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3.66k reviews for:
Middlemarch: (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions) (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics)
George Eliot
4.06 AVERAGE
3.66k reviews for:
Middlemarch: (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions) (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics)
George Eliot
4.06 AVERAGE
challenging
funny
reflective
I wish I could give it 3.5 stars as I’m wavering between 3 & 4. I had high expectations for this book from everything I’ve heard, and I’ve enjoyed George Eliot’s work in the past. I had to push my through it though, I’m afraid. As it’s about a town rather than a central character, it has many strands and although these were straightforward to follow, they also felt a bit tedious.
With some pre-20th century novels I love the descriptive, slow-paced language because it carries us to another time and place and gives brilliant insight that we might miss if we were skipping through. And with others, you have to discipline yourself to remember that they were written when life was lived at a slower pace, and books were released as periodicals, taking months for the full story to unfold. This felt like the latter.
It is a brilliant insight into the wider circumstances of the time though, set over the reign of George IV and William IV, and exploring political reform, agriculture, marriage & idealism. This does give us valuable historic perspective into the impact these things had in many ways on ordinary people.
With some pre-20th century novels I love the descriptive, slow-paced language because it carries us to another time and place and gives brilliant insight that we might miss if we were skipping through. And with others, you have to discipline yourself to remember that they were written when life was lived at a slower pace, and books were released as periodicals, taking months for the full story to unfold. This felt like the latter.
It is a brilliant insight into the wider circumstances of the time though, set over the reign of George IV and William IV, and exploring political reform, agriculture, marriage & idealism. This does give us valuable historic perspective into the impact these things had in many ways on ordinary people.
Another lovely classic... enjoyable but not as memorable as The Mill On The Floss
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Eliot takes a town full of richly thought-out characters, mixes them together with gossip, personal crises, endurance, love, shame, and other individual emotions seemingly impossible for one person to dream up, lets you get familiar with their stories, slowly, at an incredibly even pace despite the book's length and brings it home with a satisfying, intricate crescendo. Like Jane Austen on steroids (in a good way).
I don't think I have anything to say about this novel that has not been said before. It is simply a brilliant book with extremely complex characters and fascinating events that shape them into the persons they end up becoming by the end of it.
My favorite part of the whole reading experience was being able to read about the narrator's psychological rendering of the characters while seeing their development along the narrative's progression. Some of them are idealistic while others are more realistic, a fact that adds a lot of diversity and richness in the characterization of this book. Their different, and a lot of times completely opposite, beliefs on religion, politics, marriage and life in general are the cause of many conflicts between them and only add to the very complex interpretation of each of them. Their multi-dimensionality has been crafted so masterfully by Eliot. They are all so rich in thought, opinions and sentiment and a lot of their concerns and goals can be found in our own ever-changing society. What I believe is one of the novel's biggest strengths is that it has no character who is perfect in it. They all make mistakes but eventually try their best to fix them or, if they can't fix them, they get through life trying to live with and make up for them.
What I found extremely fascinating was the concept of heroism that is found in some of the characters. In a way, some of them continually try to be the hero of their story and save themselves from a particular situation that they are in. Others want to be heroes for the rest of the town of Middlemarch and even for the rest of the world, in smaller or bigger ways, and it's a trait of them that I appreciate as well as a very wholesome thing to read about.
That being said, it is also worth noting how all of them can be seen as the antagonists of their own story. Many of them stand in the way of their own happiness by making choices that end up being the most inconvenient for them and dismiss the ones that would truly make them happy, without giving it much thought, which is understandable since they are all in eager search for a comfortable life that was set by society at that specific time in England. These bad choices, however, are the ones that define them the most as they are the ones that, eventually, will force them to change their ways, a fact that renders the book a genuine and accurate representation of what it means to be a human being.
At the end of the day, it all comes back to human relationships, compassion and understanding. Forming relations and maintaining them is never easy, and I think this novel represents this perfectly. Middlemarch is one of the greatest works of realism I have read and will ever read. It is so much more than I have been able to describe, and I can't wait to re-read it again as I'm sure I will be left even more fascinated by it. One hundred percent worth the read.
My favorite part of the whole reading experience was being able to read about the narrator's psychological rendering of the characters while seeing their development along the narrative's progression. Some of them are idealistic while others are more realistic, a fact that adds a lot of diversity and richness in the characterization of this book. Their different, and a lot of times completely opposite, beliefs on religion, politics, marriage and life in general are the cause of many conflicts between them and only add to the very complex interpretation of each of them. Their multi-dimensionality has been crafted so masterfully by Eliot. They are all so rich in thought, opinions and sentiment and a lot of their concerns and goals can be found in our own ever-changing society. What I believe is one of the novel's biggest strengths is that it has no character who is perfect in it. They all make mistakes but eventually try their best to fix them or, if they can't fix them, they get through life trying to live with and make up for them.
What I found extremely fascinating was the concept of heroism that is found in some of the characters. In a way, some of them continually try to be the hero of their story and save themselves from a particular situation that they are in. Others want to be heroes for the rest of the town of Middlemarch and even for the rest of the world, in smaller or bigger ways, and it's a trait of them that I appreciate as well as a very wholesome thing to read about.
That being said, it is also worth noting how all of them can be seen as the antagonists of their own story. Many of them stand in the way of their own happiness by making choices that end up being the most inconvenient for them and dismiss the ones that would truly make them happy, without giving it much thought, which is understandable since they are all in eager search for a comfortable life that was set by society at that specific time in England. These bad choices, however, are the ones that define them the most as they are the ones that, eventually, will force them to change their ways, a fact that renders the book a genuine and accurate representation of what it means to be a human being.
At the end of the day, it all comes back to human relationships, compassion and understanding. Forming relations and maintaining them is never easy, and I think this novel represents this perfectly. Middlemarch is one of the greatest works of realism I have read and will ever read. It is so much more than I have been able to describe, and I can't wait to re-read it again as I'm sure I will be left even more fascinated by it. One hundred percent worth the read.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5 stars.
Loved this much more than I thought I would. Surprisingly easy to read, with short chapters and lots of little cliffhangers. There are some truly brilliant lines in here too.
Loved this much more than I thought I would. Surprisingly easy to read, with short chapters and lots of little cliffhangers. There are some truly brilliant lines in here too.
I was blown away by this book. Not only was it absolutely exquisitely written--Eliot has a gift for description that pops images in the mind unlike anyone I have ever read before--but it is brave. The interconnecting lives of those in Middlemarch engage in politics and questions of social and economic justice, ruminate on relationships between the sexes and thoroughly investigate contextual gendered assumptions, and articulate a careful dialectic, without it being forced, weaving medical advances with waxing and waning religious fervor and class expectations.
Dorothea is a woman unlike any I have ever had the pleasure of reading and I am the better for her story as one in which she sincerely seeks to live a life that means something and that is true to who she is. Her mistakes and her flaws are not glossed over and her triumphs are not trumpeted so loud that the delicacy of weighty sorrow is shattered like fine china.
"But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts;
and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."
Dorothea is a woman unlike any I have ever had the pleasure of reading and I am the better for her story as one in which she sincerely seeks to live a life that means something and that is true to who she is. Her mistakes and her flaws are not glossed over and her triumphs are not trumpeted so loud that the delicacy of weighty sorrow is shattered like fine china.
"But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts;
and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."