Treasure Island

A reflective adventure

The Audible dramatization of Treasure Island is excellent, with only a few false steps. Owen Teale is great as Silver, with his combination of flattery and ruthlessness. (I would have expected no less of Alliser Thorne.) But that points to one of the false steps here: the cast is named but not the parts they play; I was able to confirm that Teale was Silver only by locating a press release online. That seems a little ungenerous to my way of thinking.

For the record: besides Teale, Philip Glenister is Dr Livesey; Daniel Mays is Ben Gunn; Catherine Tate is Jim's mother. And who among the named cast plays Jim Hawkins, who with his narration has by far the most audio time? No idea. Even Audible'a promotional video doesn't mention him.

Another false step is that there are long gaps of silence between scenes. It's not unusual for an audio play to observe a moment of silence to mark a transition. But here, the gaps between scenes last several seconds; a couple of times I wondered if I'd gone into sleep mode by mistake. These gaps seem tailor-made for some linking music to be added in post-production, but there isn't any. It affects the pace. The gaps seem to slow things down. (There IS music from time to time, usually to set a somber or threatening tone.)

It's a subdued production: a quiet, gritty Treasure Island, one that avoids flashy swashing and buckling in favor of soft and sinister exchanges. And it's a reflective adaptation: with the help of a few lines and a couple of scenes not in the book, it creates a much stronger sense of moral ambiguity than in the book. The Jim Hawkins who returns from the voyage is a very different person than the boy who left, and the difference is bittersweet and satisfying.

In general the production adheres closely to the events of the book — including lots of narration from Jim Hawkins — but it does make some changes. Some scenes are expanded with additional dialogue to good effect (Israel Hands is given a chance to shine, as is Silver's parrot); other changes are apparently made just for the sake of change. Abraham Gray, a brave and honest seaman in the book, is presented here as a sniveling coward.

But despite its subdued tone, and a few changes I found jarring, I found it a compelling listen, one that drew me in by its quiet intensity rather than histrionics. I put that down to the excellence of the cast and the sound design. It's an oddly intimate version of an action-packed adventure.

A version of Treasure Island stands or falls by its Long John Silver and its Jim Hawkins. Both are excellent here: multifaceted and multilayered. And they are given a "necessary scene" at the end that is missing from the book; it's a scene that appears in several film versions of the story, but here it's given straight, without a trace of sentimentality.

The producers have given themselves (and the writer) enough runtime to develop the story much more fully than is usually the case. I enjoyed it a lot, and I recommend it.

119 of 122 people found this review helpful

Why?

If you are looking for a dumbed-down and over acted version of Robert Louis Stevenson's marvelous British classic, Audible has made it for you. I'd prefer to listen to one of the several straight up narrations of Stevenson's original work available here at Audible. Obviously most reviewers disagree with me.

11 of 11 people found this review helpful

Changed the book

This was exciting and well-acted, and then they changed the end totally unnecessarily. I thoroughly enjoyed this version of my favorite rollicking sea story, but the mysteriously changed the end to make what appeared to be a social commentary. I would have given 5 stars easily if they had left Jim to his riches and hatred of the sea. AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

103 of 111 people found this review helpful

Very confusing

I found this recording to be very difficult to listen to. The action scenes, the voices were very mixed and jumbled. It was hard to understand what was going on. If I didn’t already know the story I would have been lost.

11 of 12 people found this review helpful

Let Adventure Get In Your Blood!

Please forgive me: I gave a pass on all things Robert Louis Stevenson when I was younger, thinking all his books were good for boys only. And now, when I'm 50+, I decided to give 'im a try and almost got the Alfred Molina version here on Audible. But I'm actually kinda into grand performances so I got this full cast production instead.
And boy am I glad I did! Pirates! The high seas! Treasure! All done so well, it was a blast!
One thing, though. As I never read RLS before, I can't say whether or not the ending was changed, as one reviewer noted. I can only say that the ending here was fun and quite satisfying: it left you feeling that adventure truly got into the lucky (he HAD to have had quite some luck!) Jim's blood, and the end was only the beginning.
Fun for the family, fun for the lone grown-up.
What fun all around!

23 of 26 people found this review helpful

Classic Adventure

Treasure Island has long been a favorite of mine and this adaptation from Audible Studios did not disappoint. While the story remains basically the same they do introduce some subtle changes to the original - some good, some not so good. Overall though, it was a riveting adventure that kept my attention throughout the entire reading. The narration was top notch.

13 of 15 people found this review helpful

Shiver Me Timbers! The Original Pirate Adventure…

Treasure Island is a timeless classic that I somehow managed to skip all of these years until now (don’t ask- I’m still scratching my head over this one, too). At any rate, Stevenson spins the ultimate go-to pirate story that captures the spirit of sailing the seven seas in search of treasure and all the perils along the way- mutiny, cutlass and pistol fights, talking parrots and peg legs. There hasn’t been another book or movie within this genre that hasn’t borrowed (or plundered) from Treasure Island in some form or fashion. It is truly a classic and well worth your time.

As for the performance, it was top notch. Each actor voiced their part to perfection and listening to this audio performance was like watching a play unfold in my mind’s eye. From the rolling waves to clashing swords, no detail is left out and it is truly a masterful performance. #Pirates #Adventure #LifeOnTheOpenSea #Tagsgiving #Sweepstakes

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Superb!

I was leery of a performed interpretation. Others I've heard in the past were hokey. This was fantastic! Thoroughly enjoyed it in every way. I can't say enough positive about this. The only tiny reservation: some of the accents were so authentic that it was difficult to make out certain words, or the occasional sentence. But don't let that stop you. This is a first rate production. Bravo Audible! I hope this inspires Audible to bring other classic novels to life. We would love to hear Moby Dick next…

10 of 12 people found this review helpful

Puts my Treasure Island performance to shame

Amazing Amazing Amazing piece of work. This rendition is a 10/10. Knocked it out of the park. So good I have gifted it to 2 co-workers and and my good friends with kids :)

I have very high confidence a reader/listener of any age will be very satisfied :)

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Three Cheers to Gerran Howell as Jim Hawkins

Where does Treasure Island rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 10

What other book might you compare Treasure Island to and why?

Being an audio play rather than a standard narration, hard to compare to other books. Only other work in this category is Jungle Book: Mowgli Stories which is much darker material.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Jim Hawkins. Really thought I was listening to a 16-year-old. Gerran Howell captures the transition from wide-eyed innocent teenager to a seasoned young man quite well. A lot of good performances from other cast members, but credit to Howell is sorely lacking.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful