A book a bit difficult to understand but very interesting.

Oh yeah, and a bit too long.

I really wanted to like this one. The novel's a classic and relates to Scotland and my family history, but I couldn't make it through. I even bought a Scots/English dictionary but I just couldn't stick it out long enough for the plot to grab me.

La ficción histórica es uno de esos subgéneros de la literatura que en el camino se va adoptando a múltiples formas. La historia transcurre en el pasado, pero los personajes, las acciones y otros detalles quedan a merced de lo ficcionario del autor. Teniendo el pasado como su producto, el autor recurre a transformar aquella realidad, a un idealismo que a la larga se disuelve en una ficción. Con esto el autor lleva a sus lectores a un tiempo y un lugar determinado en el pasado, que muchos han querido limitar en el tiempo, pero esto cada día va quedando en meras posiciones de que mientras más cercanos estamos en el viaje del tiempo es mucho mejor la ficción histórica.

Rob Roy, de Sir Walter Scott, se desarrolla en el momento de la salvaje disputa entre escoceses e ingleses que llegó a un hervor sangriento con la rebelión de 1715. En ese momento, no había ningún rey escocés que gobernara Gran Bretaña, y muchos querían que gobernaran James VII de Escocia (o II de Inglaterra) y sus descendientes. Esta frustración impulsó los levantamientos jacobitas , los disturbios y las batallas para volver a colocar a Jacobo II y sus descendientes en el trono. Jacobite proviene de Jacobus, que es el nombre latino de James. El noble y carismático forajido Robert Roy MacGregor, cuyas atrevidas y valientes hazañas en nombre del pueblo escocés decide derrocar a sus opresores ingleses. Le han valido la reputación de Robin Hood de las Highlands.

El narrador y personaje principal de la historia es el inglés Frank Osbaldistone . Frank tiene una pelea con su padre porque no quiere unirse al negocio familiar. Debido a la pelea, el padre de Frank lo envía a quedarse con su tío, Sir Hildebrando Osbaldistone , que es un jacobita. En su camino a la casa de su tío, Frank se encuentra con Rob Roy , el forajido, que está disfrazado de un hombre llamado Sr. Campbell. Frank también conoce a Diana Vernon, la sobrina de Sir Hildebrando Osbaldistone, y finalmente se enamora de ella. Rashleigh , el hijo de Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, roba documentos financieros esenciales para la familia Osbaldistone y escapa a Escocia. Frank decide pedir ayuda a Rob Roy para restaurar el honor de su padre. Los levantamientos jacobitas estallan y en la batalla Rashleigh intenta matar a Frank, pero Rob Roy mata a Rashleigh antes de que pueda hacerlo. Al final, Frank hereda la propiedad de Osbaldistone y se casa con Diana.

En lo personal, si bien tiene un trasfondo histórico el texto interesante, hay momento en el mismo que se hace algo monótono, pesado, así como nos puede ocurrir con cualquier otro texto, y haciendo uso de los derechos del lector, que nos confiere Daniel Pennac, a saltarnos páginas, nos nos cae mal. Ahora no le quitaremos el mérito, está bien escrito. Pero esta monotonía no solo se ve en el texto, sino también en una adaptación, no del texto en si, sino del personaje como tal llevada al cine de 1995, que inicio de la misma, solo me preguntaba, cuando ira a comenzar la película, y no es hasta mitad cuando uno comienza a ver acción.

Why write just a few words when you could instead write long and tangential sentences in which the beginning will be forgotten by the time you get to the end?

Una buena novela histórica del romanticismo de las que Scott es maestro innegable. Se nota si amor por Escocia y sus paisajes verdes y neblinosos. Muy recomendable.

This book was boring. This book had 500 pages that did not really talk about anything. One thing that I liked about this book was that it sounded like two different books. The beginning talks about the time that Francis spends at Osbaldistone hall, where he learns that there are undisclosed secrets. Then the book becomes more active and the narrator becomes more active too.

This wasn't quite what I was expecting. I've given it four stars as I really like Walter Scott and I enjoyed the style. However Rob Roy himself is a marginal character. It is through Frances' eyes we see the story and I found him to be a bland and not especially engaging character. His observations on other people were acute and well delineated but when it came to himself, he was far less insightful. His clumsy courtship of Diana Vernon was only interesting because she was interesting - and it was hard not feel that she had been shoe-horned in for no other reason than to act as a romantic interest for Frances. Frances was such an unlikely Romantic hero that every time he said something along the lines of ' I reached for my sword...' my immediate thought was 'Where did he get a sword? Can he actually use a sword? He'll just hurt himself. Surely he'd be better off running away.' Which sums up how I felt about the narrator in a nut shell. That said this is described as one of Walter Scott's great Romances and deservedly so. He did after all create the entire genre and this is a good example of it. Not one of my favourites, however this still has much to recommend it - not least of which Scott's beautiful descriptions of the landscape and of a time now lost.

Given my name, I have always had this on my reading list, just never got to it. What surprised me is that though Rob Roy is portrayed in the novel, it isn’t about him. His portrayal is that of the “Robin Hood” of Scotland, high minded, fearless, and a man of honor. Intertwined with the story line is the Jacobite rebellion, and the tensions between the highlander Scots and the English. I wouldn’t call this a great read, but interesting nonetheless.

I admit I entered into this with the expectation that it would tell roughly the same story as the movie (understandable, I think, given that our hardcopy of this literally has Liam Neeson's character on the cover), and as a result, I was massively disappointed. Forget a dramatic romp through the Highlands: the protagonist is an English young man (NOT Rob Roy) who doesn't even make it to Scotland until 1/3 of the way through the book. His story is fairly dry ("But papa, I don't *want* to inherit the family business! Oh I can't marry this girl I like? I will meekly roll over and accept that and not ask a single question why but will instead assume that HER FATHER is her husband!"), and Rob Roy and his wife, when they do deign to make brief appearances, are infinitely more interesting. I felt like I was being trolled and Scott was deliberately telling an exciting tale in the most uninteresting and roundabout way. The only real retelling of Rob's story is in the very lengthy Author's Note at the end of the book, which is likewise told quite blandly. Granted, telling any part of Rob's story with sympathy for the character was kind of a bold move for the time given his English audience, as was the more direct way of writing the female characters. I think Scott's prolix prose style just isn't for me; I remember being quite bored with Waverly too.

Rob Roy isn’t the main character but a side character. The main character doesn’t DO much of interest however there’s some intrigue and cloak and dagger, but our main character is a spectator more often than not. The story’s intended audience seems to be those who want a not much fun historical fiction set in a Jacobite rebellion with some Rob Roy cameos.

Not my favorite Walter Scott novel for several reasons: the Scottish dialect made a significant portion unintelligible; I am not familiar with the historical events surrounding this novel (to be fair that’s my failing, not the novel’s); the story pace didn’t suit me & I didn’t feel connected to the characters. Still, it was fun to meet Rob Roy & Helen MacGregor, Frank Osbaldistone and Diana Vernon, & to read it in community.

(2019) I love a good classic, and while there are some moments that drag in this one, I love the history and the epic-ness of the tale. The Scottish dialogue definitely took some time to adjust to, but I heard the Scottish brogue as I was reading. Having the lead character remain a passive player throughout the story was an interesting narrative choice, but it ultimately worked for me as I watched history unfold just as he was doing.

(Previous reading) 4 stars