Ivanhoe (Penguin Classics)
by Walter Scott
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1319)
Read in June, 2002
recommends it for:
Anyone & Everyone
In my humble opinion the greatest medieval romance written,or at least outside of the era. The heroes are good and virtuous, the damsels are fair and oft in distress, and the villians are dastardly and conspiratorial. Many characters, historical and legendary, are drawn into the main conflict of the story: Prince John, Richard the Lionhearted, and Robert of Locksley and his retinue of "merry men", to name a few. The story also draws on the main conflicts of the day. The Saxon n...more
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Read in February, 2008
This is taking forever.
And yes, it did take forever to read. The book itself is very dense and sometimes a bit difficult to follow (somebody died? when did that happen?), but I don't think that's what held me up so much. There's so much prejudice throughout the book I just kept putting it down and thinking about the state of the world. While professing not be be anti-semetic, the narrator was incredibly anti-Jew (yes, they are different), and while praising women in all their glory, the wome...more
And yes, it did take forever to read. The book itself is very dense and sometimes a bit difficult to follow (somebody died? when did that happen?), but I don't think that's what held me up so much. There's so much prejudice throughout the book I just kept putting it down and thinking about the state of the world. While professing not be be anti-semetic, the narrator was incredibly anti-Jew (yes, they are different), and while praising women in all their glory, the wome...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
Medieval Clubs Presidents
This was a tough book. I really had a hard time getting started with it, but once I got into the dialogue I really started liking it. There were so many characters to keep track of and that made it tough. Many were inconsequential, and that bothered me. The English was very tough, but it really made me want to see the movie they made with Elizabeth Taylor. So that will be another one for me to see. One thing that I kept thinking about when I read was there was a huge problem between the Sa...more
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Read in December, 1981
I read this for a college literature course, and I remember being one of the few people in the class who liked it. I remember my professor even admitted to not liking it very well.
I found it delightful, in the same way Robin Hood and King Arthur tales are delightful. You have to have an appreciation for the whimsical, though, and not take anything too seriously.
It's probably no coincidence that I liked this novel and I also still read YA fiction at my advanced age.
UPDATE: I just wa...more
I found it delightful, in the same way Robin Hood and King Arthur tales are delightful. You have to have an appreciation for the whimsical, though, and not take anything too seriously.
It's probably no coincidence that I liked this novel and I also still read YA fiction at my advanced age.
UPDATE: I just wa...more
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Read in October, 2007
normally I don't like it when protagonists in books are anachronistically liberal and unprejudiced, but I would have made an exception for this story. In fact, I remember as a kid creating elaborate scenarios in my head where Ivanhoe runs off with the Jewish Rebecca instead of staying with the English Rowena. In fact, reading it this time around, I almost found myself liking the villain Brian du Bois-Guillbert. He might have been evil, but at least he was able to step outside of the prejudices o...more
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Read in April, 2005
A tale of chivalry in the age of Richard the Lion-Hearted. A 'disinherited knight' returns home from the Crusades to find the world he left turned upside down. It isn't long before he finds himself fighting the enemies of his king and kinsmen. If you're looking for an easy read, this may not be the book for you. The language is a bit complicated, and though the description is vivid at times it is overly detailed. Historical purists will find a large number of anachronisms. Nevertheless, the spee...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Amethyst by:
Mellie, and others
ETA on 08/APR/8
I finished this one today.I LOVED this story ! I do not know how I got to be 18 and have never read it.:)I loved rebecca , I think the book should have been titled for her and not Ivanhoe , as there was more about her it seemed then Wilfred.
I think Wamba had to be my favorite character , I just loved the way he would refer to Cedric the Saxon as " Uncle".
I wish it had told a little bit more about Rowena and her feelings. Overall an excelent book for older teens , I...more
I finished this one today.I LOVED this story ! I do not know how I got to be 18 and have never read it.:)I loved rebecca , I think the book should have been titled for her and not Ivanhoe , as there was more about her it seemed then Wilfred.
I think Wamba had to be my favorite character , I just loved the way he would refer to Cedric the Saxon as " Uncle".
I wish it had told a little bit more about Rowena and her feelings. Overall an excelent book for older teens , I...more
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10 comments
recommends it for:
lovers of adventure
I actually cried when it was over, because I couldn't keep reading...
In similar wise to James Fenimore Cooper, Scott is here helping to invent the modern action/adventure tale. Knights, fair maids, thralls, jesters, dark foes, Knights Templars, beautiful Jewesses -- or, rather, only one of those -- all feature in this fantastic tale of chivalry and romance.
Sir Walter Scott draws on all the memory of the great classics of medieval romance and, like the Romantic poets, gives them a modern ...more
In similar wise to James Fenimore Cooper, Scott is here helping to invent the modern action/adventure tale. Knights, fair maids, thralls, jesters, dark foes, Knights Templars, beautiful Jewesses -- or, rather, only one of those -- all feature in this fantastic tale of chivalry and romance.
Sir Walter Scott draws on all the memory of the great classics of medieval romance and, like the Romantic poets, gives them a modern ...more
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Read in May, 2007
Holy Crap this book is awesome. So far, the coal-eyed Knight Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert has set his gaze on the fair Lady Rowena, who must draw her gossamer veils against his burning ardour. A mysterious and hood-obscured stranger relates the unseating of Bois-Guilbert by the Knight of Ivanhoe. If only Ivanhoe were returned from the Holy Land, he would again unseat the Knight Templar, perhaps at a joust similiar to the one they will all travel to tomorrow at Ashby-de-la-Zouche, swears the my...more
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Read in March, 2008
I watched the old, old movie version when I was about ten. The book was quite different than what I remembered of the movie (which wasn't much). The romance between Ivanhoe and Rowena is not of huge importance to the store, nor is the titular hero even the central character. Instead, Scott seems to focus in particular on tensions: between Saxon and Norman, between Jew and Christian, between John's followers and those of Richard, between the good of the yeoman (yay Robin Hood!) and the nom...more
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I really enjoyed this book! Good ole Medieval times, and it was interesting to read of the class struggle, the Normans (stormin' Normans), invaders coming up from (modern day) France and treating the Anglo-Saxons like second-class citizens, but slowly fusing with their culture. But of course, the third class citizens are the two supporting Jewish characters. Of course, Ivanhoe's "friend" is Robin Hood, but you have to extrapolate more of that out of the story. Damsels in distress, ...more
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recommends it for:
Those who possess that rare quality - patience
Definitely a classic ... but rather slow.
The characters are very much separated into the 'Good/Evil' category, so don't count on a realistic portrayal of human beings, nor an account of Ivanhoe's psychological story. Do expect, however, a strong story and some good descriptions of the English countryside (should you care for that sort of thing).
At 500+ pages, it's not a quick, nor an easy read. I recommend you read the first 30 or 40 pages before deciding if you want to continue. As with ...more
The characters are very much separated into the 'Good/Evil' category, so don't count on a realistic portrayal of human beings, nor an account of Ivanhoe's psychological story. Do expect, however, a strong story and some good descriptions of the English countryside (should you care for that sort of thing).
At 500+ pages, it's not a quick, nor an easy read. I recommend you read the first 30 or 40 pages before deciding if you want to continue. As with ...more
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Read in January, 2007
The moving story of a Russian Farmer and his tool.
ha ha...I crack myself up with my Simpsons references....
Ugh......
But seriously, classic books are cheap, and I never got around to reading this one until last year. I couldn't put it down. It's absolutely *shocking* how acceptable anti-semitism was, not just in the setting of the book, but in the time of the author.
This one is like a double-history lesson, as you read how people of the past viewed, well, the past. But it's als...more
ha ha...I crack myself up with my Simpsons references....
Ugh......
But seriously, classic books are cheap, and I never got around to reading this one until last year. I couldn't put it down. It's absolutely *shocking* how acceptable anti-semitism was, not just in the setting of the book, but in the time of the author.
This one is like a double-history lesson, as you read how people of the past viewed, well, the past. But it's als...more
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This book is anti-semitic in the sneakiest of ways. He makes it looks like he pities the Jews for all the hardships Christians put them through, but then he states in no uncertain terms that they deserve it. He's basically condescending, willing to tell what he deems to be their side of the story, without any real knowledge thereof, and pitying them out of the goodness of his "Christian" heart. Or so it seemed to me.
But if you can get past all that, it's a really good adventure ...more
But if you can get past all that, it's a really good adventure ...more
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Read in August, 2007
This was an enjoyable adventure, fun all the way through.
But, i have to comment that I was STRUCK by Rebecca. She stays with me. What a woman of truth. A Jewess, she proclaims God more clearly by her words and actions than any other character (professing Christian or not). The actions of many proclaimed Christians were incredibly disappointing and even angering, but Rebecca continued to shine through pure and unaltered by the evil around her. I would read this book again because it was enjo...more
But, i have to comment that I was STRUCK by Rebecca. She stays with me. What a woman of truth. A Jewess, she proclaims God more clearly by her words and actions than any other character (professing Christian or not). The actions of many proclaimed Christians were incredibly disappointing and even angering, but Rebecca continued to shine through pure and unaltered by the evil around her. I would read this book again because it was enjo...more
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Read in August, 1987
Somehow I got my hands on a copy of Ivanhoe when I was like eight years old. That was back when reading was like breathing for me, when I'd devour just about anything that had words--whether I understood much of it or not. I certainly can't imagine that I could understand much of this book (I don't even think it was an abridged version or anything), though I suppose and did like knights and what not. Like a number of books on my list, I suppose I'd need to reread in order to give a fair review, ...more
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Read in August, 1998
Thanks to my high school English IV teacher, she selected this book for me to read as part of our reading assignment for one of our six weeks grading periods. Thanks to this book, I discovered that I am a lover of all medieval-fantasy themed books. I love the era, the clothing, and the characters and their moralities as they are described in "Ivanhoe." I do regret that I no longer have my high school review of this book. I am sure it is time for me to eventually re-read this book a...more
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Read in June, 2007
Very fine yarn, and an important piece of culture as it explores the coming together (under the sheer charisma of Richard) of the Norman and Saxon people and languages. With a bit of Robin Hood thrown in for luck. Richard is impressed by the way the outlaws in the woods have some structure and society among them, and wondered if it had been an intentional analogy for the Normans having found a lot of the beginnings for their famous legal structures in the English shires and hundreds, rather tha...more
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Read in January, 1973
One of the few books I've introduced my son to that he has truly enjoyed. A perfect tale for a forteen year old. It has always seemed to me that the few hundred years after the conquest was the most fascinating era in English History, and provides the basis for some great litature. The characters in this novel are classic and perhaps non is more a work of fiction than the portrayal of King Richard. Brian de Bois-Guilbert sparked my life long fascination with the knights Templar.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
recommends it for:
Adventure Novel Lovers
I thought that this book was a solid adventure novel even though it was written in 1819. Scott paints a dynamic picture of the tensions betweens the Saxons and the Normans of the 12th Century. There are a lot of hidden identities, and like an opera or ballet, the book requires you to take a leap of faith that the person in disguise would not be recognized! This is a fast moving and exciting thriller--yes I might even use that word for a classic.
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