The Coral Island by R M Ballantyne: book review

Book review

The Coral Island by R M Ballantyne (1858)

There seem to be all kinds of desert islands that you could be washed up on. You could be unlucky and find yourself on a barren cay with no fresh water and no vegetation. Or, you could be lucky and find yourself in a glorious kind of playground where all kinds of delicious foods are there for the taking, there are beautiful coral pools to dive in and you have leisure time to explore your own island.

Ralph Rover, Jack Martin and Peterkin Gay are lucky. Ship's boys, they are washed up alone on their coral island after a storm at sea. What a dream! These boys have a wonderful time discovering all that the island has to offer:

The ground at the foot of this tree was thickly strewn with the fallen fruit, in the midst of which lay sleeping, in every possible attitude, at least twenty hogs of all ages and sizes, apparently quite surfeited with a recent banquet.

Jack and I could scarce restrain our laughter as we gazed at these coarse, fat, ill-looking animals, while they lay groaning and snoring heavily amid the remains of their supper.

'Now, Ralph,' said Jack, in a low whisper, 'put a stone in your sling - a good big one - and let fly at that fat fellow with his back toward you. I'll try to put an arrow into yon little pig.'

'Don't you think we had better put them up first?' I whispered; it seems cruel to kill them while asleep.'

'If I wanted sport Ralph, I would certainly set them up; but as we only want pork, we'll let them lie. Besides, we're not sure of killing them; so fire away.'

Thus admonished, I slung my stone with so good aim that it went bang against the hog's flank as if against the head of a drum; but it had no other effect than that of causing the animal to start to its feet, with a frightful yell of surprise, and scamper away. At the same instant Jack's bow twanged and the arrow pinned the little pig to the ground by the ear.

Well, they need a bit of practice, but they do get rather good at arranging pork for supper.

There follows a peaceful interval of a few months when Ralph Rover and the boys settle down to an idyllic life. They play and fish in the pools and explore thoroughly the whole of the island making various strange discoveries. They build a boat and sail to the island of penguins, and, one day, see the war canoes approach ...

I noticed that a shade of anxiety crossed Jack's countenance as he gazed long and intently at the two objects, which were now nearing us fast. At last he sprang to his feet. 'They are canoes, Ralph! Whether war-canoes or not I cannot tell, but this I know, that all the natives of the South Sea Islands are fierce cannibals, and they have little respect for strangers. We must hide if they land here, which I earnestly hope they will not do.'

You must see for yourself how the boys deal with mad cannibals, but I can tell you that no sooner have they done that than bloodthirsty pirates descend onto the island! These are not so easy to deal with though and Ralph is abducted and taken off on a terrifying ordeal of his own.

Obviously, the book is crammed full of adventures of all kinds. It is slightly older, even, than Treasure Island and although I don't think you are very likely to find the style difficult, you may find it distracting. Or you may find it part of the entertainment - R M Ballantyne is very keen to tell us his views on various important issues. So, for example, he interrupts his discourse on penguins to ask you if you take a bath in the morning:

The feelings of freshness, of cleanliness, of vigour, and extreme hilarity, that always followed my bathes in the sea, and even, when in England, my ablutions in the wash-tub, were so delightful, that I would sooner have gone without my breakfast than without my bathe in cold water. My readers will forgive me for asking whether they are in the habit of bathing thus every morning; and if they answer 'No,' they will pardon me for recommending them to begin at once.

Reminds me a little of C S Forrester's Captain Hornblower who takes a turn under the deck-washing hand pump every morning. Not so bad in the tropics, but he does it in the Baltic as well!

What you say

What do you think about ‘The Coral Island’?

[Anonymous], girl, age 20, from Ontario, Canada, on 24th October 2008. Rating: 8/10

I'm going to have to say that I am surprised that people found this book offensive...after all, it's a rather old text and an effective way to examine the ideas at the time. No matter how offensive it may be by today's standards we must take into account that back then, things were in fact very different. Of course we know all natives of the South Seas or anywhere else aren't cannibals! It would be ridiculous to suggest that they are. You cannot debase the author for writing concurrent with his time. This would be the same as debasing a contemporary author for writing a book about gay/lesbian people that would seem derogatory were it not written FOR gay or lesbian people. In the future when political correctness has enveloped the world today's texts will seem outrageous. You'd better not read anything by Hegel or Darwin in the 1800s in regards to race either, in this case, for you're going to have to take it up with them if you think they ought to be chastised for their outdated ideals. I do not by any means condone such ridiculous notions of race and such put forth by such thinkers of the time, though these texts make for interesting examinations of paradigm shifts. I found The Coral Island to be a delightful piece of fantasy fiction...after all we can't expect it to be wholly gruesome...it WAS written to endorse Christian ideals and notions of the family/camaraderie in young Victorian boys. How else would they be able to get boys to read such a thing if not in an adventure novel? I agree with a comment above, in that the refreshing, now outdated dialogue made for a very relaxing read.

Lit Girl, girl, age 28, from Glasgow, United Kingdom, on 16th July 2008. Rating: 8/10

Coral Island and Lord of the Flies shouldn't be compared in a simplistic "which is better?" way. Firstly, when deciding which is more realistic you have to think of the differnences - the boys in Coral Island are much older (mid-teens was old enough for them all to be in employment at that time, remember) and are friends. The boys in Lord of the Flies are numerous enough to form different tribes, and don't know each other. Many are very young indeed. Secondly, Ballantyne was expressing a particular view of human nature and Golding was replying with another view of it (much more negative). Whether human beings are basically bad or good is an argument that will go on to the end of time, and your view of which book is more realistic tells you more about yourself than the books. Thirdly, Coral Island is an adventure book! It's escapist. Just enjoy it and don't think it's a watered down version of Lord of the Flies. I think the main problem most of the reader who posted comments here have is that they read Lord of the Flies first and then Coral Island - it works much better if you do it the other way round.

vivien, girl, age 13, from Singapore, on 1st February 2007. Rating: 5/10

this book has too much fantasies in it.however simple it is,it should at least contain some realistic stuff.however,it is quite interesting to know that the people of the past actually view things from such a different view as us.although i do not think that teenagers of today will enjoy this book,it might actualy help if you are studying history.

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