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bawallington 's review for:
Middlemarch
by George Eliot
"For there is no creature whose inward being is so strong that it is not greatly determined by what lies outside it." - Middlemarch, George Eliot
As England contemplates modernization, the small provincial town of Middlemarch is experiencing ripples of its own: young, naively moralistic Dorothea Brooke enters into marriage with old, scholarly Casaubon; the innovative doctor Lydgate opens his practice in town; fortunes and land and fates are bartered and gossiped and given and taken - a study of growth, change, and commitment.
The relationships central to the plot of Middlemarch - Dorothea, Casaubon, and Ladislaw; Lydgate and Rosamond; Fred and Mary - are genuinely thoughtful reflections on the ways in which people relate to one another, what draws us together and repels us, and first impressions should not be mistaken for compatibility. The other 50% of the book is what I'm sure are clever quips about the state of 19th century English politics. I've been meaning to read this book for 8+ years - it's the first thing I added to my Goodreads list, one of the first books I purchased from a used bookstore - and it has been collecting dust ever since then. Was it worth the eight year wait? Maybe! It does evoke moments of genuine emotion - laughter, longing, cringe. It's also didactic to the point of temporary incomprehensibility in others. And yet, I think I liked it!
As England contemplates modernization, the small provincial town of Middlemarch is experiencing ripples of its own: young, naively moralistic Dorothea Brooke enters into marriage with old, scholarly Casaubon; the innovative doctor Lydgate opens his practice in town; fortunes and land and fates are bartered and gossiped and given and taken - a study of growth, change, and commitment.
The relationships central to the plot of Middlemarch - Dorothea, Casaubon, and Ladislaw; Lydgate and Rosamond; Fred and Mary - are genuinely thoughtful reflections on the ways in which people relate to one another, what draws us together and repels us, and first impressions should not be mistaken for compatibility. The other 50% of the book is what I'm sure are clever quips about the state of 19th century English politics. I've been meaning to read this book for 8+ years - it's the first thing I added to my Goodreads list, one of the first books I purchased from a used bookstore - and it has been collecting dust ever since then. Was it worth the eight year wait? Maybe! It does evoke moments of genuine emotion - laughter, longing, cringe. It's also didactic to the point of temporary incomprehensibility in others. And yet, I think I liked it!