Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽'s Reviews > Ross Poldark

Ross Poldark by Winston Graham
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really liked it
bookshelves: historical-fiction, library-has, book-club-reads

Ross Poldark, published in 1945, tells the story of Ross, a British man in his twenties, from the time he returns from the war in America in 1783 until about four years later. It's the first of a series of a dozen Poldark books that has spawned a couple of BBC miniseries, one in 1975 and a remake in 2015:

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I think it's safe to say that Ross v. 2.0 was a serious upgrade. Even though someone at Cosmopolitan magazine disagrees:

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Ross is landed gentry, but not particularly wealthy. In fact, he's skirting the edge of poverty, and his father had let their home and land fall to pieces in his later years, especially in his final illness. When Ross returns from the war, with some lingering physical injuries, he's further injured when he finds out that his childhood sweetheart Elizabeth, with whom he had an "understanding," is about to marry his cousin Francis. If this were a historical romance his love would prevail in the end, but this isn't that kind of book. Elizabeth says sorry, she's really going to marry Francis, and Francis is so in love that he doesn't see how deeply he's hurt Ross. The wedding goes on as planned, and Ross is left to pick up the pieces and try to put his life and his estate back together.

This is the story of how that happens.

It's told in a very leisurely manner, and more than one reader has foundered on the slow pace. I almost did myself. But it's well-told, if you don't mind the pacing, and it gives you a real feel for living in the area of Cornwall, England in the late 1700s. Winston Graham really did his research. This is a warts and all type of tale; bad stuff happens and it's not always made right. But this volume, at least, has an ultimately hopeful feel to it.

A soft 4 stars for me. Even if the plot is rather slow and meandering (and leaves a few plot threads hanging for resolution in later books), Ross Poldark has some lovely moments and great, detailed characters and settings that suck you in. I don't regret the time I spent with it. It wasn't entirely my cuppa tea so I probably won't read the sequels, but I paged through some of them in the library to see what happened with a couple of those loose plot threads. :) (view spoiler)
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Reading Progress

April 12, 2016 – Shelved
April 12, 2016 – Shelved as: to-read
April 12, 2016 – Shelved as: historical-fiction
April 12, 2016 – Shelved as: library-has
May 30, 2016 – Started Reading
May 30, 2016 – Shelved as: book-club-reads
May 31, 2016 –
page 133
42.36% "She was a very quick learner and something of a mimic, so that she began to add words to her vocabulary and to know how to pronounce them. She also began to lose some. Ross had consulted Prudie--always a flattering way of approach--and Prudie, who could outswear a trooper when she chose, found herself committed to the reduction of Demelza's curse words."
June 4, 2016 –
page 136
43.31% "... the word one would instinctively choose to describe him was "sober." Yet sober was the last thing he had once been, if one merely accepted his own confession. He had the reputation, Ross knew, for being a driver aboard his ship; and in the deliberate self-control, the self-containment of all his movements, one caught the echo of past struggles and guessed the measure of the victory won."
June 11, 2016 –
page 206
65.61% "Tom Carne met his daughter's eyes defiantly. "When you left me, I was in the darkness and the shadow o' death. I was the servant o' the devil and was iniquitous and a drunkard. Last year I was convinced o' sin under Mr. Dimmick. Now I am a noo man altogether."

"Oh," said Demelza. So the Widow Chegwidden had been successful after all. She had underrated the Widow Chegwidden."
June 11, 2016 –
page 248
78.98% "So he found that what he had half despised was not despicable, that what had been for him the satisfaction of an appetite, a pleasant but commonplace adventure in disappointment, owned wayward and elusive depths he had not known before and carried the knowledge of beauty in its heart."
June 14, 2016 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-38 of 38 (38 new)

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Joanne I'll be very interested to see your thoughts on this one. Im my very humble opinion, the tv adaptation was better than the book. I had a very hard time settling into a groove with the book, and several times almost gave up. :(


message 2: by Tammie (new)

Tammie Great review! I love the current TV series based on this. I too have heard that the TV adaptation is better than the books.


Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ Joanne wrote: "I'll be very interested to see your thoughts on this one. Im my very humble opinion, the tv adaptation was better than the book. I had a very hard time settling into a groove with the book, and sev..."

I liked it fairly well in the end, but not well enough to want to continue with the series. Have you seen the 2015 BBC adaptation? I've never seen either.


Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ I loved the most recent series. I'm still trying to get hold of this book!


Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin Great review Tadiana! I have been thinking about watching this series. I can't remember if it's on Netflix or not.


Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ Melissa wrote: "Great review Tadiana! I have been thinking about watching this series. I can't remember if it's on Netflix or not."

Thanks, Melissa! I'd kind of like to check them out too. There are some interesting web pages comparing the 1975 miniseries to the 2015 one.


Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin Your very welcome. I'm pretty sure the newest one is on Netflix. I could be crazy though. Well, I am crazy but that's besides the point.

If I like the newer one it would be nice to watch the old one as well. Sometimes Netflix gets both of them.


Ceri I thought the second book in the series was better. If you ever have chance I think it's worth reading. Demelza really comes of age in it.


message 9: by Kim (new)

Kim Campbell Poldark is on Amazon Prime now. So if you have a membership you can go stream it. ;)


Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ Ceri wrote: "I thought the second book in the series was better. If you ever have chance I think it's worth reading. Demelza really comes of age in it."

Good to know! I checked to see what my library has, and it only has two of the sequels, but Demelza was one of them.


Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ Kim wrote: "Poldark is on Amazon Prime now. So if you have a membership you can go stream it. ;)"

I still haven't broken down and bought Amazon Prime, but one of these days....


message 12: by Kim (new)

Kim Campbell I have it because we stream like mad and the daughter and her family share the price with us, same with Netflix. So we share the burden and the grandson can pick up any device at home or at grandma's and start watching stuff. The life a four year old is sooo hard. :D


message 13: by Bob (new) - rated it 5 stars

Bob I really liked the Poldark series of books. On my first ever trip to England, I went to Cornwall and by good fortune, a lady on the airplane told me about this series. I bought Ross Poldark, then read each one in turn. I felt this was historical fiction at its best.


Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ Bob wrote: "I really liked the Poldark series of books. On my first ever trip to England, I went to Cornwall and by good fortune, a lady on the airplane told me about this series. I bought Ross Poldark, then r..."

What a fun story, Bob! I love it when those kind of serendipitous things happen. This book didn't quite engage me the way I'd hoped, but I can certainly see why some readers really love it.


message 15: by Kathy (new)

Kathy * Bookworm Nation I love the new TV series, it's really well done. I haven't read any of the books though, trying to decide if I will or not. I kind of like watching and not knowing what's going to happen.


Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ Kathy wrote: "I love the new TV series, it's really well done. I haven't read any of the books though, trying to decide if I will or not. I kind of like watching and not knowing what's going to happen."

It's rather slow-paced and detailed, though extremely well-researched and overall well written. I hesitate to recommend it to you, but you might want to see if you can find a library copy and give it a try.


QNPoohBear The slow pace works great AFTER one has watched the first few episodes of the series. The book explains a lot about the history and the characters that gets left out of the series. Once the show slows down the pace, it is remarkably faithful to the novels- so far. The end of Season 2 left me questioning what might come in later novels.


Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ QNPoohBear wrote: "The slow pace works great AFTER one has watched the first few episodes of the series. The book explains a lot about the history and the characters that gets left out of the series. Once the show sl..."

I knew I should have been watching that series! Maybe I can still find it somewhere.


debbicat *made of stardust* I just watched the first 2 episodes and I'm smitten! Now I'm going to read the book. Library app, Hoopla has it so I downloaded it. The scenery in the series is breathtaking! I do have Prime so that's where I'm watching it.


Ann-Marie I liked the hopeful feel of the book too and didn't continue on with the series because I just knew it was going to get more dramatic. Got enough of that onscreen. Wanted to end my Poldark reading on a light note. :)


Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ Ann-Marie wrote: "I liked the hopeful feel of the book too and didn't continue on with the series because I just knew it was going to get more dramatic. Got enough of that onscreen. Wanted to end my Poldark reading ..."

You know what, I was exactly the same. I enjoyed this book, but I could see the drama coming down the pipe and I thought, nah.


Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ Thanks, an Analyst Ana! <---- lol, look what Autocorrect changed your name to.


Carol Ann Ross v. 1 is also great! One of my favorites!


Casey I can tell you the loose threads if you haven't fingured them out yet (view spoiler)


Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ Casey wrote: "I can tell you the loose threads if you haven't fingured them out yet [spoilers removed]"

Sweet, thanks, Casey!


QNPoohBear So far the TV series follows the books fairly closely with heightened drama and more romance for a modern audience. Some subplots got removed and events have been changed around. I'm reading along after the show airs on PBS. The books get inside Ross's head which makes him a less appealing hero. The best book in the series (so far) is Demelza.


message 27: by Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ (last edited Mar 28, 2018 04:24PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ I bought the Demelza book for 50c at a Friends of the Library sale almost two years ago, but I still haven't read it.


QNPoohBear Demelza is a great character and that book is so beautifully written. Cornwall is as much a character as the people. The pace picks up with the plot but still a lot of it is historical background. If you want the quick and dirty version, watch the TV series on PBS/Amazon/DVS. The show goes by so fast that I feel the slow place of the books is nice. The later books get darker. The local library here had a few of the books for sale including Demelza. I didn't have enough money for them so I left them behind. Only Warleggan is left and that tells you a lot about how people feel about THAT particular family!


message 29: by Marquise (new) - added it

Marquise I reread your review after reading a sample earlier, and the book turned out to not be my cuppa as I thought it might. For me, it wasn't the pacing as much as that the time period and the setting didn't particularly call to me, and the character wasn't appealing enough to offset that.


Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ Marquise wrote: "I reread your review after reading a sample earlier, and the book turned out to not be my cuppa as I thought it might. For me, it wasn't the pacing as much as that the time period and the setting d..."

I get that, totally. It wasn't so much my cuppa tea either, really. I thought it was well written, but I never had any real desire to continue with the series ... other than going on a search of reviews and summaries to find out what happens to the characters. :)


message 31: by A_Ryan (new)

A_Ryan We haven't got the show in Australia yet but we've certainly heard rumblings about the show being a hit series. It's great to realise it's a book series too... (why had I not thought of this before?) But your comparisons of the two Ross versions made me snort out my coffee! Hilarious! Great review too :)


Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ A_Ryan wrote: "We haven't got the show in Australia yet but we've certainly heard rumblings about the show being a hit series. It's great to realise it's a book series too... (why had I not thought of this before..."

Thanks! Your comment just sent me on an internet search for images of 1975 Ross, and I actually found a Cosmopolitan article that tries to argue (sometime hilariously) that Ross v. 1 was hotter. They are SO wrong, lol. But I had to add it to my review. :)


Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell Book twinsies! I just read this too :D


message 34: by Fiona (new)

Fiona I have to agree with 'someone at Cosmopolitan magazine. I tried to watch the new Poldark series, but found the actor who played Ross to be a bland pretty boy. Just compare the two pictures - you can see the roguishness in Robin Ellis' face!


message 35: by Ann (new)

Ann L. Thank you so much for posting that this is for sale today! I got it. I recently started watching the show and I love it. Looks like there are 7 books in this series so far. Wow!


Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ Ann wrote: "Thank you so much for posting that this is for sale today! I got it. I recently started watching the show and I love it. Looks like there are 7 books in this series so far. Wow!"

I'm so glad it was helpful!


QNPoohBear There are a lot more than 7 books in the series total but they may not all be republished since the show is ending next season with a made up story. I find the original editions at the library. No one wants those anymore so I get to read them slowly.


message 38: by Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ (last edited Jun 18, 2019 07:46AM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ There are 12 books in the Poldark series. Anyone have any idea what the later books are about? At a glance it looks like they get into the next generation.


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