Probably should get a 5-star rating for literary merit. But was a horrible slog.
Am now rating based on how much enjoyment a book gives me. After the first 200 pages of this one I just skipped to the final 25 pages. Even for the first 200 pages, I had to skim the painful Scottish dialogue. Last time I had read Scott was in High School (almost 60 years ago). 'Ivanhoe' seemed okay at the time - unless memory is fooling me. Had recently seen somewhere that 'Rob Roy' was Scott's best work, so, 'what the heck, let's try him again.' Big mistake. Tedious beyond measure. Perhaps if I were studying Scottish History, the political events described (Jacobite rising of 1715) would interest me. But if so, I'd rather approach it through actual historical documents, than via this historical fiction. No more Scott for me.

Amazing characters! The antagonist is brilliantly sadistic; reminded me so much of Richard III!

I read this as part of a challenge I organised here on Goodreads to bring the works of Sir Walter Scott back into the notice of the reading masses. Once Scott was widely read and on the bookshelf of every person who was educated; often his complete works. Sir Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh in 1791 and was a prolific writer of historical novels and poetry. He is known as the 'creator of the historical novel.'

The movie Rob Roy many have seen, but few have read the book on which the movie is very loosely based. The book is set in 1715, on the eve of the Jacobite rising in Scotland, where the Catholic faction attempted to put the Catholic contender, King James, back on the throne of the UK.
The story is centered on an English, Protestant man, Francis Osbaldistone and his fair love, Catholic, Diana Vernon. The two join forces with Rob Roy MacGregor, a Highlander now outlaw fighting to defend his family and way of life.

The story has many twists and is a story of love, intrigue and betrayal. There is a lot of narrative in Scottish dialect which is hard to understand at first but which I feel adds to the story, even when I couldn't understand what was being said.

Like all of Scott's books, 18th century enlightenment shows it's influence and the theme of tolerance to all good people, regardless of race or religion is strong in the story.

I enjoyed the book and found it worthy of a place on my shelves and I will re-read it at some future point.

I picked up the Everyman edition of this for 3 quid when I was browsing at a bookshop in Edinburgh; the Scottish scenery had inspired me to explore the classic literature a bit. It turned out to be my big summer read for the year. Dense and absorbing, it certainly satisfied my desire for some 19th century literature. It required me to try to develop some understanding of British politics circa 1730 or so (the exact year it takes place is not clear, and the book contains a number of anachronisms), particulary the Jacobite rebellion and the circumstances attending it. I still am not clear on exactly what part the characters played in this situation - an uprising of Catholics, possibly assisted by some Highlanders, against the Protestant king - but at least I got a bit of a history lesson.

This is Scott's most popular book. He was a very popular and celebrated novelist during his life. He was crippled by an early childhood disease, but lived a full life, working as an attorney as well as a writer, and raising a family and living very well. I am not totally sure what his place is in literary history, i.e. in what ways his work was unique or influential or what movement he may have been a part of. He wrote literary adventure stories (which may have been called romances at the time) which were mostly set in Scotland during the 1700s. To what degree he was the first or the best among writers of such works I do not know. He began as a poet, and had some success at that, before turning to fiction. The love of the English language and the written word is apparent in "Rob Roy". It makes one wonder whether most literate people of that time placed a greater value on eloquent verbal expression than people do today - probably.

This is primarily a very well-written, if not always convincing, work of historical fiction. The language is frequently magnificent. As one of the supplementary essays pointed out, it has a number of fascinating characters that have captivated many readers over the centuries. There is a bonus too - a very interesting essay by Scott on the real Rob Roy and his life and times. The narrative focuses on Francis (Frank) Osbaldistone, a young, wealthy Londoner whose father sends him to the north of England to visit his uncle and cousins. His first cousin Rashleigh turns out to be a remarkably shrewd, cold, and nasty individual, and he quickly becomes Francis's nemesis and the villain of the story. There is a love interest too - Diana Vernon, who also despises Rashleigh. Frank gets the word that he has to go to Edinburgh, and on the way there he encounters not the hero, but the fulcrum of the story, Rob Roy, a Highland ruffian and clan leader, who is both wise and warlike, compassionate and hard, fundamentally decent but on the outside of the law. The story than moves to the Highlands, where there are encounters with mountain roughnecks, and battles between Rob Roy's forces and the English military. One of the Jacobite rebellions breaks out and the characters get embroiled in it.

It was interesting to read this, to dip into literature that has meant so much to so many, and that opens a window onto a very different time and place. I very much enjoyed many of the descriptive passages, discussions of natural scenes or clothing or everyday things. Of course, there is not very much of this - Scott, like most authors, assumes that his readers are already familiar with the world that they live in. This reader, however, is not, and therein lies one of the great pleasures of reading a book by Scott.

How very DARE this book be titled Rob Roy? The comedic rascally servant dude has more ink spilled about him than Rob Roy does! Also the title makes it seem like it will be a big adventure when the actual plot is that if the main character, Francis Osbaldiston, doesn’t find some papers, there will be a problem with his dads business and they’ll be a bit less rich. That’s it! Also there’s a pretty lady about. If I didn’t know how terminally serious Walter Scott could be I would honestly think this book was just messing with me. Two stars because the precision of telling every boring thing that happened around an adventure while only alluding briefly to the exciting part was impressive enough to keep me hate reading to the end.

To say the truth this book is a bit difficult to read as the plot takes shape pretty slowly and the complex ways in which Sir Walter Scott narrates the tale adds to the difficulty. The Scottish dialect which the book uses also will take a bit of time to get used to. But still i enjoyed reading this book very much as it narrates the characters with so much vigor and attitude, the lush scenery and surroundings of the Scotland with such clarity and tells a fascinating tale of romance and adventure.

I read this because Ivanhoe has been one of my favorite novels for years, and it was about time I got into some more Sir Walter Scott. I wasn't disappointed. In customarily well-wrought prose, Scott's Rob Roy evinces the same spirit of gallantry and reverence for tradition that I loved in Ivanhoe.

This time around, however, we're not dealing with the fallout of the Crusades but with the fallout of the Glorious Revolution. Rob Roy focuses on the borderlands between England and Scotland in the early 18th-century, when Jacobites plot to restore the Catholic Stuarts to the throne and King George and the Protestants work to impose order in the backwards north. The old clan system of the Scottish Highlanders is on the wane, its slow decline embodied by Scott's romanticized rendering of Rob Roy ("Red Rob") MacGregor, a real life Scottish cattle drover-turned-outlaw-turned-folk hero. As one character remarks: "There were many things ower bad for blessing, and ower gude for banning, like ROB ROY."

Against this backdrop, young Francis Osbaldistone leaves commercial London and joins his relatives in rustic Northumberland, where he meets the beautiful, unconventional heroine Diane Vernon and falls in love, intrigue, and adventure.

Some important characters in the novel are glaringly one-dimensional,--Sir Hildebrand and his sons, most noticeably--which I don't think is the case in Ivanhoe. But Francis's insidious cousin Rashleigh is a compelling villain, reminiscent of Edmund from King Lear.

The plot is somewhat uneven, unfolding slowly until everything comes to a head in the last several chapters. Enjoyable historical fiction overall, though. Read Rob Roy for a healthy dose of gallant courtship, witty colloquies, and swashbuckling adventure.

It seems that on Goodreads the crowd here sway between loving and hating Walter Scott's classic "Rob Roy"I'm going to say it was a nice little adventure but could have been better.
As an acquaintance of the Liam Neeson film by the same title I was expecting a swashbuckling adventure in the Scottish Highlands, portraying the poverty of those parts and the plight of those who lived by unjust laws. Therefore I brought it along on holiday with me to the Trossacks where that infamous outlaw lived to get a feel of the exciting Scottish setting, although I was actually back home in York by time the book actually got round to our protagonist reaching the Highlands!
This isn't because I'm particularly a slow reader but because the maority of the story is actually set in Northumberland and Glasgow and that is because Rob Roy isn't actually the main focus of the book.
Now you may think that the titular cattle rieving hero Robert Macgregor (Rob Roy) would be the main protagonist, but in fact you would be mistaken because Scott decides to choose a protagonist who would appeal mainly to his intended audience. Young English, male, novel readers.
Francis Osbaldistone, (an aspiring poet and the son of a France based English merchant) steps up to the mark to be our guide to the political machinations of 1714-15 when this is set.
I assume the idea behind having the Englishman as the protagonist was a way to translate the confusing dialect and culture of Scotland to more Southern English readers but all this does is remove the reader from the action.
The main problem with the book is indeed the protagonist, he is simply a bit boring, unsympathetic and doesn't take a single risk in the book.
In the distance stronger characters like Diana Vernon, his villainous cousin Rashleigh, and Rob Roy himself are having exceedingly interesting developments, plotting, conniving, betraying, escaping and fighting but all this is going on in the background whilst Francis is pulled by the rip tide in their wake. Frank of course is having a more mundane adventure to recover his Fathers lost assets and either witnesses or hears about the actions of the more interesting characters which we should have really been following. This dissatisfying trend is compounded by the fact that any danger he is in is subdued by a very easy and convenient resolution.
The language used is very flamboyant and fun to read, particularly the Scotch dialects (which can become difficult to read) and the descriptions of Glasgow and the Highlands in such a pivotal time period are very interesting. There are also plenty of interesting characters to keep you reading but the main failing is that it didn't follow the best.
On saying that, the Victorian audience were a sensitive lot and probably would have found the book very excitable but for a modern reader it leaves much to be desired. (I was reading in a pub outside Stirling castle and I was quite riveted by a certain duel scene, so Scott must do something right!)
I give it three stars because it casually entertained me and after all Walter Scott deserves praise for being one of the first to introduce the historical novel genre to us, so we can't be too harsh.

A magnificent, albeit shaggy, adventure novel set during the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. Hapless Englishman Frank Osbaldistone heads north, then over the border into Scotland and finally into the Highlands, finding himself in a world of shadow and heroic action and resistance to oppression that both thrills and baffles him at every turn. Scott's influence on the development of the English novel, especially historical fiction and action-adventure stories, cannot be overestimated. He's too little read now, but there's still a lot to enjoy in his fiction, especially his Scottish novels. He also played an enormous role in creating and circulating a myth of Scottishness that still shapes how many, inside Scotland and out, imagine that country.

Another classic Scottish historical read very well written and documented on the tale of the outlaw who was made a hero

Rob Roy, a novel by Sir Walter Scott, written in 1817 is a romance of real life. In this historical fiction, told by Frank Osbaldistone, the son of a wealthy businessman, ends up in Northern Scotland, vanquished by his father when he refused to go into business. He joins up with the outlaw, Rob Roy McGregor. Frank falls in love with Diane but she is off limits to him as she has to marry one of the sons of .... or go into a convent. Through this story of Diane, there is romance, secrets, suspense and tension.

I think that this novel was harder to enjoy than the author’s other 1001 list book. The story is interesting but the plot and structure make it difficult to engage. The audio was especially difficult because of some character brogue which was better read than listened to. I would definitely reread this, at a slower pace and read a book while I listen to it. I think the movie might be more interesting to most readers rather than the book and that is rare.

Penguin Classics, states, That Sir Walter Scott invented the historical novel. That must be why it is included in 1001 Books. Here is their description of the novel; rousing tale of skulduggery and highway robbery, villainy and nobility, treasonous plots and dramatic escapes—and young love. From London to the North of England to the Scottish Highlands, it follows the unjustly banished young merchant’s son Francis as he strives to out-maneuver the unscrupulous adventurer plotting to destroy him—and allies himself with the cunning, dangerous, and dashing outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor in a heroic effort to regain his rightful place and win the hand of the girl he loves.

Very different from the Liam Neeson movie by the same name, as this novel focuses on the adventures of a young Englishman who has only sporadic contact with the title character. It should have been entitled 'Francis Osbaldistone' but that wouldn't have had the Scottish ring to it that Scott's Waverley novels seem to require. Includes a 85+ pp.'Introduction' - which I read in one sitting! - which details much more about the life of Rob Roy - or Robert McGregor - as well as that of his sons than actually occurs throughout the novel. Francis' pining for the lovely Diana Vernon, in which he has to say goodbye to her for evermore at least twice if not more times, is - one knows without any shadow of a doubt - going to be consummated by story's end. Published, anonymously, in 1817.