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A review by claraa1999
George Eliot: Adam Bede/The Mill on the Floss/Silas Marner/Middlemarch by George Eliot
3.0
I may have to come to terms with the fact that I don't understand classic English literature. Either that, or the English didn't understand the concept of novels until recently? No but seriously. Whenever I take on a classic English novel to read I know that the story will go basically as follows:
- Main character is introduced at a certain point in their life (often childhood, but not necessarily). Things happen to main character, there's a certain arc, then that part of the story ends.
- Main character is reintroduced many years later, more completely unrelated things happen to them, and the story ends abruptly (sometimes main character dies suddenly and for no reason, but not necessarily).
- Bonus points if the novel is titled after the house the character lived in, or wants to live in, or (more irritatingly) never actually lived in or even visited but heard about through a sibling (hi there Howard's End).
I understand that I'm just an ignorant foreigner and maybe I should be an English major to fully understand and enjoy The Mill On The Floss, Howard's End, Brideshead Revisited or Wuthering Heights, but I'd also argue that I'm a classic literature geek and I don't have any trouble understanding and enjoying Russian, French, Portuguese and Spanish novels of the same time period which follow a more sensible structure, namely:
- Main character is introduced at a point in their life that's actually relevant to the story. Things happen to them that constitute a clear and sensible arc, and the story ends in a logical way. Also houses are just places where people live not some mystical locations.
So yeah. The Mill On The Floss is basically another classic English novel. You already know what you're getting into before reading it. If that's your thing then you might actually enjoy it.
- Main character is introduced at a certain point in their life (often childhood, but not necessarily). Things happen to main character, there's a certain arc, then that part of the story ends.
- Main character is reintroduced many years later, more completely unrelated things happen to them, and the story ends abruptly (sometimes main character dies suddenly and for no reason, but not necessarily).
- Bonus points if the novel is titled after the house the character lived in, or wants to live in, or (more irritatingly) never actually lived in or even visited but heard about through a sibling (hi there Howard's End).
I understand that I'm just an ignorant foreigner and maybe I should be an English major to fully understand and enjoy The Mill On The Floss, Howard's End, Brideshead Revisited or Wuthering Heights, but I'd also argue that I'm a classic literature geek and I don't have any trouble understanding and enjoying Russian, French, Portuguese and Spanish novels of the same time period which follow a more sensible structure, namely:
- Main character is introduced at a point in their life that's actually relevant to the story. Things happen to them that constitute a clear and sensible arc, and the story ends in a logical way. Also houses are just places where people live not some mystical locations.
So yeah. The Mill On The Floss is basically another classic English novel. You already know what you're getting into before reading it. If that's your thing then you might actually enjoy it.