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UK Holidays - Rob Roy (Oxford World's Classics)
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List Price: $10.95
Our Price: $8.76
Your Save: $ 2.19 ( 20% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.7
EAN: 9780192817631
ISBN: 0192817639
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 560
Publication Date: 1998-11-19
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA
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Editorial Reviews:
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By turns thrilling and comic, Rob Roy contains Scott's most sophisticated treatment of the Scottish Highlands as an imaginary space where the modern and the primitive come together. Newly edited from the `Magnum Opus' text of 1830, this edition includes full explanatory notes and a critical introduction exploring the originality and complexity of Scott's achievement.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Historical introduction sheds light on Clan Gregor
Comment: I read the introduction to the second edition of this book with fascination, as it shares secrets about Clan Gregor that are not found in any modern book. The fact that the Clan descends from the third son of Scotland's first king, King MacAlpine, for instance! What happened to Clan Gregor is a microcosm of what happened when the Scottish and English crowns sought to enforce control over native inhabitants [the Highlanders: MacDonalds, MacGregors and other clans] having a claim of many hundreds of years of longevity on the land, by imposing an artificial feudal structure (crown-derived 'Earls' or 'Lords') that dispossessed the natives through "royal" or "legal" land grants. That the inhabitants were not included in the councils that converted their status from freeholders into tenants illustrates the arrogance and foolhardiness of power and produced the only possible result for a pastoral people: they resorted to the sword for justice. Surely, this was not the way to treat the descendants of a king: would Attila the Hun have graciously accepted his subjugation?! Then the crown becomes even more surprised that the Highlanders later rebel, steal and kill--as it attempted even further measures of expropriation & annihilation! No wonder it was spoken of these imposed 'Lords' and the evil system that supported them, "Woe to those who laugh now, for you shall mourn".
Customer Rating:
Summary: Difficult but worth it in the end
Comment: The first Scott book I've read so far is Ivanhoe. Now at first I found Rob Roy very slow and almost put it down half way through, the Scottish dialect is very heavy and you got tired of constantly looking in glossary to look up what they mean. Add to that many Scotch proverbs thrown in the text, which make absolutely no sense even after you decipher them with the glossary, but of course there is a separate glossary of familiar Scotch proverbs and sayings in the back if you are reading the Modern Library Classics edition. What I found helpful since there were many Scotch words not included in the book's glossary was a site dictionary.com. It has almost all the Scotch words, including Gaelic and Latin, making reading this book possible.
Scott's style is also very slow, written in a time 200 years ago when readers had more patience. I still have a 100 more pages to go as of writing this review, and it took me a month to get through what I have so far. The good about this book: Scott's depth of knowledge about the English culture and customs from the main character, Francis's point of view intrigued me. Scott's description of the landscape is beautifully done, including the Highlands, towns, characters and insides of places like inns and churchs. I've also gained a new appreciation just how different the culture of the Highlanders was from the Lowlanders at that time, and from the English too. If you can get over the initial hurdle of the books slow pace at first when Scott establishes the setting and have patience with the Scotch dialogue I think it is rewarding and fufilling.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An historical novel with meaning for our times
Comment: Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott is a grand adventure story by the master of the historical novel. The reader is well advised to do two things before starting this book. The first is to spend some time learning about the history of England and Scotland at the time of the novel, specifically the period around the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. An hour or so on Google should do the trick. The second is to get a dictionary of Scottish words from that period since much of the dialogue is in that language. For example, "I wasna likely to gi'e up that for a guinea, I trow." And " He's no a'thegether sae void o' sense neither; he has a gloaming sight o' what's reasonable." Or try this one "Mattie had ill-will to see me set awa on this ride, and grat awee, the sillie tawpie; but it's nae mair ferlie to see a woman greet than to see a goose gang barefit." At least learn the meaning of such words as "bailie" and "muckle." Here again the Internet is a valuable aid.
The book gives a clear and sympathetic view of life in England and Scotland in the period around 1715. It illustrates the anger and bitterness caused by religious and political differences and the difficulty people from different cultural backgrounds have in getting along with each other.
The title of the book is something of a misnomer since the title character is not the main protagonist. The story centers around Francis (Frank) Osbaldistone, a young Englishman. Francis' father, William, is a wealthy London merchant who wants his son to follow him in the business. But Francis has other thoughts and his hard-nosed father sends him away to the North of England to his former residence where his brother now lives with his six sons. The idea is that one of these worthies will take Francis' place in the business.
On the journey there he meets two characters that figure heavily in the story. The first is Morris, an agent of some sort who is carrying a mysterious bag. The second is a mysterious stranger who later turns out to be Rob Roy. Morris claims he was robbed and accuses Francis of the crime, but he is vindicated, largely on the say so of Rob Roy who shows up at the right moment throughout the book.
When Francis first arrives at his uncle's manor he meets a beautiful and spirited young woman, Diana Vernon. Of course he falls in love with her in spite of the many obstacles that such a match would entail. It soon becomes clear that five of the six sons are neer-do-wells more given to carousing than business. The sixth son, the youngest, is well educated and the choice for the job, but is the villain of the piece. Rashleigh Osbaldistone is a Machiavellian character with designs on both Diana and fame and fortune. He goes to London to work in the firm but quickly absconds with important documents that would be the ruin of the firm if they are not returned. Becoming appraised of the situation Francis sets out for Scotland to find Rashleigh and recover the documents.
The story really takes off when Francis, accompanied by a Scottish gardener from the Osbaldistone homestead Andrew Fairservice, reach Glasgow. Francis soon learns that the firm his father has been dealing with is corrupt and makes the acquaintance of another business associate of this father, Baile Jarvie who agrees to help Frank recover the stolen documents. The trio, Francis, Jarvie and Fairservice (whom Francis has now hired as his servant) set out for the highlands. When they get there they have a variety of adventures including involvement in skirmishes between the British military and the locals. Fairservice is a character who provides much humor with his greed, arrogance, cowardice and other negative qualities. Francis puts up with him despite these machinations.
All of these adventures portray Rob Roy and his cause in a favorable light. Scott writes beautifully of the land and the devotion of the people to live in their own fashion apart from the values of England. In this sense the book has significant meaning for our own times where people want to live free from what they see as oppressive governments. The situation in Tibet as I write this review is an example.
I give it a rating of five stars because of the quality of the writing, the insights it provides into life in those times and its meaning for the present.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It Just Could Have Been a Romance
Comment: "Rob Roy" by Sir Walter Scott, edited by Edgar Johnson, © 1956
A very funny book. You do not come across Rob Roy until the middle of the story, and then it is sort of happenstance and conjecture that you understand it is him. He is the hero of this story, but it is really the story of another fellow, Francis (Frank) Osbaldistone, and his learning what is important in life. At 22 or 24 years of age, his father wants him to become a part of his business. Francis wants to read and write poetry, or some such easy life. He is sent packing by his father to his Uncle up north, where Francis meets the love of his life, Diane Vernon. Rob Roy (you are not introduced to him as such, just Mr Campbell) is an impressive lodger at an inn on Francis' way. He appears again to extricate Francis from some sordid legal hassle. Etc., etc.
In the end, Francis, and you are too, is surprised that Rob Roy dies in his bed of old age. Roy may be short for Royal (Robert Royal Campbell McGregor) or Scotch for red, the color of his hair. I was surprised that it was so readable. Some of Dicken's or Defoe's literature is very nearly unreadable, or should be read only by insomniacs, and this is not of that genre.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Don't expect too much
Comment: Rob Roy isn't my favorite Scott. I suspect he planned a different novel and it didn't go the way intended. This is fine, if you've enjoyed Waverley, Ivanhoe, even The Fortunes of Nigel. That's the time to pick this one up. Don't judge Scott, who can be funny, romantic and witty, by this rather sluggish tale which is light on Rob Roy. If you want to enjoy a good Rob Roy story, watch the movie. By far and away the best Tartan-ripper of recent times and historically a lot more accurate than Braveheart.
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