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Summary: It's Nae Treas're Isle
Review: I am a big fan of Stevenson (especially Treasure Island), swashbuckling adventure (especially Rafael Sabatini) and Scottish literature (especially Irvine Welsh and James Kelman), but I have to say that rereading Kidnapped is a bit of a letdown. Not for the reasons others have cited, such as language (if you think Stevenson's use of Scots dialect is tough, try reading Trainspotting!) or obscure history (the book is set in Scotland circa 1750, just after the failure of the Jacobite rebellion against the British), but rather because the book is rather boring. It starts off promisingly enough, as orphaned 16-year-old Dvid Balfour sets off to the big city to track down his never-seen Uncle Ebeneezer. It doesn't take long for the miserly uncle (is the sharing of name with that other famous miser, Ebeneezer Scrooge, just a coincidence?) to cheat the boy out of his inheritance, try to murder him, and then sell him into slavery in the American colonies. As he is taken out to sea, the ship collides with another in the dark, and the sole survivor is taken aboard. The shipboard tension and the action as he throws his lot in with the doughty Highlander rebel Alan Breck to defeat his captors is all quite enjoyable. After both make their escape they are reunited in the Highlands, which are being scoured by British redcoats in search of traitors like Alan Breck). They decide to band together and travel to a place of safety. Unfortunately at this point, the book becomes a tiresome episode of The Odd Couple, as they bicker and banter and evade the British. It's rather chivalric, as concern over honor and friendship overwhelms any real story or action. The insights into Highlander culture and history are somewhat interesting, but not enough to carry it. The climactic confrontation as David confronts his uncle returns the book to its fun, adventurous roots. Stevenson write a sequel, variously known as David Balfour or Catriona, which is not supposed to be as good.
Rating: 
Summary: Was not what I expected
Review: Well when the book just started out I did not really like it because it was in anothor type of reading. I was not really used to this type of reading. But further on in the book it got more and more exciting and kept me on the edge of my seat more. But at the end of the book was not all that great because it did not make that much sense to me about what was going on. I would reccommend this book to some one that really liked back in the day books.
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Summary: The title is the plot.
Review: Set in Scotland in 1751, "Kidnapped" is about a recently orphaned 17-year-old boy named David Balfour who leaves his childhood village to see his uncle Ebenezer and hopefully find some employment. Ebenezer, a disagreeable miser living in a large decrepit house, reluctantly lets David live with him, but soon it becomes apparent to David that, for unknown reasons, his uncle is trying to involve him in a fatal accident. Shortly after David discovers that his uncle is cheating him out of the money and property he was supposed to inherit from his father, Ebenezer arranges for David to be kidnapped by a ship of ruffians and taken to the Carolinas to be sold into slavery. While circling around Scotland, the ship runs into and wrecks another boat, and the crew captures the lone survivor, a rugged but vain Highlander named Alan Breck Stewart. David quickly befriends Stewart, who turns out to be quite a swashbuckler, and they manage to subdue their captors and escape to the Scotland shore. On the mainland, Stewart is accused of murdering a rival clan member who goes by the name of Red Fox; he and David must now cross the mountainous Scottish countryside to get to a safe haven, also permitting David to return to claim his inheritance. This is a short but perfectly effective epic adventure that features everything such a story requires: crafty characters, excellent pacing, a keen sense of history (keep in mind it takes place over 130 years before it was written), and sharp dialogue that evokes the Scottish brogue and establishes the setting and tone. With "Kidnapped," Stevenson provides the 19th Century Scottish answer to Homer's Odyssey.
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Summary: Waste of money!
Review: This audio presentation by David Rintoul is extremely dull, boring and bland. It is so uninspiring that my son and I could not finish it. There are lots of excellent audio books out there but this is definitely not one of them. DO NOT BUY IT!
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Summary: An awesome book for both young and old!
Review: Let me tell you now that 'Kidnapped' is my personal favourite, and I've already read it four times! You'll never get a moment to pause to take a yawn. R.L. Stevenson with his superb writing capabilities writes of a young man named David Balfour. When his father dies, he is told to go to his uncle's house. After several failed attempts to kill David the wicked uncle sells him off to a skipper of a ship. In the course of his stay on the ship David meets the Jacobite, Alan. I can't describe the novel in words you gotta read it to know what you are really in for! This is the greatest adventure novel I've ever read. If you have read Stevenson's 'Treasure Island' then you won't be disappionted with this one.
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Summary: Kidnapped is an intriguing story narrated by David Balfour
Review: "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.
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Summary: Very Interesting
Review: 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.
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Summary: It gets better with every reading
Review: 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.
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Summary: Literary Analysis of Kidnapped
Review: 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.
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Summary: Don't let the kids have all the fun
Review: 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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