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lizetteratura's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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
4.0
dorothea (and will) you are so dear to me
megalobob's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
jess_mango's review against another edition
5.0
I remember buying this book at a bookstore in the Copley Place mall in Boston shortly within a year or 2 of finishing college. I was burnt out from engineering school and looking to read some classics and other highly recommended books from some book list I came across.
I really didn't know much about Middlemarch before picking it up. I ended up loving it.
Dorothea Brooke is a woman trying to make a mark in the world in a time where society didn't really approve of woman doing such things. She's definitely a protagonist that remained in my thoughts long after finishing the book.
I really didn't know much about Middlemarch before picking it up. I ended up loving it.
Dorothea Brooke is a woman trying to make a mark in the world in a time where society didn't really approve of woman doing such things. She's definitely a protagonist that remained in my thoughts long after finishing the book.
mumblesnore's review against another edition
challenging
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
5.0
kdahlo's review
4.0
Published in 1871 and having over 800 pages, this book was not my usual light, escapist, sci fi fare. My approach to reading it was a bit different, I was determined to sprint through it, so as not to forget the names of any of the 30 odd characters and stay immersed in the events. The book is divided into sections however, and was originally serialized, so I could imagine a different approach to reading it that might work quite well.
I was glad I took the approach I did though, I read it relatively quickly and really got to know all the characters and locations well. Ultimately, the book tells the interwoven stories of several families, and eventually several couples who all live together in the same town. The book is packed with difficult-to-unpack slang from the era, my favorites being an obscure reference to someone's family crest that can be dissected to say "they are a huge nerd who writes too much" and 'Italian with white mice', which is evidently a savage burn on one's ancestry.
Another subtheme I enjoyed was picking out the double anachronisms - the book is written in 1871, but concerns events in the 1830s. As a result, there are times when the narrator is gently mocking the old-fashioned choices of the characters, but the alternative that they are praising is itself quite old fashioned to me, reading this book in 2020. There are many discussions of medical inventions and insights in this vein, which were sometimes hard to parse (ie, a character thinks x is right, and I know as a modern reader y is right, is the narrator implying the character is foolish or clever for thinking x when she says that other characters think z?)
Overall, I thought this book was very engaging. I was surprised how I emotionally attached I got to some of the characters. There were sections of the book that I found really gut wrenchingly painful to read, as they concerned misunderstandings between people that were very relatable and difficult to resolve. I also found myself reading sentences aloud to Joshua very often, since the narrator interjects occasionally with some great remarks, and there are some characters and manners of speaking which are really fun to read.
This was not necessarily an easy book for every occasion, but I was really glad I read it and would recommend it to someone looking for something that they can really sink their teeth into.
I was glad I took the approach I did though, I read it relatively quickly and really got to know all the characters and locations well. Ultimately, the book tells the interwoven stories of several families, and eventually several couples who all live together in the same town. The book is packed with difficult-to-unpack slang from the era, my favorites being an obscure reference to someone's family crest that can be dissected to say "they are a huge nerd who writes too much" and 'Italian with white mice', which is evidently a savage burn on one's ancestry.
Another subtheme I enjoyed was picking out the double anachronisms - the book is written in 1871, but concerns events in the 1830s. As a result, there are times when the narrator is gently mocking the old-fashioned choices of the characters, but the alternative that they are praising is itself quite old fashioned to me, reading this book in 2020. There are many discussions of medical inventions and insights in this vein, which were sometimes hard to parse (ie, a character thinks x is right, and I know as a modern reader y is right, is the narrator implying the character is foolish or clever for thinking x when she says that other characters think z?)
Overall, I thought this book was very engaging. I was surprised how I emotionally attached I got to some of the characters. There were sections of the book that I found really gut wrenchingly painful to read, as they concerned misunderstandings between people that were very relatable and difficult to resolve. I also found myself reading sentences aloud to Joshua very often, since the narrator interjects occasionally with some great remarks, and there are some characters and manners of speaking which are really fun to read.
This was not necessarily an easy book for every occasion, but I was really glad I read it and would recommend it to someone looking for something that they can really sink their teeth into.