The Blue Lagoon

I have read many of the classic “ship wrecked on a desert isle” books including Swiss Family Robinson and The Coral Island but somehow I had missed The Blue Lagoon by Henry de Vere Stacpoole. I had the idea that this book was written more as a salacious look at two young people discovering sex, but in actuality, I found this to be a fascinating story of survival.

Two young cousins, Dick and Emmeline are stranded on a remote South Pacific Island. They are cared for by an elderly Irish sailor, Paddy Button, who teaches them the art of survival. Paddy dies after two years on the island when the children are about thirteen. Distraught and uncertain, they carry on without him, living well on fruits they gather and fish they catch. Another show more few years pass and during this time the children mature and, yes, do discover each other sexually. This is handled very discreetly and Emmeline goes on to have a baby. Meanwhile Dick’s father has never given up hope that the children are alive and continues his search for them.

Originally published in 1908, this is a short book with a lot of story packed into it. The author himself had spent time at sea in the South Pacific so his descriptions were accurate and his writing lyrical. Parts of the story were quite dated and parts required the reader the stretch his imagination (I am thinking of Emmeline giving birth), but I particularly loved the ambiguous ending. The Blue Lagoon was a very good read and deserves a place of honor on my Desert Island shelf. show less

This novel published in 1908 has been described as a coming of age romance novel, and so it is, though with a difference. Child cousins Dick and Emmeline are left stranded on a tropical paradise island after a shipwreck leaves them there with just the ship's cook. The latter looks after his charges for a couple of years as they start to grow up, but then is killed by a shark after getting drunk on a stash of rum he uncovers on the island. Dick and Emmeline grow up and the novel's pace slows down as they become more accustomed to and integrated into a rather implausibly idyllic lifestyle. There are some beautiful descriptions of the colours and light on their island. The young couple fall in love and go through a form of marriage show more ceremony (to accord with the mores of the time of writing) and surprise themselves by having a baby, or rather the baby appears from nowhere to Dick's astonishment. They survive a devastating cyclone, but their island idyll eventually comes to an end when, after an accident, they and the baby are blown out into the open ocean in their dinghy. The final section shows what happened to the few other survivors of the shipwreck, including Dick's father and Emmeline's uncle and guardian, Arthur Lestrange. Years later and rather implausibly Arthur finds a clue to his young relatives' fate and hires a ship and eventually finds the dinghy containing their seeming sleeping forms... but the story ends on a cliffhanger. I found out subsequently the author wrote two sequels later on in the 1920s, which I shall obtain as I rather enjoyed this rather different novel. show less

A beautifully written book, but the scene when the young woman gives birth and falls asleep calmly in the woods is positively ridiculous.

I watched the movie a long time ago, and though I don't say this often, I like the movie better than the book. I felt that the additional dialogue in the movie made the story better, and that parts of the book felt rushed. Still, I'm so glad I own the book and will be reading it again.

I loved this book.

by Edward A. Malone ,University of Missouri-Rolla