Reviews

Middlemarch by George Eliot

cpainter7's review against another edition

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5.0

Took me a while but it was well worth it. Incredible novel.

21stcenturyfox's review against another edition

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4.0

I adore George Eliot's grip of words and her digestibly thorough prose and enjoyable flow of writing. Well-written complex characters who you can both despise and sympathise with, you'd feel like you could know someone like some of them in real life. The ending, I feel, fits for the book and I'm not mad about it.

The book is a bit of slow burn but worth it, despite its ups and downs, especially because there are heaps of stories and rel tionships of different characters in it. Sometimes it's hollow and I couldn't careless, but sometimes I feel a fervent passion for the book. Contrast to the fanciful romance of marriage themed fiction in her time, here Eliot laid bare the reality of an inharmonious marriage life -- and inverting the conventional trope in the story of Lydgate and Rosamond -- along with other topics such as religion and hypocrisy. The book also serves as a psychological insights of the mechanism of mundane provincial life. I'd say it's fairly realistic from my personal experience, sometimes the book took me back to childhood despite predating it by centuries. I find a subtle exclusive relatability in this book as a lady, perhaps Dorothea's character greatly impacted it.

I liked Dorothea's growth from the smart but naïve girl to a woman. Although her ending didn't really satisfy me, I was hoping she'd be out for bigger things, but by the nature of the book, it didn't really bother me and I liked Will enough. Lydgate might've been my favourite character despite his flaws and I also liked Fred and Mary's story. 

I'm not married, don't think even legally allowed to LOL, but this book was a great insights on the ill-advised side of marriage life.

I had taken a pause from it, but finally finished it in the midst of a hectic life, sometimes you need to take a vacation and I had Middlemarch as my destination. I couldn't write much about this book, but believe me, I have a lot of thoughts clogging up my noggin. It is indeed an amazing piece of literature.

kimib79's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

happybookhabits's review against another edition

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3.0

I really liked the ending of Will&Dorothea. The middle 600 were so useless. Which says a lot, because I normally love chunky classics (Les Mis, Monte Cristo, Anna Karenina, Vanity Fair etc) but this really was not it.....

msmagoo502's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

katebrouns's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

aliceboule's review against another edition

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4.0

I can understand why Middlemarch is considered one of most important 20th century English novels.

Eliot's writing and plot is revolutionary and so completely avant-garde (even today) that is impossible to imagine the reaction of readers in late 1800s.

Following Dorothea and Lydgate, Fred and Mary, the Garths, Rosamund, was a fascinating experience and impossible to let go.

I recommend this to anyone who wants to read an incredible book.

mellkayy's review against another edition

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I feel extremely accomplished to say that I’ve now read Middlemarch! I really enjoyed this Victorian novel, and I’ve been binge watching Victorian literature recommendations on Booktube because I am so in the mood to read more Victorian classics.
Middlemarch follows a vast cast of characters in a fictional 19th century town called Middlemarch, and the 800+ pages we get to spend with the characters somehow doesn’t feel like enough.
The characters in Middlemarch feel so human. No character is without their flaws, but this (for the most part) makes them such a joy to read about. Dorothea Brooke and Mary Garth are now two of my favourite literary heroines, and I absolutely adored Will Ladislaw.
I didn’t enjoy this as much as I expected. There were some slower sections throughout this book, which usually isn’t a problem for me, but I felt myself really struggling to get through parts of this book. A comment I’ve seen a lot of people make is that the political aspects of this novel aren’t for them, and I agree. That isn’t a fault of the book, however, it’s just how I am as a reader. Middlemarch isn’t a new favourite classic as I hoped it would be, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it, highly recommend it, and I am extremely sad to be leaving the town of Middlemarch.

marvelruinedmyspirit's review against another edition

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4.25

I really liked Middlemarch, so much so that I didn't keep to my schedule and finished it four days early. Granted, there were storylines which I cared about more than others, and couples that I rooted for more than others, and characters which I added to my list of fictional enemies (Rosamund can absolutely choke), but overall this was a really engaging classic. I do wish the political landscape had been better described/explained, but it's not the author's fault that two centuries later I don't know what reform she's talking about.