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A review by christinecc
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is SUCH a weird book. Especially for its era.
For starters, the main character is... well, I don't know who it is (it's probably Rebecca, but I'll get to that in a minute) but it's not Ivanhoe, or rather Wilfred the knight of Ivanhoe. He is in... (checks notes) three, maybe five scenes. It's very strange. And he's out of commission for the entire middle portion (except when it's time to be a jerk to Rebecca, apparently... I'm getting to her give me a second.)
So the story is ostensibly about the return of Ivanhoe, a knight disowned by his Saxon father for rubbing shoulders with notable not-Saxon king, Richard the Lionheart. Also Ivanhoe wanted to marry his childhood sweetheart, Saxon princess/blue-blood Rowena, whom Ivanhoe's father wants to pair off with another Saxon blue-blood called Athelstane... wait come back! It gets better, I promise!
Ivanhoe's not really why we're here. What I personally loved about this were two things: Walter Scott's Bad Takes(TM) on the middle ages/ his narration style altogether (which SCREAMS Victor Hugo, minus the metric ton of historical discourse); and Rebecca, who is way to good for everyone in this book (except her dad Isaac of York, he's nice too).
It's a good book that examines chivalry, prejudice, and how being a nice person sometimes gets you happiness but really doesn't guarantee it. Sometimes you're nice to people and they're still jerks. Jerks is probably an understatement. In this book, and in Rebecca's case, people are super antisemitic and abusive towards her. It's awful. Glad she gets to leave the country at the end, hopefully people are nicer to her in Spain.
Recommended to anyone who loves 19th century takes on medievalism, melodrama, and a surprising look at antisemitism in the history of England (even though... I mean, Scott's depiction of Judaism has its problems, but it's still very sympathetic given his era).
For starters, the main character is... well, I don't know who it is (it's probably Rebecca, but I'll get to that in a minute) but it's not Ivanhoe, or rather Wilfred the knight of Ivanhoe. He is in... (checks notes) three, maybe five scenes. It's very strange. And he's out of commission for the entire middle portion (except when it's time to be a jerk to Rebecca, apparently... I'm getting to her give me a second.)
So the story is ostensibly about the return of Ivanhoe, a knight disowned by his Saxon father for rubbing shoulders with notable not-Saxon king, Richard the Lionheart. Also Ivanhoe wanted to marry his childhood sweetheart, Saxon princess/blue-blood Rowena, whom Ivanhoe's father wants to pair off with another Saxon blue-blood called Athelstane... wait come back! It gets better, I promise!
Ivanhoe's not really why we're here. What I personally loved about this were two things: Walter Scott's Bad Takes(TM) on the middle ages/ his narration style altogether (which SCREAMS Victor Hugo, minus the metric ton of historical discourse); and Rebecca, who is way to good for everyone in this book (except her dad Isaac of York, he's nice too).
It's a good book that examines chivalry, prejudice, and how being a nice person sometimes gets you happiness but really doesn't guarantee it. Sometimes you're nice to people and they're still jerks. Jerks is probably an understatement. In this book, and in Rebecca's case, people are super antisemitic and abusive towards her. It's awful. Glad she gets to leave the country at the end, hopefully people are nicer to her in Spain.
Recommended to anyone who loves 19th century takes on medievalism, melodrama, and a surprising look at antisemitism in the history of England (even though... I mean, Scott's depiction of Judaism has its problems, but it's still very sympathetic given his era).