Scaramouche Paperback – March 16, 2010

I have known of SCARAMOUCHE all my life, and I am in my seventies. I own a copy of the 1952 MGM film with Stewart Granger and Mel Ferrer. I had read a couple of author Rafael Sabatini's other books: CAPTAIN BLOOD and THE SEA HAWK. None of this prepared me for SCARAMOUCHE, the novel. The movie skates over the surface of the much deeper lake of this story. The character Andre-Louis Moreau, driven by a dark desire for revenge, has a scheming soul, an agile mind, and a talent for doing anything he tries at the supreme level. We follow him into revolutionary politics, the theater, and finally to becoming Paris's reigning fencing master. We share in his obsession for avenging the murder of his friend by the hand of a proud, even arrogant, marquis. These two cross each other's paths from the earliest days of the French Revolution through the debates, the uprising, the Bastille, and to the beginnings of the Reign of Terror. (By the way, I do not believe I have ever read a novel of the French Revolution before in which the revolutionaries are the good guys.) SCARAMOUCHE has not picked up any rust in the ninety years since its publication. It is a splendid adventure and a provocative read.

My father had the entire Sabatini collection, beautifully bound, but I read and re-read many in dogeared paperback. Just like the kid who wants to hear the same bedtime story over and over, I never get tired of this one, or many others he wrote.It took a few decades for me to realize how accurately Sabatini nailed the beginnings, middle, and end of a revolution, any revolution. I used to think the United States kept itself immune to the kind of ferment, head-in-the-sand timidity, and pandering to the mob that characterize revolution, and was thus immune from the rage and despotism and dark age that follows. Now I only hope we are.Romance and derring-do; sly humor and vivid description; assumption he has an educated reader; enlightenment of the uneducated. Never boring. Sabatini.

Let me preface this by saying that my review is based on this particular copy, and not Rafael Sabatini's Scraramouche. The story is a classic and a treasure, and I love it.I bought this book as a gift for a friend. When it arrived, I literally laughed out loud. It's huge, floppy, and thin. It looks like a college student checked the book out from the library, typed it out in Word, and then printed it in the computer lab. It's just printed on plain white printer paper, and even the cover is weird. The image for the book makes it look normal, but trust me, it's not.There's no way I'm giving this as a gift. I feel like people who still read physical books are looking for something familiar and comforting, and this definitely isn't that. I am pretty sure if I gave her this copy of the book. she'd never read it. I guess it's my fault for not reading the product dimensions, but really, who would have guessed a paperback book would be this size?I'm either going to ask for a refund or put it in a little free library. I'm off to the store to buy an actual, readable copy for my friend.

Published almost a century ago, Scaramouche is well worth reading even now -- for one thing, unlike some more recent novels, it actually has a plot. A good one! Andre-Louis Moreau is supposedly the illegitimate son of a local seigneur; witty, cynical, and intelligent. He is indifferent to the revolutionary rhetoric around him at the close of the 18th century in France until his close friend is provoked into a duel with one of France's greatest swordsman, M. le Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr. His friend's murder (the poor victim, a seminarian, was clearly maneuvered into a duel he could not win) changes Andre-Louis into a passionate revolutionary, whose mission is to seek justice for his friend's death. Forced to flee after he tries to accuse the Marquis of murder, Andre-Louis joins up with a Commedia dell'arte troupe, where he becomes the stock comic character "Scaramouche." More importantly, he makes the company's fame as its "writer" and falls in love with the troupe director's daughter. Once again, M. le Marquis is a problem, making Andre-Louis's fiancée his mistress. Disillusioned, Andre-Louis goes to Paris, where he goes from actor to swordsman in this tale of "the best of times" and "the worst of times." Though my own opinion of the French Revolution is closer to Edmund Burke's than it is to Andre-Louis's, Sabatini is fair both to the upper-class "aristos" and the common "sans-cullotes." If you like romantic passion and first-rate swordplay in a novel with more than one twist to the plot, this is your book.

I acquired 'Scaramouche' after seeing again the 1952 film starring Stewart Granger. The film is a fine swashbuckler but with several weak links in plot. I now know how much the film distorts the original book & much is explained. The film is a gross simplification - even the villain' name (Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr) is simplified to `Marquis de Maynes'! What is far worse is that the main tenor of the book, the onrush of the French revolution, is ignored. The film could have been dated any time during the Ancien Regime: the book is placed precisely 1789-92. Here's how the book is so much better than the filmAndré-Louis Moreau is a far more complex hero. He becomes a revolutionary to maintain the ideas of his friend, Philippe de Vilmorin, 'murdered' by the expert duellist, the Marquis. He hides among the players, led by the unscrupulous Binet, to save his life after demagogic outbursts against the regime. He stumbles into the role of Scaramouche and becomes an author of `scenarios', tumbles himself into love with Climene, his co-star, and vanishes after the attempted murder of his potential father-in-law.Fleeing to Paris he develops fencing skills by rashly becoming an assistant to a fencing-master. Recognised by revolutionaries he teeters on the verge of the throbbing world of 1789 Parisian politics until persuaded to join the National Assembly in order to stop the likes of the Marquis from disposing of anti-regime members through duels. Why does he hate the Marquis? Because of Vilmorin's murder? Because of the seduction by the Marquis of Climene? Because of Marquis's growing relationship with Aline, daughter of his estranged godmother. Moreau could not have answered that question. He had promised his godfather to abandon revolutionist politics but breaks his word to face his old enemy. And, in sum, he is blamed by the Marquis, Climene, his godfather and Aline for the destruction of their dreams and, to a large extent, they are right.So how does it all end? Discover for yourself? The twist at the end is far more realistic than that of the film - or is it? You be the judge.Some strengths of the book, apart from the complexities of the hero, are its treatment of the political maelstrom of the period 1789-92 and its detailed treatment of such worlds as that of the theatre and the fencing school. Why didn't I give the book 5 stars? The hero far too effectively becomes the master of every skill he touches - drama, fencing, politics - so he becomes a `super-hero'. Perhaps I'm being too harsh but again, you be the judge.

I recall seeing the film with Stuart Granger and then re-watched it, which was very enjoyable. The next step was to read the book and as always this is even better. It has a great deal more detail and also is a good deed. Unlike the film it is firmly set during the days of the French Revolution, which seemed to be barely skated. Scaramouche is the ever happy scoundrel, fighting for the rights of the people, vindicating the death of his best buddy and also getting tangled up in a couple of love affairs along the way. It is a romantic period, comedic and exciting read, worth all of the penies it cost to download onto Kindle.

The movie with Stewart Granger in the title role is one of my favourite boyhood memories - and is even now very much enjoyed when watched afresh, so when I came to read the book, it was with the feeling that it might prove to be a little disappointing.I need not have worried.Though the original has many differences to the movie, it's still a rattling good yarn and very pleasurable read - even if there are occasions when you have to reach for the dictionary for some unusual vocabulary.

I have seen the film a few times but never read the book. It has not disappointed. The characters have been fleshed out more and was an easy and joyous read. The verbal fencing between the characters was superb.

This book is very the same vein as Alexandre Dumas, and covers the same period, athough the writers lived in different era's.The story has romance, betrayal, adventure enough to suit everyone, plus a person caught up in curcumstances beyond their control - and their efforts to try and resolve the situation they are in, which includes a twist towards the end of the story. My only irritation was that the book felt slightly left "up in the air" at the end, which could only be resolved by a sequal.The film of the book try's to keep to the spirit of the story, and in many way's it does, but in some ways the story is completely different from the original, especially compared with the book version of the 'twist'.

Written about the time of Louis 15, just before and during the French revolution, it is the tale about the murder by a noble and the subsequent attempt to bring him to justice,

Not as I remember it but still a great read

Great storyline, plenty of action plus emotional stuff too. Accurate account of events about the French revolution. Interesting how language has changed since the 1920- but still easy to read.

Scaramouche is a great, fun read, if you don't pause too long to work out character motivations. It has one of the most memorable first lines ever written:"He was born with the gift of laughter, and the sense that all the world was mad." As it happens, this tag isn't really justified by the character that Sabatini develops, but it certainly makes for an arresting, and entertaining beginning.'Arresting and entertaining' is itself an apt summary for most of the scenes in the book. The action is boisterous, the descriptions vivid, the ideas plausible without being expected.Sabatini's fencing scenes are so accurate that you can actually try out his moves in the fencing salle (although, ultimately, they don't work as well as he thinks they should). If you are a fencer, this is a book you shouldn't miss.Three things detract from the overall work.First, the book reads as if it had been translated from French, which slows it down rather too much at crucial moments and lends a certain distance.Second, the opening chapter is quite slow going. Persevere, though, because it does heat up quite quickly.Third, the character writing is flamboyant rather than perceptive.If you can forgive the book these faults, you will enjoy it - especially if you enjoyed the Prisoner of Zenda and the Princess Bride.

A pot boiler, not tremendously exciting

See the film and read the book - both very enjoyable and even agree with each other in the main areas but two very different experiences to appeal to one

Read this book years ago. It hasn't aged still a great book and great author.Tmac I will definitely read more of his books.

Good

Old fashioned book , but good story

Rousing swashbuckling adventures which I enjoyed re-reading after many years