This fell in the category of classics I feel I should have read. It also reinforced my belief that people used to be much more willing to spend a lot of time reading a book. Quite long, but a good story.

A blood 'n thunder historical romance/ and a sword 'n sabre swashbuckling yarn, set during the bloody era of Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Highland Jacobites - by none other than the original Great Scott!

And, I might add, THE Greatest Scottish Novelist.

Why, then, did he want to write a book about a gigantic STING (ie, Swindle, as in the classic Robert Redford flick)?

Easy.

Scott had been recently stung himself - out of ALL his ripe retirement Nest Egg.

Ouch.

So what did he do? Roll over and play dead? Not on your life....

He put his immense literary talents to industrious work - until, once again, his family was very comfortable. His wife and kids, when he died, were now set for life.

Just like President Grant did for his family, as a now-indigent investor - another swindle - after the Civil War...

He Wrote.

Well, it worked for both men in Spades. And this book shows why it worked for Scott...

Francis is a Young Dreamer - unlike his evil cousin Rashleigh, who only wants to fleece Francis' side of the family of their vast fortune. Francis' rather naive mission - should he choose to accept it, and show his Dad he's not a bum - is to find out why the family's fortune is vanishing.

But all he'll find in uncivilized Scotland is traces of Rashleigh's "double, double, toil and trouble!" Oh, and a Burning Birth of Young Love in himself - for Rashleigh's virtuous Catholic sister.

Will Francis shine in his dire assignment? Will he save his Dad's good name from the deep blue opprobrium of bankruptcy? And - most important - will his ladylove find him every inch as dashing in the end as he dreams he could be?

The Struggle will prove Hideously Real - but, in the end, Successful.

So if you liked The Three Musketeers and Lord of the Rings, try this more realistic daredevil romance!

It's guaranteed to keep you turning its ancient pages to the end, when

All shall be well,
And all manner of things will be well.

And NOW, here's a Great video.that tells you the full story of the great Rob Roy, so dear to Catholic Scots WORLDWIDE!

https://youtu.be/Bl91zElCyRg

I started this novel with friends and with an already established love of Scottish history. Both aided me. This novel forced me to fill in the gaps of the circumstances surrounding the earlier Jacobite uprisings in order to track with the story and for that I am grateful though it was indeed work, yet this is one of the main reasons, I love a good historical fiction novel. A good Scottish dictionary would also be helpful to keep at hand as you read as the Gaelic is hard to follow. There is a slow build up until you hit the middle of the book where you are finally introduced to Rob Roy and some exciting things happen that carry you to the end of the story. If those things do not dissuade you, you will delight to find another strong female character from Sir Walter Scott in Diana Vernon, a heroes journey for the main character, Frank, you will be simultaneously delighted by and yet pity Rob Roy, you will disdain the villain Rashleigh, you will cringe at Andrew’s foolishness, chuckle and appreciate Nichol Jarvie, and you will give Rob’s wife Helen MacGregor the due respect she demands and deserves. All in all, I really enjoyed the story and the characters. I especially enjoyed considering how merchants and business dealings guide and impact wars and uprisings. I am glad to have read before I pass off to future students.

The Scottish novel. Sir Walter warms my heart.

Fantastic - a good old fashioned cutlass-wielding intrigue and romance with a healthy dose of Scots history added for your edification. A significant chunk of the dialog is written in the Lowland Scots variant of UK English which makes it a bit tough going until you sort of get used to the phonetics, look up a few frequently repeated words, and learn how to infer the rest.

The majority of this book is highly boring. The Scots dialect is used throughout and makes it all but impossible to understand.

"Rob Roy" is my first Walter Scott novel, but I became a quick fan as I was entangled in his writing style, which focuses more on verbose and intricate language than it does on a straight-forward plot. I'm sure this style would be a turn-off to many readers, but it was right up my alley. The descriptions are lush when they need to be, the character development is spelled out rather bluntly, and much of the dialogue requires far more effort to decipher than I'm used to (making out the Highland dialect was tricky at first, but I got the hang of it), but the grammatical gymnastics Scott employs to complicatedly convey simple ideas had me in a constant state of giddyness.

Now, full disclosure: I'm certain there are two factors that influenced my enjoyment of the novel toward the positive.

1) I read the beginning of this novel while I was in Scotland, even spending one morning reading a few chapters while sitting on the bank of Loch Ness, which is rather similar scenery to the setting of a significant chunk of "Rob Roy". I also traveled around the in the Highlands while there, so when the novel's protaganist, Francis Osbaldistone, heads north to save the family business, Scott's descriptions rang very vividly in my mind.

2) While in Scotland, I purchased the first four volumes of a collection of Scott's works from a bookshop in Inverness. The volumes were published in 1862, which make them the oldest and coolest books in my personal library. They're not the kind of books you carry around with you and read in your spare time, so I didn't really buy them for reading. But just for kicks, I read the final two chapters from one of those volumes. I don't know if anyone thinks that's as interesting as I do, but reading from a book published just 30 years after the author's death, and published in his hometown of Edinburgh, nonetheless, tickled my inner-historian.

As for the story specifically, it read like a less self-consiously humerous Charles Dickens novel. Many colorful supporting characters drawn from the fringes of society; interesting insights into the societal divide between cultures; a hero who seems more along for the ride than the driving force behind the plot.

Indeed, the hero, Francis Osbaldistone, is a surprising one, considering the title of the novel. Rob Roy does show up, mind you, but doesn't really make a big splash until almost the half-way point. And when he does show up, its merely to highjack the story away from Francis's quest to retrieve some stolen documents vital to his father's business. But I suppose stealing the spotlight is completely in character for Rob Roy MacGregor, who pulls Francis into some historically based skirmishes related to the first Jacobite uprising in 1715.

And on a rather important sidenote: prior to visiting Scotland, I read up on the country's history, and being familiar with the Stewart/Hanover fued and the various Jacobian revolutions certainly made parts of "Rob Roy" easier to follow, as the fates of Francis and MacGregor both hinge on the shifting alliances of the Highland clans and the Osbaldistone family and the locals, both British and Scottish.

Alongside all of that there is a romance and inner-family treachery and exciting battles, but again, its the language itself that kept me excited to turn to the next page.

I feel that in the future, one of Scott's 'Waverly' novels is where I'll eagerly turn if I'd like to visit again the Scotland that I've now visited and read about.

n  

”No truth in plaids, no faith in tartan trews,
Camelion-like, they change a thousand hues.”

n

n  n

I remember when I was taking a Jane Austen survey class in college that while doing some research I came across this great quote she wrote about Walter Scott as a novelist. “Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones. — It is not fair. — He has fame and profit enough as a poet, and should not be taking the bread out of other people’s mouths. — I do not like him, and do not mean to like Waverley if I can help it — but fear I must.” Now when I shared the quote with the class, as part of my attempt to verbally contribute to discussion, it went over like a lead balloon. It took me a few seconds to realize that no one knew who Walter Scott was, except for the professor who luckily bailed me out by explaining that Scott wrote the book that inspired the movie Rob Roy (1995).

I’ve always liked that quote because it is a bit flirty and full of mock indignation. If I were Scott and I heard that quote, I’d have a little grin on my face for at least an afternoon.

Now, you might presume that Rob Roy is the hero of this novel, after all the book has a title bearing his name. You would be mistaken. The hero of this tale is none other than Frank Osbaldistone. This name does not inspire thoughts of a dashing or romantic figure. The name alone might keep a woman from thinking him marriageable material. He has another problem, though; he...thinks...he is a poet. Few can be a Walter Scott or a Lord Byron, capable of writing poetry well enough to exchange verse for shillings in quantities sizeable enough to keep one in food and shelter.

n  n
The dashing Rob Roy

Frank’s father is a self-made man. He has built a merchant empire from the sweat of his brow and by deftly managing his money. He wants Frank to learn the business with the thought that he will eventually take over. Frank is brimming with poetic verse. He can’t imagine himself shackled to the life of a merchant.

There are words. Blippity blip ungrateful kid blippity blip dab blast it.

Frank is shipped off to the ancestral Osbaldistone home to be exchanged for one of his cousins who will help with his father’s business. Many will think it is admirable that Frank decided to follow his passions, while all I wanted to do was give him a good shake. If I’d known the extent of the trouble his decision was going to cause, I would have turned that shake into a full on strangle.

In Northumberland, he meets the Scotsman Andrew Fairservice who becomes his less than loyal companion. Andrew is incapable of giving anything resembling fair service. He is a fool and, worse, a coward. He does add some spice to the novel with his Scottish brogue. ”Now, sir, it’s as muckle as your life’s worth---that wad be dear o’ little siller to be sure---but it is muckle as a’ our lives are worth, if ye dinna mind what I say to ye. In this public whar we are gaun to, and whar it is like we may hae to stay a’ night, men o’ a’ clans and kindred---Hieland, and Lawland---tak up their quarters. ---And whiles three are mair drawn dirks than open Bibles amang them when the usquebaugh gets uppermost. See ye neither meddle nor mak, nor gie nae offence wi’ that clavering tongue o’ yours, but keep a calm sough, and let ilka cock fight his ain battle.”

Frank’s cousin Rashleigh is the most like Frank among his relations. He reads. He can recognize a sonnet when he see it. He is, unfortunately, odiously ambitious. He is one of those men who could use his extraordinary brain to help so many others, but chooses through malicious gossip, nefarious underhanded deals, and political intrigue to raise himself up at the expense of others. He is a perfectly conceived villain who readers take pleasure in rooting against.

Rob Roy shows up about half way through the novel, when Frank has to take a trip to Glasgow. He is the man going PSST! from behind the church pillar or the disembodied voice from the bushes, who continues to offer cryptic, incomplete advice to Frank.

The beautiful Diana Vernon, another cousin of Frank, is the love interest. She is mysteriously unattainable due to obligations previously arranged by her father. It became kind of comical for me as the plot advances that at three different times she protests that Frank...must never see her again, but the daffy woman just keeps showing up.

n  n
Helen MacGregor

The description of the only other woman in the book is of Rob Roy’s wife, Helen. I thought, in a few sentences, Scott gave me a complete, majestic picture of the woman. ”She might be between the term of forty and fifty years, and had a countenance which must once have been of a masculine cast of beauty; though now, imprinted with deep lines by exposure to rough weather, and perhaps by the wasting influence of grief and passion, its features were only strong, harsh, and expressive. She wore her plaid, not drawn around her head and shoulders, as is the fashion of women in Scotland, but disposed around her body as Highland soldiers wear theirs. She had a man’s bonnet, with a feather in it, an unsheathed sword in her hand, and a pair of pistols at her girdle.”

She was a woman not to be trifled with.

Robert Louis Stevenson, the author who made me fall in love with reading, has stated that Rob Roy was his favorite Walter Scott novel. I’m not sure, given his recommendation, what has taken me so long to read the book. Scott gets a hard knock for being difficult to read, but after a few chapters, I found the rhythm of the book. As the plot advances or should I say when Rob Roy and his Highlanders show up, the pages start to turn faster. Though Andrew’s speeches look like gobblygook, if you sound them out the English words, lost from easy comprehension due to the missing letters, they start to shimmer into readable sentences. The edition I had included a handy glossary defining words not readily known in English. I found this extremely useful.

This book is best read under the slight influence of usquebaugh, but keep your dirk planted upright in the table near to hand, in case any lowlanders decide to make free with their mouths. Those bloody bastards don’t understand: “Honour is what no man can give you, and none can take away. Honour is a man's gift to himself.” And don’t let anyone...ever... step on yer tartan.

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Rob Roy is a far pithier title than the name of the protagonist in this story, Francis Osbaldistone, the spoiled, romantic son of an English merchant, a bit of a dunce, and an unlikely hero. This is a riot of a novel filled with wit and sly humour. The characters are distinct, colourful, and vividly portrayed. The 1715 Jacobite uprising is brewing, and political and social tensions are reaching a peak. This tale has it all: adventure, mystery, intrigue, betrayal, romance, a dastardly villain, and, of course, the heroic Rob Roy. Diana, the love interest, is certainly the most interesting character in the story and arguably one of the best heroines in classic literature. What I love about this novel is that it is a beautifully rendered travelogue of Scotland, and Sir Walter Scott’s deep, abiding love for the land is evident in his lyrical, breathtaking descriptions of this wild, majestic land.

It was kinda boring, and then it got exciting, and then boring, and then fine. Very dense language. I admire and love Sir Walter Scott for what he is and symbolizes for Scotland and for the genuinely good person he was. I am proud of the success he experienced in his lifetime. But it turns out I find his writing, though clearly brilliant and iconic, a bit of a slog. Worth a read though to get a taste of the flavor of Scottish literature.

This was definitely a precursor to the future novel. I enjoyed his other book "Ivanhoe" and even his poem "Lochinvar" more than I did "Rob Roy" It just didn't captivated me and pull me in as much. I am glad I read it though and it wasn't trash... Just not as good as other books that have a more cultivated and mature writing style/genre.

Hard to get into..but once inside you stay....till the end