Kidnapped: Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751

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Summary: Fun Read!
Review: Got lost in some of the descriptives, but still was a fun journey!

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Summary: What greed can do
Review: A young heir, an unscrupulous uncle, the fortune that divides them, and a wild there-and-back-again ride over land and sea to claim the inheritance---this a wonderful children's story, too shallow for adult reading, but worth the short trip for the lighter side of Stevenson.

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Summary: Great Adventure
Review: "In all the books I have read of people cast away, they had either their pockets full of tools, or a chest of things would be thrown upon the beach along with them, as if on purpose. My case was very different." (from chapter 14)

As others have stated, this book is indeed the paragon of the adventure story. It is fast paced, has well-developed characters, and exhibits beautiful and compelling visual descriptions of the Scottish countryside. One of the great strengths of this story is Stevenson's use of an ordinary young man as the protagonist. David Balfour, like Treasure Island's Jim Hawkins, is not a rugged adventurer, but a naive boy who is forced by circumstance to learn the harsh realities of the world; is forced to develop the courage to overcome them. David's struggles and misgivings help the reader relate to him far more than they would to the larger-than-life swashbuckler so common in other adventure stories. The story also shows how dire circumstance can forge the most unlikely friendships as David's co-dependence upon an outlaw rebel for survival causes him to learn that true selfless friendship is not bound by the ties of family, religion, or politics. This is a great book - A+.


Rating:
Summary: Kidnapped
Review: Kidnapped is one of my favorite most-read books. It has the fact that it is set in Scotland during the Jacobite "troubles" in its favor.
I have heard the book described as a great adventure book. I agree that there is plenty of excitement and suspense. David Balfour naively goes to his uncle after his parents death, and the ensuing drama is thrilling. However, the book is one of my favorites because of the portrayal of true friendship, which David strikes with a patriotic outlaw. David learns that the love of friendship is faithful and true, though it is always human.
Kidnapped is near the very top of my recommended reading list.

Rating:
Summary: Didn't care for it
Review: First off, let me say that I'm tempted to give Kidnapped 2 stars. However, that would probably be because I had to read this for school and ended up basically reading it for a whole day without a break. It was tedious. Being fair though, the book itself was 3. It wasn't great, and it wasn't terrible. It was a rather difficult read for me, and I am a freshman at high school in Advanced English. Looking up information on the Jacobite Rebellion would have definately been helpful prior to reading this. Knowledge of the geography of Scotland would also have been useful. One of the reasons I didn't like this book was because a new character or place seemed to be mentioned/introduced CONSTANTLY! For the most part, they'd never be mentioned again. It was confusing, because the side stories which the author inserted every now and then were sometimes a confusing distraction. That was painful. I also had some problems with the old-fashioned dialect. Although it may not be as difficult as some of these reviewers make it out to be, it still was a challenge. It gets easier as the book progreses. This was an OK story. It's a classic about David, a boy who gets kidnapped and has a wild adventure through Scotland because of it. One of the things I liked about David was that the character was very believable. He didn't have any fake, "superhero" qualities. For example, he admits he isn't a good shooter. He's down-to-earth. He is a refreshing main character for an action story. Some of the side characters are also very well developed and humorous. All in all, I wouldn't reccomend this book. It's certainly not for a basic reader or a child either.

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Summary: whits review of "Kidnapped"
Review: Kidnapped is a story about a young boy's life during the 1800's. This boys name is David and he is going through some hard times right after his father's death. His only family left is his Uncle Ebenezer who he doesn't even know. He travels to the house of Shaws where he meets his uncle, who turns out to be a very mean old man. David has come there not only to meet his closest kin left, but to also collect his inheritance from his father's death. David's uncle has him sent off to be a slave on a ship to the Carolinas, without David knowing. This leads to a series of adventures on the open sea and eventually to Scotland, where David and his new friend Alan are being chased by the English army. They eventually gather their bearings and find there way back to the house of Shaws. Here they get David's father's lawyer to help make David's uncle turn over his part of the inheritance. And then the story ends with David receiving two thirds of his uncle's income as David's inheritance. The reason that I chose this book is for the reasons that it really shows how cruel people were back in the 1800's and how easy people got away with mean things. It shows that no body was safe in the 1800's and even people with money were corrupt. The book reads very well because of Stevenson's great style of writing. This book also interests the reader greatly with its great action scenes that seem to go on forever and ever. There are changes in the book almost every other chapter that really change the way the book reads and this sucks you in even more. This book also catches an eye with its great imagery, I remember this one scene where they are describing a river that David needed to cross to get to the main land and the imagery was so good that I could picture this river and the houses on the other side. The main character David is also a very interesting boy to read about and all you want the whole book is for something to go good for him. He had to deal with so much and he doesn't get rewarded till the end of the book. If you are a reader that loves a great 1800's action book, with a very interesting plot, you will like Kidnapped a lot.