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seaswift14's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
threegoodrats's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 My thoughts are here.
p. 194 "If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence. As it is, the quickest of us walk about well wadded with stupidity."
p. 299 "Solomon's Proverbs, I think, have omitted to say, that as the sore palate findeth grit, so an uneasy conscience heareth innuendos."
p. 498 "But what we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope."
p. 838 "For there is no creature whose inward being is so strong that it is not greatly determined by what lies outside it."
p. 194 "If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence. As it is, the quickest of us walk about well wadded with stupidity."
p. 299 "Solomon's Proverbs, I think, have omitted to say, that as the sore palate findeth grit, so an uneasy conscience heareth innuendos."
p. 498 "But what we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope."
p. 838 "For there is no creature whose inward being is so strong that it is not greatly determined by what lies outside it."
thenovelbook's review against another edition
3.0
Whew! This book is long! I liked many of the main characters and was interested in their stories, but the novel did feel wordy to me and too bogged down in small town politics.
I'm sure that many well-read people recognize some sort of genius in all that, but it didn't suit me to have so many asides. I didn't want to know so much about the internal craftiness of the pious hypocrite Bulstrode, or the gossip of the local doctors and politicians. In general, I don't believe in abridgement, but I would be a huge fan of a Middlemarch abridgement!!
However, that aside, I liked Dorothea, the earnest and passionate young woman who believes that marriage to a serious older man will give her a sense of purpose... she's wrong, but even though the reader deplores her choice, one never exults in her suffering. She may be misguided, but she's got potential. I also liked Ladislaw, her husband's cousin who comes into her life like a breath of fresh air. I didn't think he was terribly well defined as a character, but I liked him.
I also had a tolerable interest in Lydgate, the young doctor who gets entangled with Rosamond, and the maze of trouble they get into by marrying without a strong foundation. It's sad, but cautionary.
Anyway, I wouldn't read this a second time, but I'm ready for the movie! Time to hunt down the miniseries from the 90s!
I'm sure that many well-read people recognize some sort of genius in all that, but it didn't suit me to have so many asides. I didn't want to know so much about the internal craftiness of the pious hypocrite Bulstrode, or the gossip of the local doctors and politicians. In general, I don't believe in abridgement, but I would be a huge fan of a Middlemarch abridgement!!
However, that aside, I liked Dorothea, the earnest and passionate young woman who believes that marriage to a serious older man will give her a sense of purpose... she's wrong, but even though the reader deplores her choice, one never exults in her suffering. She may be misguided, but she's got potential. I also liked Ladislaw, her husband's cousin who comes into her life like a breath of fresh air. I didn't think he was terribly well defined as a character, but I liked him.
I also had a tolerable interest in Lydgate, the young doctor who gets entangled with Rosamond, and the maze of trouble they get into by marrying without a strong foundation. It's sad, but cautionary.
Anyway, I wouldn't read this a second time, but I'm ready for the movie! Time to hunt down the miniseries from the 90s!
oldcrow1111's review
5.0
I can’t believe how quickly I consumed this beast of a book! What a novel, and what characters. Quiet acts change the world, indeed.
I understand why Dorothea ultimately made the decisions she did, but I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. This might be the type of book I will reread in several years and receive a totally different message. The audiobook was well done, as well.
I understand why Dorothea ultimately made the decisions she did, but I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. This might be the type of book I will reread in several years and receive a totally different message. The audiobook was well done, as well.
paola_mobileread's review against another edition
4.0
There is a reason why classic stand the test of time: they are quite simply great books. This is one of them, and what really struck me is how perceptive Eliot is in portraying the subtlest nuances in character. There are may "confrontations" between characters that are memorable to me, in which a wall of silence and incomprehension appears, exchange after exchange, between two lovers, between two friends, between people who would like to say so much more but cannot, and we can all see and comprehend why they cannot, and identify our own experiences with what happens in the novel.
There is a sense in which the end does not matter - what matters is the development of the characters and the ripening of life and experience. A beautiful book.
There is a sense in which the end does not matter - what matters is the development of the characters and the ripening of life and experience. A beautiful book.
my_messy_bookshelf's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
cecile87's review against another edition
DNF. I might have put up with the slog of language, but I didn’t like any of the characters in the first 100 pages, I didn’t like the classicism and the sexism. No way was I going to read 700 more pages of it.
eclecticlittleadventures's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
katherinevarga's review against another edition
A high effort, high reward book. It took about three months and some of the small town politics chapters were a slog. I was very invested in the unhappy marriage and romance plotlines though, and this book contains some of my favorite scenes in British literature. So many incredible metaphors and sentences and passages. Eliot was a genius.