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3.67k reviews for:
Middlemarch: (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions) (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics)
George Eliot
4.06 AVERAGE
3.67k reviews for:
Middlemarch: (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions) (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics)
George Eliot
4.06 AVERAGE
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."
relaxing
medium-paced
M'he quedat estabornida. Una prosa magistral; llegint amb ganes de plorar de com de bona és. Em sento renovada.
"(...) 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."
Em sembla gairebé un sacrilegi posar-lo al costat de la resta de llibres als que els hi he donat cinc estrelles abans. Si hagués de transcriure les seves cites cèlebres hauria de transcriure tot el llibre paraula per paraula. No descobreixo res, una de les grans obres DE LES GRANS obres. Si el cànon existeix, el cànon és AQUEST llibre. "One of the few English novels written for grown-up people", diu la Woolf. L'he gaudit tant. Jo ho sé, que this is my shit i òbviament m'havia d'encantar, però a més d'això crec que la Mary Ann Evans té una ment prodigiosa, una sensibilitat extraordinària, una ploma fins i tot miraculosa.
Un estudi fenomenalment complex del caràcter humà. Una prosa impecable. Si bé no escapa el to moralista que ja és d'esperar, és fàcil acceptar-lo quan la lliçó és tan benèvola i comprensiva amb els defectes i les mancances dels seus personatges.
......Pregunteu-me pel llibre, si us plau, necessito parlar-ne i no vull molestar-vos més amb aquesta review que sempre seria infinita i seria incompleta, perquè no soc George Eliot i se m'escapen les paraules.
Em sembla gairebé un sacrilegi posar-lo al costat de la resta de llibres als que els hi he donat cinc estrelles abans. Si hagués de transcriure les seves cites cèlebres hauria de transcriure tot el llibre paraula per paraula. No descobreixo res, una de les grans obres DE LES GRANS obres. Si el cànon existeix, el cànon és AQUEST llibre. "One of the few English novels written for grown-up people", diu la Woolf. L'he gaudit tant. Jo ho sé, que this is my shit i òbviament m'havia d'encantar, però a més d'això crec que la Mary Ann Evans té una ment prodigiosa, una sensibilitat extraordinària, una ploma fins i tot miraculosa.
Un estudi fenomenalment complex del caràcter humà. Una prosa impecable. Si bé no escapa el to moralista que ja és d'esperar, és fàcil acceptar-lo quan la lliçó és tan benèvola i comprensiva amb els defectes i les mancances dels seus personatges.
......Pregunteu-me pel llibre, si us plau, necessito parlar-ne i no vull molestar-vos més amb aquesta review que sempre seria infinita i seria incompleta, perquè no soc George Eliot i se m'escapen les paraules.
Poor Dorothea! Poor Lydgate! Poor Casaubon! And most of all, Poor Stephanie! By this, I am only half joking. This novel clearly deserves the praise it gets, and I appreciate it in hindsight, but my god was it a grind to get through, especially on a time crunch. However, I suspect the longer I reflect upon it, the more fondness I will have for the novel, which turns the spotlight on those "who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Audiobook 🎧
Middlemarch is a heavily character-driven story, with some plot threads that ran throughout. It seemed more of a glimpse into the lives of the Middlemarch residents and a commentary on morality, choices, politics, the changing world, and so much more, than a story with beginning and end. Eliot really showcased how her characters embraced or squandered the opportunities and advantages they were presented with, and how they all (mis)communicated and interacted with each other.
A fantastically written epic with characters I really cared for. I can see why it became a 'classic' that's still loved today, as I adored it too.
Middlemarch is a heavily character-driven story, with some plot threads that ran throughout. It seemed more of a glimpse into the lives of the Middlemarch residents and a commentary on morality, choices, politics, the changing world, and so much more, than a story with beginning and end. Eliot really showcased how her characters embraced or squandered the opportunities and advantages they were presented with, and how they all (mis)communicated and interacted with each other.
A fantastically written epic with characters I really cared for. I can see why it became a 'classic' that's still loved today, as I adored it too.
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Having been slightly bored by Silas Marner, I was not expecting much gratification from this massive tome. But I had heard good things about Middlemarch from others, so I steeled myself and dug in. I was quite figuratively blown-away by the quality of writing. It is not just that Eliot is an excellent satirist, but that she makes penetrating psychological insights and crafts very well-developed, imminently human characters, who are sympathetic despite their faults. She also exhibits a brilliant mastery of the English language, describing both internal and external scenes in the most beautiful of terms. Middlemarch is not an easy read; there are multiple characters with complex relationships to one another, and the threads of their singular lives are eventually thoroughly tied up into one another. I found that keeping note cards on the family trees of the various characters was of assistance when reading. But once you have established who everyone is, the complexity of the novel is no longer a hindrance, and it may be read as lightly and quickly as any work of fiction. The plot line is interesting enough, but it is the personalities of the characters that are truly gripping. There are few novels that have stimulated my intellect as deeply, or drawn upon my emotions as expertly, or commanded my respect as fully as Middlemarch.