My reading challenge for my Scotland trip continues. I completed Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott. I consider that a great accomplishment. It was a slog, due to breathless sentences packed full of multisyllabic words, cultural references from the 18th century, and dialect spelled horrifically. Shakespeare is easier to read. Partially through the book, I’d thought I would watch the movie with Liam Neeson.
OMG. Do not do that. I had to turn it off after a few scenes. Here’s the wikipedia link about Rob Roy McGregor, the historical figure.
Here’s the summary:
The Plot of Rob Roy (contains SPOILERS!):
Just imagine this whole story inflated with wandering conjecture, random quotes and pop culture references to things from the 1700’s, and pretty much incomprehensible spelling of dialect.
A spoiled English teen whines that he doesn’t want to go into business, so his dad decides to swap him for a better son, his nephew he’s never met named Rashleigh. The boy, Frank, is set packing to northern England to stay at the family house with a bunch of raging twits whose main hobby is killing foxes and Catholicism. On the way there Frank meets a man carrying a huge bag of important papers and money. The man is freaking out about his charge, afraid of being robbed or scammed. Frank decides to have fun teasing him. They meet a Scotsman on the road, he offers to escort the paranoid carrier. Later, the man is robbed.
Frank gets to his Uncle’s house. He meets a woman named Diane and falls in love, deciding he can oppress her overly confident and assured personality to more acceptable levels. She is supposed to marry the oldest son or become a nun. The guy who is supposed to replace Frank is still at the house, he also wants to marry Diane and has been trying to force her (has forced her?) to be with him because he knows her secret. She’s been having a man visit regularly. (Now readers, if you think it was the so-far un-named Rob, nope. It’s her dad, hiding out from the law) Frank gets wildly drunk and manages to make Rashleigh an enemy for life- wish I knew exactly what he said.
Frank is accused of robbing the carrier, but the matter is smoothed over by the scotsman. But it turns out that Rashleigh is running wild over his dad’s company, and he was the one who stole the bag. It had important checks in it that the loss of might bankrupt his dad’s business. Frank grabs a lazy annoying gardener and makes him take him to Glasgow to fix the business problems. The scotsman (gasp! Rob!) helps Frank get in to see his Dad’s secretary who is jailed for non-payment. One of the business partners is pressing charges, the other one is jolly and friendly and will do whatever Rob tells him to do.
Frank sees Rashleigh and tries to stab him honorably, then the fight is broken up. He is told to go find Rob’s house and get his money to fix the problem. But he gets arrested. Then the arresting soldiers meet up with Rob’s wife, who is in a murdery mood because Rob was captured. A battle breaks out while Frank just stands and stares, trying not to get shot. They execute the carrier (still a little fuzzy as why) by drowning him with a stone tied to him. Frank is sent as a messenger to do a hostage negotiation. That didn’t work, but Rob got away anyway. It helps that he had a bunch of sympathizers in the group of soldiers.
Diane hands Frank all the checks and papers he needed to save the family business and bids him farewell forever. Frank assumes she is madly in love with him.
Frank has a lovely picnic with the highlanders, is boated across Loch Lomond, and goes home to be a soldier and fight against the highlanders. Because he is presbyterian. Or something.
After the war the entire family is wiped out and all that is left is his enemy who was cut off from the inheritance, which was given to Frank. He goes to the old house, buys out the mortgage and plans to settle in- but wait! People are living there! It is Diane and her dad, on the lam. Good old Rashy sends the police to round them all up so he can get the house. Rob Roy and his gang kill and hack the police and slice up the villain in a way that he can make a speech before dying. A little while later, when the heat has died down, Frank gets himself a wife from the convent.
The End.
My next book should be better- Kidnapped by Robert Lewis Stevenson. I’ve read Jeckyl and Hyde so I know it will be easier to get through.
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