Captains Courageous (Story Theatre for Young Readers)

Rating:
Summary: grand tale of adventure and human nature
Review: Captains Courageous is a wonderful story of a pampered and indulged boy, the son of a millionaire, named Harvey Cheyne. He has no responsibilities and is given anything he wants. He lacks respect for anyone and that includes himself. He is washed overboard from a luxury liner while on a trip with his mother and is picked up by a fisherman. The fishing boat can not return him immediately because they have a crew that needs to earn a living. Harvey's family presumes that he is dead, drowned at sea. The story of Harvey's growing up involves responsibilty, hard work, trust and honor. Rudyard Kipling tells the story marvelously. The story is brilliantly crafted and a pure delight to read. The language of the story gives it the feel of the times and helps illustrate the rough lifestyles involved. This is a grand morality tale of adventure, human nature and the value of real love. I read this as a young teenager, but now (many years later!!) I see what an awesome author Kipling truly was!!!! This is a book to be read again!

Rating:
Summary: Moby-Dick lite, but still good
Review: Kipling's "Captains Courageous" wants at various times to be "Moby Dick," "Treasure Island," "Kidnapped," and "Robinson Crusoe," but, burdening itself with flat characters and obtuse morality lessons, it flirts with a greatness that it never quite achieves. This is not to say that the novel isn't worth reading; as a seafaring adventure story, it is an excellent depiction of life and labor on a fishing boat and the dangers that face fishermen, spiced with a plethora of nautical jargon in salty dialects, but it doesn't have much beyond that, although for many readers that would be enough.

To identify the principal hero of the novel is difficult because this is that rare kind of novel in which everybody is a hero. Harvey Cheyne, the spoiled, insouciant fifteen-year-old son of an American multimillionaire, is on a luxury steamliner going to Europe when he falls overboard and is rescued from the waters by a fishing schooner called, appropriately, the "We're Here." The captain is a rusty old salt named Disko Troop who tells the boy that they won't be returning to shore for months and that he'd better work on the boat to earn his keep. Harvey, who is not used to work, naturally protests at first but, sensing the futility of his resistance, quickly changes his attitude and puts his nose to the grindstone.

The schooner's small crew is a tough but benign group of sailors who, despite thinking Harvey's story of being heir to a fabulous fortune is just the product of a vivid imagination, treat him as one of their own, teaching him the ropes and allowing him to participate in their camaraderie, while Troop's son Dan, who is about Harvey's age, becomes his closest confidant regarding the tricks of the trade. Eventually the schooner returns to its home base at Gloucester, Massachussetts, where Harvey is able to contact his parents, at the reunion with whom his father realizes with pride that his son's experience on the schooner has given him a sense of responsibility and that he is now equipped better than ever to become a future business leader of America.

While "Captains Courageous" doesn't have the intrigue of Robert Louis Stevenson or the psychological depth of Melville's nautical masterpiece or even the lush, exotic textures and prodigious scope of Kipling's own later novel "Kim," it maintains a strong narrative drive and has a pleasant simplicity. The object lesson about the importance of self-discipline and the invigorating rewards of honest hard work may be a necessary accompaniment to the story, since there is never any concern that anything bad will happen to Harvey, but taken in the spirit of the adventure it feels like an integral part of the whole.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful story about diligence, sea faring and fun!
Review: Many people say this is a boring book, or has no story line, or is just about someone working their b---- off, but I found it to be a *wonderful* book.

Harvey Cheyne is a spoiled brat who falls off a ship and is picked up by a small fishing boat. Since the boat can't possibly go back to port without getting a full load of fish Harvey will have to wait. Meanwhile, since he _is_ eating their food (the man who does not work shall not eat...), they quickly have him join in on the work aboard ship. He goes against it at first, but gradually comes to see what really matters in life. It's not how much money you have- but how you affect those around you. Harvey learns diligence and plain, hard work. Sure- it's not always a ton of fun, but no one said life was pure fun. He learns many lessons through different experiences. I found this to be *very* enjoyable. I also liked reading about the different descriptions of how fishing was done back then.

All in all, this made for a very fascinating read, and I recommend it to anyone!