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Title: Middlemarch by George Eliot, Carole Boyd ISBN: 9-6263419-6-3 Publisher: Naxos Audio Books Pub. Date: June, 2000 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 6 List Price(USD): $38.98 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.68 (69 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Middlemarch is a pleasure to read.
Comment: It is an English classic, of course, but it is more than one of those books you only read when you are taking a course in English Literature. This is pleasure reading!
My first language is Spanish and I read this at college. It wasn't even mandatory (there was no time left) but I opened it and I couldn't put it down. It is absolutely "deleitable" (I couldn't find a word in English), page after page.
Since it is divided in short chapters, and it's a huge book, I read only one or two chapters a day; I didn't want to "embriagarme" (sorry again). It was an experience. It you love reading, I mean really love reading, then this is for you.
Treat yourself well for a month. Read it.
It's George Eliot's best work.
Rating: 5
Summary: Pleasant, Diverting, But Also Insightful
Comment: I just this book as a required reading for a philosophy and thematic discussion class, and while I have found all the books asigned worthwhile reading, I didn't know what to expect with this book, having never read any Eliot and also having heard it described as a "chick book". While it does often read like an extremely ellaborate 19th century soap opera, I cannot recommend this book highly enough, whatever your reading preferences. This book cuts across genre lines not just as a result of the witty storylines and sharp dialogue but as a legitimate and inciteful case study of human nature and human interactions, both social and romantic.
Set in and around the town of Middlemarch, somewhere in England, the story encomasses the lives of a slew of dilightful and diverse townspeople, tending to focus on and revolve the story around three couples: Dorothea/Ladislaw, Rosamond/Lydgate, and Mary Garth/Ted. The entire story is very complicated and impossible to give a summary of here, but sufice it to say that Dorothea is an aristocratic, idealistic, religious girl of twenty who wants to do something great and has an inquiring mind, so she marries a man named Casaubon, but he turns out not to be so great as she had hoped and he has a young cousin named Ladislaw who has been supported by Casaubon and doesn't understand how Dorothea could be attracted to him, and is convinced that Casaubon will make her as wretched as he is so Ladislaw must protect her... And that's just one of the many inter-weaving subplots.
The real genious of this novel is the complex realistic characters that George Eliot fills her book with. These characters are all real and presented in such a svmpthetic light that though you will likely come to care for some and despise others, you find it difficult to judge them as being good or bad. The role that human relationships plays in our lives and the problems caused by common miscommunications are all dealt with realistically and sympathetically. Questions such as, what makes a good marriage?, what does it mean to be great?, and how should one treat ones fellow man? are all featured genuinly a promonently.
This is not to say that this is necessarilly a philosophic novel, it can be read just for the real pleasure of reading, but it is one of those rare great books that never fails to entertain while engaging the mind and the spirit throughout. A must read for anyone, regardless of taste, who likes to read for the sheer pleasure of it.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Very Enjoyable Novel
Comment: I bought the Penguin Classics edition (1994 version) because of the copious notes explaining language and references likely unfamiliar to reader's of today. These notes made reading Middlemarch a little more cumbersome, since they are at the end, but the added understanding made it worth the effort. Those interested in researching George Eliot's life and her other works should consider finding a copy of the Oxford Reader's Companion to George Eliot, John Rignall ed., Oxford University Press.
Middlemarch, recommended by a friend who knew that I enjoyed reading 18th and 19th century literature, was a difficult book to put down. I had just finished Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, and prior to that all of Jane Austen's work. In comparison, Middlemarch seems to hold a middle ground between Bronte and Austin in terms of style. Where Jane Austen's text tends to be light and simple, Bronte's a bit heavy and complex, Eliot's Middlemarch is also complex but it flows like Austen's best works. Middlemarch isn't perfect - Eliot actually revised the ending because it contradicted earlier assertions. But it is definitely a great read and worthy of being on everyone's bookshelf.
Whether or not her depiction of early 19th century England is accurate I don't know. What I do know is that her characters are endearing in spite, or perhaps because, of all their faults, misunderstandings, and sometimes downright childish behavior. Eliot try's not to judge the actions of her characters by occasionally halting the story line and explaining them in what seems to be a neutral "scientific" manner; and I often found those explanations insightful and worth remembering (if only my memory would cooperate). Middlemarch, for me, stands with Jane Austin's work as one of the best novels I have read in a very long time.
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Title: The Mill on the Floss (Oxford World's Classics) by George Eliot, Gordon S. Haight, Dinah Birch ISBN: 0192833642 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Adam Bede by George Eliot, Stephen Gill ISBN: 0140431217 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1980 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Vanity Fair : A Novel without a Hero by Joanna Trollope, Leonard J. Kent, Nina Berberova, William Makepeace Thackeray ISBN: 0375757260 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 08 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Daniel Deronda (Penguin Classics) by George Eliot, Terence Cave ISBN: 0140434275 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 1996 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Bleak House (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens, Nicola Bradbury ISBN: 0141439726 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 29 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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