| Kidnapped | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Publisher: Dover Publications
Category: Book
List Price: CDN$ 5.25
Buy Used: CDN$ 0.34
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New (8) Used (7) from CDN$ 0.34
Avg. Customer Rating:  48 reviews
Sales Rank: 285836
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0486410269
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN: 9780486410265
ASIN: 0486410269
Publication Date: May 24, 2000
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
Condition: Older Signet edition, cover has some wear but pages clean and unmarked, Ships from Canada
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| Customer Reviews:
 Kidnapped is an intriguing story narrated by David Balfour December 14, 2000
"I will begin the story of my adventures with . . ." That's how Robert Louis Stevenson begins one of the best novels in his career, Kidnapped. Set in the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 in Scotland, Kidnapped is an intriguing story narrated by David Balfour, a young Whig and Lowlander of Scotland, who is tricked by his miserly uncle; survives attempted murder, kidnap and shipwreck; and in the company of Alan Breck, a Jacobite, escapes through the Highlands and returns home to claim his fortune. The book is a wonderful adventure story with a vivid, clear presentation of the ongoing events. Although originally written for entertainment, Kidnapped effectively blends David's adventures with the ongoing historical events of the time. In some ways this story relates to the lives of people in our present time, as people still do anything to try to keep family inheritances to themselves, and friends of different rival ethnic backgrounds try to look beyond their racial differences to maintain good friendships. These racial tensions run deep in the ancient misunderstanding between the two heroes themselves: Whig and Jacobite, Lowland conservative rationalist and romantic liberal Highlander. The book is written with such realism that one would think it to be the true adventures of a person during that period, carefully recorded in a diary before being published as a kind of biography. This just shows the distinct imagination the author uses to capture the roles and personalities of the characters, the themes, and the environment before putting them all together to produce one outstanding novel. Kidnapped is a novel so good that it could be enjoyed by anyone. But it distinctively calls out to those that want the suspense and adventure it has to offer. I recommend it for an intelligent reader in search of a good piece of historical fiction.
 Very Interesting April 29, 2000
This book was pretty interesting and I found it hard to read because the author uses weird ways the characters speak. Other than that I found that this book was good and I recommend it to other readers who are looking for a good book to read about adventure.
It gets better with every reading April 4, 2000
I initially bought the unabridged edition of "Kidnapped" illustrated by Wyeth, because my siblings and I shared such a volume growing up. I found myself looking forward to storytime with great eagerness as my six-year-old son and I became engrossed in Stevenson's colorful tale of adventure and friendship. (My son, hanging on every word, even those he did not understand, likened the duo of Alan Breck Stuart and David Balfour to Hans Solo and Luke Skywalker.)After reading the entire unabridged book in two weeks, I bought the audio book for a long car ride. The whole family loved it. I do not think my two and four year old girls really followed any part of the story, but narrator David Rintoul's lyrical accent seemed to divert and please them, while his well-balanced narration and dialogue thoroughly drew the rest of us into the story. Without becoming completely unintelligeable, Rintoul delivers the lines of Highlanders and Lowlanders distinctly, authentically, with enough emotion to create a sense of drama, but sufficient forward momentum to maintain a lively pace. I highly recommend this audio-book for any readers of the text who found Stevenson's renderings of the dialogue difficult, or who struggled with some of the book's archaic vocabulary or useage. The praise due to the audio-book having been given, I must add my opinion, which is that there is no equal to reading the unabridged original of this book; Robert Louis Stevenson enriched the corpus of all, not just juvenile, literature when he wrote this coming-of-age classic. His artistry with language enabled him to invoke unforgettable settings, craft witty and thoughtful dialogue of a genuine flavor, and construct a story which, to its end, leads the reader lock-step with its hero to an appreciation of Scotland's particular historic difficulties, and, more importantly, of what it means to be a decent human being.
Literary Analysis of Kidnapped April 1, 2000
This classic tale of action and adventure is an amazing book. Stevensondid did an excellent job on writing this book. The use of details in the setting and charecter traits are extraordinary.
Don't let the kids have all the fun March 6, 2000
I was surprised to see some reviewers didn't like this wonderful book. If you have trouble with the Scottish accent, read it out loud, use your imagination, and if you still can't figure it out, skip a bit. (Do you insist on understanding every single word spoken in a movie?) This is the story of a young man overcoming adversity to gain maturity and his birthright. It moves right along, in Stevenson's beautiful prose. Read, for example, this sentence from Chapter 12: "In those days, so close on the back of the great rebellion, it was needful a man should know what he was doing when he went upon the heather." Read it out loud; it rolls along, carrying the reader back to Scotland, even a reader like me, who doesn't know all that much about Scottish history. Kidnapped is by no means inferior, and in many ways superior to the more famous Treasure Island. Only two points I would like to bring up: I bought the Penguin Popular Classics issue, and have sort of mixed feelings. Maybe some day I'll get the version illustrated by Wyeth. I'm not sure whether this book needs illustrations, though. Stevenson's vivid writing is full of pictures. In Chapter 4, David makes a point of saying that he found a book given by his father to his uncle on Ebenezer's fifth birthday. So? Is this supposed to show how much Ebenezer aged due to his wickedness? If anybody could explain this to me, please do.
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