A review by mmarie12
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

3.0

While I really enjoyed the novel, I found it disappointing as Eliot's final work. With a masterpiece like Middlemarch coming before, I was expecting something mind-blowing, which I simply didn't get. Also, the blurb on the back of the book gave away the most critical plot point, which only ends up being revealed within the final 150 pages of a 700 page novel. Perhaps part of my impatience arose from that. Although it has typical Eliot asides into history, psychology, etc., it was much more of a blatant romance novel than either Middlemarch or Mill on the Floss, which is not something I expected from her. This was recommended to me by an English prof of mine who helped me with my senior thesis on the influence of the male gaze in Austen and Eliot. While interesting from that point of view, I was disappointed overall. I do not, however, regret having read those 700 pages.