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Book Review: Ivanhoe
Mar. 18th, 2014 11:39 pmI've finished Ivanhoe! You guys, this book. It’s such a weird book. But in an awesome way. I imagine that originally Sir Walter Scott intended to have more Ivanhoe in the book that bears his name, but about halfway through Rebecca clearly breaks free of his control and takes over the book. This is clearly the best thing that could have happened to Ivanhoe: the moment she threatens to throw herself off the ramparts to escape the clutches of the evil Knight Templar Bois-Guilbert is the moment that the book bursts into life.
( Spoilers for Rebecca's storyline )
Meanwhile, as Rebecca is being all stalwart, Ivanhoe spends most of his time convalescing and complaining about how hard it is having to lie around while other people decide his fate. Why yes, Ivanhoe, that is hard. But look how stoically Rebecca is doing it!
I actually really enjoyed this book, and not just for Rebecca: it's over the top in just the right way. The good characters live, the bad characters die - or at least, some of them do. Some of them just get exiled. And some of them, like Prince John, just stay in England and presumably sulk about the failure of their plans to depose big brother Richard the Lionheart.
Why was Richard so lenient with his little brother? WHY. (Obviously this is a question for historians as well as Sir Walter Scott. WHY?)
Possibly I should lay my hands on some of Sir Walter Scott's other novels. The man wrote a lot of novels. Does anyone have suggestions which ones to keep my eye out for?
( Spoilers for Rebecca's storyline )
Meanwhile, as Rebecca is being all stalwart, Ivanhoe spends most of his time convalescing and complaining about how hard it is having to lie around while other people decide his fate. Why yes, Ivanhoe, that is hard. But look how stoically Rebecca is doing it!
I actually really enjoyed this book, and not just for Rebecca: it's over the top in just the right way. The good characters live, the bad characters die - or at least, some of them do. Some of them just get exiled. And some of them, like Prince John, just stay in England and presumably sulk about the failure of their plans to depose big brother Richard the Lionheart.
Why was Richard so lenient with his little brother? WHY. (Obviously this is a question for historians as well as Sir Walter Scott. WHY?)
Possibly I should lay my hands on some of Sir Walter Scott's other novels. The man wrote a lot of novels. Does anyone have suggestions which ones to keep my eye out for?
