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A review by branomir
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
4.0
Well, this was certainly not what I was expecting. For a book called "Ivanhoe", we certainly don't spend a lot of time with him. Incidentally, I didn't realise that his name is Wilfred and Ivanhoe is actually his title. This book contains a multitude of interesting characters and Ivanhoe himself consequently doesn't get much pagetime and is certainly not the most interesting of all characters presented, so the title feels a bit strange.
There were a lot of things I liked about the novel. The prose is excellent if a bit lengthy at times. Scott seems to know he can write an able dialogue and consequently gets a little carried away with it. The characters were diverse, original for 1820 and interesting. His heroes were not faultless and his villains aren't without redeeming factors. There is very little black and white in this book and Scott works with very intruiging greys. He also doesn't fail to be critical of figures from legend and history that are held in high regard such a Richard the Lionhearted. It made for a very compelling and interesting read.
The only gripe I really had is that the plot, while suspenseful, is sort of all over the place. The book can be split into three events (plus an introductory prologue if you will) that are loosely tied together and has rather little in the form of a story arc. There is never really a point that we're working towards and it could easily be published as three separate adventures. It lacks a thread that runs through and ties it all together, made worse by, as I said, the lack of appearances of the titular character himself. Despite the fact that the feelings of Ivanhoe and Rowena play an important part in this tale, they are merely spoken of and never shown. My copy of the book has a depiction of Rebecca on its cover and rightly so because she plays a much bigger role in the story than Rowena does. She was also by and far my favourite character and worthy of having the tale actually carry her name. It wouldn't be very hard at all to rewrite this book from her point of view and I even suspect it would be better for it.
This book was written during the emancipation of Jews in Britain and Scott gives the topic a lot of attention, which is something I wasn't expecting. He demonstrates quite thoroughly the hard times Jews had in England in the Middle Ages and every singular character is anti-Semitic to a certain degree, which at times made it very hard to relate to the "heroes" of the tale, especially seeing as Rebecca, my favourite character is indeed Jewish. I commend Scott for his intentions, but once more, he might have gotten a bit too carried away with it.
A very interesting book but nothing at all like I was expecting it. I do believe I shall revisit this some day. Well worth a read if you like an adventurous, semi historical, classic novel.
There were a lot of things I liked about the novel. The prose is excellent if a bit lengthy at times. Scott seems to know he can write an able dialogue and consequently gets a little carried away with it. The characters were diverse, original for 1820 and interesting. His heroes were not faultless and his villains aren't without redeeming factors. There is very little black and white in this book and Scott works with very intruiging greys. He also doesn't fail to be critical of figures from legend and history that are held in high regard such a Richard the Lionhearted. It made for a very compelling and interesting read.
The only gripe I really had is that the plot, while suspenseful, is sort of all over the place. The book can be split into three events (plus an introductory prologue if you will) that are loosely tied together and has rather little in the form of a story arc. There is never really a point that we're working towards and it could easily be published as three separate adventures. It lacks a thread that runs through and ties it all together, made worse by, as I said, the lack of appearances of the titular character himself. Despite the fact that the feelings of Ivanhoe and Rowena play an important part in this tale, they are merely spoken of and never shown. My copy of the book has a depiction of Rebecca on its cover and rightly so because she plays a much bigger role in the story than Rowena does. She was also by and far my favourite character and worthy of having the tale actually carry her name. It wouldn't be very hard at all to rewrite this book from her point of view and I even suspect it would be better for it.
This book was written during the emancipation of Jews in Britain and Scott gives the topic a lot of attention, which is something I wasn't expecting. He demonstrates quite thoroughly the hard times Jews had in England in the Middle Ages and every singular character is anti-Semitic to a certain degree, which at times made it very hard to relate to the "heroes" of the tale, especially seeing as Rebecca, my favourite character is indeed Jewish. I commend Scott for his intentions, but once more, he might have gotten a bit too carried away with it.
Spoiler
I was more than a little sad to see Rebecca and Isaac fleeing the country at the end as well of the fate of her feelings for and from Ivanhoe. As a modern reader and an Atheist, I would have preferred a romance between these character that said "screw it" to their respective and quarrelling religions.A very interesting book but nothing at all like I was expecting it. I do believe I shall revisit this some day. Well worth a read if you like an adventurous, semi historical, classic novel.