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Synopsis
I have thought about this, trying to make it short, to no avail. So bear with me please, as I try to pour forth the essence of this book for your perusal in such a time as will not bore you to tears nor drive you senseless with pointless words.
Edward Waverly, young lord, is alive during the 1745 uprising of the Highland Scot’s, instigated by the Line of Stuart, to drive out the Line of Hanover from England and replace them with the Line of Stuart. You know, old school politics.
Edward has a father and an uncle, who each fall on one side of the political spectrum. They both decide, for varying reasons that young Edward must join the military. He does, takes a tour of the Highlands and promptly gets embroiled on the side of the Scots. Women are involved. Of course.
The Line of Stuart loses, Edward hides, lots of his Scottish acquaintances are killed and Edward ends up back in the good graces of the Line of Hanover and protects a young Stuart-supporting woman by marrying her and saving her, her father and their estate.
So Edward accidentally gets involved in a war, marries a cute girl and ends up richer and more powerful than when he started.
My Thoughts
I know that that synopsis is longer than some of my whole reviews. But I couldn’t figure out a way to cut it down. Scott was a poet before he was a novelist, and it shows. His prose is dense, rhythmic and full of the rules of poetry instead of prose. Many things are described, multiple times, to get the point across. Bleh.
The story is so simple that once you parse it down, you wonder why the book is as long as it is. A spoiled young man has an adventure, gets the girl and the treasure. And done. But Scott drags us through the Highland dialect, their customs and makes the hero Edward simply sail through it all. At no point did I ever think that Edward was in danger of life, limb or even fortune.
I enjoyed reading this more than Ivanhoe or even The Heart of Mid-Lothian, mainly because Scott is simply trying tell a story here, albeit in a lyrical, round about kind of way. He hadn’t fallen victim to his own success didn’t use the Highland dialect for its own sake,nor was he moralizing to pad the word count.
It is History and I think that is partly why I enjoyed it as much as I did. Not a vastly distant history [from the author’s viewpoint], but one that he could have researched and fictionalized by the generation that lived it.
So to abruptly end, I highly recommend this as a wonderful introduction to Sir Walter Scott. It is not as meaty as his successive books but it gives a rich aromatic flavor without destroying an undeveloped palate.
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Author: Sir Walter Scott
Waverly
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