Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped
Home | Literary Devices | Character Analysis | Robert Louis Stevenson | Historical Background | Reviews | Group Discussion Questions | Works Cited
Reviews

thumbs_up_big.jpg

 
Pros: Deeply layered essay on liberty: brilliantly crafted
Cons: Some people are silly enough to think this mere 'kid-fiction'
 
"These are not merely tales for children. Nor are they mere adventure
stories. They are also meditations on liberty...Stevenson was no mere teller of tales, dismissable with a phrase. He was a tight plotter, a master of craft, brilliant in characterization, with an unsurpassed ear for dialogue. Who having met them will forget the minister, Mr Campbell, or the ominous Captain Hoseason, or that
perfectly portrayed man of law Mr Rankeillor (as perfect a character type as
the immortal Mr Murbles of Dorothy L. Sayers's invention)? And no one
has ever forgotten or been unmoved by Cluny Macpherson in hiding, David
Balfour, or Alan Breck. These stories, drawing their strength from
Stevenson's incomparable craftsmanship and from the heart-piercing
background of Scotland under the Hanoverian heel, will never die." (mshawple)
 
 
"Kidnapped is not so ideal a story of external adventure as Treasure Island. On the other hand, it has more of a human interest in it for those who have passed the age of boyood. It touches the history of Scotland with a vigorous hand. It gives a picture of Highland character worthy of Sir Walter Scot himself. Its description of the scenery of the Highlands in the old, wild times, is as charming as a vivid imagination could make it..." (Rutton 400)*

"Those who have read Mr. Stevenson know the grace and magic of his pen, and they will need no solicitation to spend a few hours in the delight of Kidnapped." (St. James Gazette 399 - 400)*

*See works cited: Nineteenth-Century LIterature Criticism, Vol. 5

By: Michael Gonzales & Hannah Thunhorst