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A review by sharanyasarathy
Adam Bede by George Eliot
4.0
Ok finally decided to review now that I've forgotten all my thoughts about this book lol
Pros
Eliot uses beautiful writing to get the reader deeply invested in the hopes, dreams, fears, desires, etc. of a myriad of characters in the English rustic village that is observing both the Napoleonic wars and the Industrial Revolution from afar. Although there is a fair bit of social and religious commentary, primarily around feminism, class issues, and the like, it does not feel sermonizing (except of course for the literal sermons by Dinah and the Methodists) or patronizing. I felt so badly for Hetty and Adam and Seth even while seeing their flaws clearly (and really disliking Hetty in general whoops)
Cons
1. It's hard for me to get behind the extremely fervent evangelist female characters that Eliot seems fond of writing (Dinah, Dorothea). On the character flaw front... also did not understand the point of the old crotchety bachelor who says extremely offensive things about women (and I can't even remember his name so what was he really adding to the book)
2. A critique that Henry James had about Middlemarch that I scoffed at was that Eliot inserted herself too much as the omniscient author/narrator with an agenda into the flow of the book. Unfortunately, I feel that critique does hold true to Adam Bede, but all in all not horrible.
I highly recommend this book! As my Eliot ratings go here is the order:
1. Middlemarch
2. Adam Bede
3. The Mill on the Floss
Pros
Eliot uses beautiful writing to get the reader deeply invested in the hopes, dreams, fears, desires, etc. of a myriad of characters in the English rustic village that is observing both the Napoleonic wars and the Industrial Revolution from afar. Although there is a fair bit of social and religious commentary, primarily around feminism, class issues, and the like, it does not feel sermonizing (except of course for the literal sermons by Dinah and the Methodists) or patronizing. I felt so badly for Hetty and Adam and Seth even while seeing their flaws clearly (and really disliking Hetty in general whoops)
Cons
1. It's hard for me to get behind the extremely fervent evangelist female characters that Eliot seems fond of writing (Dinah, Dorothea). On the character flaw front... also did not understand the point of the old crotchety bachelor who says extremely offensive things about women (and I can't even remember his name so what was he really adding to the book)
2. A critique that Henry James had about Middlemarch that I scoffed at was that Eliot inserted herself too much as the omniscient author/narrator with an agenda into the flow of the book. Unfortunately, I feel that critique does hold true to Adam Bede, but all in all not horrible.
I highly recommend this book! As my Eliot ratings go here is the order:
1. Middlemarch
2. Adam Bede
3. The Mill on the Floss