Rob Roy

Aug 16, 2011 Henry Avila rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The protagonist in Rob Roy is Francis Osbaldistone not the title character!(Makes a better name,Roy)Francis a spoiled son of a rich London businessman,who would rather write poetry than work for his father.Sent to his uncle's estate as punishment in northern England,bordering simmering Scotland.He soon becomes involved in a feud with his cousin Rashleigh(youngest and smartest of six brothers!).A woman Diana is the main reason(isn't it always?).This being 1715 a revolt soon brakes out, Rashleigh...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Maria Grazia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: goodreads-from-the-past

Modern historical fiction is quite well-appreciated and well-sold both among male and female readers. There's been a huge spreading of best- selling authors and series in the latest years. But where does this genre come from, actually? The Father of the Historical Novel was Sir Walter Scott ( 1771 - 1832 ) who started the publication of a long series of successful volumes to pay back his debts with Waverley (1814). The story takes place between Scotland and England in the years of the first Jaco...more Modern historical fiction is quite well-appreciated and well-sold both among male and female readers. There's been a huge spreading of best- selling authors and series in the latest years. But where does this genre come from, actually? The Father of the Historical Novel was Sir Walter Scott ( 1771 - 1832 ) who started the publication of a long series of successful volumes to pay back his debts with Waverley (1814). The story takes place between Scotland and England in the years of the first Jacobite Uprising, just before 1715, and features both historical and fictional characters involved in historical and fictional event . The prototype for hugely successful Gabaldon's Outlander saga? Surely it was. Of that one and many more.

The Rob Roy (1671-1734) of the title really lived: he was involved in one of the 1715 Jacobite Uprising against the British monarch and he was a famous outlaw. As he usually did, Scott chose certain parts of his actual biography and combined them with things he invented. Interestingly, Rob Roy is not the main character in the book: a young poet named Frank Osbaldistone is. It seems Scott's editor thought that "Rob Roy" was a much more exciting title for a book than "Frank Osbaldistone".

Rob Roy's role in this tale is not primarily but indispensable, and you come away from the book feeling that Rob Roy is the central figure, even though he does not even make an appearance until halfway through the story. Consequently, it is not surprising that Rob Roy played a huge role in making Robert Roy MacGregor a household name throughout the world. As a matter of fact, Rob Roy fought valiantly during the uprising, and for a time, after the uprising was put down, lived a rather tranquil life as a cattle baron who acquired his herd primarily by theft (which wasn't exactly illegal at the time, but that is another story). A quiet country life was not to be for Rob Roy, and he was soon branned as an outlaw, and he spent most of his life fighting against what he saw as the injustices done to his family, and himself. In many regards, MacGregor was the Scottish equivalent of Robin Hood, and like the legendary English hero, he has been heralded in song, legend, and literature.

The plot of Scott's book has been criticised as "disjointed" but Robert Louis Stevenson, however, who loved it from childhood, regarded "Rob Roy" as the best novel of the greatest of all novelists.

Read the whole text on my post at FLY HIGH!

http://flyhigh-by-learnonline.blogspo...(less)

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May 17, 2013 Huw Evans rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, history, classics

I was brought up on books like this in my childhood. I cannot remember reading it so was pleased to find a copy when I was clearing out the garage. Written in the early nineteenth century about a mythologised character in the early eighteenth how does it read in the early twenty-first?

For anybody expecting all action buckling of swash, you will be disappointed. There are short bursts of claymore waving which, if you are not concentrating, you will miss and the plot is moderately complicated. The...more I was brought up on books like this in my childhood. I cannot remember reading it so was pleased to find a copy when I was clearing out the garage. Written in the early nineteenth century about a mythologised character in the early eighteenth how does it read in the early twenty-first?

For anybody expecting all action buckling of swash, you will be disappointed. There are short bursts of claymore waving which, if you are not concentrating, you will miss and the plot is moderately complicated. The son of a wealthy financier is sent to Northumberland to repent his sins with his uncle and his family; this is before Australia was invented so he is the equivalent of a remittance man. His cousins are all thugs barring one, who is a weasel. There is also a young lady, who is a fox with a chequered past. When the weasel absconds with his father's money our hero is compelled to act. There are political ramifications and nobody is quite as they seem. You will be unamazed to hear that all ends well.

Scott was prolific and Rob Roy is an earlier work in the Waverley series. He also pretty much invented the concept of Scottishness. It is a cumbersome work and I found it quite difficult to read. The first is one of style; by the time Dickens was writing, English usage had settled into a more recognisable format where you could no longer punctuate ad libitum. Commas, could, not, be - scattered around as, if blunderbussed - at the page; using dashes equally-liberally-is-very-unsettling-on-the-eye and equally unsettling on the comprehension. Parsing each sentence is like picking your way through one of the Scottish bogs he so richly describes.

Allowing for the original usage there is also the problem with dialect. Scott transcribes all his parts in the dialect they would have used at the time, including the contemporaneous slang. This makes comprehension even more difficult especially when a lowland Scot changes his dialect to converse with Highlanders. I found that even reading the diction aloud didn't help it become any more comprehensible.

In spite of the passage of time and the changes that have occurred in English usage and narrative style this is still a story worth reading. As a piece of historical fiction it has withstood the passage of time, not unlike the unnamed Highland mountains within the novel.

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May 08, 2013 Monthly Book Group rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Scott was both a historian and novelist. He needs to be seen in the context of the historiographical background of the C18th Scottish Enlightenment. He was greatly influenced by the “conjectural” history propounded by Adam Smith and, most notably, Adam Ferguson, author of the “Essay on Civil Society” and the father of Scott’s best friend and now seen as one of the founders of sociology.

The conjectural historians saw history as the progress of society from hunter/gatherers, to shepherds/herdsmen,...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Anna Matsuyama added it · review of another edition

Shelves: adaptation, read-in-2013, british

BBC Radio 4 adaptation. Narrated by David Tennant. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s0329

Rob Roy by Walter Scott
Adapted by Robin Brooks

Our Rob Roy has dispensed with the Jacobite setting and updates the story to the 20th century. It is 1924 and 20-year-old Frank falls foul of his father. He has spent a year in Paris, supposedly learning the business, but actually hanging out with Imagist poets. When he refuses to join the business his father sends him north to stay with his Uncle - a radical...more

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Apr 18, 2013 Greg Deane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Walter Scott's "Rob Roy" provides a panorama of Scottish Highland and Lowland society and character and the attitudes the regions had to each other in the 18th and 19th century taking place just before the 1715 Jacobite Rising, Scotland being on the verge of civil war and upheaval. Frank Osbaldistone, the narrator, quarrels with his father and is sent to stay with an uncle, Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, in Northumberland.

The author explores the Highlands under a patriarchal system of government,...more Walter Scott's "Rob Roy" provides a panorama of Scottish Highland and Lowland society and character and the attitudes the regions had to each other in the 18th and 19th century taking place just before the 1715 Jacobite Rising, Scotland being on the verge of civil war and upheaval. Frank Osbaldistone, the narrator, quarrels with his father and is sent to stay with an uncle, Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, in Northumberland.

The author explores the Highlands under a patriarchal system of government, where the chieftain is the local lawmaker. Bailie Nicol Jarvie may have struck Scott's audience as a sympathetic anachronism, representing a people pressured to join a modern commercial and industrial society, as lands were lost to traditional farmers, and the populace became emigrants or the men found employment as mercenaries or in British army regiments.

Despite social insights, the novel is a love story, where the heroine, Diana Vernon both passionate and restrained. Scott writes of her, in the voice of her lover, Francis Osbaldistone: "She extended her hand, but I clasped her to my bosom. She sighed as she extricated herself from the embrace which she permitted, escaped to the door which led to her own apartment, and I saw her no more," for several months.

Diana Vernon combines gaiety, bravery, wit, tenderness and truthfulness, to be worthy of any heroic protagonist, of the eponymous Rob Roy, rather than the wispier poet and narrator, Frank Osbaldistone-perhaps Scott is embedding himself in the story as a writer who can rival a warrior hero as a worthy alternative.

But Frank Osbaldistone has political convictions that reflect a mental strength to rival Rob Roy's prowess in guerrilla warfare. He resists Di Vernon's attempts to convert him to Jacobitism. He corroborates his strength of mind with spirit, as a sportsman, or in dangerous circumstances as when he encounters the bully, Rashleigh, in the college gardens.

Rob Roy, or Robert "Rob Roy" McGregor Campbell, is also very sympathetically drawn. His primary role is to assist Frank. Despite historical evidence, Scott draws Rob Roy as an honest and upright highlander who sometimes speaks a Lowlander's dialect. Through no fault of his own, he has become a blackmailer and reiver. Notorious in the Highlands, he is as much despised and feared as he is admired and kindly regarded. Scott overlooks his duplicitous politics, so that in reality he was not genuinely heroic. Despite being the title character, he has little more presence than many lesser players.

Yet the minor characters contribute to the life and humour of the story. One such is the craven Morris. Diana Vernon is given the role of providing insights into her family's characters. Still, Rashleigh reveals himself for his characteristic malignant egotism. Andrew Fairservice, is an insinuating ally who jealously guards his domain in his laird's gardens with "something to maw that he would like to see mawn, or something to saw that he would like to see sawn, or something to ripe that he would like to see ripen, and sae he e'en daikered on wi' the family frae year's end to year's end," and life's end. His master "needed some carefu' body to look after him."

A fault with the work is the hurried, clumsy denouement. But Scott elsewhere had his character, Dominie observe, "Really, madam, you must be aware that every volume of a narrative turns less and less interesting as the author draws to a conclusion,-- just like your tea, which, though excellent hyson, is necessarily weaker and more insipid in the last cup."(less)

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Oct 29, 2011 Martha added it · review of another edition

Shelves: l-british, f-novel, read-2011-12

I will without a doubt be the only person to check this book out of the Guabuliga Public Library. After all, I could not understand a good portion of the book, given all the Scottish slang and odd accents, as well as the mass of historical details on which I wasn't all that clear. Now I know a little more about the conflict between the two kings, George and James (I think) and the failed Jacobite uprising in Scotland.

The English that wasn't Scottishly distorted was of great elegance and wit. I...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Vicky rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: recent

Not at all what I expected. For one thing, the book is not really about the Rob Roy character at all, but about the Narrator Frank & his relationship with his father, where that takes him & his affection for Diana. We didn't really find out who Rob Roy was until more than half-way through the book - he stayed mysterious. However, for me, the real mystery was what was going on with Cousin Rahleigh and with Diana and her mysterious man-friend.

I liked how our hero grows up during the book -...more

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Jun 16, 2010 Vicki rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

This was one of the only books I had ever not finished, so I decided to pick it up again and I was determined to get through it. So I got it from the library on audiobook, thinking that I had to commute to work anyway, and that would effectively trap me into getting all the way through this book. Besides, I remembered how confusing Scott's written form of the Scottish accent was the first time I tried to get through it, and thought that it might be easier to understand if I listened to it. I'm s...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Chels rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I pretty much love this book on every level. It's hilarious, I love that Rob Roy is introduced as a peripheral character (keeps the author from speculating on what actually was his mentality too much...). I really enjoyed the view it gave of Scotland during that time period. The characters were all extremely well developed and distinct from one another, and they complimented each other exceptionally well in the overall plot. I saw that some people complained that they couldn't understand the gae...more

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Oct 08, 2011 Nerida Hart rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my first exposure to Sir Walter Scott and his concept of a historical novel. While it was enjoyable, it would have been easier to appreciate if I had read Ivanhoe first. Rob Roy is a difficult book to read and it does require some patience. The Scottish language and customs can be difficult to get through and it does start a bit slow. If you have already read Ivanhoe, this will be a bit more challenging, but definitely worthwhile. Once you get into it and the action picks up a bit and t...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Nerida Hart rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my first exposure to Sir Walter Scott and his concept of a historical novel. While it was enjoyable, it would have been easier to appreciate if I had read Ivanhoe first. Rob Roy is a difficult book to read and it does require some patience. The Scottish language and customs can be difficult to get through and it does start a bit slow. If you have already read Ivanhoe, this will be a bit more challenging, but definitely worthwhile. Once you get into it and the action picks up a bit and t...more

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Sep 28, 2011 Perry Whitford rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rob Roy was a kind of Scottish Robin Hood in the late 17th/early 18th century, who defied the protestant English hegemony yet lived to tell the tale when the Jacobites were crushed. A stirring figure, he certainly enlivens this novel - when he actually appears in it, which is not often.
The narrator of the novel is Frank Olbaldistone, the romantic son of an English money speculator and the central weakness of the story. He is clearly a romantic figure who an early 19th century audience may have...more

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Aug 23, 2009 Chad rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

"Rob Roy" is my first Walter Scott novel, but I became a quick fan as I was entangled in his writing style, which focuses more on verbose and intricate language than it does on a straight-forward plot. I'm sure this style would be a turn-off to many readers, but it was right up my alley. The descriptions are lush when they need to be, the character development is spelled out rather bluntly, and much of the dialogue requires far more effort to decipher than I'm used to (making out the Highland di...more "Rob Roy" is my first Walter Scott novel, but I became a quick fan as I was entangled in his writing style, which focuses more on verbose and intricate language than it does on a straight-forward plot. I'm sure this style would be a turn-off to many readers, but it was right up my alley. The descriptions are lush when they need to be, the character development is spelled out rather bluntly, and much of the dialogue requires far more effort to decipher than I'm used to (making out the Highland dialect was tricky at first, but I got the hang of it), but the grammatical gymnastics Scott employs to complicatedly convey simple ideas had me in a constant state of giddyness.

Now, full disclosure: I'm certain there are two factors that influenced my enjoyment of the novel toward the positive.

1) I read the beginning of this novel while I was in Scotland, even spending one morning reading a few chapters while sitting on the bank of Loch Ness, which is rather similar scenery to the setting of a significant chunk of "Rob Roy". I also traveled around the in the Highlands while there, so when the novel's protaganist, Francis Osbaldistone, heads north to save the family business, Scott's descriptions rang very vividly in my mind.

2) While in Scotland, I purchased the first four volumes of a collection of Scott's works from a bookshop in Inverness. The volumes were published in 1862, which make them the oldest and coolest books in my personal library. They're not the kind of books you carry around with you and read in your spare time, so I didn't really buy them for reading. But just for kicks, I read the final two chapters from one of those volumes. I don't know if anyone thinks that's as interesting as I do, but reading from a book published just 30 years after the author's death, and published in his hometown of Edinburgh, nonetheless, tickled my inner-historian.

As for the story specifically, it read like a less self-consiously humerous Charles Dickens novel. Many colorful supporting characters drawn from the fringes of society; interesting insights into the societal divide between cultures; a hero who seems more along for the ride than the driving force behind the plot.

Indeed, the hero, Francis Osbaldistone, is a surprising one, considering the title of the novel. Rob Roy does show up, mind you, but doesn't really make a big splash until almost the half-way point. And when he does show up, its merely to highjack the story away from Francis's quest to retrieve some stolen documents vital to his father's business. But I suppose stealing the spotlight is completely in character for Rob Roy MacGregor, who pulls Francis into some historically based skirmishes related to the first Jacobite uprising in 1715.

And on a rather important sidenote: prior to visiting Scotland, I read up on the country's history, and being familiar with the Stewart/Hanover fued and the various Jacobian revolutions certainly made parts of "Rob Roy" easier to follow, as the fates of Francis and MacGregor both hinge on the shifting alliances of the Highland clans and the Osbaldistone family and the locals, both British and Scottish.

Alongside all of that there is a romance and inner-family treachery and exciting battles, but again, its the language itself that kept me excited to turn to the next page.

I feel that in the future, one of Scott's 'Waverly' novels is where I'll eagerly turn if I'd like to visit again the Scotland that I've now visited and read about.(less)

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Jan 04, 2013 Robert Dodds rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An enjoyable yarn with an engaging hero (Francis Osbaldistone, the young narrator - Rob Roy himself is not the central character in spite of the book's title). There's a mystery, a love interest, and much stravaigin about in the Borders, Glasgow and the Highlands of Scotland. Some of the characters' dialogue is in broad Scots (18th Century Scots at that) so the occasional word is a little elusive. However, there are some lovely words, like 'thrapple' for 'throat', and the language gives a rich h...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Ian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books

The title is a bit of a misnomer, but "The Adventures of Francis Osbaldistone" does not quite have the same ring. Scott collates the legendary persona of Rob Roy Macgregor and sends him to the aid of a romantic Englishman swindled by an evil cousin. It is interesting that he does not whitewash Rob Roy of his blackmail and violence, but passes his worst crimes on to the head of his wife, Helen. Purely as a novel, I don't think this is a great work. As a misty-eyed evocation of the noble savage Hi...more

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May 11, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: college-reads

I enjoyed Scott's writing style; he uses a lot of juxtaposition that injects some humor into the book. Be forewarned: the main character of the novel is not Rob Roy. Scott chose the title on the reccommendation of his publisher in order to boost sales. Also, there is a lot of Scot dialect that makes this a challenge. It was interesting the way Scott chose an Englishman as his main character and then sent him to Scotland in order to explore otherness. The financial intrigue of the novel is still...more

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Dec 12, 2010 Adi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Getting back to it, after abandoning it for a few years.
The book is totally worthy of its reputation.

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Jul 28, 2011 Phil rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: pre-20th-century

I didn't actually read the Penguin Classics version, my edition is actually from 1829, so I wanted to get that out of the way first.

I didn't care much for this book. I was expecting something more like the movie with Liam Neeson, but most of this novel (as I recall) didn't have Rob Roy in it at all. I was surprised and not a bit displeased that Roy had such a comparatively minor part in his own novel. That was probably what put me off the most. But also, I am not a big fan of the romantic style...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Sheila rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a great book for many reasons: mystery and suspense, swashbuckling adventure, and a truly loathable antagonist in the form of Rashleigh Osbaldistone. What really hooked me was the aura of mystery around MacGregor (the "Rob Roy" character), and the main character's love interest, Die Vernon, who's a real firecracker in her own right, especially for a heroine of a novel written in the early 19th cent. The Scottish dialects are a bit difficult to decipher at first, but you get the hang of i...more

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May 25, 2012 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

It takes a while to get into Scott's "thick" descriptions, especially since the story tends to plod for the first 100 pages. However, the story gets more provocative the closer Francis Osbaldistone gets to Scotland, and it keeps you interested in the book. If you read mysteries much at all, this is one you'll figure out fairly quick. Still, I wanted to keep reading to learn what happened to all the characters. I'd say 3.5 stars for being predictable and dense (both Scott's wordiness and his 'Gae...more

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Jun 04, 2012 Connie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-novel, scotland, 1700-s

Francis Osbaldistone narrates his decision to pursue poetry instead of follow his father in business, his life with cousins, the cheating of his father at the hand of his cousin Rashleigh, his love for Diana, and his interactions with Rob Roy MacGregor, a "Robin Hood" of the Jacobite cause. Though he only appears mid-way through the book, Rob Roy, for his heart and intentions, was my favorite character. The Scottish brogue makes for plodding reading, but to acquire a degree of understanding was...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Kolya Matteo rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

I didn't like it half so well as I remember liking Ivanhoe, many years ago! It was easy enough to read, except for the Scottish dialect, which reminded me of a rant in Stephenson's Baroque Cycle about the Britain-wide conspiracy to pretend that the Scottish are speaking English, when they clearly are not. Sir Scott apparently thought that "A wheen midden cocks pike ilk ithers harns out" was sufficiently clear to pass without comment. By the end, I was able to wrest more sense out of it, but it f...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Jacob Aitken rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nationalism, romanticism

At the risk of sounding like a hippie modern, I "found" myself through reading this book. In high school I feasted upon the romances of Sir Walter Scott. I read through Rob Roy three or four times, longing to be a Scottish outlaw heroically resisting the banking apparatus which has destroyed lives and nations. Indeed, I longed to see myself hiding in the glens (or bayous) about to carry out some raid.

While this history does not have the same romantic flavor as Rob Roy and Ivanhoe, one still gets...more At the risk of sounding like a hippie modern, I "found" myself through reading this book. In high school I feasted upon the romances of Sir Walter Scott. I read through Rob Roy three or four times, longing to be a Scottish outlaw heroically resisting the banking apparatus which has destroyed lives and nations. Indeed, I longed to see myself hiding in the glens (or bayous) about to carry out some raid.

While this history does not have the same romantic flavor as Rob Roy and Ivanhoe, one still gets the "Scottish" charm. Scott occasionally violates the line between prose and poetry when describing the beauty of the Scottish highlands.

As history goes, this is actually one of the better ones. Scott is not neutral, but more importantly, he is not neutral in the places which you do not expect. He avoids facile conclusions like, "Scotland good; England bad." More so than others, he is aware of the painful nuances of post-Cromwellian British history. The battle is not between England and Scotland, but between Cromwell and Presbyterian, Cromwell and Jacobite, Presbyterian and Jacobite, and obviously, Presbyterian vs Presbyterian (!!!!). And then there are the Anglicans. Scott narrates through the nuances far better and more effortlessly than any theologian.

I am not the "covenanter-wannabe" I was when I first acquired these books. Indeed, I am quite critical of the Covenanters. That said, I, with Scott, duly note areas where the Covenanters showed true Christian heroism. On the other hand, I, with Scott, acknowledge areas where the Covenanters are guilty of downright murder--and to point this out, contra Joe Morecraft, does not destine one for the lowest pits of hell.

Sir Walter Scott's sympathies lie with the Jacobite Highlanders, but not so much with James II's attempts to reintroduce Catholicism in Britain in a crass, top-down manner. And that's my position as well.

One area of criticism with the modern editing of the book: the subtitle suggests part of the narrative deals with Rob Roy's heroic exploits. It does not. Rob Roy does not appear once in the book. True, the last chapter does set the stage for Roy's career, but Roy does not appear in this book.

This book is probably a bit more advanced to be advertised to ten year olds (as Scott thinks). On the other hand, it is the best introduction to the Covenanters and the post-Cromwellian period. As the Calvinist reader may be familiar with, these books are much better than the "Banner of Truth" books on the Covenanters. These books, to the contrary, provide a consistent narrative and avoid a lot of extraneous detail. (less)

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Aug 27, 2010 Suzanne Moore rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-2006, 1001-2008, summer-challenge-picks

There were some interesting parts here, but overall, I did not enjoy the book. I admit I listened to it on audio rather than reading it. I actually listened to the entire book twice to pick up on the confusing parts a second time in hopes of understanding it better. The book was read in a heavy Scottish accent. At one point a character was mentioned that sounded like "Billy Graham." I thought what a coincidence! This book has the same name as the famous evangelist. Later I discovered the narrato...more There were some interesting parts here, but overall, I did not enjoy the book. I admit I listened to it on audio rather than reading it. I actually listened to the entire book twice to pick up on the confusing parts a second time in hopes of understanding it better. The book was read in a heavy Scottish accent. At one point a character was mentioned that sounded like "Billy Graham." I thought what a coincidence! This book has the same name as the famous evangelist. Later I discovered the narrator was referring to “Baillie Grahame.” I wondered if this was another way of saying bailiff, and found online that Scottish barons often appointed a Baillie as their judicial officer.
The whole story revolved around Francis Osbaldistone, who is sent to live with his uncle, Sir Hildebrand, because he would rather write poetry than work as an accountant for his father’s business. At his uncle’s house he meets Diana Vernon who has been given residence at Osbaldistone Hall, when her father is forced into hiding. Diana’s father is sympathetic to the Jacobites. Now I don’t know much about the Jacobian uprising, but guessing from parts of the novel I could decipher, it was some sort of political movement. Diana is told that she will either marry one of Hildebrand’s sons or join a convent. One son, Rashleigh Hildebrand, expects to take Diana’s hand in marriage. But he is cruel and tries to manipulate Francis’s father, William, by stealing documents that would secure the financial status of the Osbaldistone fortune. Rob Roy McGregor is only briefly mentioned as an associate of Diana’s father. He is accused of taking from the rich and giving to the poor, sort of like Robin Hood. Of course, Rob Roy’s reputation is heroic to some and criminal to others. I got lost with the plot here and didn’t fully understand the connection between Francis and Rob Roy.
In the end, Francis marries Diana after a highland battle breaks out and the Hildebrand brothers are killed. Somehow Rob Roy is captured and I believe loses his life by execution. The story became vague as I tried to understand the dialect and meaning of many Scottish words. I think I’ll try to reread this one day and hopefully discover more meaning. I might have to research the Jacobites a bit, I’m sure it would help to know something about Scottish history to understand these character’s motives.
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Oct 25, 2008 Howard Olsen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First a warning: the movie “Rob Roy” has little to do with the novel “Rob Roy,” except that they share the titular character. I was 250 pages into this book before I finally realized this was the case. I wouldn’t want the rest of you to make a similar error.

The story is a bit complicated. The book jacket says this is a tale set in the Jacobite Uprising of 1715, which sounds exciting, but is true only to the extent necessary to sell this book to you. The plot is much more subtle than that. The h...more First a warning: the movie “Rob Roy” has little to do with the novel “Rob Roy,” except that they share the titular character. I was 250 pages into this book before I finally realized this was the case. I wouldn’t want the rest of you to make a similar error.

The story is a bit complicated. The book jacket says this is a tale set in the Jacobite Uprising of 1715, which sounds exciting, but is true only to the extent necessary to sell this book to you. The plot is much more subtle than that. The hero is not Rob Roy, but young Francis Osbaldistone (wha?), the callow son of a London tycoon/merchant whose business is what we would now describe as “import-export.” Dad has been trying to teach Francis the family business, but exiles his son to northern England after discovering that Francis has been writing poetry. Francis is sent to live at Osbaldistone Hall with his drunk uncle, 5 drunk cousins, and the uncle's beautiful-yet-mysterious ward Diana Vernon. Francis’ sinister cousin Rashleigh goes to take Francis’ place at the family firm. Rashleigh steals some bills of lading and absconds with them to Scotland where he hopes the resulting credit crunch will lead to armed insurrection and chaos (note how this plot manages to be torn from the headlines of two eras!). Francis, eager to prove himself to his father, follows Rashleigh into Scotland, where he eventually falls into the hands of Rob Roy, the Scottish version of Robin Hood. After a lot of running around among the Moors and Highlands, everyone lives happily ever after.

The virtues of this novel are immediately apparent. Scott’s descriptions of the book’s settings – whether a London counting house, a musty library, an underground church, downtown Glasgow, an isolated loch, a smokey tavern, etc – are simply masterful; and, I would say, some of the best descriptive writing I have ever read. Only Dostoyevsky and George Eliot are on the same level. The characters are also masterfully developed, with each character having a quirk or a quality that makes them vivid and three-dimensional. The love interest, Diana Vernon, is one of the great female characters in English literature – a beautiful intellectual with a mysterious past and a penchant for secret plotting, and a skilled horsewoman to boot. Scott’s tone gives this book a moral depth that is rare in literature. Even the death of the book’s most obnoxious character is treated as a mini-tragedy.

The real triumph of this book is Scott’s description of Scotland, which was, in 1715, a wild and chaotic land (interestingly, my research on the Internet indicates that Scott’s readers considered the Scots to be equivalent to American Indians). Much of this book is a travelogue of Scotland with plenty of descriptions of Scottish religious practice, clans, social customs, and even clothes and weaponry. There is also an extended sequence in Glasgow. Scott’s descriptions of the Scottish landscape add immeasurably to the tone of menace and mystery that the entire book is shrouded in from beginning to end. His rendering of Scottish dialect is also excellent. One imagines a young William Faulkner getting some of his ideas about dialogue from Scott’s example.

The book has some weaknesses. For one thing: who foments a rebellion in Scotland by stealing some shipping papers in London? It seems like a roundabout way to bring about the “Jacobite Rebellion” that is the book’s main plot point. The plot itself develops slowly (the first 200 pages could be described as expository), and then finishes in a rush of multiple denouements. The character of Rob Roy looms over the book, but he is not much in it until the last half. More often then not, he spends his time giving speeches justifying his life as an outlaw, which probably seemed very important to Scott, but doesn’t resonate much in the 21st century.

Of course, none of this should stop you from reading this book, or any others by Scott. He is one of the earliest novelists whose books can still be read for pleasure, and Rob Roy is one of his good ones.

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Sep 20, 2008 Cory Talbot rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was death. And it wouldn't end. I just could not get past the language in two ways:

(1) Get to the point. Sir Walter Scott apparently decided that there is no reason to use one word when five will suffice. For instance, rather than saying that a character was hungry because he ate lunch earlier than usual Scott notes instead that the character was hungry because "he had ante-dated his meridian repast, having dined at twelve instead of one o'clock, then the general hour of dining." Hones...more

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Aug 08, 2008 Galen Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

It has been a while since I have thought about British history, so it took me a while to remember the background to this story (Jacobitism and all). However, the majority of the story follows Francis Osbaldistone, a young man who does not want to follow in his father's footsteps in accounting and is thus disowned and sent off to live with his uncle in the North of England. Here, he is tangentially introduced to some of the characters involved in the Scottish uprisings, but more centrally meets D...more

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Dec 09, 2007 Silvana rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, shitty-books, used-to-own

It is one of those books that (after reading it) makes you wonder what's really happened and why all the fuss about it. At the end of the first half, the titular character only appeared twice! This book's should be titled "The Adventure of Francis Osbaldistone in Scotland."

Francis was the son of a wealthy merchant, who denounced him because he refused to follow his father's footstep and sent him to live with his uncle in the border between England and Scotland. There he met with his evil cousin...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Josh rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Book covers can be deceptive.

The cover of this paperback edition of Rob Roy features a gentlemanly Highlander having his bonnet blown off by a lone British soldier wearing some form of papal headgear. {Spoiler Alert}: this scene is not in the book. There are a few British soldiers covered, but not a single gentlemanly Highlander.

When I purchased this book I saw another edition that had Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange on the cover. This book has nothing to do with the Rob Roy movie either.

Even tit...more

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