Ivanhoe Reading a classic wasn't likely to turn out well, and it didn't, but for some reason I found myself remembering taking a long look at the old Romanian edition of Ivanhoe that was among those given away after being set aside for this purpose some time ago by my dad, and grabbing
the free Kindle edition as a result. But then I also checked the Library and saw that they had it in English as well, so I borrowed that instead... And then struggled with it for almost two weeks, rather having to force myself to keep reading. But I'll nevertheless admit there's some value to be found in it if, without being strict about realism, you have the right amount of interest in the period depicted and, more importantly, make plenty of allowances for that during which it was written.
Now there's not much left to say about a book first published just shy of two centuries ago, and even less after the expert introduction and notes found in this edition, which also point out historical errors and anachronisms I otherwise wouldn't have been aware of, but I will mention that needing to keep flipping back and forth due to the notes being at the end instead of at the bottom of the pages definitely didn't help. Past that, just a quick and incomplete list of issues, in random order: The author tends to skip back and forth in time, which may be confusing. With few exceptions, Rebecca likely being the most notable, characters lack depth, to the point that plenty may be best referred to as caricatures. It's odd that the book's titled after a character that's presented and does less than quite a number of others. There are frequent lengthy and particularly convoluted descriptions and explanations, likely to bore and even confuse. Speech is particularly forced and theatrical. For that matter, I guess the whole thing can be seen more as a play... But, returning to those necessary allowances, maybe that raised far fewer eyebrows back when it was written.
Rating: 3/5 (
GR |
blog)
