You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
emotional
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
slow-paced
A book written by a true genius. The characters live and stay with the reader. The plot is wonderfully structured and moving.
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Murder, Pregnancy
Not my favourite Eliot, but not my least favourite either. 2.5 stars rounded up because I'm feeling generous.
There were some sections that were incredibly good, including the first 100 or so pages, and the trial, but also a lot I found a bit on the dull side. The title character is a bit of a non-entity really... The main attraction is easily Hetty, followed perhaps by Dinah. Still, worth a read if you enjoy Victorian literature, and Eliot in particular, but not in the same league as the likes of [b:Middlemarch|19089|Middlemarch|George Eliot|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568307771l/19089._SY75_.jpg|1461747].
There were some sections that were incredibly good, including the first 100 or so pages, and the trial, but also a lot I found a bit on the dull side. The title character is a bit of a non-entity really... The main attraction is easily Hetty, followed perhaps by Dinah. Still, worth a read if you enjoy Victorian literature, and Eliot in particular, but not in the same league as the likes of [b:Middlemarch|19089|Middlemarch|George Eliot|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568307771l/19089._SY75_.jpg|1461747].
A brilliant debut novel of George Eliot. In many places five star read but the ending disappointed me. While it was expected I didn't want it to end that way. In many ways this is a story like Tess of D'Urbervilles. Hetty is in love with a man that doesn't want to marry her while Adam is in the mids of desperate and faithful love towards Hetty. The most interesting character is Dinah, a woman preacher and Hetty's cousin. I was really invested with the story until the last part and ended up enjoying this so much more than Eliot's Middlemarch. Definitely going to pick up more by Eliot in the future.
Country life filled with good people, tragedy, pain, joy.
I feel I’m parting with friends now that I finished the book.
I feel I’m parting with friends now that I finished the book.
It's hard to know what to think about this book: it feels like a longer, extended version of her other work, Silas Marner, and yet that works feels much better as a whole than this one. The novel is about everyday people and everyday rural life in the 18th century and perhaps that is why it feels a bit foreign. The ending just ends, not quite disappointing but also not satisfactory for all the unforeseen drama that occurs in the life of the titular character.
dark
emotional
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
Starts off good gets bad then saves itself by getting good again. The whole thing seems to run on negative space with the lush presentness of so much (like the countryside) making absences and silences stand out. That it all started with the confession is extremely interesting in this regard. Arthur and Gawain and the ancientness and recent historical nature all point towards: why does this still happen? Will it ever stop? What will change it? Will it all be better in a different country? What does this mean for Eliot’s victorian or more radical sensibilities and frameworks?
reflective
medium-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:
Complicated