Customer Reviews

Long John Silver: The True and Eventful History of My Life of Liberty and Adventure as a Gentleman of Fortune & Enemy to Mankind

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One of the most recognizable characters in English literature gets his own fictional autobiography in this sweeping historical tour-de-force by a Swedish sailor, of all people. For many, LJS is the most memorable and deep character in the classic adventure tale Treasure Island. In this book he recounts his life both before and after the events in Stevenson's tale. His first-person story unfolds in chronological chapters which alternate with chapters in which he tells of his dealings with that chronicler of pirates, Daniel Defoe, and later, Jim Hawkins. Many of these chapters are written directly to the two libelers, and include rambling meditations on the nature of freedom and meaning of life.

The accounts of his life adventures are rich in language and detail. It's a stunning achievement by translator Geddes, given all the nautical and period slang, and one would never know the book wasn't written in English. Readers who know nothing about boats and seamanship (like myself) will have no problems following the action and appreciating the details. Larsson has apparently researched the social history of pirates and seafaring in great detail, as the book delivers a detailed and spirited defense of those who went to sea under the black flag. Great attention is given to the awful conditions of the average sailor on a merchantman, and the evils of slave ships are examined at length and in graphic detail. Through Silver, Larsson portrays the buccaneers of the era as freedom-seekers and hedonists, living for the moment. Their crimes are shown as no greater than that of the merchants who plunder distant lands and enslave people.

This unvarnished "truth" is brought out in vivid storytelling as the old pirate, now living in Madagascar, puts pen to paper. It has to be said that while the chapters describing Silver's life and (mis)adventures are wonderful, the shorter chapters where he rambles on about good/evil, etc. can get repetitive and tiresome. Still, the book is great fun and well worth reading for its take on pirate life. Fans of the original Treasure Island may also be interested in Justin Scott's fun 1994 version, which transplants the action to 1950s Long Island.

The plot device of having LJS dictate the story to Defoe (who wrote a real history of pirates under the pseud. of Captain Johnson) is a stroke of genius, especially when the rascal meditates outside of his dictation for the devious and devilish stuff that the moral Defoe would not understand. Long John remains one of the most colorful, and inscrutable, characters of all pirate lore. Larsson's knack for bringing him to life apart from the innocent viewpoint of Jim Hawkins, shows the readers of Treasure Island just how LJS developed his ruthlessness, tinged with his own skewed sense of chivalry and style. The fact that Silver is quite well-read, and articulate lends authenticity to the stories of actual pirates with whom the fictional Silver might have sailed. I didn't find the intermittent philosophizing too off-putting. Silver was always trying to rationalize his often brutish actions in Treasure Island, so he does here as well. While enjoying a rollicking good "alternate history" of 18th century "gentlemen of fortune", I learned quite a bit about the harshness of sailor life of that period, and also about slave ships and their horrible ordeal

The story of LJS is "great" if you can say that word to a life who always was outside the law, of course for him he was doing right and he was making justice among the seven seas.
This story will show you how the pirates thought and how they work to make their dreams come true (if the have any dream as LJS said more than once).
Is a good book to read except the last two or three chapters, but is a book that worth every word it has.

This great book is based on Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and his enigmatic pirate Long John Silver. Larsson tries to give a picture of Long John Silver's life apart from what happened at Treasure Island. It is a fascinating story about a poor boy in the 1700s: what is the alternative to become a pirate when you believe in fairness, democracy and egality and in the possibility of becoming rich? On a pirate ship some of those values and possibilities were stronger than in the extreme class society of Britain. The description of a journey with a slave ship is also very shocking. All in all this is a great adventure book for adults!

This book is a pleasure to read! Larsson has beautifully captured the world of the pirate, and placed it clearly in the society of the time. Long John Silver lives from adventure to adventure -- sailor, slave-ship crewmember, slave, pub-owner, fugitive, lover, smuggler, and wealthy, retired (but still-sought-after-by-authorities) gentleman of fortune. Throughout it all, he follows his own moral compass and does the right thing.

A tale out of another century, vividly captured and well-told.

If you can't imagine what is it like to have a real desire for a life of liberty, then read the amazing and really entertaining story of Long John Silver by the sweedish author Larsson who actually wrote this book aboard his ship.

This book takes a guess on the story of one of the most loved scoundrels ever to roam the seven seas of litterature. The research done in the process of the creation of this piece is quite well done. The book is exiting with all the strange and fascinating tales and stories the pirate experiences through his great and long carier. Long John is shown as the fully complex and complete character is person deserves. Indeed a deserving piece by a capable arthor.

A good story with some historical realities too.
I studied history at undergraduate level - some of the details
of a common sailor's life, are really nicely described. Change the name to anything but Long John Silver and its a good period
piece. Gritty in places and rambling in others, just as one might imagine coming across an account of the life of a pirate. A real fireside book for the winter. I'll be looking for other books by the same author.

Wonderful and fantastic: if you rea this book, you must read the Treasure Island!!! I don't know if all the things in this book are true, but it has enjoyed me. Enjoy yourself!