Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Adam Bede by George Eliot, Stephen Gill ISBN: 0-14-043121-7 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1980 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.55 (20 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Trouble in the countryside
Comment: After having read "The Mill on the Floss" some years ago and being thoroughly bored by it, I thought I'd never try a George Eliot novel again. But I'm glad I did. "Adam Bede" is a rich and complicated book; not without its imperfections, yet which stands above many of the nineteenth century novels I've read.
I thought that here was an author with an enquiring mind regarding human nature in all its imperfections, not afraid to wander outside of the wealthier classes for her setting, and certainly interested in examining the motivations and thought processes of her characters.
Throughout "Adam Bede", the better-drawn and more interesting characters are the women. The men, especially Adam Bede himself, are almost all two-dimensional figures around which the females drive the action. I thought that perhaps Eliot was trying to expose the real role of women in society - bereft of equal rights, they had to exercise their influence through men. This must have been deeply frustrating - witness Mrs Poyser's tirade against Squire Donnithorne while her husband stands by impotently. At its worst, women had to secure their future by marriage - thus Hetty Sorrel begins by being an unsympathetic, materialistic figure, but when seen in context, her options in life are strictly circumscribed. Can the reader really blame her for trying to make an "advantageous match"?
There were themes in the novel which I thought might have been developed more than they were - the challenge to the Church of England from Methodism features early in the novel, only to fade away as a real issue. Eliot alludes to the connection between class structure and the role of the Church of England, but seems to lose interest after making her point. Only rarely does she hit hard about the living conditions of the rural working class. Apart from Mrs Poyser's protest, we're rarely far away from the myth of "Merrie England".
But my main gripe is that Eliot pulls her punches towards the end of the novel. I felt that an author like Hardy would have had more courage, and would not have been afraid to shock his audience. Eliot backs down and chooses the safe old cliche of marriage being the solution to everything.
All that is not to detract from its overall worth as a novel. I was pleasantly surprised, and apart from the last 50 or so pages, interested throughout.
G Rodgers
Rating: 5
Summary: Goodness prevails
Comment: Adam Bede, the titular hero of George Eliot's first novel, is of a character so sterling that one little anecdote serves to define his whole life and work ethic: He's a carpenter, and he had done some work for a lady whose father, an old squire named Donnithorne, suggested that she pay him less than the fee he requested. Adam insisted that he would rather take no money for the job, for to accept a reduced amount would be like admitting he overcharges for shoddy work. By standing on his principles, he won his full fee in the end and cemented his reputation as a businessman of honor and acumen, proving his fairness to both his customers and himself.
Thus he seems an unlikely match for Hetty Sorrel, the prettiest girl in the village of Hayslope. Vain, selfish, materialistic, hating her laborious farm chores, Hetty bears more than a passing resemblance to Flaubert's Madame Bovary. However, while Madame Bovary's unattainable dream world is inspired by her reading romances, Hetty "had never read a novel" so she can't "find a shape for her expectations" regarding love. Unable to foresee any possible consequences for her actions, she allows herself to be seduced by Arthur Donnithorne, the old squire's grandson, who stands to inherit the land on which most of the Hayslopers live.
Arthur is a radiant example of Eliot's mastery in complicated character creation. Acutely aware of his position in society, he has the kind of charisma with which he can talk to his tenants politely but with just the slightest hint of condescension and completely win their respect for his authority. In fact, he is so accustomed to receiving nothing but admiration for his apparent moral integrity that it comes as a genuine shock to him when Adam, a man he truly likes, reproaches him for his reckless behavior with Hetty, a girl both he and Adam truly love. And the tragic irony is that Hetty doesn't really deserve either of them.
Religion plays a curious role in the story. Adam's brother Seth is infatuated with a woman named Dinah Morris, a cousin's cousin to Hetty and a Methodist evangelistic preacher who was inspired by Wesley in the flesh. Her influence among the villagers comes to the attention of the Anglican Rev. Dauphin Irwine, the vicar of Hayslope, who visits her to try to figure out her game and concludes that she's essentially a good woman with a good heart. Indeed, she is the first one to sense that Hetty may be headed for troubled waters and earnestly offers her spiritual guidance, to which Hetty responds with distrust and irritation.
Most powerful of the novel's images is that of Hetty wandering through the darkness and dangers of the English countryside in desperate search of the departed Arthur, carrying with her a symbol of their tormented love, and oblivious to the goodness of Adam, whose only desire is to protect her from the disappointment, shame, and disgrace that result from her pitiful reliance on Arthur's ability to buy her pretty things. But Eliot is too fond of her hero to let him suffer for long when the tides of fate come crashing violently to their inevitable shores, and the ultimate product is a novel of great compassion for its characters.
Rating: 5
Summary: Classic tale of strength and weakness
Comment: George Eliot weaves a simple story of love, suffering, and goodness. While the plot is hardly complex (boy loves girl, another boy gets girl, unhappiness abounds - also reused in Mill on the Floss), the manner in which Eliot develops her characters and their emotions and actions ring as true and resoundingly as a bell. It's so clear, so obvious, but also moving and textured. You feel Adam's absolute love for vain little Hetty, Dinah's calming grace, Arthur's good intentions, Lisbeth's fretting nature. Eliot draws you in with her honest observations of life in a country town, without the background becoming a dominant factor. The near idyllic life the characters lead is a healthy contrast to the town's emotional upheaval.
Adam is an upright, genuine character, and not as perfect as he seems. If his love for Hetty seems unfounded at times, it only serves to highlight how dangerous delusions can be. All the "sinners" are ultimately redeemed by truth - true love, true friends, true promises, and true acceptance. Religion plays a significant part in the novel, but don't let that deter you. It's so much more than that - Adam Bede is truly one of the few works that encompass a world of humanity between two covers.
AB reminded me of Tess of the D'Ubervilles a bit, but there is no villain here, just flawed, honest people in search of unattainable dreams. In the process of trying to get a bit of happiness, they stumble and bleed, but ultimately find something truly worth having. Bittersweetness is Eliot's trademark for good reason.
George Eliot's first full novel is obviously a bit less polished than her later works, but you see the wonderful command she has over language and expression. The book, the people, the story all come alive with her touch. A rare read that has something to say and says it beautifully.
 |
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 |
 |
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 |
 |
Title: Middlemarch by George Eliot, Rosemary Ashton ISBN: 0141439548 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
 |
Title: Barchester Towers (Oxford World's Classics) by Anthony Trollope, John Sutherland, Michael Sadleir, Frederick Page, Edward Ardizzone ISBN: 0192834320 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: May, 1998 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
 |
Title: Felix Holt, the Radical (Penguin Classics) by George Eliot, Lynda Mugglestone ISBN: 0140434356 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: December, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
