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Middlemarch
Middlemarch
A Study of Provincial Life
Making masterful use of a counterpointed plot, Eliot presents the stories of a number of denizens of a small English town on the eve of the Reform Bill of 1832. The main characters, Dorothea Brooke and Tertius Lydgate, each long for exceptional lives but are powerfully constrained by their own unrealistic expectations as well as conservative society. The novel is notable for its deep psychological insight and sophisticated character portraits.
Book Excerpt
th five brilliants in it. Dorothea immediately took up the necklace and fastened it round her sister's neck, where it fitted almost as closely as a bracelet; but the circle suited the Henrietta-Maria style of Celia's head and neck, and she could see that it did, in the pier-glass opposite.
"There, Celia! you can wear that with your Indian muslin. But this cross you must wear with your dark dresses."
Celia was trying not to smile with pleasure. "O Dodo, you must keep the cross yourself."
"No, no, dear, no," said Dorothea, putting up her hand with careless deprecation.
"Yes, indeed you must; it would suit you--in your black dress, now," said Celia, insistingly. "You might wear that."
"Not for the world, not for the world. A cross is the last thing I would wear as a trinket." Dorothea shuddered slightly.
"Then you will think it wicked in me to wear it," said Celia, uneasily.
"No, dear, no," said Dorothea, stroking her sister's cheek. "Souls have complexio
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You're not supposed to quickly scan through the pages. In order to truly enjoy Eliot's work, you need to savor every single sentence. The author carefully crafted her work and this is the only true way that it can be appreciated. You can't treat this like a regular novel. You can't get away with skipping phrases. Take the time to read it and you will be greatly rewarded. Trust me. With other novels you experience a type of infatuation, with Middlemarch you end up falling in love.
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A very long, dry, cumbersome read. I\'ve read books that are longer (such as Dicken\'s \"Bleak House\") in terms of word count, but I have read none that felt as long as Middlemarch.
The main problem is the writing style. It\'s hard to get into a groove and begin killing pages because too many passages require re-reading to understand. I once sat down in my living room with this book for 3 hours and barely managed to get past 30 pages (which is nothing in a 900 page novel). There are run-on sentences; verbs being used as nouns; nouns being used as verbs; and sentences without the \"subject-verb-predicate\" composition, etc.
I managed to grind it out and finish Middlemarch (school assignment), but if you do not have to read it then please don\'t. It takes too much time and simply isn\'t worth it. There are other classics out there that are worth your time.
The main problem is the writing style. It\'s hard to get into a groove and begin killing pages because too many passages require re-reading to understand. I once sat down in my living room with this book for 3 hours and barely managed to get past 30 pages (which is nothing in a 900 page novel). There are run-on sentences; verbs being used as nouns; nouns being used as verbs; and sentences without the \"subject-verb-predicate\" composition, etc.
I managed to grind it out and finish Middlemarch (school assignment), but if you do not have to read it then please don\'t. It takes too much time and simply isn\'t worth it. There are other classics out there that are worth your time.
12/25/2012
This would be a good read if the author had written it in 400 pages instead of over 800. Just toooooo long. About half way thro I was tired of the characters, everything really. Some of the people are rather interesting, but there's a lot of them and can be hard to follow throughtout. If you read this, be prepared for a long time invested unless you can speed read !!!
03/19/2011
A classic novel. According to many readers the best novel ever written. Certainly one of the most famous novels in English literature.
It is set in the period when the industrial revolution started and it follows several characters with different backgrounds.
At times a bit slow, but a very good read.
It is set in the period when the industrial revolution started and it follows several characters with different backgrounds.
At times a bit slow, but a very good read.
01/23/2009