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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
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:
Yes
I had never heard of this book, but I enjoy George Eliot's work. Though not as well known, this book has many of the elements I have come to appreciate in her writing. Not to be missed if you are also a fan.
As far as I am concerned, all of George Eliot's novels are among the best in the English language, and this one is no exception. I think it has a longer "start-up time" than the rest of her novels, but then one also remembers that it is the first full-length novel she wrote.
Longer review here: https://vogliodio.wordpress.com/2018/05/21/adam-bede-my-last-major-eliot-novel/
Longer review here: https://vogliodio.wordpress.com/2018/05/21/adam-bede-my-last-major-eliot-novel/
Three and a half stars, rounded up. A (slightly unsatisfying) meditation on the question: What are women for? Adam Bede and his brother, Seth, must care for their ailing mother and find enough work to support their small family. Both fall in love with women unable to love them back. Rivalry, religion, the role of women at home and outside the home, what happens when moral codes are broken and when landowners have dominion over their tenants; all of these ideas come together in the tale of this small community in rural England. Here, men are generally given the benefit of the doubt and women who stray in the least are scrutinized until they prove themselves pure of heart. There are many things to think about in terms of the subjects, themes, and tone. The deepest emotional connections come from the two women at the core of the narrative, Hetty and Dinah.
Spoiler for the very end: Gut punch.
Spoiler for the very end: Gut punch.
I loved this book up until the final 100 pages... the ending is just terrible. I love George Eliot, and her writing-- the way she complicates her characters morally-- shines through here, intricately ornate as ever. But the way she chooses to solve the plot and the issues in this novel... WHY. #justice4hetty 7/10.
The fact that George Eliot called this novel Adam Bede and not Hetty Sorrel proves that there is no justice in this world.
The novel itself, Eliot’s first, is a fairly quaint pastoral romance. Everyone’s in love with the wrong person. You get the picture. The plot doesn’t really wear the novel’s weight well. It just about breaches 600 pages and there is absolutely no need - no need.
It’s a pity that Adam Bede is such a meh tale, considering that for the novel Eliot invented a character as complex and as loveable and as utterly tragic as Hetty Sorrel. I adored Hetty, and judging by most of the other reviews on here, everyone else did as well. Her story is just so completely harrowing, which is impressive, as most characters from Victorian literature really just go through it.
I have to admit that at points I really became fed up with this novel, only for everything to pick up again when Hetty comes along. But I’m also not going to recommend a 600 page long minor Victorian novel just because one character is good. So I guess that’s that.
The novel itself, Eliot’s first, is a fairly quaint pastoral romance. Everyone’s in love with the wrong person. You get the picture. The plot doesn’t really wear the novel’s weight well. It just about breaches 600 pages and there is absolutely no need - no need.
It’s a pity that Adam Bede is such a meh tale, considering that for the novel Eliot invented a character as complex and as loveable and as utterly tragic as Hetty Sorrel. I adored Hetty, and judging by most of the other reviews on here, everyone else did as well. Her story is just so completely harrowing, which is impressive, as most characters from Victorian literature really just go through it.
I have to admit that at points I really became fed up with this novel, only for everything to pick up again when Hetty comes along. But I’m also not going to recommend a 600 page long minor Victorian novel just because one character is good. So I guess that’s that.
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:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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