an_enthusiastic_reader 's review for:

Adam Bede by George Eliot

4.0

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Three and a half stars, rounded up. A (slightly unsatisfying) meditation on the question: What are women for? Adam Bede and his brother, Seth, must care for their ailing mother and find enough work to support their small family. Both fall in love with women unable to love them back. Rivalry, religion, the role of women at home and outside the home, what happens when moral codes are broken and when landowners have dominion over their tenants; all of these ideas come together in the tale of this small community in rural England. Here, men are generally given the benefit of the doubt and women who stray in the least are scrutinized until they prove themselves pure of heart. There are many things to think about in terms of the subjects, themes, and tone. The deepest emotional connections come from the two women at the core of the narrative, Hetty and Dinah.

Spoiler for the very end: Gut punch.