. This is another book that I have never read and I'm really looking forward to it."

I started this on Christmas Day and I'm about 25% in.

So much fun. The lines and characters, however familiar, aren't stale.

You can feel the adventure (and inconvenience) of having a pirate at your family's inn, and the thrill of going to sea.

Lisa wrote: "This is the group read for January. This is another book that I have never read and I'm really looking forward to it."

I read it as a child. I recall being terrified by .... oh, wait, no spoilers.

I'll be interested to revisit it from an adult perspective more than half a century later.

The blind man tap-tapping his way up the path was one (of many) aspects that freaked me out when I read this under the covers at night (with a flashlight -- forbidden, so I had to fear not just the blind man but the parent walking down the hall toward my door). There is, or at least was, something especially mysterious and creepy about that.

Everyman wrote: "The blind man tap-tapping his way up the path was one (of many) aspects that freaked me out when I read this under the covers at night (with a flashlight -- forbidden, so I had to fear not just the..."

Great image - blind man/parents, LOL!

There are so many images that are so familiar from this book, yet nothing felt stale on this recent rereading. Loved it.

Katy wrote: "There are so many images that are so familiar from this book, yet nothing felt stale on this recent rereading. Loved it. "

I'm reading it as my bedtime book, and I expect soon to start having nightmares about it.

Everyman wrote: "Katy wrote: "There are so many images that are so familiar from this book, yet nothing felt stale on this recent rereading. Loved it. "

I'm reading it as my bedtime book, and I expect soon to star..."

Naw. No nightmares. It's exciting. Jim Hawkins is having a Real Adventure in this one!

My timbers almost shivered with Jim was almost discovered in the apple barrel.

I'm amazed that the squire (Trelawney? my book is upstairs in the bedroom) is such a dufus as to spill the beans everywhere, and such a terrible judge of character as to hire the crew he did. Yet he's very effective at getting the expedition financed and organized. It's a strange combination of features.

Everyman wrote: "My timbers almost shivered with Jim was almost discovered in the apple barrel.

I'm amazed that the squire (Trelawney? my book is upstairs in the bedroom) is such a dufus as to spill the beans e..."

Sometimes it is harder to understand people than money!

Just got through the episode where Jim takes over the Hispaniola and steers it away to a safe landing. This episode cemented for me that this is truly a children's book. This sort of completely unrealistic heroic exploit by a youth is very much an aspect of children's literature (those of us raised on the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift recognize this), but would never be accepted in adult fiction (even James Patterson or Lee Child wouldn't get this extreme). When it comes to willingly suspending disbelief, children are much better at it than adults are.

Everyman wrote: "Just got through the episode where Jim takes over the Hispaniola and steers it away to a safe landing. This episode cemented for me that this is truly a children's book. This sort of completely u..."

Yeah. Taking over the boat (successfully), even with someone's advise, was pure fantasy.

Finished it last night.

My view is, it is definitely more fantasy than realistic fiction. I can see why I enjoyed it as a young reader, but as an adult I saw too many holes in it, too many extreme improbabilities (and that's a kind word), and too hastily contrived an ending.

It has a great deal more cruelty than children's books today are permitted to get away with. Lots of deaths, people being shot, stabbed, marooned on an island, the ship sailing away and leaving the mutineers crying out for rescue, and of course the original motivation of extreme greed which is the basis of the adventure.

After a great deal of highly detailed descriptions of their adventures, we get a sudden three or four pages amounting only to "and they lived happily ever after" (except that Ben Gunn apparently doesn't, which is a shame since he is my favorite character of the whole book). That rapid deceleration took the wind out of my sails!

On the good side, and there certainly are some, except for the weak ending it's a rollicking good adventure story if you overlook all the improbabilities. The characters are more fully developed than in many children's books, and the development of fear is palpable.

All in all, I appreciated revisiting this book after fifty years.

Would it fit into the Young Adult category of today?

Everyman wrote: "Finished it last night.

My view is, it is definitely more fantasy than realistic fiction. I can see why I enjoyed it as a young reader, but as an adult I saw too many holes in it, too many extr..."

I agree that it's quite different than what's written today.

It was an adventure story, and I don't think the requirements to be "realistic" in that regard were as strong.

The characters are more fully developed. And I think Jim is allowed to be more of a kid than the characters are allowed to be in some of the current novels.

I'm with you. Glad I re-read it as an adult.

I read this a long time ago, but remember being pleasantly surprised as to how much I enjoyed it, maybe because I was really young. But I always enjoyed stuff about pirates and it was a fun adventure.

Mega wrote: "I read this a long time ago, but remember being pleasantly surprised as to how much I enjoyed it, maybe because I was really young. But I always enjoyed stuff about pirates and it was a fun adventure."

It's good to revisit books read as a child. Some hold up well, some less so.