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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
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Easily in the top 10 best novels ever written. Worth more than words or a 5 star rating can convey!
Life changing. Considered just turning back to the first page when I finished.
A great satire.
The first quarter of the book is boring, but the next two quarters make up for it and the last quarter is just brilliant, especially as the seemingly unrelated parallel story lines merge.
The first quarter of the book is boring, but the next two quarters make up for it and the last quarter is just brilliant, especially as the seemingly unrelated parallel story lines merge.
“For the fragment of a life, however typical, is not the sample of an even web: promises may nor be kept, and an ardent outset may be followed by declension; latent powers may find their long-waited opportunity; a past error may urge a grand retrieval.”
Emotional sacrifice, social class and sinister secrets.
George Eliot’s Middlemarch sets out to create a commentary of provincial life, and with such great detail and narrative arc, achieves just that.
Each character represents a pillar of community and their varying storylines reflect all corners of society, from relationships to finance and class- the significant elements of societal gossip against an 1800s background. With this, Eliot also explores the role of women, in both marriage and money, their found happiness or lack of, the controversy of choice, independence. The female characters of Middlemarch demonstrate poignant insight into the emotional sides of each narrative, wrapped up in beautifully written philosophy and resonating sentiment.
With this read, you begin to feel embedded in the culture of Middlemarch, it’s politics, economics, the people that reside, you generate opinions, bonds- a truly special experience.
Emotional sacrifice, social class and sinister secrets.
George Eliot’s Middlemarch sets out to create a commentary of provincial life, and with such great detail and narrative arc, achieves just that.
Each character represents a pillar of community and their varying storylines reflect all corners of society, from relationships to finance and class- the significant elements of societal gossip against an 1800s background. With this, Eliot also explores the role of women, in both marriage and money, their found happiness or lack of, the controversy of choice, independence. The female characters of Middlemarch demonstrate poignant insight into the emotional sides of each narrative, wrapped up in beautifully written philosophy and resonating sentiment.
With this read, you begin to feel embedded in the culture of Middlemarch, it’s politics, economics, the people that reside, you generate opinions, bonds- a truly special experience.
Another long, but worth it, read from the BBC's The Big Read list which I am making my way through. The book has many characters, all wonderfully developed, and lots of twists and turns worthy of any modern day soapy tale. The societal pressures of the 1800's, however, make the predicaments of the characters more intense, I think, than those of any modern day setting. Marriage was forever and if you entered into such a bond unwisely, well, there you were stuck. And, should the tongues in town ever start to wag about you and your past, your livelihood and your ability to stay in town were in jeopardy.
As always in these long tomes, I take delight in the humorous ways certain people are described. Here is one such characterization of Sir James:
There are also funny exchanges with Mrs. Cadwallader. Here she discusses how her husband's perceived shortcomings she makes up for by her own talk:
Indeed she does, as you can see in this exchange between her and the young, naive Celia who is distressed over her sister Dorothea's choice for a marriage partner:
There are wonderful observations throughout the book about the shortcomings of people, here about how we fail to see our own:
My favorite observation in the book, however, is this one by the saintly Dorothea, who tries so hard to do good and right:
Amen, Dorothea. Amen.
As always in these long tomes, I take delight in the humorous ways certain people are described. Here is one such characterization of Sir James:
He was made of excellent human dough, and had the rare merit of knowing that his talents, even if let loose, would not set the smallest stream in the county on fire...
There are also funny exchanges with Mrs. Cadwallader. Here she discusses how her husband's perceived shortcomings she makes up for by her own talk:
"Humphrey finds everybody charming. I never can get him to abuse Casaubon. He will even speak well of the bishop, though I tell him it is unnatural in a beneficed clergyman; what can one do with a husband who attends so little to the decencies? I hide it as well as I can by abusing everybody myself."
Indeed she does, as you can see in this exchange between her and the young, naive Celia who is distressed over her sister Dorothea's choice for a marriage partner:
"Oh, Mrs. Cadwallader, I don't think it can be nice to marry a man with a great soul."
"Well, my dear, take warning. You know the look of one now; when the next time comes and wants to marry you, don't you accept him."
There are wonderful observations throughout the book about the shortcomings of people, here about how we fail to see our own:
...people were so ridiculous with their illusions, carrying their fool's caps unawares, thinking their own lies opaque while everybody else's were transparent, making themselves exceptions to everything, as if when all the world looked yellow under a lamp they alone were rosy.
My favorite observation in the book, however, is this one by the saintly Dorothea, who tries so hard to do good and right:
"I have always been thinking of the different ways in which Christianity is taught, and whenever I find one way that makes it a wider blessing than any other, I cling to that as the truest-I mean that which takes in the most good of all kinds, and brings in the most people as sharers in it. It is surely better to pardon too much, than to condemn too much."
Amen, Dorothea. Amen.
So refreshing to read of characters motivated by their core beliefs, yet clearly modifying their actions based on new information or circumstances.
George Eliot was fairly critical of female writers of her time (she legit wrote an essay called “Silly Novels by Lady Novelists” LOL). And though I love those silly novels, I was still excited to read Eliot’s (very long) novel about the many intertwining lives in Middlemarch.
The characters were INCREDIBLE. I found the first 100 pages focusing on boring and self-righteous Dorothea to be a snooze fest. By the end of the novel, I would have DIED for Dorothea. Each character was equally as flushed out, exhibiting crazy amounts of growth.
The narration style was so interesting, too. Though told in third person, Eliot as the narrator frequently inserted herself to comment on her favorite characters, or to offer further critique. Though it took a while to get used to, it ended up being great fun to add Eliot as a “character” who would drop savage burns like, “a man’s mind - what there is of it.”
The most surprising part of this novel was the modernity, the relevance to today - questions over medicine, politics, birth rights, etc which still permeate our current society. It’s wild (and still somewhat comforting) to know that not much has changed.
If I had to offer criticism, I’d say it was probably too long and Eliot could have certainly edited some parts more concisely. However, even sections which felt unbearably long (I’m looking at you, hospital chaplain search) served a greater purpose by the end of the book so I couldn’t even be that mad.
If you like long ass novels that critique 1800s English society, plot twists that make you throw your book across the room, and a loveably flawed cast of characters, I’d recommend Middlemarch!
The characters were INCREDIBLE. I found the first 100 pages focusing on boring and self-righteous Dorothea to be a snooze fest. By the end of the novel, I would have DIED for Dorothea. Each character was equally as flushed out, exhibiting crazy amounts of growth.
The narration style was so interesting, too. Though told in third person, Eliot as the narrator frequently inserted herself to comment on her favorite characters, or to offer further critique. Though it took a while to get used to, it ended up being great fun to add Eliot as a “character” who would drop savage burns like, “a man’s mind - what there is of it.”
The most surprising part of this novel was the modernity, the relevance to today - questions over medicine, politics, birth rights, etc which still permeate our current society. It’s wild (and still somewhat comforting) to know that not much has changed.
If I had to offer criticism, I’d say it was probably too long and Eliot could have certainly edited some parts more concisely. However, even sections which felt unbearably long (I’m looking at you, hospital chaplain search) served a greater purpose by the end of the book so I couldn’t even be that mad.
If you like long ass novels that critique 1800s English society, plot twists that make you throw your book across the room, and a loveably flawed cast of characters, I’d recommend Middlemarch!
challenging
emotional
reflective
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've done it. I finally read this classic book.