Customer Reviews

The Scarlet Pimpernel (Book 1 of The Scarlet Pimpernel Series)

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a classic novel, though it is hard to categorize. It is part romance, part adventure, part spy thriller, and part superhero fiction. All of these elements went into the pot and the resulting stew is extremely entertaining.

The book follows the adventures of Sir Percy Blakeney as he seeks to help French aristocrats escape the guillotine during the French Revolution. Since official English policy forbids this, Blakeney adopts a masked identity as the Scarlet Pimpernel to remain anonymous. The French, of course, detest this interference in their affairs and set out to trap and kill the Pimpernel at all costs. As part of his effort to deflect suspicion from himself, he plays the fool in every day life and he does it well. His own wife considers him a useless fop... and that's where the story really gets interesting.

I won't give away more of the plot, but she ends up following him into danger in an attempt to save him. This allows the most suspenseful section of the book to be told from Mrs. Blakeney's perspective. Her terror for her husband's fate is pure and adds to the tension considerably. If we saw it through the Pimpernel's eyes, it would doubtless be far more composed and nowhere near as suspenseful.

In closing, The Scarlet Pimpernel is well worth buying. It's laugh out loud funny, suspenseful, romantic, and generally quite a page-turner.

This is one of my favorite books. I love the story and was excited to finally own my own copy. This edition is really great because it is lightly annotated. There are one or two footnotes on just about every page, defining french terms or just uncommon words. This makes reading that much more enjoyable because one understands more.
If you enjoy the book, there is a musical with an amazing soundtrack by the same name.

Suspenseful and realistic, The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel leaves the reader wanting more. It all seems so real. Could there really have been an Englishman who helped aristocrats escape out of Paris during the French Revolution? Each of the Scarlet Pimpernel's plans actually could have worked. Finding out the ingenious schemes the Scarlet Pimpernel used was my favorite part of the book. The plans the Scarlet Pimpernel used to get the aristocrats safely out of Paris included several disguises and even fake passports. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy short adventure stories. These stories include tricky English spies, determined French patriots, scared French aristocrats, and severe consequences.

THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, published in 1905, derives from an even earlier play, and the reader can see it easily revert to the earlier form in his mind's eye as he is carried from plot to plot, mystery to mystery, and intrigue to intrigue. In becoming a short novel, the plot has in no way lost its entertaining histrionic attributes.

The story is essentially a mixture of imaginative intrigue and swashbuckling adventure. Written purely to entertain, it achieves its ends well enough. The character of the Pimpernel is, of course, not to be taken seriously, for his adventures, successes and escapes in the face of determined opposition are incredible. He simply cannot be vanquished, and his cunning is always a step ahead of that of his enemies. He is of the genre of Rafael Sabatini's heroes such as the Sea Hawk and Captain Blood, though he is no copy of them, for he has his own unique personality. As do Sabatini's swashbucklers, he does, predictably, win his fair lady by story's end.

In short, the reader never fears that the Pimpernel will win out in every situation, yet the odds seem so stacked against him that one cannot but wonder whether or not his luck is about to change! It is this current of uncertainty beating against the reassurance and security that one feels in the presence of the indefatigable Pimpernel that brings tension to the story and leads the reader ever forward through its pages.

If I must find something in Baroness Orczy's work to criticize, it would be that her use of language, while assuredly correct, is neither imaginative nor creative. The exclamations and expressions of her characters become rapidly predictable, even repetitious at times. The language is not plodding exactly, but neither does it excite the reader. The speech of Orczy's characters as well as the narrative descriptions and expositions of the narrator are rather flat; there is simply no linguistic excitement in her writing. The second criticism I would levy is that the pronouncements of the horrors of the French First Republic under Robespierre are all but unceasing. Not to excuse its excesses or to make light of its copious use of the guillotine, but I found the too-frequent "Republic bashing" tedious after a while. The loathing becomes hyperbolic.

The female protagonist becomes a bit annoying, too, I'm afraid, but is probably an appropriate heroine for the time in which she was created. Her intentions are noble enough, but she is of the "weaker sex" and unwittingly creates problems for herself and others. On several occasions, she foolishly acts to the detriment of her friends; indeed, her remarks send the entire St Cyr family to the guillotine. The strong heroine had yet to make her appearance when Orczy wrote.

Still, its uninspired language, predictability and negative hyperbole notwithstanding, the novel remains an entertaining read. Now and then, a reader needs to be able to relax in the assurance that a swashbuckling hero will overcome all odds and win the day. THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL provides such relaxation while definitely avoiding boredom and is a rational expenditure of one's reading time. If I cannot recommend it "enthusiastically," I can at least recommend it just because it's fun.

I have always loved this story but could never find it anywhere. Now, to be able to take it anywhere with me is great.
This is a wonderful tale of the Englishman who dares to defie the French, and his wife who first betrays him then tries to save his life.

If you liked "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and aren't ready to say goodbye to Lord Percy et.al., you'll find this book of Scarlet Pimpernel short stories enjoyable. Not quite on a par with the original, but still fun.

We purchased this for a long road trip and our entire family (7 children plus mom and dad) loved this book! We had watched the movie but the book was just fantastic! We love classic literature anyway, but this one was especially enjoyable.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is truly a magnificent book. For something that looks, at first glance, to be an action-adventure novel, it is surprisingly character-driven. The man for whom the book is titled is not, in fact, the primary figure in the piece, but rather focuses on the incomparable character of Marguerite. The tale is wonderfully romantic -- Percy and Marguerite battle with pride and passion to such a degree, and with such vitality, that the reader can't help but weep for them. And aside from the romance, the book is full of intrigue, suspense, and excitement -- definitely something you'll want to read over and over again.

As I was browsing in a local bookstore for something new to read, I accidentally came over the Scarlet Pimpernel. At first, I had put the book down numerous of times, despite the price. Somehow at first, it did not appeal to me as much, even if the first page caught my eyes, but how I was wrong. It was amazingly written with an ardent array of mystery, romance, and suspense. It was everything that you expect from a book!

The characters are just simply memorable and unforgettable. The book kept me up late at night, urging me to read till the last page. An unbelievable piece of work!

How much readers enjoyed this 1905 adventure can be judged by the fact that Orzy wrote thirteen more books about the Scarlet Pimpernel from 1906-1936 and by the more than several films and TV shows made of her story. The well-known tale is about Paris during the French Revolution. The Scarlet Pimpernel hides his true English identity and outwits the ruthless tyrants of the French Revolution, men and women who are determined to bring the citizens of France freedom and a better life, even if it requires them to kill many citizens to obtain it. The book is filled with drama and frequently humorous dialogue, including:
We seek him here, we seek him there,
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven? Is he in hell?
That demmed elusive Pimpernel?