Raging anti-Catholic rantings with adventure on the side
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I tried, I really did. I'm not in the habit of giving up on a book. But the anti-Catholic sentiment (! - sentiment! - more like fervour) that the first part of this book exhibited was too much for me. It went beyond 'historical accuracy', and bled over into what felt like the author's own private obsession. I gave up before I got to the 'good' bit - the adventure overseas which I assume would EVENTUALLY follow, once the wordy and at times turgid Kingsley had finally finished a) ranting about Catholics and b) glorifying the English in a way that I think Leni Riefenstahl might recognise. I hated this book so much I threw it in the bin after a few chapters, and I have no regrets on that score. Walter Scott's the man for me. Whatever his opinions, his generosity of vision didn't allow him to restrict his portraits to such primary and lurid colours. I recommend "Waverley" and "Ivanhoe".
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A hearty,rip-roaring,but very non PC adventure tale.
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As a child I lived in Westward Ho! near Bideford,in Devon -named in honour of this book.At the age of 54 I thought I'd better get round to reading it at last.A few decades ago it was rumoured that this story was to be filmed.It wasn't then, and it certainly would't be now.At least not without some very radical rescripting.The book reveals an anti-catholic bias,and is largely a pro-english eulogy which would soon fall foul of the current Hollywood bias of portraying the english as all fools or villains.Certainly history (in this case 16th century maritime history) has been amended slightly to fall in with the author's rather gung-ho approach.However it is still a "rattling good yarn" in which all those still alive at the end of the book are reconciled.
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A great 19th century adventure read
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An exciting tale of the "Spanish Main", South
America, "The Inquistion", and adventure,
Kingsley 's tale is onpar with Dumas, Dickens,
Haggard, and Doyle.
Though the prose may be dated for late 20th
(alomst 21th)century readers and the tale may
strike some as virulently anti-Catholic, the
action is epic and story detailed with all the
requisite twists and turns.
A "ripping" good yarn.
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