Greatest Book ever

[makenzie]

ok first of all this is a really stupid book all it is is fighting and cursing at pigsand a brainless jester who is your favorite person probably cause you act like him !!!!! i mean come on who would want to read this i might be your little sister and this might be kinda harsh espesially since i havent read the book but you need to be outgoing with your books read a scary book . there are also scary christian books so you could read frank peretti or something i herd they were really good and i have actually read one of those but the new ones were supose to be awsome ! so stop reading boaring books that a guy in the 1700's wrote and have fun you are thirteen you arent spose to read literature untill you are in college. im 10 and im haveing more fun with reading than you are and you are my brother that is scary goodness 1 anyway im still excited to be in your ivanhoe play thanks for making me the beutiful and dreamy firce queen who falls in love with the protective and corageous ivenhoe bye bye !:)

[Steven]

I really liked this book also. I agree that this book had a great plot. I'am also <br>a christian like you, and I also like Wamba but I like Robin Hood more. Igoing to try to make a play of Ivanhoe. This is an awsome book that SWS wrote of the midieval knights battling, jousting, and becoming heros in the end. <br>

[Makenzie]

I really liked Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe also. This book has all 3 brands that all books sould really have. Action,comedy,and a little bit of romance. Because of Ivanhoe I'm in love with midieval times,but not opssessive love more like like. I also liked Wamba but not as much as Robin Hood. Your right, this book has a great plot. I want to make a play of Ivanhoe. {I'm sorry that I wrote bad stuff about this book a week ago brother. Luv u.}

[Zackary]

I love this book more then any book I've read (besides the bible). Sir Walter Scott is the wisest book writer that I've ever known(besides God). The plot was awsome. I never thought that the BK (Black Knight) was Richard the BK (Big King). I really liked Wamba, I even wrote an essay about Wamba called "Not only a Jester: A Wamba Story. Every body thought he was just a stupid Jester and they didnt know that behind the jokes there was a brave and wise hero. If someone made a play about Ivanhoe that would be cool. This is the Greatest book ever.

[aphaun]

Though many people think they know what “Ivanhoe” is about, I believe few have actually read it, and are in fact wrong in their assumptions.
I began reading “Ivanhoe” on a flight to Israel three weeks ago. I bought it at a used bookstore for $3.00. I imagined I would be reading about knights in shining armour and chivalry. This is what I had been led to believe for many years.
Indeed, that is in the book, but I soon realized it is far deeper than that. As I progressed through it I found I needed to mark many words I did not know. The book now contains much ink from my pen as well as Sir Walter Scott's.
I found it ironic that much of the text refers to the place I was visiting. More than once I was moved to tears by the richness and the beauty of the writing and desperate plight of the most vulnerable characters. Scott's understanding of human nature is almost haunting.
As well, much of the book, despite its construction of Older English, seemed very contemporary—tragically proving that history does indeed repeat itself.
I would comment that though this book is titled “Ivanhoe”, Sir Wilfred is actually a minor character, and that this book is really about Isaac and Rebecca and the shameful maltreatment of Jews by the Saxons, Normans, Christians and Moors. I doubt that much of the worst of contemporary evil could occur without examples of extreme historical naked prejudice, much of which is vividly recounted by Scott.
Having finished it, I now want to reread the book, and to have near me four other books: a dictionary, an encyclopedia, (preferably The Britannica, since Scott contributed to its first edition on the subject of Chivalry), The Bible, and the works of Shakespeare in order to understand the many references and quotes in "Ivanhoe".
The Penguin Classics edition I read was introduced by A.N. Wilson, who supplied extensive notes and included, as afterwords, the Dedicatory Epistle Scott wrote to The Rev. Dr. Dryasdust, F.A.S. explaining his motivations in writing the book, as well as Scott’s introduction to it.

[Dolwen]

I agree this book is misunderstood. Part of the problem might be the movies that were based on it. I saw a 1950's movie based on Ivanhoe before I read the novel, and the movie didn't do it justice. It skipped some of the best parts of the novel, added scenes that were not in it, and changed the focus of the plot to make is seem more like a romance story.
I initially decided to read Ivanhoe, because I wanted to see if it was any better. Particularly, I wanted to know if Wamba survived, because in the movie he gets burned up in Torquelstone. That part made no sense to me.
It started out slow, but it turned out to be so much better than the pathetic movie.
The plot was more complex than I thought it would be, which I really enjoyed. When you first start reading the novel, it seems like the hero is Ivanhoe and the heroine is Rowena. And while they are important, by the end of the book I decided Wamba and Rebecca were the real hero and heroine. Of course, there is no relationship between Wamba and Rebecca like there is between Ivanhoe and Rowena, I just mean they seem to be the noblest characters.
For example, last night I rereading some parts from Ivanhoe, and noticed the difference between Rowena and Rebecca's attitude towards forgiveness. After Rowena is rescued from the castle, the captured De Bracy ask for her forgiveness. She tells him he is forgiven, but then follows that up with another statement that shows she had not forgiven him. By contrast, when Rebecca is being held prisoner, knowing she is going to burned as witch because Bois-Guilbert will not do the right thing, she tells him he is forgiven.
I am not trying to bash Rowena. She definately has her good points, and is the most courteous to Rebecca.

[Lady Esyllt]

I love this book, I read it for the first time when I was about fifteen and have read it half a dozen times since. It lead me to read other books by Scott like the Tailisman and the Betrothed, which are also wonderful books. Sure, it's written in older English, but that's one of the books major charms;)

[Brendan Madley]

I haven't read it just yet, but I know the story and I too am in love with it.

[Debrasue]

I love this story.....except for the ending! It seems to me Sir Walter just got tired of the story, gathered up the lose ends & gave it a very boring finish! De Bracy rides off into the sunset..Sir Brian Bois Guilbert falls off his horse & quietly,conveniently dies...Wilfred marries Rowena when he has feelings for Rebecca, & Rebecca is so into her own self piety that she just goes off to "serve God", (I think Rebecca would not have hesitated in the least to marry Wilfred if Rowena had married Athelstane!)...... I thought King Richard, De Bracy & especially Sir Brian were the most interesting characters...similar to The Three Musketeers...but that's another story!