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.

June Victorian Challenge Posts – George Eliot and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I apologize for being so behind at getting the posts up for the Victorian Challenge. With starting my new job, I’ve gotten very behind at writing my reviews and have also lost the amount of time I used to have to write them. I am getting caught up so hopefully I will be more on top of getting these up and posted.

As I didn’t get May posted, we are going to celebrate both George Eliot and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this month.

George Eliot is the pen name for Mary Ann Evans. She was one of the leading writers in the Victorian era, writing such seminal works as Middlemarch, Silas Marner, Daniel Deronda, The Mill on the Floss, and Adam Bede. All of her novels are set in provincial England. She was born in 1819 to Robert and Christiana Evans. Robert was a manager at Arbury Hall Estate. Robert and Christiana decided that young Mary Ann was not good looking enough to make her way in the world through marriage, so they invested in her education. Later in life, she used this education and moved to London. She became an assistant editor of The Westminster Review in 1851, which was highly unusual for a woman of her time.

Also in 1851, she met George Henry Lewes, a married man. He left his wife and moved in with Evans in 1854. They lived together until his death in 1878. This was very scandalous for the times. For this reason, and to be taken more seriously, Evans used a male pen name and started to work on her novels. They were well received and very popular, even with her shocking private life with Lewes. She published seven novels in her life time; with her last novel being Daniel Deronda. After Lewes’s death, she married John Cross, a man twenty years her junior. She died about seven months later at the end of 1880 at the age of 61.

For the Victorian Challenge, I listened to and loved Silas Marner earlier this year. Previously I had read one Eliot novel, Adam Bede. I have a new copy of Middlemarch sitting on the top of my pile that I REALLY want to read this month. Unfortunately, I am overbooked for the month, so I may not get to it until later this year. I will read an essay, poem, or something Eliot for sure though. What Eliot novels, essays, novellas, and poems have you read (or watched)? What is your favorite?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a prolific Scottish writer, most famous for his creation of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes is an iconic figure and the stories about him are considered a milestone in crime fiction. Doyle was born in 1859 in Edinburgh Scotland. Doyle’s father was an alcoholic and his family lived in squalid tenement flats. Luckily, he was supported by wealthy uncles and sent to a variety of good schools. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and become a doctor in 1881. It was while he was studying to become a doctor, that Doyle first started writing short stories.

Doyle struggled to find a publisher for his works, but Ward Lock & Co published his first significant work, A Study in Scarlet, in 1886. This story was the first to feature Sherlock Holmes and Watson. The Holmes stories were wildly successful. In total there were four novels, and 56 short stories by Doyle featuring Holmes. He “killed” Holmes off in 1893 to focus on his “more serious” historical works, only to revive Holmes again in 1901 after vast public outcry.

Holmes married Louisa Hawkins, the sister of one of his patients in 1885. Together they had two children. She had tuberculosis and died in 1906. He married Jean Elizabeth Leckie the next year and had three more children. Doyle died of a heart attack in 1930 at the age of 71.

I have read the complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and loved it. For the Victorian Challenge, I listened to The Sherlock Holmes Theatre earlier this year. I’m going to reread a story this month as part of the challenge. I am also watching the Sherlock series on Masterpiece Mystery and hope to have my review on that as well. What works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are you planning to review?

I look forward to reading your reviews this month!

Please post the name of your blog followed by the item you reviewed. For example, Laura’s Reviews (Middlemarch).

 

Silas Marner by George Eliot (audiobook)

Title: Silas Marner

Author: George Eliot
Read by: Nadia May
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Length: 6 CDs (unabridged)
Source: Wisconsin Public Library Consortium from the Kewaunee Public Library Website (Digital Download in Overdrive Media Console)

I’m sorry I’m a bit behind on reviews. With my job, teaching a class at the local technical college this semester, taking a class at the local technical college this semester, and three kids – life has been more than a little hectic lately. I’m hoping to catch up soon with the reviews by perhaps having them a bit briefer. Now on to Silas Marner. .

I’ve always heard Silas Marner described as a drab read, a lesser work of George Eliot that is forced upon school children because it is George Eliot’s shortest novel. I am happy to report that Silas Marner is neither drab nor a lesser work of Eliot. I found it to be an engaging, ultimately heartwarming and moral story about the true price of gold and human relations. It was a story that in many ways I found to be very relevant to today’s society. As Jane Austen did before her, Eliot writes about human characteristics that transcend time.

As the story starts, Silas Marner is a happy man with a good job as a weaver, a productive member of his church, a great best friend, and a fiancée. Things suddenly take a turn for the worst when Marner’s best friend frames him for a crime he didn’t commit, and also steals his fiancée. Bitter against his fellow church goers and town, Silas Marner moves away to a place where he is not known and where his weaving is prized. Making a good living, Marner values his gold and puts it above all human relations. Things soon change when his gold is stolen and a young child shows up on his door step shortly thereafter. He raises young Eppie as his own, until her real father shows up when Eppie is a teenager and wants to take her back. Will Eppie stay with Silas Marner or go to the father that abandoned her as a child?

George Eliot created a wonderful cast of characters in Silas Marner. Silas is the main character, but his neighbor lady Dolly Winthrop, is a wonderful lady who helps him raise Eppie. Squire Cass and his family are also fleshed out and discussed in great detail as their lives often intersect with Marner’s. I enjoyed listening to all of their lives. Nadia May was a great narrator. This was also the first book I listened to on my phone from the library. I love the system, but wish that there were more copies of digital audiobooks available to check out!

The most fascinating part of the book for me was how George Elliot captured timeless qualities in human interactions and life. My favorite example of this is how a bunch of old guys are together talking about how the youth of today are lazy and nothing like when they were young lads. How often have I heard this talk throughout my life about how the youth of whatever day are terrible compared with older generations.

Another example of this is problems with drugs. We hear about drugs in the news often and it seems like a problem just of today, but in Silas Marner, Eppie’s mother has a drug addiction that leads her to take one last fix that ultimately kills her and leaves her child an orphan in the snow. The drug of choice may have changed over time, but the deadly effects of them haven’t. As I continue to explore Victorian literature this year, I’ve noticed that drugs play a prominent role in many famous novels of that time. Any thoughts? I’ll continue my thoughts on this as I review other works.

Overall, Silas Marner is a moving, intriguing story, with characters and situations that are timeless.