Testament to Verbosity
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The tale of Rob Roy follows Francis Osbaldistone, who rejects the family money making business for poetry. He is effectively disowned in favour of Rashleigh, and sent to the family home in Northumberland. While there he gradually falls in love with Diana Vernon, and uncovers some of the subterfuge of young Rashleigh. Rashleigh sets out to ruin Francis, and his entire family, forcing him to jounrey to the 'Hielands' in order to recruit Robin Macgregor to foil his plot.
But, this story could have been condensed considerably, and not to its detriment. Painfully long descriptions, running onto multiple pages when a paragraph could as easily covered it. But this was not my primary gripe. The biggest problem is with people like Macgregor, and Nicol, who speak with such strong, and antiquated Scottish accents (rendered into text), that you struggle to make head or tail of the conversations.
That said, you always seem to derive something more from a classic, than the run of the mill novels, and this is no different. But in this instance it is merely a sense of achievement for having struggled through such a book.
If you have already seen the film, expect surprises, for Rob Roy, in this, is almost a background character. The plot follows Francis, and Rob does not even appear in his true guise until halfway through the novel, and as such the book could hardly differ more from the dramtisation.
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Scott - The Acquired Taste
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Don't get me wrong, I love Nineteenth century fiction, but this novel leaves me bewildered at Scott's reputation. It hasn't travellled well (Austen's vintage is still full-bodied), but accepting the anachronisms, very little works for me. The characters are more stereotyped than a cowboy movie where the bad guys wear black hats. The whole thing felt lumpen and lifeless. I've read Ivanhoe and felt the same. Maybe I like Dumas too much.......
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Superb!
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Few men can be credited with inventing an entire genre, but Sir Walter Scott is one of them. His ingenious intertwining of history and fiction created a type of novel that endures to this day. And in Rob Roy, it is easy to see why. Yet the mechanism of history occupies only a secondary position; it is the young Francis Osbaldistone who occupies centre stage. His colourful adventures unfold in a flurry of action, the narrative stiffened by Scott's wonderful fluency and sublime descriptive powers. Combine this with the suspense and uncertainty surrounding Diana Vernon and Rob Roy in particular, and it would be difficult to imagine a more pleasing novel. Certainly, Rob Roy is not as exuberant as Scott's other great work, Ivanhoe, but this is of little consequence. The book is an intricate tapestry of romance, adventure and mystery that simply oozes the irresistible charm of a masterpiece.
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break through the pain barrier
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Getting into this book means wading through an opening few scenes of London accountancy. It hurts, but it works Once you have gotten through the early sections you follow the hero northwards, until you find him racing through the highlands and striving for the right to marry the beautiful, enigmatic and sly Di Vernon. Not essentially a book about Rob Roy, although he does have a leading role. It is about the world of Rob Roy, which is full of brave, adventurous and unpredictable highlanders.
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