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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
i really liked it. it gave me the same vibe as emma and that one is one of my favs of all time so i am so happy i get to compare this one to that one.
i love a good book set in the 19th century. even more if it was written by a woman!
i love a good book set in the 19th century. even more if it was written by a woman!
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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
reflective
A hike, but a rewarding one: long, challenging, rich. Asks for your undivided attention to each of its many sprawling paragraphs if you want to get anything out of it (I had to reread a LOT), but it pays off with gallons of profundity. Not every section is equally interesting, but Eliot goes on an absolute heater across for the entire final act, splashing in dagger after dagger of world-encapsulating, Steinbeckian wisdom en route to one of the best closing passages of all time. It’s not always enjoyable in the moment, but taken as a whole, it’s a massive achievement and a classic in every sense of the word.
Giving myself permission to put classics down when we are not connecting.
literally what a page-turner. when I say I considered skipping one of my conference sessions to finish this.. (if my boss is reading this, I went to the session ok).
this book is absolutely a character study, and also a marriage study. it was super refreshing to see characters get married and then struggle because it didn’t live up to their expectations - rather than marriage as the end-all be-all of their existence. plus, reading reviews and talking to people, everyone has different favorite characters, which I think speaks to how well-drawn the characters are.
but if character/marriage study sounds boring to you, worry not, there is DrAMa!!! like real drama, not just “she married someone poor” drama (altho there is that also). this book had characters from all social classes, which I think allowed for a plot that was much less tame (or incomprehensible to the modern reader) than Jane Austen, for example, which is pretty restricted to the upper social classes.
this book had much to say about family, marriage, friendship, pride, communication, and generosity, but did so in a thoroughly entertaining way. if you’re up for 800 pages it’s absolutely worth it!
this book is absolutely a character study, and also a marriage study. it was super refreshing to see characters get married and then struggle because it didn’t live up to their expectations - rather than marriage as the end-all be-all of their existence. plus, reading reviews and talking to people, everyone has different favorite characters, which I think speaks to how well-drawn the characters are.
but if character/marriage study sounds boring to you, worry not, there is DrAMa!!! like real drama, not just “she married someone poor” drama (altho there is that also). this book had characters from all social classes, which I think allowed for a plot that was much less tame (or incomprehensible to the modern reader) than Jane Austen, for example, which is pretty restricted to the upper social classes.
this book had much to say about family, marriage, friendship, pride, communication, and generosity, but did so in a thoroughly entertaining way. if you’re up for 800 pages it’s absolutely worth it!
this was SO good. like, woah. Ladislaw girlies rise up
“… for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
“She did not want to deck herself with knowledge—to wear it loose from the nerves and blood that fed her action; and if she had written a book she must have done it as Saint Theresa did, under the command of an authority that constrained her conscience.”
“But Fielding lived when the days were longer (for time, like money, is measured by our needs), when summer afternoons were spacious, and the clock ticked slowly in the winter evenings. […] I at least have so much to do in unraveling certain human lots, and seeing how they were woven and interwoven, that all the light I can command must be concentrated on this particular web, and not dispersed over that tempting range of irrelevancies called the universe.”
“I never had a preference for her, any more than I have a preference for breathing. No other woman exists by the side of her. I would rather touch her hand if it were dead, then I would touch any other woman’s living.”
“… for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
“She did not want to deck herself with knowledge—to wear it loose from the nerves and blood that fed her action; and if she had written a book she must have done it as Saint Theresa did, under the command of an authority that constrained her conscience.”
“But Fielding lived when the days were longer (for time, like money, is measured by our needs), when summer afternoons were spacious, and the clock ticked slowly in the winter evenings. […] I at least have so much to do in unraveling certain human lots, and seeing how they were woven and interwoven, that all the light I can command must be concentrated on this particular web, and not dispersed over that tempting range of irrelevancies called the universe.”
“I never had a preference for her, any more than I have a preference for breathing. No other woman exists by the side of her. I would rather touch her hand if it were dead, then I would touch any other woman’s living.”
“Full souls are double mirrors, making still an endless vista of fair things before, repeating things behind.”
People say this is one of the best novels ever written. This read-through, I spent a year reading it slowly, trying to take it in and let it really sink in. I’ve come to the conclusion that there are probably two reasons that it earned its reputation. First, the characters are convincingly real. They have weird quirks that spur surprising and arbitrary decisions, but are also deeply motivated by larger socio-political factors, unbeknownst to themselves. The narrator deals us in to both sides of all characters (their “double mirrors”) and does it with compassion. Second, it’s a treatise on the power of respect. When two people (in this case Dorothea Brooke and Tertius Lydgate) respect each other — divorced from personal gain, romantic love, or financial pressure — magic can happen. It’s a reminder to leave that little door open for others. The novel is a roadmap for realist optimism, and I gave it five stars because I love that energy.
People say this is one of the best novels ever written. This read-through, I spent a year reading it slowly, trying to take it in and let it really sink in. I’ve come to the conclusion that there are probably two reasons that it earned its reputation. First, the characters are convincingly real. They have weird quirks that spur surprising and arbitrary decisions, but are also deeply motivated by larger socio-political factors, unbeknownst to themselves. The narrator deals us in to both sides of all characters (their “double mirrors”) and does it with compassion. Second, it’s a treatise on the power of respect. When two people (in this case Dorothea Brooke and Tertius Lydgate) respect each other — divorced from personal gain, romantic love, or financial pressure — magic can happen. It’s a reminder to leave that little door open for others. The novel is a roadmap for realist optimism, and I gave it five stars because I love that energy.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes