Middlemarch by George Eliot

 

Title:  Middlemarch

Author:  George Eliot

Narrated by:  Juliet Stevenson

Publisher: Naxos Audiobook

Length: Approximately 35 hours and 38 minutes

Source: Checked out with Hoopla through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

 

What book did you read this year that had been on your TBR for a long time?  I often have heard Middlemarch described as the greatest book in English literature and have wanted to read it.  I have owned a copy for years, but the size of the book had daunted me.  We read Middlemarch for the Back to the Classics Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library and discussed it in September and October.  I chose to listen to the very long audiobook (35 hours!) narrated by the wonderful Juliet Stevenson and follow along in my print edition.

Middlemarch is the story of a village, the change that comes to the village, and three main couples.  It covers many topics and there are many characters.  It is really hard to summarize the story succinctly as so much happens in this novel.  It is the story of a small town going through social change with many subplots and various related characters.

I found it fascinating to compare and contrast the three main couples.  Doreathea is a young heiress with many ideals who marries the middle-aged scholar and pastor Casaubon.   She believes she can be a great help to him but discovers that marriage is nothing like her ideals.  When you are crying from unhappiness on your honeymoon, the future does not look bright. Tertius Lydgate is a new physician in town that marries the beautiful Rosamond.  They both live beyond their means and have a disastrous marriage.  Young Fred Vincy thinks he will be the heir of his uncle, but things do not go as planned.  He ruins himself and his beloved Mary Garth’s family through taking out loans for items beyond his means.  He wants Mary to love and respect him and he works through the entire novel to make himself a better man worthy of Mary’s love.  Fred and Mary were my favorite couple.

There was so much more than these love stories.  Fortunes rise and fall.  Some villains get what they deserve, but others don’t.  Just like in real life, not everyone gets a happy ending.  This is not a novel full of action, but a slow moving novel with a beautifully written story filled with characters that you will not forget.

As I stated above, I listened to this on audiobook and also had a text copy that I read along with.  I really enjoy listening to classics on audiobook as I think it makes it easier to understand language from another time.  Juliet Stevenson (Mrs. Elton from the 1996 Emma) is a wonderful narrator.  I have enjoyed her work in the past.  She acts out the parts and has great voices for all of the characters.

I think I enjoyed this book the most in my book club.  It was a very long book for everyone to read and they did not appreciate the excessive Victorian descriptions of everything. There were a lot of great points to discuss that filled up our hour in both months.  If your book club can make it through, it is a good book to discuss.

Favorite Quotes:

“And, of course men know best about everything, except what women know better.”

“What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?”

“People are almost always better than their neighbors think they are.”

“Our deeds still travel with us from afar/And what we have been makes us what we are.”

“The troublesome ones in a family are usually either the wits or the idiots.”

And so many more!!

Overall, Middlemarch is a great classic that is worth reading and savoring.