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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
Eliot expresses great sympathy for religious faith, especially when it is lived as well as preached (something she does in Felix Holt, the Radical) as well.
I've compared her before to Anthony Trollope, but while Trollope deals mainly with the ruling class--including the working and agricultural classes as supporting characters--Eliot examines with an eye as keen as Trollope's these underclass milieus and brings them to vibrant life.
Interestingly, Eliot interrupts the narrative to deliver a treatise on novel writing, elaborating for several pages on the theme of "holding the mirror up to nature," although she does not use that term.
She also includes an inner monolog that articulates a theme of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, although she presents it in Christian tradition terms rather than Buddhist terms.
Highly recommended.
I've compared her before to Anthony Trollope, but while Trollope deals mainly with the ruling class--including the working and agricultural classes as supporting characters--Eliot examines with an eye as keen as Trollope's these underclass milieus and brings them to vibrant life.
Interestingly, Eliot interrupts the narrative to deliver a treatise on novel writing, elaborating for several pages on the theme of "holding the mirror up to nature," although she does not use that term.
She also includes an inner monolog that articulates a theme of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, although she presents it in Christian tradition terms rather than Buddhist terms.
Highly recommended.
Again, my love for George Eliot. This is the only book that ever had me sobbing so that I had to put the book down. She's that good at building emotion.
I don’t usually like dialogue written in dialect, but in this 1859 novel by Mary Ann Evans (aka George Eliot), I first got used to it, and then started to enjoy it. After a while, the dialect seems indispensable. There are lots of colorful characters, especially middle-aged and old women, who express themselves with great eloquence.
This is a love story, but it’s also a story of early lost love and disillusionment, and of the abuse of class privilege. Adam Bede is a righteous, hard-working carpenter, whose main fault is a quickness to judge others, and he falls in love with a beautiful but self-centered milkmaid, Hetty. He doesn’t realize his main competition comes from Arthur, the well-meaning but self-important young squire, who has fallen for Hetty but can never marry her. All these characters are drawn in a careful and nuanced way. Then there’s Dinah, the saintly Methodist preacher, and she was a little too good to be true, at least for me. I would’ve liked her better if Eliot had made her a little less self-sacrificing!
This is a love story, but it’s also a story of early lost love and disillusionment, and of the abuse of class privilege. Adam Bede is a righteous, hard-working carpenter, whose main fault is a quickness to judge others, and he falls in love with a beautiful but self-centered milkmaid, Hetty. He doesn’t realize his main competition comes from Arthur, the well-meaning but self-important young squire, who has fallen for Hetty but can never marry her. All these characters are drawn in a careful and nuanced way. Then there’s Dinah, the saintly Methodist preacher, and she was a little too good to be true, at least for me. I would’ve liked her better if Eliot had made her a little less self-sacrificing!
Intensely slow moving and long tale of rural middle England (geographically not socially) set at the turn of the centuries from the 1700s to the 1800s. It's called Adam Bede, but it actually follows a number of families in the little rural community and not just Adam, those who have their generational roots there seem to survive and all is as it should be, and some who don't, turn out to be bad 'uns. Sort of, because you have a lot of sympathy for those to whom things go very wrong.
Not that I was alive in those times but it feels like a good honest portrayal of farming communities at the time. It's certainly not idealised as I wouldn't say anyone is perfect and bad things can happen to good people. Adam Bede, tall strapping lad in his twenties is a hard worker and honest type who is particularly competant at what he does. He's also a bit black and white when it comes to good and bad behaviour, and beyond that isn't massively interesting. He lives with his mother, a clinging woman who is terrified of her sons growing up and leaving home, and his younger brother Seth. The father is present at the start, but he's been drunk for the last 10 years (never explained what sent the father down the path of drink) and early on drowns in a little stream on his way home from the pub one night.
Then we have the Poysers, good hearty farming family, hard working and clean and tidy folk. The mother always has something to say about this and that, there's a toddler daughter who's doted on and a couple of teenage girl maids who mother is always scolding as they don't come up to scratch. One is her husband's orphaned niece, Hetty, who is intensely beautiful, intensely vain and gets herself into some very serious trouble. You might say if she wasn't such a bubble head, life might have worked out better, but then she's 17 - who didn't have a muppet moment when they were a teenager? - and given that she's never been given a proper education to give her brain a chance to develop, and she knows all she is for in life is hardwork then marriage and children, why shouldn't she find a little joy where she can in life? They have another orphaned niece, Dinah, who is really tiresome. She's a Methodist (everyone's a sinner, you should deny yourself in life bla bla) and likes to go around preaching and letting folk know they're a sinner. She's rather plain in comparison to Hetty, but really, I think she lives off vainity in the same way, it's just that she loves denying herself and getting a kick out of saving souls. Seth, Adam's brother, wants to marry Dinah, but her life is for God and not marriage.
Then we have the social betters. There's the Donnithornes, who are the landed gentry and the landowners, to whom everyone rents their farms. The old man is in his eighties and not well liked. His grandson, Arthur, is turning 21 in the book and in the local militia. He is well liked and loves being well liked and generally incapable of saying anything that might upset someone to their face. Like a lot of guys of that age, he doesn't think through the consequences of his actions long term, is ruled by hormones and is a bit of a muppet. There's also the local rector, who I found one of the most likeable characters.
This being the 1800s religion has a big role to play in everybody's lives. There's a lot of thee and thouing and going to church, or if you're a Methodist, chapel and listening to lay preaching. I personally don't have a lot of time for organised religion, so I do find these sermons and people bleating on about their beliefs a bit dull, but at the same time - this is how it was. And you can see why people would turn to religion when life gets really frighteningly tough as the only comfort they can cling to.
Women don't come off too well in this and I can't quite make up my mind about George Elliot. There's a lot of derogatory comments about women, which are fitting with the time, and the women are all wives and maids with not a massive lot going on between the ears. Dinah is a preacher during this story, but by the end in the epilogue, she's had to give all that up as the Weslyans voted to stop women being allowed to preach. There is a particularly nasty character (I don't think he's intended as a villian but I wasn't a fan) in the school teacher who runs a nightschool for the locals - note that no women get the chance to broaden their minds - and he is a mysogynist through and through. Every time he opens his mouth he has something nasty to say about women. ("If I'd known Vixen was a woman, I'd never have held the boys from drowning her. p.205 as one example). Beyond him, although we all know this was written by a woman, it sometimes feels that she is writing as if trying to mirror a man's brain, and doesn't think all that highly of women. I know in the introduction as well, I read that before she'd published this, her first full novel, she'd written in an article something about "silly women novelists". So much for the sisterhood.
From all the nothing happening and slow plot there is a serious bit of drama coming. Hetty and Arthur Donnithorne keep bumping into one another, hormones are raging and as you'd expect one thing leads to another. She gets it into her head that he's going to marry her and make her a lady. He knows that's not possible, but doesn't want to upset her, so keeps leading her on by doing well-meant but really stupid things like buying her expensive earrings. It's only when Adam accidentally finds out and tells him the error of his ways that his hand is forced to end the flirtation. This being for a Victorian public, it can't be explicitly said - so not-said in fact that the pregnacy is neither mentioned nor noticed by anyone which I did find a touch unbelieveable - that the relationship is conusumated and Hetty ends up pregnant. She does a daring thing and runs off and manages to get herself to Windsor where she thinks Arthur is now garrisoned, except she gets there too late and he's already gone off to Ireland. She manages to get herself back up to a nearby town but doesn't dare go back - again not really explained why - thinks about committing suicide, then kind of disappears for a couple of weeks. When she turns up again she's been arrested for murdering (yes, murder, not even manslaughter) her newborn baby - because these are not good times historically to be a woman. Never mind she's a teenager all alone with no money or home giving birth, maybe there's postnatal depression in there - but there's certainly week one baby blues going on - and with no one to support her she doesn't know what to do, so she leaves a living baby under a bush and wanders off. Hardly murder, but given women's status and lack of rights it's not surprising that they're all baying for her blood without mercy and she is found unanimously guilty and sentanced to death. Her uncle and family never see her again or speak of her as she has brought shame to them - this being the worst thing in the entire epside. The only refreshing thing about it all is that Adam is so distraught, and with his hard views, actually furious that Arthur Donnithorne isn't brought to account over all of this as well. Arthur's only slight saving grace is that he dashes off and gets a pardon of sorts for Hetty - rather than being hung she gets to be transported. Arthur joins the army and avoids the area for seven years before the shame has lessened and he can return. Poor old Hetty can never return and is never spoken of again. Her little pink handkerchief found tossed in the waste paper basket at the end about says it all.
I'm starting a course on Eliot next week so I hope/assume my thoughts will change, deepen or whatever on this book. In the meantime, onwards to get more of the course reading done...
Not that I was alive in those times but it feels like a good honest portrayal of farming communities at the time. It's certainly not idealised as I wouldn't say anyone is perfect and bad things can happen to good people. Adam Bede, tall strapping lad in his twenties is a hard worker and honest type who is particularly competant at what he does. He's also a bit black and white when it comes to good and bad behaviour, and beyond that isn't massively interesting. He lives with his mother, a clinging woman who is terrified of her sons growing up and leaving home, and his younger brother Seth. The father is present at the start, but he's been drunk for the last 10 years (never explained what sent the father down the path of drink) and early on drowns in a little stream on his way home from the pub one night.
Then we have the Poysers, good hearty farming family, hard working and clean and tidy folk. The mother always has something to say about this and that, there's a toddler daughter who's doted on and a couple of teenage girl maids who mother is always scolding as they don't come up to scratch. One is her husband's orphaned niece, Hetty, who is intensely beautiful, intensely vain and gets herself into some very serious trouble. You might say if she wasn't such a bubble head, life might have worked out better, but then she's 17 - who didn't have a muppet moment when they were a teenager? - and given that she's never been given a proper education to give her brain a chance to develop, and she knows all she is for in life is hardwork then marriage and children, why shouldn't she find a little joy where she can in life? They have another orphaned niece, Dinah, who is really tiresome. She's a Methodist (everyone's a sinner, you should deny yourself in life bla bla) and likes to go around preaching and letting folk know they're a sinner. She's rather plain in comparison to Hetty, but really, I think she lives off vainity in the same way, it's just that she loves denying herself and getting a kick out of saving souls. Seth, Adam's brother, wants to marry Dinah, but her life is for God and not marriage.
Then we have the social betters. There's the Donnithornes, who are the landed gentry and the landowners, to whom everyone rents their farms. The old man is in his eighties and not well liked. His grandson, Arthur, is turning 21 in the book and in the local militia. He is well liked and loves being well liked and generally incapable of saying anything that might upset someone to their face. Like a lot of guys of that age, he doesn't think through the consequences of his actions long term, is ruled by hormones and is a bit of a muppet. There's also the local rector, who I found one of the most likeable characters.
This being the 1800s religion has a big role to play in everybody's lives. There's a lot of thee and thouing and going to church, or if you're a Methodist, chapel and listening to lay preaching. I personally don't have a lot of time for organised religion, so I do find these sermons and people bleating on about their beliefs a bit dull, but at the same time - this is how it was. And you can see why people would turn to religion when life gets really frighteningly tough as the only comfort they can cling to.
Women don't come off too well in this and I can't quite make up my mind about George Elliot. There's a lot of derogatory comments about women, which are fitting with the time, and the women are all wives and maids with not a massive lot going on between the ears. Dinah is a preacher during this story, but by the end in the epilogue, she's had to give all that up as the Weslyans voted to stop women being allowed to preach. There is a particularly nasty character (I don't think he's intended as a villian but I wasn't a fan) in the school teacher who runs a nightschool for the locals - note that no women get the chance to broaden their minds - and he is a mysogynist through and through. Every time he opens his mouth he has something nasty to say about women. ("If I'd known Vixen was a woman, I'd never have held the boys from drowning her. p.205 as one example). Beyond him, although we all know this was written by a woman, it sometimes feels that she is writing as if trying to mirror a man's brain, and doesn't think all that highly of women. I know in the introduction as well, I read that before she'd published this, her first full novel, she'd written in an article something about "silly women novelists". So much for the sisterhood.
From all the nothing happening and slow plot there is a serious bit of drama coming. Hetty and Arthur Donnithorne keep bumping into one another, hormones are raging and as you'd expect one thing leads to another. She gets it into her head that he's going to marry her and make her a lady. He knows that's not possible, but doesn't want to upset her, so keeps leading her on by doing well-meant but really stupid things like buying her expensive earrings. It's only when Adam accidentally finds out and tells him the error of his ways that his hand is forced to end the flirtation. This being for a Victorian public, it can't be explicitly said - so not-said in fact that the pregnacy is neither mentioned nor noticed by anyone which I did find a touch unbelieveable - that the relationship is conusumated and Hetty ends up pregnant. She does a daring thing and runs off and manages to get herself to Windsor where she thinks Arthur is now garrisoned, except she gets there too late and he's already gone off to Ireland. She manages to get herself back up to a nearby town but doesn't dare go back - again not really explained why - thinks about committing suicide, then kind of disappears for a couple of weeks. When she turns up again she's been arrested for murdering (yes, murder, not even manslaughter) her newborn baby - because these are not good times historically to be a woman. Never mind she's a teenager all alone with no money or home giving birth, maybe there's postnatal depression in there - but there's certainly week one baby blues going on - and with no one to support her she doesn't know what to do, so she leaves a living baby under a bush and wanders off. Hardly murder, but given women's status and lack of rights it's not surprising that they're all baying for her blood without mercy and she is found unanimously guilty and sentanced to death. Her uncle and family never see her again or speak of her as she has brought shame to them - this being the worst thing in the entire epside. The only refreshing thing about it all is that Adam is so distraught, and with his hard views, actually furious that Arthur Donnithorne isn't brought to account over all of this as well. Arthur's only slight saving grace is that he dashes off and gets a pardon of sorts for Hetty - rather than being hung she gets to be transported. Arthur joins the army and avoids the area for seven years before the shame has lessened and he can return. Poor old Hetty can never return and is never spoken of again. Her little pink handkerchief found tossed in the waste paper basket at the end about says it all.
I'm starting a course on Eliot next week so I hope/assume my thoughts will change, deepen or whatever on this book. In the meantime, onwards to get more of the course reading done...
I want to tear this book apart, throw it out a window, and then I want to pick up the pieces and love it forever. Adam Bede has messed with my emotions, and I respect the esteemed immortal author George Eliot for her genius. But it severely irks me that such an emotional work contains so many potential flaws that insult my common sense!
I avow that, at the time of writing, Eliot wrote within the prescribed guidelines of literary decency. She could only use so many hints to tell the actual story. She could not go into gory detail. So I will have to type out my best guess of what happened to (ugh) "poor little" Hetty Sorrel.
Hetty is gorgeous and she knows it. She's a milkmaid. She gets knocked up by the squire's grandson, who's honestly not a bad guy, but obviously they're both stupid as shit. She apparently spends a REEEAAALLLLY long time hiding her pregnancy, because she runs off during the winter, suddenly gives birth, runs off with the baby directly after the birth and leaves it somewhere. Of course some local peasant saw everything, and immediately Hetty is arrested, tried and convicted for "child murder."
During all this trauma, I was thinking, "What? This couldn't have been a full-term birth. She was knocked up in summer, right? Also, I can NOT believe that the girl was able to walk a series of miles with soon-to-die infant, so soon after giving birth." But, whatever, I'll leave out the gory details of childbirth and chalk up Hetty's actions to adrenaline and panic.
NEXT: How awesome is Arthur, the quote-unquote "father" who gallops into town and saves Hetty from her execution! However, he could not get the mayor to grant her a full pardon, which raises potential for a messy ending, so the story completely dumps the wench. According to the other characters who are talking about her, she is to be "transported." Maybe to Australia where they sent all the women back then who messed around with reproduction and murder? But that's just my guess. So in actuality, Mr. Awesome just sent her to a fate "worse than death," so she could suffer and die in any number of ways now. Yay?
NOW: How about our title character, right? What a hunk. I have a strange suspicion that our immortal author harbored a fetish for carpenters during the writing of this book. It got to the point that whenever I read about Adam (for the millionth time) doing something with his dark shaggy hair and putting on his "paper cap," I wanted to scream. What was the deal with carpenters and "paper caps?" Yeah, I understand that it was probably the habit and tradition of the trade, but all I can picture in this day and age are those folks working behind counters at fast food restaurants.
Of course Adam loves Hetty because she's hawt. And of course when she royally screws up, he moves on to the next best thing. Not that his second true love is any less annoying though. I can declare myself a feminist far and wide, but I admit that during the intervals of women-bashing in this book--Adam has a schoolmaster friend who is a confirmed bachelor, and he voluminously speaks his hatred of the female sex--I came to the point where I was mentally agreeing, "yes, sir, you are so right! We suck! hahahah!"
WHY??? George Eliot, you are one of us! Why are you doing this?
I avow that, at the time of writing, Eliot wrote within the prescribed guidelines of literary decency. She could only use so many hints to tell the actual story. She could not go into gory detail. So I will have to type out my best guess of what happened to (ugh) "poor little" Hetty Sorrel.
Hetty is gorgeous and she knows it. She's a milkmaid. She gets knocked up by the squire's grandson, who's honestly not a bad guy, but obviously they're both stupid as shit. She apparently spends a REEEAAALLLLY long time hiding her pregnancy, because she runs off during the winter, suddenly gives birth, runs off with the baby directly after the birth and leaves it somewhere. Of course some local peasant saw everything, and immediately Hetty is arrested, tried and convicted for "child murder."
During all this trauma, I was thinking, "What? This couldn't have been a full-term birth. She was knocked up in summer, right? Also, I can NOT believe that the girl was able to walk a series of miles with soon-to-die infant, so soon after giving birth." But, whatever, I'll leave out the gory details of childbirth and chalk up Hetty's actions to adrenaline and panic.
NEXT: How awesome is Arthur, the quote-unquote "father" who gallops into town and saves Hetty from her execution! However, he could not get the mayor to grant her a full pardon, which raises potential for a messy ending, so the story completely dumps the wench. According to the other characters who are talking about her, she is to be "transported." Maybe to Australia where they sent all the women back then who messed around with reproduction and murder? But that's just my guess. So in actuality, Mr. Awesome just sent her to a fate "worse than death," so she could suffer and die in any number of ways now. Yay?
NOW: How about our title character, right? What a hunk. I have a strange suspicion that our immortal author harbored a fetish for carpenters during the writing of this book. It got to the point that whenever I read about Adam (for the millionth time) doing something with his dark shaggy hair and putting on his "paper cap," I wanted to scream. What was the deal with carpenters and "paper caps?" Yeah, I understand that it was probably the habit and tradition of the trade, but all I can picture in this day and age are those folks working behind counters at fast food restaurants.
Of course Adam loves Hetty because she's hawt. And of course when she royally screws up, he moves on to the next best thing. Not that his second true love is any less annoying though. I can declare myself a feminist far and wide, but I admit that during the intervals of women-bashing in this book--Adam has a schoolmaster friend who is a confirmed bachelor, and he voluminously speaks his hatred of the female sex--I came to the point where I was mentally agreeing, "yes, sir, you are so right! We suck! hahahah!"
WHY??? George Eliot, you are one of us! Why are you doing this?
3.5 stars rounded up
This was a challenging read for me, but I'm glad I stuck with it. I read [b:Middlemarch|19089|Middlemarch|George Eliot|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568307771l/19089._SY75_.jpg|1461747] not too long ago, which is what put George Eliot on my radar. However, even though the book is about Adam Bede, who I enjoyed getting to know, Hetty plays a large part in it and she was kind of a train wreck. Her immaturity, selfishness, and shallowness lead to her downfall, which is the primary storyline in this book. Captain Donnithorne, who played a primary part in her downfall, was also pretty aggravating; he was that arrogant, well-to-do jerk who believes he is a good person, no matter what he does. His method of taking responsibility for his actions is to buy his way out of trouble. Adam, Dinah, and Seth were more interesting and infinitely more likable, although they each had growing of their own to do. I also found the Poysers to be interesting supporting characters and I found myself laughing at some of the things they would say. Overall, I'd say that this book was kind of a slog for me to get through, but I enjoyed getting to know some of the characters and it definitely had its moments. I also liked the way it ended, and the writing was also very good. I would be open to reading more books by the author, although I'm not sure which one I should tackle next. I read this as a buddy read, and I'm glad my friends encouraged me to read it.
This was a challenging read for me, but I'm glad I stuck with it. I read [b:Middlemarch|19089|Middlemarch|George Eliot|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568307771l/19089._SY75_.jpg|1461747] not too long ago, which is what put George Eliot on my radar. However, even though the book is about Adam Bede, who I enjoyed getting to know, Hetty plays a large part in it and she was kind of a train wreck. Her immaturity, selfishness, and shallowness lead to her downfall, which is the primary storyline in this book. Captain Donnithorne, who played a primary part in her downfall, was also pretty aggravating; he was that arrogant, well-to-do jerk who believes he is a good person, no matter what he does. His method of taking responsibility for his actions is to buy his way out of trouble. Adam, Dinah, and Seth were more interesting and infinitely more likable, although they each had growing of their own to do. I also found the Poysers to be interesting supporting characters and I found myself laughing at some of the things they would say. Overall, I'd say that this book was kind of a slog for me to get through, but I enjoyed getting to know some of the characters and it definitely had its moments. I also liked the way it ended, and the writing was also very good. I would be open to reading more books by the author, although I'm not sure which one I should tackle next. I read this as a buddy read, and I'm glad my friends encouraged me to read it.
When I read that Woolf hailed Eliot as the only serious, adult novelist of England, I agreed but I really thought such a praise was confined to her later works. Man, how wrong I was: Adam Bede ranks pretty darn high on my list of “novels I wish I wrote.”
Only Eliot can get away with layering (great) stories with social and moral commentaries. Dauntless!
Only Eliot can get away with layering (great) stories with social and moral commentaries. Dauntless!
I read this book in High School, oh, I'd say about 8 years ago, promptly forgot the name, and have been desperately looking for it ever since. I want to reread it. I've wanted to reread it for 8 years.
This is the first novel written by Mary Ann Evans under her pseudonym of George Elliot. It was published in 1859 and is set in 1799. It is said to have been inspired by Evans' Methodist preacher aunt's telling her of a case of matricide. The novel is a bit slow-moving, by contemporary plot standards, but contains many memorable passages. I also think it has a place in the history of feminist literature. In the novel, Evans takes the much-loathed crime of murdering a baby and portrays the kind of circumstances that could lead to such an outcome.
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated