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Treasure Island Book Review

Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson released in 1883. It’s an iconic book about pirates that turned out to be hugely influential.

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“Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum“

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It’s a pirate adventure that introduced so many now inseparable elements to the pirate iconography – one-legged seamen with talking parrots, deserted islands and treasure maps marked with an “X”. It’s crazy to think that all of these elements stem from this one book, but this is the level of iconic storytelling that defined Stevenson’s classic novel.

In its essence, this is a coming-of-age story with the main character changing considerably within the span of the book’s storyline. Jim Hawkins is a phenomenally developed protagonist that is actually very believable in his arc and all of his evolutions are superbly portrayed and plausible. His constant search for heroic models during his growing up is one of the major themes in the novel that examines just how strong this need for role models is during one’s teenage years.

Another important theme is the juxtaposition between pirates and Victorian-era gentlemen, scientists and doctors. Stevenson cleverly pinpoints just how wrong all of these extremes are. Yes, the pirates are rugged and they live dangerous, drunken lives, but the latter group is overly stuck up in their manners and politeness and lacking adventure in their lives. How he depicted pirates as a dying breed was also powerful and that consistent sense of melancholy remained throughout the story.

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Another iconic character is Long John Silver. A polarizing figure full of contradictions, he is a very brutal, cold-hearted, almost animalistic man, but he also shows genuine care and kindness toward Jim, so that polarity was interesting to follow. Their relationship is the strongest here. Of the other characters, Dr. David Livesey got the most to do in a strong arc while Ben Gunn as this crazy marooned man presented a great cautionary tale against piracy. The captain character was also interesting, but overall too many of these side characters were left underdeveloped.

When it comes to Robert Louis Stevenson’s writing style, I hold two differing opinions. On the negative side of things, he relied way too much on old-fashioned stoic dialogue and extensive nautical vocabulary. It was impressive how meticulously detailed he was in those elements and the glossary of terms at the end of the novel did help understanding those terms significantly, but still it was too much homework for the reader.

On the other hand, his descriptions are excellent and he was great at world building and atmosphere. The novel is surprisingly brutal at times with graphic violence definitely standing in stark contrast with the spirited adventure and fun, but it was only realistic to depict these battles as they really were, and it’s admirable that the author was so truthful in his approach.

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Treasure Island also benefits from some powerful imagery and many unforgettable moments, especially the very end and the beginning, which are both instantly iconic. The rest of the novel rarely reached those levels of memorable moments, but at least it remained adventurous throughout. The humor and charm are definitely there in small doses, though I wished for more of those elements myself. The pacing and emotional engagement could have been stronger, but at least the narrative remained consistently grounded, adventurous and pleasingly old-fashioned throughout.