Betrayed on Treasure Island

[aggienaut]

So I recently downloaded this version of Treasure Island on Audible, because, as I mentioned, I having stumbled across some of Robert Louis Stevenson's other writing I thought I should revisit his most classic. From the getgo something seemed a bit off. After awhile I put my finger on the most noticable thing -- there were no "he said" "he growled" "he muttered" prefixes before speech, though this recording used multiple voice actors to make it clear who was speaking clearly the original written form must have noted in text who was speaking. So maybe they just deleted the speech directions as redundant with voice actors, which annoyed me but, okay. But as time went on it still just, seemed a bit off. The writing seemed really uninspired. Keep in mind though I was entirely listening to it as I drove so when most annoyed and suspicious I couldn't investigate. When I tried after arriving at a destination I couldn't pull up the full information on it on my phone. Finally I remembered while at home and googled up the exact version I was listening and sure enough, not prominently displayed but hidden at the end of the summary it does say "Audible Originals UK are excited to announce this reimagination of Stevenson's coming-of-age story that will captivate all of the family." Re-imagining! Y'arrrgh!

So I pulled up another version and made sure it was true to the original and listened to the remainder of the story in that version. What a difference! The re-imagined version kept some of the original speech, but also deleted or simplified a lot, and added a lot more so it could turn more narration into speech as befits a radio-drama which it was more like. It did keep narration but only that which couldn't possibly be turned into dialogue, and generally across the board it simplified the reading level to a much simpler form. Don't get me wrong, as a beloved story of children, I don't fault their decisions to simplify it for a presumed younger audience and adapt it more to radio-play style, I'm just a bit salty that they hadn't made that more clear. As far as reading it as a fan of good literature they had cooked nearly everything good out of their version. It was kind of an interesting exercise though seeing the difference between the writing of a epicly good writer compared to boiled down uninspired writing of the exact same thing.

Comments

[spaciireth.livejournal.com]

Ergh, I know exactly what you mean! I tried listening to a version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe done that way and even knowing it was like that going in, I still couldn't really get into it.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Ugh WHY would they do that to the Chronicles of Narnia??

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Oftentimes, "reimagined" is just another term for badly revised...and quite often dumbed down. They really should make that very visible.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Indeed! There's a reason the original work is a classic and the author way more famous than this upstart editor who tihnks he can somehow improve it!

[siobhan63.livejournal.com]

You might be interested in the Starz series Black Sails, which is sort of a "prequel" to Treasure Island. It's superbly well-done (although the first season is a bit slow and it took me two attempts to properly get into it). There are 4 seasons in all. It largely deals with/is set against the pirate republic on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas, as proclaimed in 1713 by pirates Thomas Barrow and Benjamin Hornigold. They were joined by pirate captains like Charles Vane, Thomas Burgess, Calico Jack and Blackbeard. However, this republic was soon eliminated in 1718, by Captain Woodes Roger with his appointment as the Royal Governor of the Bahamas -- all events chronicled in the series. Billy Bones and Long John Silver are the Treasure Island characters who feature in the series (and all of the other real life people mentioned above are also in the series).

[wpadmirer.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Whoever adapted it did a poor job. I've listened to a lot of audiobooks (and a few adaptions for radio), and never had that experience.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yeah it was really badly done. Or, like Ii said, might have been appropriate to dumb it down for a much younger audience but they should have made that more clear!

[notodette.livejournal.com]

I wonder if kids growing up on reimagined versions with different voice actors playing out the scenes will feel the same about the inclusion of the tags and the details as you do about their exclusion.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

haha could be funny. "Hey this isn't how it goes!"

Kind of like I when I found out Australians call "Where's Waldo" "Where's Wally" and I was want to scoff at this until I googled and discovered it was called Wally first and renamed Waldo for the states. Then I could do nothing but grumble to myself about it ahaha.

[ryl.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I didn't know condensed books made it to the audio world. I'm an unabridged only kind of girl. I made it through all 2000+ pages of Les Mis; nothing scares me now.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Ahaha I did War and Peace as an audiobook! I feel like I might have read Le Mis at some point. I think dad read it to us when we were little? And I therefore feel like its checked off the list ahahaha.

But yeah definitely I avoid abridged versions at all costs!

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

Och...depending on the reader and the wordage, audiobooks can be captivating...or horrible!

*HUGS*

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yeah it can make a big difference! Or something the audio quality is just bad enough to be annoying. When I went to listen to the Portrait of Dorian Grey there were like a dozen versions on Audible. Fortunately you can listen to a minute long sample before you purchase so I w as there trying to determine which sounded best from the samples.

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

#1. Re: "he growled" and "he muttered." One of my favorite suspense/crime novelists is Robert B. Parker. Throughout his entire novels, the characters' speech is also introduced simply by "He said." Far from being boring, one begins to fly over those statements and it is as if one is listening to actual dialogue.

It was interesting trying to dredge up the name of this author, as I haven't read his work in ages. I immediately thought of the "he said" issue. Then I wondered how I might google it. But with what?

I remembered that his character lived downstairs from his significant other who he referred to periodically as a lovely Jewess. Googling He said and Jewess wasn't going to cut it.

Suddenly it came to me that the author's name was Robert. Robert Something. I typed that in. Then, miraculously, the name Parker arrived in my head. But I remembered there is another Robert Parker whose books are also on the shelf at the library. But Robert Parker was googled and up popped Robert B. Parker. Still not sure, I glanced at the titles. Nope. Then I spotted his photo. And it was him.

#2. Treasure Island was published in the 1880s. I feel that books from that era were written primarily to be read aloud and intended to be the family entertainment for an extended period of time.

#3. When I read it, just a few years ago, I actually couldn't finish it. I had that overwhelming feeling that the characters were acting stupidly and could not see the ominous future that was obvious.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

As regards point #3, definitely in the beginning when the squire and doctor want to drop everything to go get this treasure and are acting a bit naive about their crew its a bit like come on guys!