Thoughts at end of volume 1.

[Tracey]

Post comments freely but do not post beyond this week’s reading.

[Tracey]

I have finally started the book and so far I am enjoying it. Some interesting characters.

[Rosemarie]

This is a good one, Tracey. Happy reading!

[Tracey]

Rosemarie wrote: "This is a good one, Tracey. Happy reading!"

I have all my Christmas preparations done and so I am going to have a stressfree time reading this between now and the New Year.

[Tracey]

My thoughts at the end of book one are all positive. I love the characters and how well-drawn they are. I love the beliefs of Scott displayed through the characters and their interactions with each other.
Several persons have come into the story and then vacated early on and I look forward to more of their story. Meg Merrilies is an interesting character. With her gipsy beliefs and the reading of the celestial bodies by Mannering, the book certainly has plenty of superstitions for a book written by a Christian. However, I find that this is not unusual for this time period and indeed even down to my mother's generation these things commonly went hand in hand.

I not exactly sure why Mannering came back to Ellangowan and I think I missed something. I was reading this over the Christmas period so I am blaming that for my lack of concentration on that point. Can anyone answer my question about this?

The decline of the house of Ellangowan in book 1 after the tragedy of the beginning is a typical pattern for a novel of this time period; those struck down will rise again. This is what I am expecting. Whilst it is somewhat formulaic I still love it. At times the drama is a little cliched but I do not think it is overly so and Scott I feels does a great job by portraying other characters with very human feelings and attitudes. Julia is especially an almost modern female character with her sharp wit and confidence. Lucy Bertram is more the typical heroine of the period but again I still like her. Overall I prefer Julia.

Mannering's response to Brown is understandable and I feel that the deception that was played against him was very unfair. How can a man make wise judgements when he is being deceived by the very people who he should be able to trust the most? Brown's feelings towards Mannering is also understandable and his attitude to winning Julia is very commendable.

Finally, I mention Dominie Sampson. What a wonderful character and his love of books and the descriptions of him lost in his own world are delightful. A man too proud to be vain, is how Scott described him. He is doing what he considered the most important work and in this alone he is absorbed. I have felt this in my own work and it is a wonderfully freeing experience. It reminds me of a quote from one of my favourite novels. My Ántonia by Willa Cather

'At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great.'

[Joseph]

Just resumed my reading.