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3.65k reviews for:
Middlemarch: (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions) (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics)
George Eliot
4.06 AVERAGE
3.65k reviews for:
Middlemarch: (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions) (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics)
George Eliot
4.06 AVERAGE
"Ah, een beetje zoals Jane Austen," dacht ik toen ik dit boek begon te lezen. Ook George Eliot steekt immers wel wat humor in haar boek. Maar na een tijdje moest ik toch mijn eerste indruk herzien. George Eliot is veel gedetailleerder in haar personages (en de sociale klassen), in het tonen van de samenleving en de relaties onderling. Ze is ook een stuk meedogenlozer tegen haar personages.
Het resultaat is een knap weefwerk, waar je dankzij het taalgebruik dat nog steeds modern genoeg aanvoelt, en uiteraard ook dankzij de lengte van het boek, helemaal ingezogen wordt.
Ik twijfel tussen 3 en 4 sterren, maar uiteindelijk ga ik voor 4 omwille van de nuance waarmee de personages geschetst zijn, zelfs een oppervlakkig personage zoals Rosamund krijgt voldoende uitdieping. (Over Dorothea zwijg ik even, dat is een halve heilige, maar dat was nu eenmaal het punt zoals het einde mooi bewijst).
Het resultaat is een knap weefwerk, waar je dankzij het taalgebruik dat nog steeds modern genoeg aanvoelt, en uiteraard ook dankzij de lengte van het boek, helemaal ingezogen wordt.
Ik twijfel tussen 3 en 4 sterren, maar uiteindelijk ga ik voor 4 omwille van de nuance waarmee de personages geschetst zijn, zelfs een oppervlakkig personage zoals Rosamund krijgt voldoende uitdieping. (Over Dorothea zwijg ik even, dat is een halve heilige, maar dat was nu eenmaal het punt zoals het einde mooi bewijst).
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
Wow what a beautiful book and wonderful characters! The writing is so witty and had me laughing out loud too many times to count. Optimistic, feminist, and surprisingly modern, this book reminds you to see the best in others and the impact small acts of good can have. I will miss these characters dearly and have learned quite a bit from them. Love love love
Finally finished over the summer (2014). Of course a classic. Two things that struck me. It is very funny at times at the expense of almost all the characters. And that idealistic characters always are flawed because of their ideals which makes them blind to reality.
Middlemarch is a pretty decent book to tackle if you have a lot of time and attention available for it. It's a fantasy novel set in real life, a historiography of the changes industrialization brought to England in the 1800s, and a proto-feminist explication of women in modern life. I can't totally recommend it; there's no reason for Eliot to have explained her character's motivations for so many pages, I found myself flipping ahead often to see when I would actually be able to finish it, and some of the characters (Mr. and Mrs. Bulstrode, Mr. and Mrs. Cadawaller) are just plain inexplicable despite her best efforts. Still, I felt both accomplished and missed everyday family and friends life more after reading it.
The perfect novel. Eliot crawls into the minds of her characters with a flashlight and exposes (eloquently, exquisitely) every mental crevice and nuance. Ever since I first read this novel six or so years ago, this has been the default "favorite" book whenever someone asks. Sure, picking a favorite book is like being asked to pick a most beloved child. But Middlemarch is that child who is talented, beautiful, hilarious, gracious and kind. What can you say; you love her best.
I’ve always been vaguely uncomfortable that I hadn’t read Middlemarch, so I decided to take the plunge. I spent the first 4 hours of this 36-hour audio book (narrated by Juliet Stevenson, so I was in good hands) wondering if audio was a viable option for this gigantic novel—there were so many characters, and I felt lost when conversations between anyone but a few of the main characters were happening. I knew there were funny bits that were flying right over my head. But with the help of a character chart, the narrative clicked into place, and I was hooked. What an empathetic, hopeful, big-hearted, delicious work. I’m so glad I stuck with it.
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
George Eliot's ability to weave between so many different characters and story lines was incredibly impressive. I've been wanting to read this for a while so I can finally watch the miniseries, now I'm really excited to see all these characters on the screen!
I’m not in agreement when it is said that this is the greatest novel in the English language . At times it was a slog to listen too. So I switched to the BBC series. At times I was captivated by the read as to what was transpiring between Dr. Lydgate and his calculating and capricious wife Rosamond ( Very Nellie Olsen vibes). Then Mr. Bulstrode’s decline in society of Middlemarch.
That is all.
That is all.
I don't think it has ever taken me so long to finish a book. I'm an instant gratification addict and Middlemarch is a novel that requires hours of slow investment and intense concentration. While reading, I found myself closing the book, laying it gingerly just out of view, and reaching for the remote control. For shame, Sarah! So, in a way, reading Middlemarch became a kind of rehabilitation for my current lifestyle. I used it to try build up my long suffering skills of focus and patience , I used it to wean myself off reaching for my smartphone every five minutes.
Reading long novels is like finding yourself with a new adoptive family. When you spend weeks with the same characters, you become so invested in their lives, so used to their mannerisms that when you turn the last page, it's like losing friends. Middlemarch is a slow burning epic about marriage. From Dorothea to Celia to Rosamond, the lives of the strong willed and strongly flawed women of Middlemarch were defined through their marriages and their life choices. The men were just as varied - from Fred to Tertius, Will and Edward Casaubon, all had their own dreams and failures, and all were resolute in their views of how their women should behave.
George Eliot is often considered a literary genius. I would agree. Her word puppetry makes her imense cast of characters leap off the page, her wit made me often laugh out loud. She was bold, a feminist and ,most surprisingly to me, an atheist. Quite early on in reading Middlemarch, I was suddenly struck by how little religious moralising there was. In classic novels of that period, religious values and morality is often forced upon the reader. Middlemarch still talked widely about religion - it's impossible to talk about the times without the religion that so tightly controlled the era - but with an interesting sort of respectful apathy. I immediately went off to read up about Eliot and what I found out about her character made me admire her immensely. To be an atheist at that time was to run the risk of social exclusion, and being labelled a heretic. Go Georgie - I LOVE me some strong women!
I am glad I read Middlemarch. Would I read it again? ...I don't know. I don't think I would? It's a frustrating feeling - to have loved a book, but also to feel a huge sense of relief that I actually made it out alive.
Reading long novels is like finding yourself with a new adoptive family. When you spend weeks with the same characters, you become so invested in their lives, so used to their mannerisms that when you turn the last page, it's like losing friends. Middlemarch is a slow burning epic about marriage. From Dorothea to Celia to Rosamond, the lives of the strong willed and strongly flawed women of Middlemarch were defined through their marriages and their life choices. The men were just as varied - from Fred to Tertius, Will and Edward Casaubon, all had their own dreams and failures, and all were resolute in their views of how their women should behave.
George Eliot is often considered a literary genius. I would agree. Her word puppetry makes her imense cast of characters leap off the page, her wit made me often laugh out loud. She was bold, a feminist and ,most surprisingly to me, an atheist. Quite early on in reading Middlemarch, I was suddenly struck by how little religious moralising there was. In classic novels of that period, religious values and morality is often forced upon the reader. Middlemarch still talked widely about religion - it's impossible to talk about the times without the religion that so tightly controlled the era - but with an interesting sort of respectful apathy. I immediately went off to read up about Eliot and what I found out about her character made me admire her immensely. To be an atheist at that time was to run the risk of social exclusion, and being labelled a heretic. Go Georgie - I LOVE me some strong women!
I am glad I read Middlemarch. Would I read it again? ...I don't know. I don't think I would? It's a frustrating feeling - to have loved a book, but also to feel a huge sense of relief that I actually made it out alive.