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mayjasper's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Set in a small town and surrounding countryside in pre-industrial England the story features the lives of one upper working class/lower middle class miller and his family. Their good fortunes and calamities are played out before a society made up almost entirely of 'social Christians' who have no understanding of or inclination towards forgiveness and service.
The Tulliver family and their relations are a fascinating subject. Such brilliant writing. It took me a while to adjust to this earlier form of English but once I got into it it was a real page turner!
I loved it.
The Tulliver family and their relations are a fascinating subject. Such brilliant writing. It took me a while to adjust to this earlier form of English but once I got into it it was a real page turner!
I loved it.
katealli's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
saramar's review against another edition
challenging
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
sadrbb's review against another edition
i would love to finish this book at some point, i was really getting into it. but it was for english and i have to move onto the next one now
wanderingmole's review against another edition
3.0
A bit heavy at times, but ultimately satisfying. Thought-provoking but also comical. Eliot captures humanity very well. Still much more for me to uncover in this novel though.
emzapk's review against another edition
5.0
"Many things are difficult and dark to me; but I see one thing quite clearly - that I must not, cannot, seek my own happiness by sacrificing others."
In 2015 I attended the play version of this, and I still vividly remember it - not just because the production was well done, but because of the story itself. I can't believe it's taken me so long to finally read the book. George Eliot has such a way with words; she paints the scenes, characters, and emotions so vividly. It is such a beautiful, classic writing style, but still feels accessible to modern-day readers.
In 2015 I attended the play version of this, and I still vividly remember it - not just because the production was well done, but because of the story itself. I can't believe it's taken me so long to finally read the book. George Eliot has such a way with words; she paints the scenes, characters, and emotions so vividly. It is such a beautiful, classic writing style, but still feels accessible to modern-day readers.
is_book_loring's review against another edition
3.0
“It is a wonderful subduer, this need of love--this hunger of the heart--as peremptory as that other hunger by which Nature forces us to submit to the yoke, and change the face of the world.”
As the omniscient narrator, George Eliot might insisted that 'character is destiny' is a questionable aphorism, but the tragedy in the lives of the Tullivers, and especially of Maggie's, ultimately is rooted in the choices made by the personalities of their characters.
The tragic life of our heroine, Maggie, for one, is due to her complete inability to understand and accept that we can not expect people to love us for who we are in the way we want them to. That road leads to misery. One either has to be vaguely general or mold oneself appropriately and accordingly to the expectation of society, sacrificing or not have any authenticity in the first place to possibly be loved and approved by everyone.
George Eliot's study of characters was top notch, perceptive, encouraging empathy and compassion in diversity, promoting individualism without it need to be divisive, virtue and morality along with humanity, love. It's a little too religious at time, but understandable considering the period it sets in.
The Mill on the Floss though is uneven in pace and, unlike Middlemarch, I feel that George Eliot projected too much of herself in it, thereby distorting the story line. And I think it is likely to be what leads to the redundant final, contrasting it to the undercurrent sympathetic and hopeful tone of the book.
Of course, The Mill on the Floss is said to be a semi-autobiography, her relationship with her brother inspiring Maggie and Tom's, more curious it is that the fate of these fictional siblings is in a very different nature than their mirroring, real ones.
As the omniscient narrator, George Eliot might insisted that 'character is destiny' is a questionable aphorism, but the tragedy in the lives of the Tullivers, and especially of Maggie's, ultimately is rooted in the choices made by the personalities of their characters.
The tragic life of our heroine, Maggie, for one, is due to her complete inability to understand and accept that we can not expect people to love us for who we are in the way we want them to. That road leads to misery. One either has to be vaguely general or mold oneself appropriately and accordingly to the expectation of society, sacrificing or not have any authenticity in the first place to possibly be loved and approved by everyone.
George Eliot's study of characters was top notch, perceptive, encouraging empathy and compassion in diversity, promoting individualism without it need to be divisive, virtue and morality along with humanity, love. It's a little too religious at time, but understandable considering the period it sets in.
The Mill on the Floss though is uneven in pace and, unlike Middlemarch, I feel that George Eliot projected too much of herself in it, thereby distorting the story line. And I think it is likely to be what leads to the redundant final, contrasting it to the undercurrent sympathetic and hopeful tone of the book.
Of course, The Mill on the Floss is said to be a semi-autobiography, her relationship with her brother inspiring Maggie and Tom's, more curious it is that the fate of these fictional siblings is in a very different nature than their mirroring, real ones.
stephxsu's review against another edition
4.0
Spirited Maggie Tulliver grows up on a struggling mill by the riverside town of St. Ogg’s and struggles with her relationships with her family, her older brother Tom, a beloved friend who happens to be the son of her father’s enemy, and a charismatic but unattainable suitor. This is the first George Eliot book I’ve read and it won’t be my last, for I am blown away by Eliot’s remarkably, almost painfully, accurate insights into human nature and the social condition. Maggie is like a modern heroine caught between tensions of the old and new, a girl who doesn’t fit the mold of the ideal young woman and yet craves acceptance and praise from the men in her life. The writing is bold and flowing, the characters flawed yet endearing.
There are many other more scholarly things I could say about this book (for we had an excellent discussion about it in class), but I would’ve loved it had I picked it up on my own. It’s got all the cleverness and emotional resonance of an Austen novel, and the intricacies of the Victorian realist genre. I have to admit I was thrown and angry at the way Eliot ended this novel, but until that point I was fully invested in the characters’ outcomes, and I can now simply chuckle at all the different ways I can academically interpret that infuriating ending. A must-read for Victorian lit!
There are many other more scholarly things I could say about this book (for we had an excellent discussion about it in class), but I would’ve loved it had I picked it up on my own. It’s got all the cleverness and emotional resonance of an Austen novel, and the intricacies of the Victorian realist genre. I have to admit I was thrown and angry at the way Eliot ended this novel, but until that point I was fully invested in the characters’ outcomes, and I can now simply chuckle at all the different ways I can academically interpret that infuriating ending. A must-read for Victorian lit!