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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
I can't get around Eliot's undying allegiance to realism. I try, I try, yet I fail.
I mean I read this while listening to an audiobook at 2x speed but I'm pretty sure I liked it
(I'm a slow reader and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to meet deadlines)
(I'm a slow reader and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to meet deadlines)
3.5 stars
I’ve never read any book by George Eliot until now.
This one was good.
If you are wanting a fast paced story, or one with lots of action, a high plot arc, and lots of showing not telling, this book probably isn’t for you.
It’s slow paced with some very long paragraphs. But the characters are rich and the story, while not a very prominent plot arc, is powerful if you stop to really think about it. The setting was described in such a way that I could picture the entire place from the Rainbow, to Marner’s home.
Silas Marner touched my heart with his simple, quiet life. I felt for him at the beginning when he lived in Lantern Yard. And again when he faced trouble in Raveloe. The ending made me smile.
Eppie, such a sweet child and young woman. I loved her dedication to her father no matter what.
While this story took me a while to read, I’m very glad I read it and would recommend it to others who enjoy old stories that are slower paced.
I’ve never read any book by George Eliot until now.
This one was good.
If you are wanting a fast paced story, or one with lots of action, a high plot arc, and lots of showing not telling, this book probably isn’t for you.
It’s slow paced with some very long paragraphs. But the characters are rich and the story, while not a very prominent plot arc, is powerful if you stop to really think about it. The setting was described in such a way that I could picture the entire place from the Rainbow, to Marner’s home.
Silas Marner touched my heart with his simple, quiet life. I felt for him at the beginning when he lived in Lantern Yard. And again when he faced trouble in Raveloe. The ending made me smile.
Eppie, such a sweet child and young woman. I loved her dedication to her father no matter what.
While this story took me a while to read, I’m very glad I read it and would recommend it to others who enjoy old stories that are slower paced.
For anyone who doesn't know the outline of this, here follows a synopsis. Silas the weaver arrives in a village from somewhere 'oop North' and plies his trade. He keeps himself to himself and makes lots of money, which he doesn't spend, but hides and marvels at. One night his money is stolen, which begins to garner him some sympathy, but it is only when he finds and adopts a little girl lost one snowy evening that his life changes for the better.
Of course, that's not the half of it - there's explanations to be had of Silas' reclusiveness, who took his money and Eppie's parentage, as well as descriptions of life at all levels in the village. Just to make it a bit more up to date, there's a junkie in there too. So, good solid storytelling, with events dictated by the strongly defined characters - easy to see why Mary Ann has lasted so long.
This edition is a school-book version, not the one shown, so the Introduction is explanatory rather than analytical, the notes include some odd choices of words and customs to explain, and there are exercises at the back in case you're stuck for something to write about in your review!
Of course, that's not the half of it - there's explanations to be had of Silas' reclusiveness, who took his money and Eppie's parentage, as well as descriptions of life at all levels in the village. Just to make it a bit more up to date, there's a junkie in there too. So, good solid storytelling, with events dictated by the strongly defined characters - easy to see why Mary Ann has lasted so long.
This edition is a school-book version, not the one shown, so the Introduction is explanatory rather than analytical, the notes include some odd choices of words and customs to explain, and there are exercises at the back in case you're stuck for something to write about in your review!
Starts out quite dreary and picks up in tone about halfway through, leading to the tidy ending I tend to enjoy. Nothing amazing but an enjoyable read.
Two shocks dramatically change the life of a disillusioned weaver in self-imposed rural exile. The first is the theft of fifteen years wages from his cottage, and the second is the arrival soon after is the arrival of an abandoned toddler whom he adopts. Unknown to the poor weaver, the shocks the one that deprives him of his gold, and the one that enriches his life with a golden haired daughter are caused by members of the wealthiest family in the village.
Sachs faithful delivery of accents and his realistic acting the part of the speakers brings out the character and class of each speaker and helps emphasize the author’s keen ear for the voices and eccentricities of her rural characters and enhances the verisimilitude of the setting.
Sachs faithful delivery of accents and his realistic acting the part of the speakers brings out the character and class of each speaker and helps emphasize the author’s keen ear for the voices and eccentricities of her rural characters and enhances the verisimilitude of the setting.
This book was a real-life Book Circle read that, well, got mixed reviews. Some people thought the writing was brilliant and others found it dated; some people thought it was too short, others too long for the short story they felt it truly was and not the novel it's pretending to be.
I think it's a lovely book. I think Silas is about as honestly drawn and cannily observed a character as fiction offers. I think the village of Raveloe is as real as my own village of Hempstead. It's a delight to read about real people, presented without editorial snark, in a book from the 19th century.
And therein the book's real achievement. When it was published in 1861, it was a revolutionary tract! The hoi polloi were not to be represented in Art, and novels were then most definitely considered Art, unless they were romanticized, made into prettier or uglier or in some way extreme examples of a Point of View. Simple, honest, direct portrayal of people that novel-readers employed but never conversed with?! Shocking!
A book of great importance, then, for its groundbreaking treatment of The People. But also...and this is the reason it helped wreak the revolution whose Robespierres and Dantons were Hemingway and Company...it is a simple story of a man's journey down an ever-widening path that leads to enlightenment, told without A Message or A Moral, in prose that remains graceful 150 years later.
If you read it in high school, don't blame IT for the hatred your English teacher left you feeling...blame the teacher. It's not fairly presented in English courses. Read it as an adult, and judge it for itself. Maybe it'll be to your personal taste, maybe not, but I think a grown-up read of a book this seminal to all the others we read today, never thinking about how improbable their existence is, isn't too much to ask.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
I think it's a lovely book. I think Silas is about as honestly drawn and cannily observed a character as fiction offers. I think the village of Raveloe is as real as my own village of Hempstead. It's a delight to read about real people, presented without editorial snark, in a book from the 19th century.
And therein the book's real achievement. When it was published in 1861, it was a revolutionary tract! The hoi polloi were not to be represented in Art, and novels were then most definitely considered Art, unless they were romanticized, made into prettier or uglier or in some way extreme examples of a Point of View. Simple, honest, direct portrayal of people that novel-readers employed but never conversed with?! Shocking!
A book of great importance, then, for its groundbreaking treatment of The People. But also...and this is the reason it helped wreak the revolution whose Robespierres and Dantons were Hemingway and Company...it is a simple story of a man's journey down an ever-widening path that leads to enlightenment, told without A Message or A Moral, in prose that remains graceful 150 years later.
If you read it in high school, don't blame IT for the hatred your English teacher left you feeling...blame the teacher. It's not fairly presented in English courses. Read it as an adult, and judge it for itself. Maybe it'll be to your personal taste, maybe not, but I think a grown-up read of a book this seminal to all the others we read today, never thinking about how improbable their existence is, isn't too much to ask.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
I found the first few chapters very sad and had to force myself to keep reading after Silas' money was stolen. I'm glad I did, though: the scene where Silas tried to discipline Eppie by shutting her in the coal hole was worth the price of the book on its own. Evangelical religion came off very badly here, in contrast with in Adam Bede, and the Anglican faith of the villagers was so poorly understood by them as to to more or less worthless: they seem to have been naturally good.
High drama with a secret marriage, opium addiction and the discovery of a skeleton. You really feel how no one can have any secrets in a village. Short, but the ending was very satisfactory.
High drama with a secret marriage, opium addiction and the discovery of a skeleton. You really feel how no one can have any secrets in a village. Short, but the ending was very satisfactory.
My first experience with George Elliot, which I thoroughly enjoyed! Her characters are clearly drawn, though the many different side characters are confusing sometimes, and the themes of family touched on are beautifully done. A worthwhile classic read.