Customer Reviews

The Scarlet Pimpernel (Modern Library Classics)

5 star:		(100)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This story introduces us to a circle of friends in England during the French Revolution who, for the sport of it, travel to France in disguise to rescue French aristocrats from the certain death of the guillotine, right under the noses of their captors. The identity of their leader, the Scarlet Pimpernel, is a guarded secret but one that interests more and more people as more and more French aristocrats are discovered in safety in England. Constant danger, wit, romance, and adventure befall the reader at every turn.

I've noticed in other reviews that people complain about the book starting out slow or gruesome or whatever. I don't remember noticing this myself, but I think any book worth reading can take a little patience in parts. Just let yourself absorb the story and give the author a chance. Don't spoil the book by watching the movies first. It's more fun to see the mystery unfold in all its subtleties and intensity in the book first.

I picked up this book when I was fourteen and have read it numerous times since. Orczy's dramatic writing fully captures the drama and the tragedy of the French Revolution. This novel has something for everyone: political intrigue, adventure and romance. I particularly appreciate the development of her three main characters. They live lives that require superhuman intellect and courage. All of them find themselves searching for something: whether it be love, power or heroic fulfillment. Orczy has a true talent for writing. She envelopes her plot with dramatic dressing. One can see this by reading the novel's first sentence: "The seething, surging, mumuring crowd of people, human only in name..." If you enjoy this book, I recommend you read her other titles in the series. Most are not in print, but usually libraries have some or most of the hard to get titles. My other favorite novel in the series is The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel. It carries the same premise as the first book but incorporates more edge-of-your seat excitement.

This book is just plain fun to read. No profound insight into humanity or burning indictment against someone or something - this is just great, fast paced fun. It reminded me of the Sherlock Holmes adventures or a modern suspense movie.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is an Englishman who leads a group saving the lives of French Aristocrats who are being systematically hunted down and killed in a French revolution. His identity is secret and he is really putting egg on the face of the revolutionaries so they attempt to find him through the aid of the expatriot Marguerite St. Just, now Lady Blakeney and the head of society in England. The plot comes into full throttle when she puts them on the trail of the Pimpernel only to discover afterwards the identity of the Pimpernel herself. The race is on. Will they find and kill the Pimpernel before she can find and save him?

For those of you who have read the book you will understand what my title means. The wonderful laugh that is ready to send terror through the heart of the agent of the French Revolution, and chills of excitement and happiness through yours. And a song bearing despair and hope.

This is a wonderful book! I started and finished it within a day. The first chapter is a little gruesome but not overly so, seeing that it is set in the
French Revolution. If you keep reading though, you are caught within two chapters. The entire book is an emotional roller coaster. So if you don't like books that will keep you up till all hours of the night reading, this book is not for you. The Scarlet Pimpernel is one of the most wonderful men that ever didn't live. And so let us all break out and ask,
"Is he in Heaven? Is he in Hell?"
"That demmed elusive Pimpernel."

-E

The Scarlet Pimpernel is an amazing and well-written novel. It is brimming with action, suspense, romance and it is all crammed into a 200-page book. In the beginning, it may seem like a difficult read because the author is developing the characters and describing the setting, but once the plot begins in earnest, it is hard to put down.
The story revolves around the elusive character, the Scarlet Pimpernel. Although his true identity is unknown, he is said to have rescued many French aristocrats from blade of the guillotine in France, to a safe haven in England. A French revolutionary official known as Chauvelin has been searching for the Scarlet Pimpernel for many years. He knows that the Scarlet Pimpernel is in the England, so he seeks the help of a prominent figure in England's society named Marguerite. Chauvelin claims to have the evidence to send her brother, Armand, to the guillotine, unless she finds the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Throughout the book, she finds clues and gives them to Chauvelin, until they finally discover the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel. He leaves for France to catch the Scarlet Pimpernel in the act of saving a family of aristocrats. Marguerite finds that her brother is safe, but the Scarlet Pimpernel turns out to be someone who she truly cares for. She makes the dangerous journey France to find the Scarlet Pimpernel before Chauvelin does.
You'll have to read the end yourself; the story gets better with many twists and turns and lots of both action and romance. This is truly a book that both boys and girls would like.

Baroness Orczy's literary masterpiece is The Scarlet Pimpernel. The work follows the emotional journey of Lady Marguerite Blakeney--from tolerating her foppish husband, Sir Percy, to pitying his faults to finally falling in love with him all over again.

When Marguerite realizes that she has unwittingly betrayed Percy, she journies to France so that she may warn him or at least share in his horrible fate.

One of the themes in the book is "abandonment." As a child, Sir Percy was abandoned by his mother through "losing her wits" and her eventual death. Percy's father abandoned him through neglect. Marguerite literally abandoned Percy in the beginning of their marriage by briefly returning to her brother's house after making a shocking confession. After being abandoned so many times, it seems logical that Percy would be the one to play the role of hero--risking all for those in need.

Most of all, this work is well known for Sir Percy's bon mot: We seek him here, We seek him there/Those Frenchies seek him everywhere...

Spoiler Warnings
This book is a delightful read. In contrast to the sorrow and heaviness of other books on the French Revolution (including Marie Antoinette The Journey by Antonia Fraser), this book is a very different take on the tragedy. Sir Percy vies with his wife Marguerite, a brilliant French actress, in terms of acting ability. He has mastered the role of a brainless dandy to such an extent that he is the last person anyone would suspect as having the wits and wherewithal to be the Scarlet Pimpernel. Aristocrats are spared the guillotine time after time thanks to this man's ingenuity.

Shortly after Marguerite and Sir Percy marry, Marguerite tells Sir Percy of her involvement in the arrest of a certain marquis who had humiliated her brother. Marguerite does not tell her husband the whole story, including that she had no idea her words would be taken out of context and used against the marquis and that she had done everything within her influence to try to prevent the marquis's death at the guillotine. Sir Percy's attitude towards Marguerite changes: he is still the gallant he always was, but a certain coldness and reservation mark his manner. Marguerite had hoped that her husband would not need a full explanation, and that his worshipful devotion towards her would continue unabated. She is hurt by his changed opinion of her and retaliates with pointed sallies at Sir Percy's expense. She is considered one of the cleverest women in all of Europe, and she sharpens her wits by making fun of her husband, whom she wrongfully assumes is too unintelligent to take offense.

It is not until Marguerite partially confides in her husband when her brother's life is threatened that Sir Percy learns the truth of Marguerite's (unintentional) involvement in the marquis's death. Sir Percy repents his false impressions of his wife and vows that he will do everything within his ability to save Marguerite's brother. As Marguerite makes her way up the staircase after this intense communication, Sir Percy actually kisses the stairs where Marguerite had just walked! His worshipful attitude towards her is renewed, and Marguerite for her own part recognizes how much she has loved her husband all along. But is it too late for the lovers? Marguerite was forced by circumstance to reveal information about the Scarlet Pimpernel to an unrelenting French commissioner (an obsessive, Javert-like character) before realizing that the same man is her own husband.

The rest of the book is a clever game of cat and mouse, replete with a happily-ever-after ending (or rather, a happy-for-the-time-being ending, as there are more books in the Scarlet Pimpernel series).

I had seen the movie with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour several years ago. Both the book and movie are equally wonderful, though the movie's storyline is a bit different. Anthony Andrews (whom I had a crush on as a young girl after seeing him in a TV miniseries) was beyond perfection in the title role, and of course, Jane Seymour was wonderful as Marguerite.

Before there was Batman, Superman, and Spiderman, there was the Scarlet Pimpernel, the greatest of all masked heroes, a man who uses his great intelligence and bravery to save French aristocrats from certain death at the guillotine. He, with the help of his band of brave English gentleman, risk their lives time and time again for this "sport." He's famous throughout England, infamous throughout France - and yet no one knows his true identity.

Enter Marguerite Blackenly, nicknamed "the cleverest woman in Europe" yet married to the inane fop, Sir Percy. In an effort to save her brother from the clutches of the new dangerous French government, she consents to help her old friend, and new enemy, to discover the identity of the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel. But with the knowledge she gains, she becomes more deeply involved than she bargained for.

An adventure, a history, and a romance all rolled into one, The Scarlet Pimpernel is a book you'll never forget.

I first read this book because it was there in front of me,and I really had nothing else to do, it was sort of a let's read the back of the cereal box reaction to some gloom in having Winter vacation almost over. Eh hem, so I picked it up and loved the first chapter. I rushed on into the second, I started to get bored with it, and was somewhat disappointed. I was ready to put it down, until things started to pick up once more with the 3rd chapter, and from then on it was smooth going and wickedly easy to pay attention.

First off...A PIMPERNEL IS A HUMBLE WAYSIDE ENGLISH FLOWER. SUCH AS A ROSE OR A DAISY OR A PANSY. In the book it's used as a communication symbol. Understand? Good.

The plot? Well nowadays it isn't anything brand new, but for its time it was. This was the first "masked hero" kind of a story, which is pretty impressive considering we wouldn't have dear old Superman or Batman or Zorro or anybody if it weren't for that good old Scarlet Pimpernel. The Pimpernel rescues "aristos" and anyone else who needs the help, from the Reign of Terror in France. It's actually a very refreshing and fun book. I liked it a lot and think that its a true classic, which it is.

The characters? Hehe, ok there's Percy Blakeney, that fool, that fop, that ridiculously annoying "demmed idiot." There's his charming wife, Marguerite, who is considered the "cleverest woman in all Europe". Her "cleverness" doesn't really show all too much, but after you look back at the end of the book you realize that your lasting impression is that she is definitely pretty darned clever. And heck, she is. There's Chauvelin. Ok he's the bad guy. He's nasty, and wicked, and despicable, and it's easy to hate him, yet I love him. Ok so now there's the Scarlet Pimpernel, who actually is --------, but no one but his best friends know that it's him. His friends are part of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, and help rescue the "innocent" ( or maybe not so innocent) from the claws of the guillotine.

The Scarlet Pimpernel has some extremely interesting escapes and I think that is where Orczy's imagination sets in. It is like Sherlock Holmes without the feeling of "I have to figure this out." and more of "I shall see how it plays out and relax a bit." The book is sometimes funny, in an odd way, but look to it more for some good romantic scenes and some great excitement. Good vs. Evil. Masked Hero. Brave lady. Happy Ending. It's one of those, feel good, refreshing, suspenseful, two hanky books.

Heck it's only 3 bucks! Why don't ya just buy it? You shan't regret it.

In 1901 a Hungarian author (daughter of a Baron forced to flee his country) wrote a novel in English (her 3rd language) which introduced a brand new type of hero. Unfortunately publishers in an England still mourning the death of Queen Victoria thought the public wasn't ready for this new breed of escapist literature. Only after Baroness Orczy turned her novel into a successful stage play, was it eventually printed in 1905.

Sir Percy Blakeney is a high living, 18th century action man. He leads the whole of England to think him a brainless fop, whilst in reality he's the mastermind behind the daring rescue of many a French aristocrat (aristo in those days having taken on a new meaning of anyone, regardless of birth, who objects to the revolutionary government)... the first hero with a secret identity.

And what of the central character, Marguerite, who dreams about the mysterious hero whilst being contemptuous of her husband? A woman with brains and beauty, who pushed every 18th century boundary as far as a woman could (although you really have to read the rest of the series to get the full picture)... move over Lois Lane!

Then there's Chauvelin, the sable clad villain (another first?). Orczy develops him so well over the series that you'll be willing him to win... just once!

The Scarlet Pimpernel is the predecessor of Zorro (and in turn Batman), James Bond (and in turn Indiana Jones) and a whole host of other modern fictional heroes. Certainly, if you read this book and then watch the Schwarzenegger movie "True Lies", you'll never see it as a 007 spoof again. It's pure Scarlet Pimpernel updated!

And which characters inspired Orczy to create Sir Percy? My guess would be Dickens' Sidney Carton and Conan-Doyle's Sherlock Holmes... but I could be wrong.