The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

My apologies for the late post. I was out of town the last 10 days. Yesterday was a travel day.

Well, there are three people named John so far. I will refer to them by their last name. The book is written from the perspective of an older Ridd (not to be confused with his father) remembering his younger years. Yet he says he’s writing to clear the name of Parish. We have not yet met Parish. These early chapters capture boyish hijinks, until Fry arrives at school to take Ridd home.

We then learn Ridd (the father) has been killed on the way home from market, leaving behind a wife and children. The wife travels to a den of thieves and other criminals - the Doone family. The Doone family has turned to crime after the loss of their lands, and everyone is afraid of them.

1. Who is the lady in the carriage?

2. Who is responsible for the death of Ridd (the father)?

3. What justifies the Doone’s behavior?

The sense of place and time is terrific. Part of that is the dialect, which I didn't always understand but let it wash over me. It could be interesting on audio. That was true of Precious Bane, another book with a lot of rural dialect, that sounded better than it looked on paper.

There was a child in the carriage with the lady, I think that must be Lorna, a dark-haired girl. And the Doones seem to act like gentry, even though they are thugs. As far as the father's death, he refused to turn over his money to the Doones (who are basically a rural street gang) and that got him killed. The Doones of course came up with a different scenario. It sounds like they turned to a life of crime because they had no actual resources and they felt they were above common work.

Robin wrote: "The sense of place and time is terrific. Part of that is the dialect, which I didn't always understand but let it wash over me. It could be interesting on audio. That was true of Precious Ban..."</i>


The dialect reminded me of [book:Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Yes, who is the lady in the carriage. That will be interesting to find out. :)

I am having a lot of trouble with the dialogue and secondly, some of the vocabulary.

Deborah, my translation says “ I write for the clearing of our parish from ill -fame...” Here, in the States, I associate a parish with the church ( and he is a churchwarden) but in the second sentence ,he says, “I, John Ridd, of the parish of Oare, in the county of....”
So is it a village that he is trying to clear?
I’m reading the Oxford World’s Classics edition.

Candace wrote: "I am having a lot of trouble with the dialogue and secondly, some of the vocabulary.

Deborah, my translation says “ I write for the clearing of our parish from ill -fame...” Here, in the States, ..."


I think is a village or area. While most the US states have counties, Pennsylvania has townships and Louisiana has parishes

@Deborah. Thank you!!

I think it is interesting how Blackmore is showing us contradictory feelings in Ridd. He shows us that he has kindness but is not afraid to fight. He doesn’t want to fight John Fry but he feels that he has to and in fact it says he has “foughten threescore fights”. ((20)

He talks in his older years like a romantic , yet he says “God forbid any man to be a fool to love, and be love, as I have been. Else would he have prevented it.” (23)

And while they hide from the Doones, he is brave enough to come out when he sees the little girl in danger.

I feel like I got to know a lot about Ridd in these opening chapters.

Also such a noticeable theme about class and staying in one’s station.

The language and dialect of the book is really bothering me. I think it's just that I don't have much patience these days (so much tension, between this virus, our incompetent politicians, and my deadlines). Because I've read Walter Scott's books and find this one much harder to understand.

How old is young John Ridd? Was it mentioned? Sometimes I think he's about 13, and sometimes it seems he's older.

I knew the Doones were going to be villains, but even so I was shocked at the Counselor saying the elder John Ridd had tried to rob THEM and was shot in self-defense! Somehow that seems even lower and more despicable than if the Captain and Counselor had just blown it off or denied responsibility.

I suppose the "foreign lady" was taken as a wife by one of the Doone sons and doesn't seem to be happy with them (I suppose her husband must be controlling at least, perhaps violent), and the little girl must be Lorna (I couldn't tell how old she was supposed to be either).

Such a scary situation to have a group like the Doones nearby and the police unable to protect you. You can't just get up and move if you have roots somewhere and have inherited farmland. Even today, it's difficult, let alone then.

Lori wrote: "The language and dialect of the book is really bothering me. I think it's just that I don't have much patience these days. Because I've read Walter Scott's books and find this one much harder to un..."

John Ridd is writing from memory of his younger years. His age has not been stated.

I found 14 and 8 somewhere. The 8 is bottom of p. 61 and 14 is in there somewhere! (Oxford pages)

Thank you! I'm reading on a Kindle and am afraid of losing my place if I try to search. I just downloaded an epub copy and found an "eight" and a "fourteen" in what is probably next week's section (looks like the girl is about eight and he is, at the time period he's talking about, a little under fourteen and already quite tall).

Used the epub to scroll back to the beginning, where he says "by the time I was twelve years old, I had risen into the upper school," so I guess he's at least twelve.

He goes back and forth with his stories, so he is 12, then hes 14, then hes old again. Its hard for me to know at all times what his age is. I apologize. I thought you were referring to the scene in the chapter where I noted their ages...must be week 2 where you found it — a memorable scene when I asked, how the heck old are they? Lol

Lori wrote: "Thank you! I'm reading on a Kindle and am afraid of losing my place if I try to search. I just downloaded an epub copy and found an "eight" and a "fourteen" in what is probably next week's section ..."

You can place a bookmark in kindle so you can find your spot again. Click in the right corner

I found the book confusing during the first few chapters at the school, both because of the dialect and the general writing style. I wasn't sure who John Fry was at first or, actually, much of what was going on. I must have been spacing out while I read because I was missing explanations.
However, things became clearer when John (Jan) Ridd's father was killed and the Doones became involved, but I still found I had to read really slow or I missed what was happening.
I thought John was 12 years old during these events, but could be wrong. It didn't matter. I also was guessing that the little girl would be Lorna Doone.
I think I have the hang of the book now and feel that I at least understand the important plot points. I just have to stop visualizing scenes as being in the American west circa 1870. I think I've watched too many westerns on TV.
I'm glad to finally join in. And, if the dialect bogs me down again, I'll just do as Robin suggests and "let it wash over me."

Brian wrote: "I found the book confusing during the first few chapters at the school, both because of the dialect and the general writing style. I wasn't sure who John Fry was at first or, actually, much of what..."

It does become clearer as you go along. Happy to have you join us

Thanks, Deborah. Glad to be here.

The talk of Precious Bane reminded me that, since first hearing about the book during another GR group discussion on Cold Comfort Farm last year, I wanted to read it sometime. In looking for a copy, I ran into this article I thought relevant since Tess was brought up too:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...

(NOTE: Hardy is my favorite author)

This is the box of cookies I will start tonight to commence my start of the book:
https://www.ebay.com/i/133270600451?c...

I agree about Precious Bane being more uplifting than Hardy. What impressed me was that it wasn't written about contemporaneous times, but the voice of the character was so well suited for the story. She never breaks out of what a girl raised in that world would think. Also there are some amazing and beautiful scenes of nature even while life is bleak (and I usually find nature scenes boring.) I listened to it on audio and that helped a lot with the dialect. I imagine the same would be true of Lorna Doone on audio.

Robin wrote: "I agree about Precious Bane being more uplifting than Hardy. What impressed me was that it wasn't written about contemporaneous times, but the voice of the character was so well suited for the stor..."

I saw the Pbs adaptation of previous bane years ago, and have a copy of the book in my tbr pile

Brian wrote: "I found the book confusing during the first few chapters at the school, both because of the dialect and the general writing style. I wasn't sure who John Fry was at first or, actually, much of what..."

There is not much dialect later on in the book, so you will be spared for that.

Robin wrote: "I agree about Precious Bane being more uplifting than Hardy. "

And with that it joins a group consisting of the vast majority of books. Now, a book less uplifting than a Hardy - that's something to talk about and put in a blurb on the back cover. :)

I purchased a $.99 Kindle of PB and it joins my group of TBR kindles so, like Robin, I have it ready to read when needed.

Brian wrote: "Now, a book less uplifting than a Hardy - that's something to talk about and put in a blurb on the back cover. :)"

Balzac or Zola, perhaps?

It's taken me a while to digest these first few chapters, but now I'm beginning to enjoy it more! I hope now to catch up on the conversations!
The first two chapters were hardest to comprehend - perhaps it was the language or lack of certain plot details? But reading through the comments, I see I'm not the only one who's been confused! Getting into the rhythm of the story, I'm understanding it more and am enjoying it more too! YAY!
Now that I'm getting more into it, my interest in certain characters have peaked! I wonder if the lady's-maid from chp. 3 is mentioned more in the story? She seems to inspire such mystery and foreboding when speaking about the baroness. Would love to hear more of her background story and how she came to be the lady's - maid.
Also, I found the description of Annie in the last paragraph of chp. 6 to be quite interesting. I wonder if she'll play a larger roll as the story progresses.

Hannah wrote: "It's taken me a while to digest these first few chapters, but now I'm beginning to enjoy it more! I hope now to catch up on the conversations!
The first two chapters were hardest to comprehend - p..."

So glad you are joining us

Yes, feel free to keep commenting in whatever section you are on and we will be alerted to new comments.

Robin wrote: "Yes, feel free to keep commenting in whatever section you are on and we will be alerted to new comments."

Thank you for your sweet comments! I look forward to joining the discussion and continuing the read.