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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
As many people have said before... In actuality this is two books. This was her first novel and so I forgave a lot, but it was an absolute slough to get through.
I was as if she had to make sure that every thought, ever symbolism, every little synapses of her brain has to be put to paper less it be lost forever. This book could have been have been halved by two.
Other by than that she is a beautiful writer and the two stories in and of themselves were very interesting.
I was as if she had to make sure that every thought, ever symbolism, every little synapses of her brain has to be put to paper less it be lost forever. This book could have been have been halved by two.
Other by than that she is a beautiful writer and the two stories in and of themselves were very interesting.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
How does she do it? In this novel, Eliot writes a novel which shares a theme or two from her others, and yet presents characters that greatly differ from any other. I hate to spoil anything, so I will only give the barest outline of the beginning: In the opening scene, we see a woman lose at gambling, and a man come to her aid. The next 100 pages show how the woman, Gwendolen Harleth, arrived at that point; the following 100 pages, describe how Daniel arrived at that moment at the outset of the book. From that point, a new element is introduced that gives the whole book a distinctive character. I will say no more than that on the plot. As always, Eliot has the most beautiful prose and is always leading her reader into sympathy with her characters. Highly recommended.
Just happened upon this with no intention of ever reading George Eliot. It's very good and is a great look at class, gender, and religious differences and standing in the 19th Century.
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
3 1/2 stars. There were many things I liked about this novel, particularly the chapters that follow Gwendolen and her precipitous path from a flighty, self-confident woman of her own mind to the perils of a marriage ill-suited and based on a selfish betrayal. And her husband’s malevolence added drama and suspense.
That being said, the chapters that detail Daniel Deronda‘s spiritual journey were harder to fathom. I could not find a window through which to see the prose that might lead to his fulfillment.
The novel does not rise to the level of Middlemarch, but I’m glad I spent a crazy and disorienting month in this other world.
That being said, the chapters that detail Daniel Deronda‘s spiritual journey were harder to fathom. I could not find a window through which to see the prose that might lead to his fulfillment.
The novel does not rise to the level of Middlemarch, but I’m glad I spent a crazy and disorienting month in this other world.
Over two months later and I have finished Daniel Deronda. Never before have I had such conflicting feelings for a novel. On one hand, the novel's opening gamut is fresh, new, and thrilling; and the novel's conclusion is rapturous in its beautiful pangs of sorrow. On the other hand, the entire middle of the novel is one long draaaaaaaaaaaag. Don't get me wrong-- I love George Eliot. I think she is absolutely brilliant. Middlemarch is a masterpiece. Though her novels may at times slow down in pace to a halt, there is always something to learn, to think about, to feel, and to internalize. This novel's wonderful Gwendolyn Harleth is without a doubt one of my favorite characters in all of literature. I saw a reflection of myself in her in so many ways, and her growth over the course of the novel is really incredible. It is rare that a character can be so dynamic that they really feel alive, and Gwendolyn, statuesque as she is, feels thoroughly alive and mortal. I just wish the supporting cast of characters were as enthralling as she is. Still, a remarkable novel by a remarkable writer, though I can't say I'll be rereading this ever again; however, I may leaf through it every now and then to capture the portrait of Gwendolyn Harleth, and experience my life again through hers. 7.5/10
"I am cruel too, I am cruel."
"I shall live. I shall be better."
"I am cruel too, I am cruel."
"I shall live. I shall be better."
Middlemarch this ain't. I'm currently reading through some literary criticism on the book to figure out what bugged me so much about it—its splintered structure and wild wheelings between Gwendolyn Harleth's sections and Daniel Deronda's, for one, and Eliot's ridiculously childish characterization of innocent Mirah, as well as Gwendolyn's utter lack of magnetism (though in review after review she is called proud/self-absorbed but also sparkling/absorbing/etc, which I did not find true in the slightest). What makes it so unlikeable, I think, is that every character is a type, and Eliot is so clearly working to achieve an end: to "ennoble" the Jews in the eyes of her English readers, and thus she creates unworkable, unbelievable characters—perfect Daniel Deronda, pure and childlike Mirah, Gwendolyn who is so self-absorbed she is a parody of herself (and so laughably clings to Daniel to tell her what to read so that she isn't so ignorant, not, seemingly, because she actually wants to become less self-absorbed, but because she wants him to love her like she loves him). It takes 69 chapters to get to this from Gwendolyn: “she was for the first time feeling the pressure of a vast mysterious movement, for the first time being dislodged from her supremacy in her own world, and getting a sense that her horizon was but a dipping onward of an existence with which her own was revolving.”
The only chapter I really enjoyed was Daniel's meeting with his mother, where some real meat and character came to the fore: independence, feminism, anti-semitism, religious pressures on women, control, the family, childlessness ... This makes me drool:
[Listened to the Juliet Stevenson recording]
The only chapter I really enjoyed was Daniel's meeting with his mother, where some real meat and character came to the fore: independence, feminism, anti-semitism, religious pressures on women, control, the family, childlessness ... This makes me drool:
"No," said the Princess, shaking her head, and folding her arms with an air of decision. "You are not a woman. You may try—but you can never imagine what it is to have a man's force of genius in you, and yet to suffer the slavery of being a girl. To have a pattern cut out—'this is the Jewish woman; this is what you must be; this is what you are wanted for; a woman's heart must be of such a size and no larger, else it must be pressed small, like Chinese feet; her happiness is to be made as cakes are, by a fixed receipt.' That was what my father wanted. He wished I had been a son; he cared for me as a makeshift link. His heart was set on his Judaism. He hated that Jewish women should be thought of by the Christian world as a sort of ware to make public singers and actresses of. As if we were not the more enviable for that! That is a chance of escaping from bondage."
[Listened to the Juliet Stevenson recording]
This is the first Eliot book that I have read and not wanted to reach back through the ages and take a red marker of Eliot's manuscript and cut out vast sermons! I enjoyed every bit of this book. Victorian stereotypes of the Jewish people were a bit hard to sit through but the message of this book was pro semetic in nature. The love story was not as compelling as in most Victorian fiction and I only feel sorry for Gwendolyn but can not sympathize with her.