Where Quentin Makes the Most of His Opportunity

Quentin Durward by Walter Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm a huge Sir Walter Scott fan, and this one is right down the middle for me. Great book. All five stars.

Our main character is a Scot, but he's in France, finding a place (with the help of his uncle) in the Scottish Archers, a troop of Scots nobles who served Louis XI. In this period, the Duke of Burgundy was richer and more powerful than the king himself, and the story deals with their conflict.

Quentin is one of those somewhat naive but very earnest young gentlemen who make good impression on jaded old soldiers (or rulers). He's kidded a little by others, but he's well-liked and even respected, and even though he's brand new in his position, he's called in for doing the king a special service immediately. A pair of high-born women--a youth named Isabelle and her aunt--have run from Burgundy because Isabelle is being forced into a marriage she doesn't want, and take refuge with the king. This is embarrassing to him, because he knows he can't protect her. Louis choses to send Quentin with Isabelle and her aunt to Liege to take refuge with a bishop of that city, one of his relatives. But the king is planning to have them ambushed on the way so that she can be carried away by another nobleman who is helping Louis disrupt the city of Liege, trying to weaken his enemy, Burgundy. Louis gets his help with an uprising; De la Marck gets a pretty young wife.

On the way, Quentin falls in love with Isabelle, of course. He also uses his wits to discover the plan, letting him avoid the ambush. The king is frustrated that the young man he chose performed too well; Quentin is angry that the king he vowed to serve would set him up. There's tons of action and intrigue here, history and politics, and lots of great characters. The villains--a couple of Bohemians who work secretly for the king--are some of the most interesting. Scott always has a soft spot for dangerous people on the edge of society.

Near the end, there is a showdown between Burgundy and France, and then an awkward joint attack on Liege, where Quentin has a chance to win Isabelle's hand.

This is the quintessential medieval romance (or 19th century romance if you prefer, set in medieval times). Knights and castles, ladies and fools, battles and debates. It's all written in an elevated, kinda wordy style, but if you've read Scott before, you already know. I love it.

Recommended. :)

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Where Julian Fights for Alice

Peveril of the Peak by Walter Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved it. Easy 5 stars. This is one of my favorite Scott novels, so it is strange to see that the most common score from other readers was a 3. Huh. But that's alright.

[Summary--skip ahead without worry:]

Julian Peveril, the heir of a minor title and his father's diminishing wealth, is in love with Alice Bridgenorth, a beautiful and kind young woman from a family his hasty father cannot approve. She is from a rich Puritan family, folk who just lost the upper hand when Cromwell's reign was ended; he is from a proper Protestant family that has ties to old Catholics. They were born as neighbors, and for awhile they were friendly. Bridgenorth saved the old Peveril during the time of the Puritans, and later, when politics changed and when Bridgenorth's wife and other children died, the Peverils returned the kindness by raising the baby Alice in their household. But the families were separated by events. Over on the Isle of Man, when the Puritans were cast down, Alice's uncle was killed by Julian's relative, Lady Derby, and when Bridgenorth tried to bring that woman to justice for the killing, the Peverils interfered. They were enemies from that point on. Bridgenorth took his child back and disappeared.

Fate is tricky, and those children became acquainted anyway. And then, through the course of a pretty long novel, they fight to either get their parents' permission to marry or (last resort) honor their parents' wishes by forever parting. Most of the middle concerns the so-called Popish Plot (a real event of history, though the plot itself, at the time, probably was invented just to harm certain people). This brought many very cool characters together, all with intrigues and plots, getting Julian and his family thrown in prison, exposing Alice to men who would use her beauty to their advantage with Lord Buckingham or the king himself.

Fenella, the deaf-mute servant of the Countess of Derby over on the Isle of Man, is probably the best character in the novel. Scott often creates amazing, brilliant, resourceful female characters, giving them so many memorable scenes, and this young woman numbers among the greatest of his creations. Her participation in intrigues, and her manipulation of events, all while being sympathetic and likable, even lovable, makes her one of my all-time favorite characters. Her co-conspirator, Christian, who goes by several names in the novel, is also very interesting, very compelling, though definitely not sympathetic. Well, maybe a little, at the end. But pretty evil. Lord Buckingham is rather in the same vein. Also, Julian is a good MC--an honorable young man, deeply in love, and though he is more naive at times than his opponents, raised on an island as he was, he is active and capable. He can't overcome everything thrown at him by his own power, but he keeps fighting through, gathering help where he can. I liked him.

Sir Walter Scott, as always, does a great job at differentiating his characters, giving them their own voice and their own motivations, and as a master of historical settings--especially this one, apparently, set during the Popish Plot--he creates a believable and highly affecting world for their actions.

It isn't for everyone, though. Most readers wouldn't even open this novel. I get that. And among that smallish number who did trouble themselves to read it, most of them liked it less than me. I'm surprised by that, but I might account for it a little. Obviously, it's an old novel, and his language is a bit difficult, even semi-archaic at times. At the best of times, it is quite ornate, written in a high style. That's cool, but not every modern reader will make a seamless entry into his prose. I know I didn't, originally. However, the more familiar I am with his style, the less impenetrable I find it, so I have no doubt I enjoyed this more for having read other novels by him previously. And his pacing may not be to everyone's taste. This is a pretty long book, with lots of intrigues, and though that leads to some exciting action, most of them are planned and then aborted for various reasons. But I found it entertaining throughout. Plenty of fun. IMO, anyone who can read a Dickens novel (for example) with any pleasure at all will find this a fast-paced adventure that reads like an action movie.

You know, by comparison.

And I liked the ending. So--thumbs up.

Recommended for those who enjoy and have patience for older historical novels. This is one of my new favorites.

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Where Scott Meets Dickens and Austen

St. Ronan's Well: The Works of Sir Walter Scott by Walter Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a deep cut.

Nobody reads this as their first Sir Walter Scott novel. But if you like his books, as I do, I expect you'll like this one. It stands out, though. It's odd in a way.

The most curious thing about St. Ronan's Well is that Scott set out to write a "watering hole" novel. Think Bath, as it appears in other authors' novels of manners. Or think Sanditon: a little resort, frequented by an odd assortment of well-off (fairly well-off, most of them) idlers enjoying the spa while it is still rather new. It feels like it's going to become popular, but right now it's still mostly the early adopters hanging out, annoying each other.

He mentions in his introduction the authors Burney, Austen (misspelled, though!), Edgeworth, and Charlotte Smith, who have had success in this area, and refers to his own temerity at attempting to enter their field. I think he's done something interesting here, but it isn't quite the same thing as those authors. He still writes something closer to a romance than a novel of manners. The characters have Dickensian names like Bingo Banks, Lady Penelope, Dr. Quackleben, Captain MacTurk, Mr. Winterblossom, and the like, and their personalities are exaggerated in a typical 19th Century novel way. The plot through the middle of the novel feels like it's going to be mostly about the clash of personalities and small grievances, maybe even played for laughs, but it gets more serious.

In fact, it gets a little gothic, kinda, with the FMC being a bit off, maybe crazy, but super sweet, trying to quietly survive in a world that did her wrong, hiding away in a crumbling old house. Over time, we learn her secrets, along with those of her brother, her one-time lover, his rival, an eccentric clergyman, and a world-traveling visitor who gets in everyone's business. There are lies and tricks and wills with strange stipulations and fake marriages and every kind of intrigue you could imagine.

Forgive the spoiler--or skip ahead--but it doesn't end happily, and I was disappointed in that. I would have called this a 5-star read that I'd want to come back to if all the secrets had emerged one day sooner, and all the good guys ended up with HEA's. Okay, yeah, I still enjoyed it, but I didn't like the sour note at the end, and I doubt I'll ever read it again. Life's too short to get bummed out by a sad story.

(In fact, I *literally* don't understand why so many people sign up to read things they know are devastatingly sad. Share them with friends. Read them in groups. Read them twice. I don't get that. To me, it's like enjoying a meal--maybe it's pretty good, maybe it's up and down, but you're still enjoying it--and you're especially looking forward to the desert, but when you get to it, it's sawdust and broken glass. Sadness. Disappointed hopes. Lives ended too soon. Ack!)

(I might be overstating it some, but do you get me?)

Anyway.

That all said, I still enjoyed reading the book. It got heavier and darker toward the end, diverging from its novel of manners beginning, but it was still entertaining and weird and pretty fun.

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Where Mordaunt Faces the Pirate

The Works Of Sir Walter Scott, Bart: The Pirate by Walter Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't really give half-stars, but this was right between a 4 and a 5 for me. I'd rather give it 4.5.

I liked it quite a bit, and found it hugely informative. I expected it to be more tropical, with a lot more time on ship, and was disappointed at first that almost the whole novel takes place on the main island in Shetland, but that ended up being a really cool setting for the novel. (I think it's meant to be set in the 1700s, probably 1720s, but it could be later.) I've never read anything set there, or in the neighboring islands of the Orkneys, and it was an education. Now I can picture them as they were--their stark beauty, the independent inhabitants, their way of life, the history of the people (both Norse and Scots), and more of that sort. I liked how the setting was a kind of character in the novel.

It's also an interesting and entertaining story. Scott often tells excellent adventure stories, and this is partly in that mold, but it's also about half "novel of manners," taking place largely in a few upper-class homes. Much of it takes place during a long celebration at the home of the wealthiest landowner, the father of the two most sought-after young women, and it has the feel of something you might find in Austen or Eliot.

As you often see in a Scott work, the most striking feature of the novel is its characters: the blunt but generous nobleman, Magnus Troil; the witch-like Norna; the reclusive stranger, Mr. Mertoun; his athletic and well-liked son, Mordaunt; the shipwrecked stranger Mordaunt saved from drowning, Cleveland, who is the eponymous pirate; the beautiful and romantic Minna and her practical sister Brenda; the tiresome poet, Claud Halcro; the Scottish reformer, Triptolemus; and many more memorable characters. Though the style is ornate and the tone is romantic and adventurous, I found these characters surprisingly round and dynamic, especially for the time. Even when the mood turns Gothic, there was plenty of realism shining through, and the characters continued to seem largely plausible and real.

We do, by the end, find real pirates on a real ship, with actual cannons getting run out, and townsmen gathering their weapons to defend themselves, and there's some excellent pirate action. But despite this, and despite the name, it's more about eerie Norna's machinations and the strange way fate works itself out. And I was actually surprised at the ending, though it was very satisfying.

There is a plot, btw. Mordaunt loves one of the young women, and he was well received in her father's home, but Cleveland spreads lies that Magnus Troil is too ready to believe, putting him on the outs. Mordaunt and Cleveland become rivals and then enemies, even though they each saved the other from drowning at different times. Romantic Minna dreams of Viking times and loves Cleveland despite (and partly because of) his violent past, though many around her want to save her from a rogue like him. And Mordaunt actually loves the younger sister, though Norna insists it's his fate to marry the elder.

It's good.

Recommended for readers of 19th century adventure novels. This is one of Scott's better books, too, IMO.

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Where Old Jacobites Take One More Shot

Redgauntlet by Walter Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is mostly a kidnapping story, but it is also the story (forgive the spoilers in a 200-year-old novel) of Jacobites hoping for one final chance at restoring the Stuart monarchy, a generation after the failure of 1745. Most of it is told from the perspective of two friends: Darsie Lattimer, a young man ignorant of his family background, and Alan Fairford, a lawyer just embarking on his career. Neither is a Jacobite, but they become caught up in affairs that they can't get out of.

It is an epistolary novel in the beginning, and I felt pretty successfully so. But later the narrator breaks in to catch us up to things not available in a letter, and that works fine in an old novel like this. Darsie is visiting the south of Scotland, meeting odd people, wasting time, though he's warned he should head back home and should under no circumstances travel across the border into England. No one will tell him why, and by the time he has a clue he has been taken into custody. He's not harmed, but he has no way to free himself, and doesn't understand why he's being held. (His captor is from the family Redgauntlet, accounting for the title.)

Much of the novel follows the pattern of such romances, though there is a big digression when Alan has to take on his first case and we get stuck on old Peter Peebles and his interminable lawsuit. This section has its charms, but we really want to get back to Darsie and the woman in green and the secrets at the border. When Alan at last realizes he has to go in search of his friend, we meet my favorite character in the story, the captain of a smuggling ship, Nanty Ewart. A dangerous man of some learning and a bitter past, he has a deeply philosophic conversations with Alan, and I found him entertaining and interesting. A few bad decisions led him down a disappointing road, and he regrets the harm left in his wake. It turns him into a drunk; his drink, he says, is his best friend.

"Here is no lack of my best friend,"--touching his case-bottle;--"but to tell you a secret, he and I have got so used to each other, I begin to think he is like a professed joker, that makes your sides sore with laughing, if you see him but now and then; but if you take up house with him, he can only make your head stupid. But I warrant the old fellow is doing the best he can for me, after all."

"And what may that be?" said Fairford.

"He is KILLING me," replied Nanty Ewart; "and I am only sorry he is so long about it."

Nanty is present at the conclusion, and has a nice arc; I could have used him in more of the novel.

There is an unexpected but satisfying conclusion, and the story is tied up with a sort of afterword where we learn what happens to a few of the characters later, which is likewise satisfying. The only thing really lacking, though, is any great action on the part of the main characters. They attempt things but don't accomplish very much. (A little; it's not nothing.) I suppose that's why it's called Redgauntlet; that character is much more central to the action, even if he's not the hero.

This relative lack of impact from the main characters is, to me, a flaw, one I've complained about in other novels, and it should probably impel me to a 3 or a 2 even out of 5. But the truth is I always enjoy Scott's novels--his prose, his characters, his history--and I enjoyed this quite a bit. Nevertheless, if I were writing the treatment for a movie, I'd give the main characters a lot more agency.

Oh, and the blind fiddler who communicates with Darsie via ballads and song titles played outside the place he was being held could have had a bigger role later in the novel. That bit was awesome. I wanted more.

Scott fans and people interested in Jacobite history should enjoy this novel the way I did. Others might not care as much.

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Where Constantinople Almost Gets Sacked

Count Robert of Paris: The Works of Sir Walter Scott by Walter Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I see others are more likely to give this a 3 or lower, but I almost gave it a 5. My most honest ranking, though, has to be 4. I'm a fan, so I like almost everything Sir Walter Scott writes; that's a given. And I liked this quite a lot. But it just misses for me, and it misses by more for a lot of readers.

[I am putting aside the intrusive racism of the time. Others may not be able to do that. The author makes it clear when it shows up in the story that the people of the time were prejudiced--using that very word--so he seems aware of the issues with racism, but it wasn't clear to me this time, as compared to his other books, that he didn't mostly agree with their sentiments. I hope not.]

It's a good setting--Constantinople at the time that Western European crusaders are on their way to Jerusalem. The Franks and their allies don't much understand the Greeks and their whole vibe, and vice versa. I found that very interesting. The empire is coming under attack on all sides, and they have to buy people off, like these crusaders, so that they don't get sacked. It's okay, though, because they've got the money. What they don't have is fighters.

But here's the other cool part--they do have Varangians. I had thought they were mostly Vikings out of Scandinavia and their relatives, the people of Kievan Rus. But here it's clear that many were Angl0-Saxons or Anglo-Danes fleeing from England after the Norman invasion. One of the main characters, named Hereward, is one of those men, a soldier serving in the emperor's Varangian guard, and he hates the Franks and the Normans who are coming through. Like the Franks, the Varangians (as they are portrayed here) are warlike in a way that is useful to a rich empire without a strong warrior class.

The novel has some great intrigue, with an ongoing conspiracy to take down the emperor that Hereward learns about. It becomes entangled with a separate intrigue between one of the conspirators and one of the leaders of the crusaders--Robert of Paris, who the novel is named for--when he kidnaps the man's wife. (She's awesome--I would have liked more of her. She's a strong warrior in her own right.) All of the intrigues are coming together in a joust between those two men at huge event that will be the beginning (and ending, theoretically) of the uprising.

Unfortunately, it gets tied up in bits and pieces after that, and we see less of the noble Hereward and more of the emperor gathering up the conspirators and deciding what to do with them. There's an old rival brought out of the dungeons who looks like he's gonna play a really cool part, but then he gets sorta written out. The joust goes forward, in a different form, but the uprising is pre-empted. Hereward ends up going with the crusaders for a very important reason (the only spoiler I'm not revealing). And that's cool. But we stop seeing any of the events from the eyes of the best characters, and I was disappointed.

It's still good. It just had too much of the drama siphoned off at the end. It's mostly a true story, so there are constraints, but I feel like Scott stumbled at the conclusion and made an amazing novel just good.

Well, that's good enough. I still enjoyed it. As is so often the case, it's only really recommended for those who already like Sir Walter Scott, or maybe those interested in the setting.

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Short But Still Good

The Surgeon's Daughter by Walter Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is another one of Sir Walter Scott's in-between books that I ended up liking quite a bit. (The Black Dwarf was another.) I'm not sure if he meant to write a novel or a short story, but he ended up with a novella of about 52,000 words, and it has flaws, IMO, but like Stitch, it's still good.

The scope of the story--starting at the birth of a sort-of abandoned child, Richard Middlemas, and going through his life and career--screams novel, but it ends up being far too short. I would have liked to see so much more of his adulthood, especially when he became influential in a king's court on the edge of British East India-controlled territory. Most of the really important events in his life after he becomes a doctor are summarized and told secondhand, as if Scott had outlined all of it but got tired and cut it short. On the other hand, if he wanted a short story, he could have jumped straight to Middlemas and his old acquaintance Hartley meeting up in India, nuking the first 2/3rds of the story and getting to the point. Picturing this story being filmed, I imagine they'll either flesh out the skipped over bits or jump straight to India and making that part more detailed.

However, having said all that, I still liked it. It wasn't the pacing I'd prefer, but I like Hartley being the hero; I like Menie, the heroine, well enough; I find the setting very exciting; and the adventure--where a solid, hardworking, ethical hero has to save the love of his life from the clutches of a bad man who is delivering her to a despot in 18th century India--is pretty awesome. The last couple chapters are really good, and even though the very end is wound up really quick, I found it satisfying. Again, as a movie, I can picture an elderly Menie doing good works back in her native Scotland, handling relics from her terrifying adventure in India, remembering the men in her life who went two different ways. Good stuff.

Also, there's a bit where good Dr. Hartley cares for a very sick man, an old fakir, showing every respect while accepting no fees, and then the fakir is in a position to do him a good turn later in the story. I love that. (Hmmm. When people ask what tropes do you love, I can never think of any. I guess that's one. Wonder what it's called.)

So structurally, I think the work is flawed, but emotionally and dramatically I think it works well. And I have a soft spot in my brain for Sir Walter Scott, so I still found this to be a success overall. Though it's not one I'd recommend to casual readers, since there are several that are better choices (Waverley, Guy Mannering, The Antiquary, Ivanhoe, Heart of Midlothian, Rob Roy, Kenilworth) I'd still slot it in ahead of a couple of his books that didn't work so well.

Plus, it's lots shorter.

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Where Nothing Good Happens. At All.

Chronicles of the Canongate: The Highland Widow; The Two Drovers by Walter Scott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There's always something to enjoy in Sir Walter Scott's stories, so I enjoyed these somewhat, but they're the least interesting of any of his writing so far that I have read.

He does well describing a place and time, making you see a world different than they one you're living in. That always has value. The hovel in the wilderness where the highland widow, the long-bereaved wife of a feared marauder, lives out her lonely years makes a deep impression. It's a sad view, but well drawn. And the description of cattle drovers, how they lived and how they performed their duties, is the answer to some questions I never posed but was glad to learn about nonetheless.

However, neither story is a real pleasure to read. Sorry (not sorry) for the spoilers, but they're sad, discouraging stories that only serve to make me appreciate so much more those stories with happy endings. I seldom start and less frequently finish books or movies that end in sadness. (I took a date to see Tess of the D'urbervilles once. That was horrible. Long and horrible.) Good people do stupid, bad things that ruin several lives at once. Ack. No, I am no fan of tragedies.

These two stories would have been a little more palatable if they hadn't been embedded in a tedious framing device, where the narrator, a man called Chrystal Croftangry, describes the manner in which he acquired the tales he was about to tell us. He does this only after relating much of his biography, none of which is to the point at all. (This is not the same narrator found in the Waverley novels. These Canongate stories came out after Sir Walter Scott stopped calling his books "By the author of Waverley" and everyone knew who was actually writing them.) The long introduction by the narrator is over 80 pages, almost half of the whole, and I don't recommend it to anyone.

Anyway, though I always enjoy reading Scott, this was the least pleasurable to date, and I hope the short novel included in the same volume is more like his other writing.

Recommended only for true Scott fans, and even then I dunno....

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Where It Ain't Great But I Still Like It

Castle Dangerous by Walter Scott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This isn't as good a book as most of Scott's novels, but it's still fun to read.

This was his last novel, written when he wasn't in good health and had trouble doing as much research as he usually liked to do. As a result, it's shorter and less complete, with an ending that could have been elaborated on to make it more satisfying. (I so often lament wordiness by 19th Century writers, but the ending of this was abrupt.) I'm sure, if he had had more energy, Scott would have given the ending of the novel much more attention, tying up more loose ends and giving us more time to savor the good parts.

Still, it's pretty fun. Intrigue in a Scottish castle under English occupation... patriots preparing for an attack... a beautiful young woman, an heiress, traveling in disguise... Lots to like. But it hurt the story, IMO, that the author couldn't account better for the main character putting herself into such danger, disguising her identity long after any good reason for it, running away from actual rescuers, when she could have at any time announced to her lover or his officers just who she was without any harm. The reason given was far too slight to account for it, making the plot unusually shaky.

If you enjoy the cadences of Sir Walter Scott's language or are a completist when it comes to this author (me... me, also...), you should go ahead and add this to your TBR pile bookcase library. Otherwise, make sure you've first looked into his more fully realized novels, because he's got plenty of 5-star books.

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Where Sir Kenneth Screws Up

The talisman./ Sir Walter Scott; by Walter Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sir Walter Scott most often sets his historical novels (or romances in the action-adventure sense) in England or Scotland. Here, though he still has English and Scottish characters, he has set the novel in Palestine during the Crusades. It seems a perfect fit for him. Lots of room for lots of action. I was looking forward to it.

However, to my disappointment, it's not that kind of novel. It's more a novel of courtly manners (including bad manners) and intrigue. The main conflict revolves around the bickering between the King of England and other royals from France, Austria, and elsewhere, especially when they disrespect his banner. The larger conflict of the crusade to retake Jerusalem comes into play, along with a couple subplots, but it was primarily about a single incident when Sir Kenneth was lured away from his post watching the banner and someone steals it. I kept thinking, with its narrow focus and slight action, that it could have been a play. There's movement, but the great majority of action and dialogue takes place in tents and pavilions and caves, all of which could be done on a stage. Additionally, there's a lot of Shakespearean touches, like characters in disguise, prophecies from a holy man, and star-crossed lovers.

There are a few action scenes, though, and they are important, especially the trial by combat in the last few pages. (The first encounter between Sir Kenneth and a Muslim soldier, both alone in the desert, was very similar to the scene in The Kingdom of Heaven, when Balian faces Imad in single combat near a lonely oasis. As in that scene, it mostly establishes character, showing that both men are honorable despite being mortal enemies.) I'm not sure how one could stage either battle, but there are tricks to get around such difficulties.

Sir Kenneth is a typical hero--good guy, full of pride, slightly flawed--and he's easy to like. His love interest is a relative of the king, and she's alright, but doesn't appear too much. Saladin features in the novel, and he is a very cool character (portrayed much like he is in The Kingdom of Heaven--I'd like to ask Ridley Scott and the writer if they read this novel). King Richard the Lionheart is interesting--capable, proud, and courageous, but too rash and too hot-tempered for his own good--and I found him much less likable and sympathetic. That's fine--I think that's probably historically accurate. :)

A few lines are regrettable. The author usually does a good job of limiting expressions of the kind of religious intolerance and racism that was common in the 1800s when he wrote his novels, but he doesn't do so well here. When the knights are super intolerant of Islam and Muslim customs, the reader has to allow for it, and when they say racist things about the African characters (and ugly things about the little people found in the novel), we kinda understand, as that was the unfortunate way people saw the world 800 years ago. But when the narrator joins in, I'm put off and disappointed. He wrote 200 years ago, sure... but he usually seemed to rise above it more than here.

:(

Putting that aside, or at least in context, it's otherwise an entertaining, well written novel, and as it's not quite as long as some of his books it's a quick read. I also liked the ending, which helps.

This is more for readers of Sir Walter Scott than for general readers, though who knows--others might find something here that interests them. So--a qualified recommendation.

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Where It's Good, But I Probably Liked it More Than Most People

The Works of Sir Walter Scott: The Monastery by Walter Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Sir Walter Scott, and I *liked* this book. Still fun; still some cool stuff; not quite as awesome as other novels (IMO). But I enjoyed reading it. Casual readers might find less to enjoy.

This is set on the Scottish side of the border with England, in a rough, hilly region where the local monastery is the landlord, late in the 16th century. Elizabeth is queen in of England--and a protestant--while Protestantism is also on the rise in Scotland, edging out Catholicism for the first time. That makes for odd allies among different factions on each side of the border, which is what the novel is mostly about.

The main characters are a pair of brothers, one thin and studious and the other athletic and outdoorsy, from a family a little above common (but not noble) and a young noblewoman in their household whose inheritance has been taken by a robber-baron relative. The brothers are both in love with her even though she is above their station. The action in the story takes off when a Catholic rebel from England, a well known knight, is sent to live in hiding with them and (1) he takes notice of the young woman in a way the brothers don't like, and (2) important people are close to finding him every moment.

Unusually for Scott, this novel has supernatural elements, specifically a female spirit that shows herself to some of the characters, and she has a direct impact on events. At times, this gives the story a feel rather like modern fantasy, or perhaps gothic, and I liked how that worked. Sorta spooky and sorta old-fashioned.

The prose, as always, is amazing. Perhaps most impressive is the speech of the English knight throughout. He is a Euphuist, which means he speaks constantly with elevated diction, employing excessive metaphors and similes and generally grandiose language. Whenever he's asked a question by the abbot or anyone else, he takes forever to get to the point, which is comedic and fun, but the pages and pages of incredibly dense, poetic dialogue is astonishing. The incredible hyperbole, the obscure allusions, the lengthy similes... it's all very impressive.

A taste:

“You, reverend sir,” said the knight, “have, in the encounter of our wits, made a fair attaint; whereas I may be in some sort said to have broken my staff across. Pardon me, grave sir, that I speak in the language of the tilt-yard, which is doubtless strange to your reverend years.—Ah! brave resort of the noble, the fair and the gay!—Ah! throne of love, and citadel of honour!—Ah! celestial beauties, by whose bright eyes it is graced! Never more shall Piercie Shafton advance, as the centre of your radiant glances, couch his lance, and spur his horse at the sound of the spirit-stirring trumpets, nobly called the voice of war—never more shall he baffle his adversary's encounter boldly, break his spear dexterously, and ambling around the lovely circle, receive the rewards with which beauty honours chivalry!”

The novel also has its share of action, and I enjoyed it, though there is somewhat less of it than in Scott's other books, and perhaps a bit less tidying up at the end than is usual. I think readers interested in this exact period, when the fortunes of Catholicism and Protestantism were changing quickly, would enjoy reading this novel, but I think most readers would get more pleasure out of others.

Lovers of Scott don't need my recommendation.

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Where I Finish My Homework 36 Years Late

The Works of Sir Walter Scott: The Heart of Midlothian by Walter Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was supposed to read this for Professor Finlayson's class at Queen's University (the one in Kingston, Ontario, not the one in Ireland) 36 years ago. I found it too hard to get through back then; I didn't this time. I hoped to find an email or something for the professor to tell him about it, see how he was doing. I hadn't remembered his name in the years between but it came back to me just now--and looking him up, I see he passed away about seven years ago.

A shame. He was something of a wit, described in the university notice of his passing as "charmingly cantankerous, with a wicked, dry sense of humor..." That's how I recall him, in the silent lecture hall full of nerds seated in ranks, and he'd make off-topic comments that went almost unnoticed but amused him. He'd half suppress a smile and go on.

I'm sorry I can't tell him I finished my reading, finally, and I liked it. (As a good Scot himself, he was an admirer of the author.)

It isn't my favorite of Sir Walter Scott's novels, however. The story spans decades, and the pacing is less even than is usual in his novels. (The fictitious landlord who narrates this novel and many others even admits that he "filled more pages than I opined.") Yes, it's a 19th Century novel, and you have to make allowances for style, but even doing so, he goes on here in a very Victor Hugo kind of way. It really seems to me that the first hundred pages or so and about 50 near the end could have been left out without doing the story harm--probably several other chapters in the middle--while making the overall reading experience much more accessible and entertaining. However, having said all that, it's still pretty great. For reals.

The main character is a young woman who is not terribly pretty or well educated or outgoing, but she is quietly impressive and becomes quite a hero. When her sister conceals a pregnancy and the newborn child, delivered in secret, goes missing, she is tried under a law that makes it an assumption that the baby was murdered. Jeanie could save her poor sister from hanging if she tells a lie--that her sister confided in her about the pregnancy. But raised in a severe Christian home, taught to be scrupulously honest, she refuses to lie and her sister is condemned to hang.

Jeanie Dean's heroism is manifested instead in the way she resolves to find a way to get her a pardon, walking from Edinburgh to London barefoot most of the way even though she'd never gone anywhere alone. Assuming she can cover the distance without being robbed and beaten on the road, she still has to find a way to get an interview with the Duke of Argyll and somehow convince him to intercede with the queen--who will then, hopefully, intercede with the king. It's a longshot, and succeeds at every step on the strength of her honesty, humility, courage, and quiet patience. She's no superhero; she has no great skills (except making cheese, apparently); but she is a fantastic protagonist, a great example of a strong female MC who uses what agency she has to take on a giant task, and she succeeds because of who she is. No one else could have done it. Her humble character opens doors to her, and when she speaks the truth, people believe her.

The novel says a lot about what justice is available to different people--who has easy access to mercy who doesn't, who receives due process who doesn't, who is believed and who isn't. There's probably a great deal to be said on the topic (and many other topics) and I find myself wishing for a few more meetings in that half-remembered lecture hall to address all of them...

Alas.

Recommended, as always, for lovers of Sir Walter Scott, but not really for casual readers. Would make a great Netflix show.

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The Principled Hero in the Middle of Extremists

Old Mortality by Walter Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is an education. I don't get it all--war between presbyterians and episcopalians? I had no idea--but I understand so much Scottish history so much more now.

And it works as a romance with a principled hero trying to win the sweet heroine who everyone wants to marry off to someone else.

Young Morton is a man of ability though he is untried and doesn't really know what he believes or what's worth fighting for. However, he is a man of strong principles, which lead him into a revolution that no one would have expected him to take part in. Partly, he's carried along by events he can't control, and partly he acts out of a sense of conscience. It's a fine line, but the author makes it work.

The presbyterian rebels--rather uncompromising, puritan folk who believe the whole country should be run according to their idea of Biblical principles--are shown to be frequently extreme, but perhaps more in the right than the government which does not allow them to practice their religion. Morton fights against the government tyranny, but would be satisfied with a compromise--let people worship as they will. That compromising spirit puts him in a bad spot with the other rebels, who want a complete win, complete capitulation from the king (which they cannot get), and he becomes everybody's enemy.

Which makes sense--he's trying to get two extremes to be moderate, and they don't wanna, either one.

The author is a master of language in general, but I was a amazed at the way he captured the speech patterns of the radical preachers and their followers. He was mocking them (sort of), but the way he gives us long speeches with unrelated scriptural references stitched together in a jumble without any regard for the context they come from is brilliant and disturbing and really rings true, and he has pages and pages of it throughout the book. Just that aspect of the novel was tour de force stuff; Sir Walter Scott puts those of us with average or (as one hopes) somewhat better than average knowledge of such things to absolute shame.

As always, the novel is filled with memorable characters. Burley, Morton's friend and eventual enemy, is impressive and crazy and unrelenting; Cuddie, a servant, is one of those characters who everyone thinks is dumb but shows the most sense; Major Bellenden is cool, one of those old soldiers who may no longer be able to fight but still knows more than everybody around him and shows them the ropes; Jenny, another servant, knows how to get stuff done without anyone finding out; and there are so many more. One character, old Lady Margaret, is a bit foolish and a little honorable, and she presents like a Dickens character--every time she gets a chance, she works into the conversation the time the king had breakfast at her home, and everybody tries to cut her off. It's a good bit.

The pacing is a little slow compared to some other Scott novels, which is why I didn't give it all the stars, but it's still a good adventure and an excellent history and a pleasure to read. And, as always, it should be read from an old hardcover; Project Gutenberg is good and all, but no way should this be read on an iPad.

You know, unless you wanna, of course. I'm just giving ideas. :)

Recommended for Scott fans.

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Sir Walter Scott's First Album

Waverley by Walter Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Figure 8 was the first Elliott Smith album I bought, the first I was aware of, and I loved it. When I got a chance, I bought the one he made a couple years before that, XO, and it didn't strike me *quite* the same, but I liked it, and came around on it. I worked my way back, over time, to his self-titled album, which was the least like the first one of his I bought. It was a very different sound and I didn't take to it at first. It was like meeting him at his most mature, most creative, most capable, and walking back in time to his most raw. But I recognized in it a lot of the same things I loved about Figure 8 and the other albums and learned to hear it a different way.

That's how I feel about this novel.

Having read a number of his later novels, I found some of this less polished, more awkward, and I was put off a bit by it. But you can trace elements of the later novels back to this one, his first, and see how he evolved, how he was feeling his way forward, toward the author that he would be. Framed this way, a story I might not have cared (if it had been the first of his I opened) still works, still makes sense, and is entertaining.

It contains many of the same themes and motifs--the history of Scotland, the fortunes of great families, the contrast between highlanders and lowland Scots, acts of bravery, lives devoted to honor, the use of realistic dialect, and my favorite, the humanizing and ennobling of marginalized and handicapped individuals. (Davie Gellatley, the mentally handicapped servant boy, is one of several examples in the novel. Though unsuitable for some work, he's shrewd enough, in an amusing way, to fail at anything other than the work he enjoys, so that he's not pressed into jobs he doesn't like, but is good at the ones he does like. And he shows characteristics of a savant, recalling and being able to sing every verse of every song his older brother taught him, in a number of languages, which I found interesting in a 200-year-old novel. Because he likes delivering messages, he's entirely reliable when given that sort of errand, and carries some important messages. Not a big part, but memorable.) Set during the Jacobite Rebellion, the novel is a romantic action story for the most part, and pretty fun to read just on that level.

It's a bit weird, though. Scott usually has an intrusive (I mean that in a neutral way) narrator, the "Let me tell you, dear reader..." type of narrator. Here, though, it seems we get Scott himself as the narrator, and he tells us way too much. He basically walks us through the thinking he did when constructing the plot and devising the characters. It's almost like watching a movie that pauses the action and turns to the director who tells us how he framed the shot or explains why the character is doing what he's doing. That does something to the suspension of disbelief; I won't say it destroys it, but it does wash it out quite a bit. (Actually, it makes me think of Peter Falk in Princess Bride. But that worked in a different way.)

Despite the odd narrator, this first effort still impresses with its round characters. In Edward Waverley, we get a hero not unlike many of Scott's later heroes. In Baron Bradwardine, a family friend, who is both noble and ridiculous, always quoting Latin passages and bits of Scottish law, we get a preview of Lord Oldbuck in his 3rd novel, The Antiquary. And with Fergus Mac-Ivor and a few others, we see the noble character living outside the law. They're not just types, though; they're all original creations with their own style. Even in his first novel, he's already capable of that.

So it's rough, in a way, but it has its charm, and I'm grateful to the novel. Without it, we wouldn't have all the other novels. He almost didn't finish it, and when he did he published it anonymously, not wanting to diminish his career as a poet. But it sold very well and he went on to Rob Roy and Ivanhoe and the rest, so yay for Waverley.

In 2021, this is an enthusiast's book. Others should start with one of his later novels. But I recommend finding a lovely old hardcover somewhere and reading at least one of them!

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Another Amazing Character

The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have become a Sir Walter Scott superfan. Wasn't expecting to.

I can stipulate that the novels of Sir Walter Scott contain problematic language and attitudes. The intolerance we see toward Roma folk, autistic people, and Jews (the first two in Guy Mannering, the last in Ivanhoe) and the insensitive language used to describe many types of people is jarring to modern sensibilities. In this novel, which even has a coarse title, Elshie, the titular character, is regarded as horrifying and frightening because of his appearance. But despite the intolerance and casual cruelty displayed in the stories as part of cultural norms, the author never seems to join in. The authorial voice behind the narrator feels much more progressive than the characters he invented, so much so that it one could argue that his novels are an exercise in humanizing those who had been marginalized in our thoughts. This is somewhat true of the Jewish characters in Ivanhoe, but even more so with the Roma woman and the autistic scholar in Guy Mannering, the incredible character of the beggar in The Antiquary, and the little person in The Black Dwarf. In each case, Scott has created a character that is not just sympathetic but memorable and even inspiring. None of them are wholly good, but all of them are so well drawn that their personalities exceed the limits placed on them by their condition or ethnicity.

Elshie (who I couldn't help but picture as Peter Dinklage) isn't a nice man and is deservedly called a misanthrope. Over the course of this short novel we discover the cause of it, but that isn't what makes him sympathetic. It's his capacity for altruism in spite of his personal feelings that makes him exceptional. He's complex and interesting and a real person--not the monster or sorcerer or brute that his neighbors think him.

In the introduction, the author admits that he planned a longer novel but was convinced by a friend that his readers would not be interested in such a character. That's a shame. It's an outstanding novel anyway (IMO) but could have been nearer his usual length. Never mind the fact that there are a number of interesting and complex characters in the novel; Elshie was a worthy protagonist and could have sustained a fuller narrative.

Oh, well. What we have is exceptional.

Recommended (for readers of classic adventure novels, anyway).

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Where I Meet Some Irascible Old Guys--And Like Them Just Fine

The Antiquary by Sir Walter Scott, Fiction, Historical, Literary, Classics by Walter Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sir Walter Scott has a way with characters. That's what makes this novel worth looking into.

I know, Dickens is famous for his quirky characters, giving them to us by the hundreds. But Sir Walter Scott creates characters who are as odd and full of life as anybody, but they feel more genuine to me, more like a real human, than any I have found in literature of the era.

In this novel, we find Mr. Oldbuck, the educated old gentleman known as the antiquary. He's a bit of a buffoon, but not in the final analysis; a bit of a misanthrope, but not truly; a bit of a tyrant, but maybe not after all. The author gives us such a complete picture of this grumpy old man who wearies his visitors with stories about historical minutiae and makes unending complaints and demands that plainly put him in the wrong and needles and pesters others in a way that no one should have to put up with... but then he helps a stranger in need, and takes the part of a friend he has offended, and shows such patience and thoughtfulness toward the poorest in his community, especially when they need it the most. They know him to be both a blowhard and a man of uncommon good sense, a frivolous man and a man entirely to be counted on.

He's real. He's that relative that drives you nuts at family gatherings but would drive a hundred miles to get you out of trouble. He's not the most fun to be with, but he is absolutely necessary.

Edie Ochiltree is an old beggar, a mendicant authorized by the crown to live off the kindness of the community, a dispensation made visible by the blue gown all such beggars wear. He is the glue of this novel, the man who connects everyone else together. He knows what is happening everywhere in the area and is full of the lore of the place, remembering every story about every family. He is both entertaining and difficult, a little like jester, which he is sometimes compared to. But he is kindhearted and thinks nothing of spending whole days trudging from one town or castle to another carrying messages or warnings or working on someone's behalf, refusing any reward other than the handful of grain or smallest of coins. No, he won't come in the house. No, he won't take a silver coin. No, he won't accept anything more than he is entitled to as a blue-robed beggar. But he will repeat all the news, and he will sing an old song that you forgot you knew, and he will remind you of something embarrassing that you did years ago. There is kindness but no sentimentality in Edie.

Senile old Elspeth was remarkable. The German scam artist was entertaining. And any number of minor characters were just as finely drawn, even if they were only found on a few pages. They made the novel for me.

The plot is less central and the action less compelling in this novel than others I have read by Sir Walter Scott, but I enjoyed it just about the same as the rest. Maybe I struggled a bit with the long passages of dialogue in dialect, but that was okay, and a few passages were dense with exposition. I didn't mind. I enjoyed visiting these characters and following them to the end of their journey and the unraveling of all the mysteries. I won't lie--I'm looking for more adventure in the next one. But as long as it is as engrossing as The Antiquary in some way or another, I'm good.

Recommended for readers of old books.

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Gothic adventure romance

Guy Mannering by Walter Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I found this a great pleasure to read. Beginning to end.

I also see that he had thought to make this a fantasy novel (perhaps in slightly a different sense than we would mean it 200 years later) and I can totally see that. It could be a fantasy.

Guy Mannering, on the road after Oxford, is offered shelter in a fine old home and is present when the heir of Ellangowan is born. Using his arcane knowledge, he produces a horoscope for the child and gives some warnings to the family before leaving. That one night connects him to the family in a deep way.

The connections and twists of fate are part of the fun of this novel and are familiar tropes in gothic novels. I thought they worked well.

Scott creates wonderfully round characters. The MC is a flawed but principled and good gentleman, as is his daughter's love interest. The lawyer from Edinburgh is cool--brilliant and well educated, but playful and eccentric, the source of some actual laughs. And there are several more characters who are well drawn and inventive, but these three are true favorites:

•Dandy Dinmont, a country farmer who is just on the edge of gentleman. He is plainspoken and honest, though a bit rough, and somehow both proud and humble. He is utterly reliable, the guy you would want watching your house and pets if you were away.

•Dominie, the learned Ellangowan retainer. He studied to be a clergyman but when it came to it couldn't preach and in fact barely talks in front of others. The way he is portrayed makes him almost certainly a high-functioning Aspie, and I love how those closest to him have learned to accommodate him and watch out for him but also find ways for him to apply his gifts. With an orderly mind and love of learning, he makes an excellent tutor and librarian. Though his manner is sometimes a source of fun in the novel, it's loving, even affectionate. His exclamation of "Prodigous!" is kinda charming, and reminds me of the movie October Sky.

•Meg Merrilies, the frightening Roma (they still use the word Gypsy, of course) woman. She is in so many scenes and fills so many roles she might have been several different women. She is something of a witch, but also a plain woman, a robber queen, a loyal retainer, a wise woman, a hag, and a crackpot. In the end, we see that she is ultimately faithful and honorable, willing to risk her life to do the right thing. She's tall and strong and terrifying, quick with a suitable lie, and ready to do a good turn for anyone who showed her decent kindness or respect. Every page she's on is great. She's easily the most intriguing character in the book.

Here is another novel I'd love to see as a movie or miniseries. Maybe someday.

The bits in dialect can be hard to parse, and the style is somewhat stiff in places, but it's very readable and surprisingly modern in many ways. For those who read 19th Century British literature, and especially those who like adventure and intrigue in it, this is recommended.

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The One Where He Throws His Cloak Across the Puddle

Kenilworth by Walter Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't remember where this book came from. Probably, someone gave it to me. Possibly, I bought it, but so long ago I forgot. It was on the "books that don't fit anywhere else" shelf for years when I handled it again and thought about reading it.

The copy itself is old, well over 100 years, but I can't verify exactly which edition. It's cool, though.

And it is still a good book.

Knowing literally nothing about the novel--setting, characters, plot, nothing--I just opened and read, and then I kept reading. It's quaint, yes, but despite the archaic language, it reads very modern.

This is the story of a man, Tressilian, who loves a beautiful woman, Amy Robsart, the daughter of a country squire. He is hunting for her after she disappears. She has been taken by a powerful man, Earl Leicester, but with her consent, and she marries him in secret. The difficulty is that he keeps it a secret, and keeps her as a prisoner. Leicester, a favorite in Queen Elizabeth's court, could almost marry the queen if he had not been so foolish, and he has ambitions, while the man who loves the woman is a simple, good, and honest man.

There are a number of interesting and fun characters, including Sir Walter Raleigh, who performs his cloak-across-the-puddle act in the novel, and I finally understand what that might have looked like. Raleigh is a fun character, though minor, and his friend Blount, an honest soldier trying to play courtier with embarrassing consequences, deserves his own novel. The commoner Wayland Smith, a man of limitless wit and resources, feels like another protagonist, and the prankster referred to as Flibbertigibbet is like a force of nature whose playful sleight of hand has dire results. The antagonists, including a quick-thinking drunk, an alchemist, and Leicester's brilliant but amoral right-hand man, round out a full cast of characters.

A modern reader can hardly avoid noticing the lack of female characters and the condescension toward women. Queen Elizabeth holds her own--despite frequent asides by the narrator and actual character dialogue referring to female weaknesses and rather unattractive strengths--and Amy Robsart is a strong character in both senses, but that mostly covers it. The other women are not even secondary characters. You expect little more from a 19th Century novel set in the 16th Century, but it disappoints nonetheless. (Ivanhoe, which I read several years ago, has a similar problem, as I suspect most of the Waverly novels do. In addition, it has an odd, mixed tone toward its Jewish characters that mars an otherwise very entertaining novel. Old dead white guys, right?)

Still, the energy and inventiveness of the author is impressive, the plot brisk, and the entertainment undeniable. I liked it, and I recommend it.

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