Book of the Week: Ivanhoe

Title: Ivanhoe
Author: Sir Walter Scott
Year Published: 1819/1820
Short Synopsis:  There is so much going on and so many characters that "short" is going to be difficult.  But I'll give it a go.
The story is set in approximately the year 1194, during the times of Robin Hood, Prince John, and the famed Richard the Lionheart's return to England after the Third Crusade and his captivity in Austria.  Wilfred of Ivanhoe is a brave Saxon knight who returns to England from his escapades in the Crusades.  He has been disinherited by his father for his loyalty to King Richard the Lionheart, and finds his ladylove, The Lady Rowena, betrothed to another man.  
Not to worry, Rowena still loves him.  Ladies just don't have a lot of say in things in these times.  There is, however another extremely beautiful woman who shows great affection for Ivanhoe by nursing him back to health after injuries sustained in a jousting tournament.  The catch is that this second woman, Rebecca, is a Jew.  And Jewish people are not treated very kindly at this point in history.  In fact, people are really very nasty to them.  
Throughout the story there are battles, villainous knights (two of them in particular declare themselves madly in love with each of the heroines in the story), Robin of Locksley (also known as Robin Hood) and his merry men, a mysterious Black Knight, a couple of faithful and entertaining slaves (The jester, Wamba, is easily my favorite character in the whole story) and many exciting twists and turns.  Although the story is only loosely based on fact, it brings to life many of the characters you might expect to meet in 1194 England.  Reading this book made me interested enough in that time period and setting that I did more research on my own about people, places, and events referenced in the story. (Note: keep in mind that this story is fiction and should be read as such).

Some things that I liked: The characters are great.  There are lots of them, but they are all needed for the story.  The book is surprisingly funny (for one that is also heavy and often archaic) and I laughed out loud at some of the witty exchanges.  The story moved along fairly quickly, considering how long the book really is.

Things I can't decide whether I liked or not: The way the characters spoke.  I'm sure they did say "thee" and "thou" at this time period, but it did bother me that the slaves spoke in the exact same way as the ladies and knights did.  However, the fact that they take the time to say things like:
"Turn, false-hearted Templar! let go her whom thou art unworthy to touch---turn, limb of a hand of murdering and hypocritical robbers!" before launching a blow at someone really, really makes me smile.  Not realistic in the least, but I still like it for some reason.


Some things that I didn't like so much:  It's very wordy.  There are lots of looooong descriptions of things that I still couldn't picture after a page-and-a-half.  But I sort of expected that from something written in the 1820's (yes, I know I'm unfairly profiling, but I was right in this case).  There were lots of words used (Examples: blench, flitch, gammon, buskins) that I would have been completely lost on were it not for my trusty Kindle dictionary feature.  And most of all, it did not take me back to England, 1194.  One of my favorite things in a book is to really feel like I am there.  And despite all of the descriptions and obvious knowledge the author had about the time period, I felt more like I was in a play of people acting about 1194 England than actually being there.  If that makes sense.


My Rating: 1 out of 3 stars.  (1 = good, 2 = better, 3 = best).  Worth a read, but it's not the easiest read out there.  I do recommend the 1952 movie, Ivanhoe, with Robert Taylor and Elizabeth Taylor.  It follows the book quite well.  I also see that there is a BBC mini-series of Ivanhoe, from 1997.  I have not seen it, so I have no idea if it's good or not, but BBC has a tendency to make good shows.  If anybody has seen it, leave me a comment and let me know if it was worth the watch!


Thus ends my first "book of the week" review.  I'm going to try to read something lighter for next time :)