#Novella Captains Courageous

JANUARY

13. by Rudyard Kipling

Finish date: 17 January 2022
Genre: novella
Rating: F
Review:

Bad news:
I think this would be one of the most difficult book to teach young readers. Dialogue?
Fergit ut. (forget it) ‘T wuz… (it was…)
They’ll tell that tale again us fer years.
Fwhat’s th good ‘o bodderin’ fwhat…
Ha’af on the taown, and ‘t’ other ha’af blame fool. (awful!)

Bad news: While reading Captains Courageous I had difficulty with the dialogue. Despite my attempt to read the book…while listening to the and audio version the story never appealed to me. Kipling describes the boats, sail, cross-trees, trawl-buoys, rigging
…in excessive nautical detail. Pages and pages of ‘tall tales’ the crew members tell each other …and the ‘sing-alongs’ sounded corny. My only hope was to find some ‘cracker-barrel philosophy’ in the text (somewhere)…that would inspire young readers.

Personal
The book is unbalanced: 70% boats, sea conditions, fishing – 20% the crew – 10% Harvey Kipling eventually rejected the novel as simply a “boy’s story” …and he was right. I doubt a young reader would really enjoy this story.
This book was written in 1897 and times….and children have changed.
#NotFavorite childern’s classic…at all!