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Captains Courageous (Bantam Classic)
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Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
Author: Rudyard Kipling
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $3.95
You Save: $ ( % )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
Author: Rudyard Kipling
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Average Customer Rating:
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Captains Courageous (Bantam Classic) Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN: 9780553211900
ISBN: 0553211900
Label: Bantam Classics
Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 176
Publication Date: 1985-02-01
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Product Release Date: 1985-01-01
Studio: Bantam Classics
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN: 9780553211900
ISBN: 0553211900
Label: Bantam Classics
Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 176
Publication Date: 1985-02-01
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Product Release Date: 1985-01-01
Studio: Bantam Classics
Editorial Review of Captains Courageous (Bantam Classic)
The only one of Kipling's novels to be cast in an American setting, Captains Courageous endures as one of literature's most cherished and memorable sea adventures. Harvey Cheyne, spoiled millionaire's son, tumbles overboard from a luxury liner--only to be rescued by the crew of a Gloucester schooner. Thus begins the boy's second voyage into the rugged rites and ways of sailors. Like all Kipling's masterworks, Captains Courageous is an interweaving of art and moral purpose. Angus Wilson has said that it shows "delicacy of craft and violence of feeling, exactitude and wile impressionism, subtlety and true innocence." A popular favorite since its first publication in 1897, the novel remains a classic story of youthful initiation--and a lively tribute to the author's famous code of bravery, loyalty, and honor among men.
Customer Reviews of Captains Courageous (Bantam Classic)
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: You really learn about working life in those times
Review: This is still a great book for young readers (and old ones) who want to know what working life was really like for some in the eastern U.S. and Canada a hundred years ago. No picnic. The great thing is seeing it all in a gripping, often amazing, based-on-fact tale that centers on several teenaged boys who are part of a crew of a New England fishing boat. Death, mayhem, hardship, struggle, grim lessons, ultimate triumph in its strange way--all here along with a great portrait of poor men from all parts scraping to make a living on the sea. For what it tells about our history and the kinds of life our great-grandfathers led, this is Kipling's best, in my opinion.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Story for Young Men
Review: This is an excellent book for a young man, especially. It reminds us that character is developed through struggle, and that spoiling a child does him no good. I recommend that you give this book to any young boy who longs for adventure, but doesn't realize that it tends to come with a cost.
Keep developing your chidlren's minds, parents! Good things will result.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: "She's as stiddy as a haouse an' as dry as a herrin'"
Review: Captains Courageous takes the tried and true plot of the spoiled city child who is rescued through the magic of hard work and honest living. Harvey Cheyne Jr. is washed off a steamship and left for dead, but is instead rescued by fishermen who take him into their boat for the season.
This is, honestly, the first Kipling that I have ever read (aside from excerpts). His writing has been one of my larger gaps, and this seemed a good book with which to begin. The dialect is at times difficult, but did not really find it a barrier to understanding. I enjoyed the book. I particularly enjoyed the way the plot extended past Harvey's homecoming. Many books with a similar story end it after the rescue with no extension into the character's life. I also enjoyed the section with The Cheynes and their train ride.
A solid, entertaining sea yarn which seems likely to appeal to bookish young people. I may be damning the work with faint praise, but there you go.
p.s. If I started a band, I would call it Disko Troop.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: No courage needed for this pleasant read
Review: When I started this book, I couldn't help but make some comparisons to Jack London's, Sea Wolf. The protagonist is picked up by a boat at sea and wants to be dropped off on shore, but the captain refuses and, instead, solicits his help on the ship's voyage, hoping to teach him something about real work along the way. And right about there the two novels diverge. While Jack London's, Sea Wolf goes through an increasingly complicated plot and conflict, Rudyard Kipling's, Captains Courageous simply lets us in on the cruise. Though they take two very different courses, I think that they both succeeded in their separate endeavors. Kipling relies on his description and scenes to set the story before us, and he achieves this masterfully. Describing life on board a fishing vessel could very easily turn out to be tedious, but Kipling uses such nice language and great characters that you almost feel as if you are there experiencing it with them, through the good and the bad. The ending is hardly surprising, but more importantly it feels right. One thing to note is that, while Kipling does describe things fairly well, this is still written back in the age of sail, so many of the terms are taken for granted for someone not well versed in that era. If that is the case, the reader might feel lost for a good portion of the story. Still, the writing is pleasant enough that you almost don't need to know what is going on, you're just happy to be along for the ride.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Kipling's American Yarn
Review: Captain's Courageous is moe than anything else a great sea going yarn from 19th century America in which Kipling captures the spirit of the New England fishermen of the era in colorful language. To those who criticize the archaic language these characters use I would argue that the language and the dialects are exactly the point. America as a melting pot where people from various backgrounds blend words and phrases and communicate with each other.
As an adventure story from the era it represents it ranks right up there with Mark Twain's work but it has something unique in that the narrative is seen through the eyes of an "outsider" , Harvey the millionaire's son who falls overboard on a cruise and is picked up by these rugged fisherman who take him in. His almost immediate recognition that something special is present in his new surroundings fill the book with a sense of wonder at the seagoing life these men live.
A quick and rewarding read. Don't let the language dissuade you, this is a true classic and should not be missed.
Review Summary: You really learn about working life in those times
Review: This is still a great book for young readers (and old ones) who want to know what working life was really like for some in the eastern U.S. and Canada a hundred years ago. No picnic. The great thing is seeing it all in a gripping, often amazing, based-on-fact tale that centers on several teenaged boys who are part of a crew of a New England fishing boat. Death, mayhem, hardship, struggle, grim lessons, ultimate triumph in its strange way--all here along with a great portrait of poor men from all parts scraping to make a living on the sea. For what it tells about our history and the kinds of life our great-grandfathers led, this is Kipling's best, in my opinion.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Story for Young Men
Review: This is an excellent book for a young man, especially. It reminds us that character is developed through struggle, and that spoiling a child does him no good. I recommend that you give this book to any young boy who longs for adventure, but doesn't realize that it tends to come with a cost.
Keep developing your chidlren's minds, parents! Good things will result.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: "She's as stiddy as a haouse an' as dry as a herrin'"
Review: Captains Courageous takes the tried and true plot of the spoiled city child who is rescued through the magic of hard work and honest living. Harvey Cheyne Jr. is washed off a steamship and left for dead, but is instead rescued by fishermen who take him into their boat for the season.
This is, honestly, the first Kipling that I have ever read (aside from excerpts). His writing has been one of my larger gaps, and this seemed a good book with which to begin. The dialect is at times difficult, but did not really find it a barrier to understanding. I enjoyed the book. I particularly enjoyed the way the plot extended past Harvey's homecoming. Many books with a similar story end it after the rescue with no extension into the character's life. I also enjoyed the section with The Cheynes and their train ride.
A solid, entertaining sea yarn which seems likely to appeal to bookish young people. I may be damning the work with faint praise, but there you go.
p.s. If I started a band, I would call it Disko Troop.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: No courage needed for this pleasant read
Review: When I started this book, I couldn't help but make some comparisons to Jack London's, Sea Wolf. The protagonist is picked up by a boat at sea and wants to be dropped off on shore, but the captain refuses and, instead, solicits his help on the ship's voyage, hoping to teach him something about real work along the way. And right about there the two novels diverge. While Jack London's, Sea Wolf goes through an increasingly complicated plot and conflict, Rudyard Kipling's, Captains Courageous simply lets us in on the cruise. Though they take two very different courses, I think that they both succeeded in their separate endeavors. Kipling relies on his description and scenes to set the story before us, and he achieves this masterfully. Describing life on board a fishing vessel could very easily turn out to be tedious, but Kipling uses such nice language and great characters that you almost feel as if you are there experiencing it with them, through the good and the bad. The ending is hardly surprising, but more importantly it feels right. One thing to note is that, while Kipling does describe things fairly well, this is still written back in the age of sail, so many of the terms are taken for granted for someone not well versed in that era. If that is the case, the reader might feel lost for a good portion of the story. Still, the writing is pleasant enough that you almost don't need to know what is going on, you're just happy to be along for the ride.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Kipling's American Yarn
Review: Captain's Courageous is moe than anything else a great sea going yarn from 19th century America in which Kipling captures the spirit of the New England fishermen of the era in colorful language. To those who criticize the archaic language these characters use I would argue that the language and the dialects are exactly the point. America as a melting pot where people from various backgrounds blend words and phrases and communicate with each other.
As an adventure story from the era it represents it ranks right up there with Mark Twain's work but it has something unique in that the narrative is seen through the eyes of an "outsider" , Harvey the millionaire's son who falls overboard on a cruise and is picked up by these rugged fisherman who take him in. His almost immediate recognition that something special is present in his new surroundings fill the book with a sense of wonder at the seagoing life these men live.
A quick and rewarding read. Don't let the language dissuade you, this is a true classic and should not be missed.