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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
It's always the book you least want to read that will surprise you the most.
- Some Favorite lines :-
1. At the age of two and twenty Mary had certainly not attended that perfect good sense and good principal which are usually recommended to the less fortunate girl, as if they were to be obtained in quantities ready mixed, with a satiric bitterness continually renewed and never carried utterly out of sight, except by a strong current of gratitude towards those who, instead of telling her that she ought to be contented, did something to make her so. Advancing womenhood had tempered her plainness, which was a good human sort, such as mothers of our race have."
2. To me it is one of the most odious things in a girls life, that they are must always be some supposition of falling in love coming between her and any man who is kind to her and to whom she is grateful.
3. "I suppose a woman is never in love with anyone she has always known-ever since she can remember; as a man often is. It is always some new fellow who strikes a girl"
4. the clearky person smiled and said, promise was a pretty maid, but being poor she died unwed.
5. "Language gives a fuller image, which is all the better for being vague. After all, the true seeing is within; and painting stares at you with an insistent imperfection. I feel that especially about representation of women. As if a woman were a mere coloured superficies ! You must wait for moment and tone. There is a difference in there very breathing: they change from moment to moment."
6. To be a poet is to have a soul so quick to discern discount that no shade of quality escape it, and so quick to feel, that discernment is but a hand playing with finely-ordered variety on the codes of emotion-a soul in which knowledge passes instantaneously into feeling, and feeling flashes bat as a new organ of knowledge. One may have that condition by fits only.
7. There was no more redress for this than for the discovery of bad temper after marriage- which of course old companions were aware of before the ceremony.
8. Looking at the mother, you might hope that the daughter would become like her, which is a prospective advantage equal to a dowry-the mother too often standing behind the daughter like a malignant prophecy.
9. A man is seldom ashamed of feeling that he cannot love a women so well when he sees a certain greatness in her: nature having intended greatness for men.
10. He distrusted her affection; and what loneliness is more lonely than distrust?
11. She was always trying to be what her husband wished, and never able to respond on his delight in what she was. The thing that she liked, that she spontaneously cared to have, same to be always excluded from her life; for if it was only granted and not shared by her husband it might as well have been denied.
12. Men out live their love, but they don't out live the consequences of their recklessness.
13. Poverty mein bhi as bad as leprosy, if it divides us from what we most care for.
14. I have not given up doing as I like, but I can very seldom do it.
15. The thing one most longs for maybe surrounded with conditions that would be intolerable.
16. Their young delight in speaking to each other and, saying what no one else would care to hear, was forever ended, and become a treasure of the past.
17. To think of the one part of one little women can play in the life of a man, so that to renounce her may be a very good imitation, and to win her may be a discipline!
18. In spite of a general reticence, she needed someone who would recognise her wrongs.
- Some Favorite lines :-
1. At the age of two and twenty Mary had certainly not attended that perfect good sense and good principal which are usually recommended to the less fortunate girl, as if they were to be obtained in quantities ready mixed, with a satiric bitterness continually renewed and never carried utterly out of sight, except by a strong current of gratitude towards those who, instead of telling her that she ought to be contented, did something to make her so. Advancing womenhood had tempered her plainness, which was a good human sort, such as mothers of our race have."
2. To me it is one of the most odious things in a girls life, that they are must always be some supposition of falling in love coming between her and any man who is kind to her and to whom she is grateful.
3. "I suppose a woman is never in love with anyone she has always known-ever since she can remember; as a man often is. It is always some new fellow who strikes a girl"
4. the clearky person smiled and said, promise was a pretty maid, but being poor she died unwed.
5. "Language gives a fuller image, which is all the better for being vague. After all, the true seeing is within; and painting stares at you with an insistent imperfection. I feel that especially about representation of women. As if a woman were a mere coloured superficies ! You must wait for moment and tone. There is a difference in there very breathing: they change from moment to moment."
6. To be a poet is to have a soul so quick to discern discount that no shade of quality escape it, and so quick to feel, that discernment is but a hand playing with finely-ordered variety on the codes of emotion-a soul in which knowledge passes instantaneously into feeling, and feeling flashes bat as a new organ of knowledge. One may have that condition by fits only.
7. There was no more redress for this than for the discovery of bad temper after marriage- which of course old companions were aware of before the ceremony.
8. Looking at the mother, you might hope that the daughter would become like her, which is a prospective advantage equal to a dowry-the mother too often standing behind the daughter like a malignant prophecy.
9. A man is seldom ashamed of feeling that he cannot love a women so well when he sees a certain greatness in her: nature having intended greatness for men.
10. He distrusted her affection; and what loneliness is more lonely than distrust?
11. She was always trying to be what her husband wished, and never able to respond on his delight in what she was. The thing that she liked, that she spontaneously cared to have, same to be always excluded from her life; for if it was only granted and not shared by her husband it might as well have been denied.
12. Men out live their love, but they don't out live the consequences of their recklessness.
13. Poverty mein bhi as bad as leprosy, if it divides us from what we most care for.
14. I have not given up doing as I like, but I can very seldom do it.
15. The thing one most longs for maybe surrounded with conditions that would be intolerable.
16. Their young delight in speaking to each other and, saying what no one else would care to hear, was forever ended, and become a treasure of the past.
17. To think of the one part of one little women can play in the life of a man, so that to renounce her may be a very good imitation, and to win her may be a discipline!
18. In spite of a general reticence, she needed someone who would recognise her wrongs.
slow-paced
I have a new favourite fictional couple ☺️ I need to read more novels like this one! So much fun.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Middlemarch follows the inhabitants of a provincial community as their lives change and unfold. Throughout the novel, all the characters make bad decisions that alter the course of their lives (and kind of make you want to throw the book across the room). But you also understand the reasons and motivations behind each bad decision: how the strong-held beliefs of each character and the constraints imposed on them by society shape their choices. By the end of the novel, it seems as though no one has gotten what they deserve, and no one has achieved what they set out to achieve. The worst characters get what they want, the most annoying characters are always right, and the good characters make decisions fatal to their dreams of changing the world. In the end, this is a story about ordinary people who fail to make any great mark on the world, but make great differences in each others' lives.
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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:
Complicated
I already know and love the story and characters really well, thanks to the 1994 BBC series. that I watched a few times in my late teens/early 20s. I did read the book years ago, when I was younger, skim reading much of the long waffly parts, but this time around I listened to Kate Reading's audiobook (she is excellent) and devoured every word. It is brilliant writing. It's true that I find long paragraphs intimidating and a bit of a drag when I'm physically reading but in this case, I think even if I had physically read it I wouldn't have had a problem with that aspect this time around. There is a lot of 'telling', mostly in the form of drawn out explanations of the internal emotions and thoughts of all the characters, but the depth to which we get to know them is awesome. Add in the explorations of marriage, medical progress, politics; and this is a masterpiece really.
It's hard to say what I would have made of it had I not seen the BBC series, because the characters were very much alive in my mind, but what I will say is that reading the book this time around demonstrated just how excellent the series is and how faithful to the source material - every single character perfectly cast, any waffle about the characters' inner thoughts and feelings conveyed by one shot, etc.
Mary Garth, her father, and Fred Vincy, are my absolute favourite characters, including in the BBC series, I love them so much and
This is definitely one of my favourite classics of all time, if not the favourite.
It's hard to say what I would have made of it had I not seen the BBC series, because the characters were very much alive in my mind, but what I will say is that reading the book this time around demonstrated just how excellent the series is and how faithful to the source material - every single character perfectly cast, any waffle about the characters' inner thoughts and feelings conveyed by one shot, etc.
Mary Garth, her father, and Fred Vincy, are my absolute favourite characters, including in the BBC series, I love them so much and
Spoiler
I'm so happy that Fred & Mary get a perfect happy ending.This is definitely one of my favourite classics of all time, if not the favourite.
To be honest, I only picked up this book because I could get it free for Kindle, and I didn't feel like spending money to read the other books on my list that I would have had to buy to read. It had good ratings, so I thought I would give it a try - not realizing how amazingly long it is :-)
I read the book probably over two months. At times I found the writing style hard to understand, probably because I am more used to modern direct language than the "old-fashioned" style of long sentences, embellished, descriptive language, and elaborate comparisons. So I don't have a ton of patience for that, and I know there are sections where I sort of skimmed/spaced-out just because of the sentences. Actually, I think it was the writing style that made it initially hard for me to get into the book.
But, I DID get into it. The characters are described SO well, and the plot is so beautifully complicated and spread-out (it is a *complete* study of provincial life :-) I LOVE how Eliot gets into the mind of each character and takes a look at their motivations, their flaws, and all the tiny things that go on in our heads that we use to justify our actions. (Although, personally, I liked this book a lot better than a lot of the Virginia Woolf I've read because it was a better (for me) balance of plot and inner-mind detail.) That detail really take the plot from interesting to absorbing. Eliot has such an insight into human nature - which makes this book worth its weight in gold!
I read the book probably over two months. At times I found the writing style hard to understand, probably because I am more used to modern direct language than the "old-fashioned" style of long sentences, embellished, descriptive language, and elaborate comparisons. So I don't have a ton of patience for that, and I know there are sections where I sort of skimmed/spaced-out just because of the sentences. Actually, I think it was the writing style that made it initially hard for me to get into the book.
But, I DID get into it. The characters are described SO well, and the plot is so beautifully complicated and spread-out (it is a *complete* study of provincial life :-) I LOVE how Eliot gets into the mind of each character and takes a look at their motivations, their flaws, and all the tiny things that go on in our heads that we use to justify our actions. (Although, personally, I liked this book a lot better than a lot of the Virginia Woolf I've read because it was a better (for me) balance of plot and inner-mind detail.) That detail really take the plot from interesting to absorbing. Eliot has such an insight into human nature - which makes this book worth its weight in gold!
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No