I'm ashamed to say that my sole knowledge of Treasure Island comes from the muppet version. And I happen to LOVE that movie, which is part of the reason I added the book to my list.I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it off-screen. It's a fairly quick read but full of adventure and swashbuckling and general awesomeness. Long John Silver (who was so well embodied by Tim Curry in the muppet version that I couldn't envision him any other way throughout the book) is such a perfect villain. Charming, with a real streak of humanity, and a sort of shifty-eyed-ness that makes it so you're never really sure which way he's leaning.
I listened to the book on Playaway which I think was the way to go. I wasn't tripped up by all the sailing terms like some of the reviewers on Goodreads mentioned and all the pirates had appropriately pirate-y voices. Plus the narrator was a good one, and that always makes such a difference.
It didn't even occur to me when I added Treasure Island to my 2010 Classics List that it might also be a fitting addition to my Boy List. But, by golly, I am really looking forward to listening to this one again with my boys in a few (ten) years.
3 comments:
Ah, Benjamina Gunn. The best part of the Muppet movie version. I love that movie.
Ok, I JUST put it together that she was the Benjamin Gunn character (I had forgotten her movie name, obviously). I was sort of thinking the whole Miss Piggy sublot was concocted just so she could be in the movie, but she was an actual character from the book. The natives, however, were not in the book.
"It's the blind fiend!"
"Actually, I think he prefers visually challenged fiend."
Love it!
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