The Romany Rye A Sequel to 'Lavengro'

Lavengro

by George Borrow

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, British Literature, English Literature, Travel, 19th Century

392 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1857

About the author

George Henry Borrow was an English author who wrote novels and travelogues based on his own experiences traveling around Europe. Over the course of his wanderings, he developed a close affinity with the Romani people of Europe, who figure prominently in his work. His best known books are The Bible in Spain (1843), the autobiographical Lavengro (1851), and The Romany Rye (1857), about his time with the English Romanichal (gypsies).

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically this is the conclusion to George Borrow's book Lavengro, which I read before a mini-vacation. I wanted to read this one right after that little trip in order to have details from the other book still fresh in my mind.

Here is the explanation for the sudden ending of Lavengro and the existence of this book:
‘Lavengro’ and ‘The Romany Rye’ are one book, though the former was published in 1851 and the latter not until 1857. After a slumber of six years the dingle re-awakes to life, Lavengro’s hammer shatters the stillness, and the blaze of his forge again lights up its shadows, while all the strange persons of the drama take up their parts at the point where the curtain had been so abruptly rung down.

That comes from John Sampson's introduction to this book. But fair warning ahead! If you read Lavengro and then read this book, do not read any more of the introduction than this first sentence! Mr. Sampson will tell you everything himself if you let him. I didn't let him; I saw right away what he was planning and only confirmed it after I got to the end of the book on my own.

So having warned about the spoilers in the introduction, I will try to avoid them in this little review. I liked the book to a degree, but not as much as I enjoyed Lavengro. There were too many chapters here where our narrator debates religion with a character from the other book, The Man In Black. And the final few chapters returned again to the author's trick of telling other character's stories in their own words, and I skimmed all of those because I simply wasn't interested.

But there were some cute conversations between the author and Isopel Berners, when he was trying to teach her Armenian. And the chapters where he got his horse and then rode it to a horse fair were interesting, too. He met a man who was obsessed with learning to read Chinese so he could understand the markings on pieces of porcelain that he had. The story of why this man had this interest was the only 'Other Man's Story' that I read completely, simply because the way it was presented was much more interesting than when Borrow did the same with other characters.

But although the title of the book is The Romany Rye, which is supposed to mean a gentleman who travels with the gypsies, Borrow does not spend as much time with them here as he did in the other book. They float in and out of the narration, and change the direction of his life a time or two, but don't expect an entire book about life on the road with a group of gypsies. Borrow gives glimpses, nothing more.

I was torn between 2 and 3 stars, but decided on three because of the horse.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't see how anyone could read this book on it's own (without having first read "Lavengro") and make much sense of it. This is not a sequel, it's the 2nd half of "Lavengro", and really should be read as such. I read "Lavengro" 8 months ago, and it was too long in-between. The problem is that random characters reappear, or new characters whose lives were changed by an encounter with a former character (I realize this is all going to sound like gibberish), this pattern was set in the first book, and crosses over into RR, which would make several chapters almost incomprehensible to the reader if he/she hadn't read L.

Wow, that was really boring.

This book is like a person. Someone interesting and carmudgeonly and absolutely brimming with odd trivia and bits of knowledge that you just can't get enough of until you accidentally chance upon That Topic - that one he just can't ever shut up about, and you cringe inside and try to edge away...

So I skipped a few chapters here and there. Anything with the Man in Black, or Catholics, or the entire linguistic histories of nations, oh, and the one about the Hungarian. Other than that, this book was a corker. I loved the on-the-road episodic storyline with a string of characters - a reverse Canterbury Tales. So many quirks and oddities - George Borrow must've been a strange one. My favorite thing about both this and "Lavengro" is the oh-so-clever (and understated) interweaving of characters. L is constantly running into people whose circumstances were affected by him in a roundabout way - and he never acknowledges it.

[GoldGato · Rating 2 out of 5]

This Borrow novel begins suddenly and ends suddenly. Since I've never read Lavengro, the first autobiographical account of the author's experience with the English Romani, I found myself trying to play catch-up (they really should be read one after the other). However, the journey is interesting, as he introduces characters with an empathy for the nomadic gypsy.

George Borrow led quite a life, one of travel and language. Along with publishing a dictionary of Anglo-Romany, he also did a Manchu translation of the bible. A true character, very eccentric.

Book Season = Autumn (caravans in the mud)

[paul holzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I picked this up by recommendation of Hetty Maclise. Despite not having read Lavengro, it met an expectation of continuing down the road of literature that offers journey and discovery within the sociology, anthropology, and aesthetic of walking and wandering. Anyways, the appendix of the book will fill in any reader who has not read the prequel.

The sojourn in this book is fun, light hearted, and really finds its own– presenting well written banter and anecdotal happenings worth revisiting.. For me the book was surprisingly eclectic and diverse in its commentary on various subjects and regions. In many instances the take on religion and linguistics is quite entertaining and there are various pithy lines to be noted. A nostalgic man missing the never coalesced relationship and trip the Americas churns the wander and vagabonding in this one.

[WILLIAM SEATON]

An overview of Borrow with is posted under the title "The Gypsy Gentleman [George Borrow]" on my blog at https://williamseaton.blogspot.com/20....

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

You certainly need to have read Lavengro before this - the snag is, that Lavengro is extremely heavy going, whereas this is more conversational, he names characters rather more, and it is generally less obscure. I almost got interested in a woman he meets, Isopel Berners - but then she leaves abruptly and that's that. The 'story' itself finishes abruptly -'oh, I think I'll go to India'- about 2/3 of the way through and the rest of the book is a set of essays fulminating against various aspects of life, notably Catholicism and 'genteel' notions. He must have been a very strange man. This pair of books really fits under the heading of historical curiosities: I really can't find anything relevant for the modern reader. Perhaps I'll try one of his works of travel, 'The Bible in Spain' or 'Wild Wales' - but not yet...

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot this this would be hard to follow without reading Lavengro first to which it is a sequel. Tales of characters met on the roads of England in mid 19th century, at horse fairs, encampments and inns. Quite a lot of railing against characters of stagecoach drivers and catholic priests. Like Lavengro it ends rather suddenly.