Well, that was fun. ^_^

Ivanhoe is a fun action-filled adventure set around 1200.  Richard the Lionheart is King, his brother, John, is scheming against him, and Robin Hood is a minor character.  Knights fight and damsels get rescued.  Need I say more?  Well, actually,  I do.  As a book first published in 1820, it has some major differences from a modern novel.  First, ideological discussions that may take only a few paragraphs in a similar work today span multiple pages in Ivanhoe.  These can be very interesting, but also set the book on a markedly slower pace than modern equivalents.  Second, Ivanhoe's sensibilities and mores do not remotely reflect contemporary standards.  Suffice it to say that virtually every page contains at least some antisemitism, which all the characters consider normal, albeit to varying degrees.  A reader who can get past these anachronisms, will likely find this classic quite entertaining.

I feel rather embarrassed giving this novel 5 stars. While the excitement and adventures roar along like a bullet train, the depth of some of the characters and details within the story are somewhat lacking. Yet I enjoyed it SO much!

Wamba is perhaps my favourite character (possibly everyone's favourite!) and yet each one has a distinct "flavour" that is quite memorable. I still don't know why this novel is titled "Ivanhoe". You could name many, many characters who were more present than he was but it's a small quibble. I just loved it!

How could I not like this? My five-year-old nephew made me watch the TV movie (the one with Anthony Andrews as Ivanhoe) about a dozen times, so I was inspired to reread the original. I don't know much about historical correctness, but I did enjoy the language, all the thous and thees and stuff, the dashing and noble knights, the fair and gentle maidens, Saxons and Normans, Robin Hood, Richard Coeur de Lion, and how good ultimately triumphs over evil, i.e. bigotry, greed, selfish passions. Although I did feel somewhat sorry for the top villain Bois-Guilbert.
While Ivanhoe himself was wounded and thus out of the story a bit too much for my liking, my favourite character and heroine in this has to be the wonderful and lovely Rebecca. There are interesting parallels in her treatment by the "Christian" knights Templar, who could hardly be less Christ-like, to Jesus and the Pharisees ...
If Rebecca's father Isaac is a bit of a caricature of the money-loving Jew along the lines of "My daughter! My ducats!", she is easily the noblest of them all.
A rather satisfying read, but oh, I'm so grateful not to have lived in those dark ages!

I read this ages ago. But at the time I was absolutely entranced by this novel. It has knights and rogues, romance and adventure, Templars (they are evil here) and Robin Hood crew. Yes, the plot is a bit naive and characters are black & white. But this is a charming novel with lots of heart to it. If you are 12 - beg, borrow or steal yourself a copy (but try begging and borrowing first).

When Sir Walter Scott famously threw down his cape in order to protect a lady's footwear, I was charmed.

By contrast, when reading "Ivanhoe" I was slogging through the novel out of duty. It was a classic, I'd been told. So what if the characters never seemed quite real to me?

So what if I felt that the plot was wholly unrelatable?

Look, this book was written to please readers of adventure, that kind of adventure. It wasn't until many decades after I did my schoolgirl reading of Ivanhoe that I realized... it wasn't my obligation to become an enthusiastic reader of physical adventure.

My jam is exploring consciousness, big history, learning and teaching, and other forms of inner adventure. That's hardly Walter Scott's fault. ;)

This is the original, the classic romantic adventure of chivalry, tournaments, damsels in distress, noble knights, evil villains and daring rescues. It is full of exciting action, lofty ideals and beautiful maidens, jousts and battles to the death. In fact, this is THE novel that originally put the buckle in the swash.

The tale is set during the reign of Richard the Lionheart, who is absent on a crusade, and his weak, greedy and changeable brother John rules in his stead. The ruling Normans are opposed by the oppressed Saxons, lead by Cedric, the old stubborn Saxon lord who even disowned his own son for following King Richard, a Norman. He is guardian of Rowena, the beautiful princess descended from the old Saxon kings, and wants her to marry Ethelstan, the last male Saxon heir to the throne.

We have a large cast of colorful characters, among whom the titular Ivanhoe shows up probably the least. We see way more of Cedric, his father, John and his norman courtiers, the Knight Templars, and the Jew Isaac and his beautiful and talented daughter, Rebecca. King Richard also appears, and entertainingly makes acquaintence with Friar Tuck, Robin Hood and his merry men. Scott spends quite a bit on character development, and we are treated to several humorous bits involving Friar Tuck, Robin Hood, and Ethelstan and his appetite.

Sir Walter Scott’s language is quite readable and the action and scenery are well described. However, most characters talk in long and circuituos sentences, never neglecting using fifty words where five would do… so this makes it a bit tedious. On audio, with a good narrator, this is not so much a drawback, but I probably would have skipped quite a bit if I was reading it.

With a work this old there are always problematic parts. This one drips with antisemitic characters. While Scott feels for his Jew and his beautiful daughter and laments how despite their money, they could any time be robbed, expelled or worse, he lets his characters abuse and shame the Jews in pretty much every scene. They go on and on about how dirty and infidel they are and they don’t even want to touch them. I am sure in reality the Jews were way cleaner than most Christians…

The other is the terrible misogyny. We know that damsels were supposed to be beautiful, modest and needing to be rescued, I expected that. And Scott does speak out against the terribly flimsy excuses and lies with which a female good at healing could be declared a witch whenever she became inconvenient to someone. But the scene where Cedric despises Ulrika for sharing the bed of her abductors and still being alive just really made me angry. She was raped, she had no choice in the matter! She needed sympathy, not shaming.

Overall this work stands the test of time - it is still entertaining, and if I could get over the antisemitism and the misogyny, I would give it five stars.

Ivanhoe is a classic that is well worth reading for its historical significance alone. Personally, I have mixed feelings about the book itself, but I'm happy I read it. The writing isn't accessible and the characters lack dept, but Ivanhoe still proved an interesting read. I found Ivanhoe fascinating in many ways. First of all, the historical setting and the events it describes were quite completing. I understand that the novel isn't completely historically accurate, but I still think it can teach us something about this period in English history. Moreover, not only is Ivanhoe a historical novel, it is also one that has historical significance. Published in 1819, it is often credited with popularizing medieval history and romance. The novel probably had a profound influence on literature set in medieval times. Moreover, it definitely influenced our modern perceptions of famous characters such as: Richard the Lionheart, King John, Robin Hood and his gang (the merry friar and so on).

As a novel, Ivanhoe failed to impress me. The plot isn't bad as such, but somehow the novel feels too long. The writing is at times beautiful and there were even some comic episodes, but on the overall the novel feels overwritten. The moralizing passages are often particularly long. While the novel somewhat explores the Jewish- English relations, it doesn't really go into depth. The position of Jews in medieval England is a subject I'm interested it. While I'm glad it was a part of the book, I was left hungry for more. Similarly, some other historical events were not really explored in detailed. A large part of the novel is devoted to the concept of chivalry and christian morality and quite frankly, most of it was quite boring.

More than anything, this novel lacks compelling characters. In terms of characterization, everything is black and white. Ivanhoe the protagonist is such a dull character that even minor characters seem more interesting. This 'good guy' is so annoyingly and unconvincingly perfect, that the cardboard villain seems more human. There is no character development to speak of in this novel, not when it comes to the protagonist and hardly any when it comes to others. In my opinion, Rebecca 'The Jewess' is the only character that came to life. She is absolutely the best character in the novel and the only thing that saves it from being mediocre. If only Ivanhoe had the sense to fall in love with her or express something else than 'platonic' feelings, maybe he wouldn't have seemed such a bore. He isn't much of a protagonist, I'm afraid. Indeed, this novel had its flaws. Nevertheless, I would still recommend it.

I love(d) this book and was torn between 4 and 5 stars. Can we call it 4.5? Heck, let's just say 5! I read it first long ago and it holds up well over the years (its and yours). A classic for a reason.

You'll find synopsis after synopsis here and elsewhere. But if you like adventure, heroism, romance, loyalty, betrayal...any or all of the above you won't go wrong here.

King Richard the Lion Heart...Robin Hood (Locksley)...Knights Templar...Saxons vs. Normans...Gentiles vs. Jews....Knights from the Crusades....Tournaments...jousts...melees...treachery...single combat...love...loss...reconciliation...heroics! This thing has more to offer than The Princess Bride! Well, no one gets murdered by pirates...and it is a "kissing book", but it's still a great read, and it's a classic so you get extra points!

Okay, so my sense of humor got the best of me for a second there.

While this book may not appeal to some, as it is definitely dated, it was written in 1819, and its syntax and construction aren't what modern readers will be used to, that won't bother most I'd think. I read this book first when I was 13 or 14. I stumbled across it in a grandparent's house one summer, and it captured my interest. The book is a historical fiction and an action adventure of it's day and while it may not move as today's action adventures do, there is so much more than that here. The depth of the prose blows away what we might call "action adventure" today. There is high adventure here that should please adventure lovers and the romantics among us. (When "Sir Desdichado" challenged the entire field at the joust I was hooked!)

Yep, on second thought no question, 5 stars. This book is highly recommended.

A novel set in the aftermath of the Third Crusade (1189–1192).

It deals with the enmities brooding between the Normans conquerors and the Saxon former occupants of England... Now you can plainly see it is fashionable 19th reenactment of History, with byronic characters strutting in medieval garment.

I remember how impressed I was with Scott, writing in the first 19th century and setting a close to meliorative portrait of Jews. That is, mainly in the embodiment of Rebecca.

I also remember how dreary and tedious and dull this reading have been.

Minstrelsy :
Prince Rupert Awakes - King Crimson

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Souvenir d'être étonné par le multiculturalisme de Scott, qui brosse un portrait presque mélioratif des Juifs, souvenir d'un ennui ferme.

Accompagnement rétro :
Prince Rupert Awakes - King Crimson

Reseña pendiente del 2012. Lo terminé el año pasado. Este libro lo encontré por casualidad en la biblioteca de mi universidad. Siempre me llevo los libros por impulso, si me parece curiosa la portada o me gusta la sinopsis. Pero ustedes saben, los libros viejos no traen sinopsis y son un completo misterio. He aquí la razón por la cual me lo llevé sin pensarlo:



Reseña completa: http://rapsodia-literaria.blogspot.co...

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott, is set in England during the reign of King Richard , who is away on the Crusades to the Holy Land , leaving the administration of the country to his scheming brother , John , and his corrupt court cronies like Waldemar Fitzurse , Malvoisin and Front-de-Bouef.
Meanwhile a mysterious Disinherited Knight, aided by another anonymous Knight in black amour (Le Noir Fainéant) defeats all of King John's favorite knights at the jousting tournament at Ashby.
The challenger is revealed as Wilfred of Ivanhoe, the disinherited son of the Saxon nobleman, Cedric, who is the beloved of his father's charge, the comely Rowena.
The character who was for me, the most interesting, was the beautiful `black eyed' Jewish beauty, Rebecca, the daughter of the merchant Isaac of York. Compassionate and yet fiery, humble yet proud, sensual and yet modest, it is not hard to understand the passion for her felt by the Knight Templar, Brian De-Bois Gilbert. She and her father must try to survive in a violently anti-Semitic society, in which they are rendered defenseless, as members of a humbled nation. Rebecca, faced with a horrific fate, refuses to renounce her faith, right until the end.
Rebecca thus says during her trial by the order of Knights Templars: " ` To invoke your pity' said the lovely Jewess, with a voice tremulous with emotion `would I am be aware, , be as useless as I should hold it mean...Nor will I even vindicate myself at the expense of the oppressor which seem to convert the tyrant into the victim."

So you see how timeless words of wisdom can be.

Also thrown into the book are Robin Hood and his Merry Men, and the witty Jester Wamba . A quotable quote from Wamba from Wamba is " To restrain them by their sense of humanity is the same as to stop a runaway horse with a bridle of silk thread.

The book is a pleasure to read. As Herbert Strang wrote in an early 20th century edition of Ivanhoe: "In introducing this great story to a new generation of boys and girls, I find myself wishing that I too, where about to read Ivanhoe for the first time"

After having read Ivanhoe , I can understand exactly why he wrote that.