My main complaint is that it is a little slow getting started. It is pretty rich with dialogue which makes it interesting but the description of the scenery, the stealing of the goose and the first chapter are not necessary. I still prefer Ivanhoe, but this book was still enjoyable.

I read the Oxford classics edition of this book and I learned that I am constitutionally unable to skip the end notes. Scott wrote 30 notes for the 300 page novel, but the editor added another 100 pages worth of background on Scottish history and specific citations for the quotations Scott used. I am not convinced that this level of detail contributed much to this story of a young girl married off to a man chosen by her controlling mother rather than to the man she preferred (and had secretly promised to wed).

now on BBC Classic Serial starts June 29

Mike Harris adapts Sir Walter Scott's The Bride of Lammermoor.

The novel is set in the Lammermuir Hills of south-east Scotland at the beginning of the 18th Century and tells of a tragic love affair between young Lucy Ashton and her family's enemy Edgar Ravenswood.

The Ashtons and Ravenswoods have been enemies for centuries - but will a proposed union between the warring families finally bring peace?

Music Composed and performed by Ross Hughes and Esben Tjalve
Violin and viola - Oliver Langford

Written by Mike Harris
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.

A very uneven reading. Some parts are fantastic (e.g. the last few chapters) some are dull. The Balderstone comedic elements grew tiresome on me after a while. A nice wintertime reading but definitely not a favorite. Loved the gothic elements, disliked the episodic comedy.

Walterio Skoto romanas, kurio veiksmas vyksta Škotijoje. Dviejų šeimų tragiška istorija romantikos mėgėjams

I enjoyed reading this book. Interesting writing, though his use of commas almost everywhere was annoying. Also, I was disappointed in the ending - it was over too quickly! :(

My first by Walter Scott, this wasn't a particular favorite and I might have given it 2 1/2 stars if I could. The most interesting thing about the story is that (as Scott mentions at the beginning), it has roots in a tragic true love affair. The story, set in Scotland in the 1600's, was interesting, but there was too much incidental stuff. Caleb, our hero, Edgar's manservant, provides some comic relief. But too much time is spent with Caleb doing things that aren't important to the plot. The protagonist, Lucy, is the insipid, prone-to-fainting type of heroine common for the age. Until she up and stabs her new husband (!). More interesting is her mother, who reminded me strongly of Lady MacBeth. And Edgar made me think of Hamlet. The whole thing would have been a good Shakespeare play.

My first book from Walter Scott. I was a little bit lost with all the political intrigue (don't know a lot about Scotland history and politics). But overall I enjoyed the story. I want to discover more Scott's books.

I read this novel in preparation for learning the role of Lucia in Donizetti's opera loosely based on the text. I've never been a huge fan of gothic lit., but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Scott's prose. I found Lucy to be an uninspiring piece of characterless fluff, only there as a plot point, but I highly enjoyed the secondary characters that don't make an appearance in the opera. For a novel full of such dark, brooding landscapes and heroes, I found myself laughing several times at the antics of Ravenwoods's servant Caleb. Once I got used to the shifts between the vernacular Scots of the lower classes and the standard English of the narrator and the upper classes it really was quite a fun read.
The first chapter, however, was the densest thing I've read in a while and had nothing to do with the plot.

You need to take a class and a full semester to understand everything going on in this book and the political context with which it was written. What a luxury were the days when people did not have access to that many books where one would savor and read from cover to cover a new book. Since I have so many books on my list, I don't feel like I had the time to truly appreciate this novel. I gave it 4 stars for quality. I'll save any further reading of Scott for the next time I visit Scotland.

Sir Walter Scott based this story on one he had been told that had happened over a hundred years before his time, in the 1600s. He constantly refers to fashions that were prevalent then but were out of date when he lived (he was born in 1771). He is a good story teller, and he paints an interesting picture of what life was like, at least for the nobility and the rich (who were usually the same). Life was risky, and men of a certain rank had to be ready to draw their swords and defend their honor at any time. Women were often treated like possessions. As for the love story between Ravenswood and Lucy in the book, it is better to read it without knowing the ending in advance.

Perhaps lacking a bit in structure and depth, but a charming read and a window into a time long ago bemused between the ages of clan rivalry and old chivalry with political strife and legal wrangling. All in all, all our characters paths are murky and their fates grim as traditions fued with changing customs, and accepted behaviors fail to find a coherent social architecture.

I'd hoped Lucy would have had more character or more life to her. She's a feather in the wind.

Will take the reader time to get used to Sir Scott's very old fashioned penmanship prose.