Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

read book* *Different edition

Adam Bede

by George Eliot, Joanna Trollope (Introduction), Hugh Osborne (Endnotes)

3.71 of 5 stars 3.71 · rating details · 8,215 ratings · 351 reviews

Hailed for its sympathetic and accurate rendering of nineteenth-century English pastoral life, Adam Bede was George Eliot's first full-length novel and a bestseller from the moment of publication. Eliot herself called it "a country story - full of the breath of cows and scent of hay." Adam Bede is an earnest and virtuous carpenter who is betrayed by his love, Hetty Sorrel,...more

Paperback, Modern Library Classics Paperback Edition, 624 pages

Published April 9th 2002 by Modern Library (first published 1859)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Victorian novels

34th out of 152 books — 187 voters

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Goodreads Top 100 Literary Novels of All Time

84th out of 101 books — 504 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Nov 08, 2010 Beccie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I believe this may be the most beautiful book I have ever read. I felt both uplifted and emotionally drained when I finished. The tragedy and the great beauty of George Eliot's writing! I didn't read this edition, mine was much older, but the introduction of my edition quoted Charles Dickens as saying that reading Adam Bede was an epoch in his life, and Alexandre Dumas called it the masterpiece of the century. I'm happy to agree with them. Most people say that Middlemarch is George Eliot's maste...more I believe this may be the most beautiful book I have ever read. I felt both uplifted and emotionally drained when I finished. The tragedy and the great beauty of George Eliot's writing! I didn't read this edition, mine was much older, but the introduction of my edition quoted Charles Dickens as saying that reading Adam Bede was an epoch in his life, and Alexandre Dumas called it the masterpiece of the century. I'm happy to agree with them. Most people say that Middlemarch is George Eliot's masterpiece. That was tragic and beautiful as well, but I was so much more drawn into the characters of Adam Bede. I loved them all (even Hetty) because even though they may have made bad choices, we were allowed to see things from their perspective and gain an understanding of why they did what they did. I love that about George Eliot. Dickens' characters sometimes seem almost like caricatures because they are either so good or so evil. I appreciate the humanity of Eliot. In fact, I understood Arthur Donnithorne all too well. He so wants to be a good person and have people think well of him, and yet he is weak when it really matters. This is a silly analogy, but I decided to make chocolate chip cookies one day while reading Adam Bede. I knew I really shouldn't because I would eat too many and not be able to stop, but when it came to the point I made them anyway and ate too many. I realized how like Arthur that was! He knew he shouldn't be doing what he was doing, and he talked himself out of it many times, but when it came to the point he still did it.
It's interesting that although George Eliot personally seemed to have issues with the religion of her day, she can talk about religion so beautifully in her books. (I realize I have used the word "beautiful" way too many times, but oh if you read it, you will understand.) The year the story takes place is 1799, but the year it was published was (I believe) 1856. There was a lot of religious fervor going on at that time. People were searching and wanting to do what was right, and were dissatisfied with the nation's religion, even though there were many good and wonderful members of the clergy. Who could not love Mr. Irwine? And yet Dinah believed in so much more. I had ancestors in England around that time period who I believe felt the same way, and that's why they were so open to hear of the restoration of the gospel from the Mormon missionaries who were sent there.
Mrs. Poyser was an absolute gem! I loved that she was able to tell off the Squire and hold her own with the woman-hating Mr. Massey (I wanted to tell him off, too - I wish we could have heard why he hated women so much.). I was grateful that George Eliot put in an epilogue so we could see what happened to the characters who were missing at the end of the book. This is an amazing book - everyone should read it.(less)

like 10 likes · see review

Jan 04, 2008 Skylar Burris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics

Adam Bede is a story about love, self-deception, religious feeling, innocence, and experience. It would not be an unfit introduction to Eliot, though Middlemarch is by far her superior novel. I am awed by Eliot's psychological insight into human personality. Her characters are some of the most vivid in all of literary history, and her ability to penetrate to the very heart of human motivation is unrivaled. She presents her story with wit and subtle sarcasm. (Take, for instance, this tongue-in-ch...more

like 9 likes · see review

Mar 30, 2008 Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars

I took my time with this book. First, it was to enjoy Eliot's near-cinematic writing style in the beginning of the novel as she laid out the world and characters of "Adam Bede". Then, I read slowly to slow down the arrival of the inevitable fall from paradise. But Eliot handled it beautifully complete with cliffhangers that saw me, at one dramatic chapter, drop the book, throw my arm over my eyes and gasp for breath. You'll know where when you read it. Please do, Adam Bede's world seems bucolic...more

like 6 likes · see review

Sep 14, 2008 Myla rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Myla by: Mel Bennett aka Daddy-O

I loved this book! It was just a mellow fun story to read nothing riviting me to my seat and then all of a sudden I was dying! I have never in my life been completely torn; I couldn't stop reading because I had to know what would happen at the same time I had to stop reading because I was afraid to see what would happen. Never in my life have I seriously considered flipping to the back of the book to see how it ends, and I am not a spoiler of plots. Not to be cliche but I laughed and cried and.....more

like 5 likes · see review

Nov 26, 2009 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, lit-english, npr-pbs-and-bbc

George Eliot’s masterpiece is Middlemarch, but Adam Bede has always been my favorite Eliot novel. I’m not sure why this is. It might be because Bede was the first Eliot book I read. I doubt this, however, because the first Austen book I read was Pride and Prejudice, but my favorite Austen book is Persuasion. I understand why Middlemarch is a masterpiece, yet I find myself agreeing with Dumas pere in considering Bede to be the “masterpiece of the century”.

I first read Bede after watching the firs...more

like 4 likes · see review

Jul 01, 2012 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Laura by: Inna Shpitzberg

Shelves: 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, 3ms, e-books, fiction-19th-century, victorians, mtbr-challenge-2012, read-2012

This is the story of Adam Bede, a carpenter who lives in the countryside and falls in love with Hetty Sorrel, a maid who lives with the Poysers, uncle and aunt of Adam.

In reality, the plot involves the love story among the four main characters: Adam, Hetty Sorrel, Arthur Donnithorne, a young squire who seduces Hetty, and Dinah Morris, Hetty's cousin and an itinerant Methodist preacher.

After have been seduced by Arthur, Hetty's life become a turmoil of tragic events.

The first movie based on this...more

like 3 likes · see review

May 07, 2008 Kj rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own-it, research, books-i-read-in-the-bathroom, favorites

100% engaging. This is one of those books that you feel more human for having read.

What the plot may lack in scope, the writing makes up for tenfold with tender and true insights into pain, hope, vanity and prosaic life. It's a true, true, true book, that beats with an honest heart. You get to love the narrator in the very fact that the narrator is open about her love for the characters. this book is a treasure, in all its homely ruggedness and sometimes shocking, but inevitable events. It's not...more

like 2 likes · see review

Sep 27, 2010 Spencer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Absolutely loved this novel. I am certain I will read this again and again throughout my lifetime.

The first three hundred pages (pre-Hetty's travails) were perfect; I was disappointed when the wonderfully center-less scope narrowed its focus on the events of Hetty's escape.

This novel really raised the bar for me w/r/t character development: even the most minor (and superficially unlikeable) of characters has an interior world as expansive and dynamic as any galaxy, full of prejudices, doubts, pr...more

like 3 likes · see review

Feb 09, 2013 Lizzie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: used-book, 2013, 1001-books, heard-of-it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I picked this copy up at the closing month sale at Skyline Books in NYC.

So this is my "last" gap book in my "Major Novels of George Eliot" subjective quest of the winter. Silas Marner is popular and Felix Holt is long, and someday soon I'll read both. But having taken a glance at some lit crit, I think I've covered the works I'm most likely to encounter SPOILERS about if I read any. Which is uh, what was actually most important to me, in this quest.

Speaking of spoilers, I think this is the rare...more

like 2 likes · see review

Nov 13, 2011 Mickey rated it 5 of 5 stars

My love affair with George Eliot continues. Adam Bede was Eliot's first book, though it was written when she was almost forty years old.

From the beginning, Eliot had all the things that makes her so remarkable: her descriptions are so vivid and tangible, her characterization is absolutely the best I've ever read, her knowledge and understanding of human nature are uncanny.

One of my favorite characters is actually Arthur Dunnithorne. He is such a child who has dreams of being a great leader tha...more

like 2 likes · see review

May 27, 2009 Charity rated it 5 of 5 stars

I savored the words, sentences, scenes, thoughts, and personalities of this book. I was transported. This book will be added to those that I read and re-read and re-read.... George Eliot is sublime. I wanted to memorize whole sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. So much to think on and to internalize. What a treasure this book is!

Adam Bede is a workman in a small parish in north England. There are so many characters this book could have been named after. It is written such that they all seemed t...more

like 2 likes · see review

Feb 06, 2009 Chelsea rated it 5 of 5 stars

This took me a long time to read, and it's a difficult book to read in 10 or 15 minute snatches. However, I gave it 5 stars because it was worth the time it took. I was really impressed with how Eliot created and presented these characters--she makes you relate with the "bad guys" and really respect the good guys and how they deal with their struggles. She's very wordy, but for the most part they're very wise and worth getting through.

like 3 likes · see review

Sep 24, 2012 Steven rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary-fiction

This is a novel that may require a good deal of patience from the modern reader, but it is well worth the effort. On its surface, it is basic Victorian melodrama (at least, written in the Victorian age - 1859 - but the action takes place between 1799 and 1807), complete with romance, jealousy, suspense, passion, and even a murder trial. I very much enjoyed Eliot's famous gift for leisurely and lyrical prose, her lovingly detailed descriptions of pastoral England, and the way she recreates the un...more

like 1 like · see review

Nov 24, 2010 LauraJane rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I have a confession to make: about 2/3 through this book, I started comparing it to Twilight.

I know just about every English teacher I've ever known is going to faint when they hear me say it, but hear me out on this:

A pretty girl with no emotional capacity outside of caring about herself is attracted to a rich unattainable guy who is also too self absorbed and delusional to care about how his actions affect other people. Rich unattainable guy flips out, leaves town and leaves pretty girl in a s...more

like 2 likes · see review

May 30, 2010 Jennifer D. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-borrow

George Eliot published Adam Bede, her first novel, in 1859 to great acclaim. This richly detailed novel tells the story of Adam, a carpenter, and his love for Hetty Sorrel, a vain young woman who falls in love with the local gentleman, Captain Arthur Donnithorne. Using this love triangle as her foundation, Eliot painstakingly illustrates the intricacies of rural life at the turn of the eighteenth century.

The characters in George Eliot’s Adam Bede exist along a continuum of human weakness. From H...more George Eliot published Adam Bede, her first novel, in 1859 to great acclaim. This richly detailed novel tells the story of Adam, a carpenter, and his love for Hetty Sorrel, a vain young woman who falls in love with the local gentleman, Captain Arthur Donnithorne. Using this love triangle as her foundation, Eliot painstakingly illustrates the intricacies of rural life at the turn of the eighteenth century.

The characters in George Eliot’s Adam Bede exist along a continuum of human weakness. From Hetty and Arthur, who give in too easily to their illicit passion, to Adam’s mother Lisbeth, whose temperament warps an otherwise honest character, all the way to Dinah, a pinnacle of correct behavior and Christian compassion.

Adam is situated toward the upper end of that continuum. He is a stoic and honest man, with good intentions and sincere passions. He is a hard worker and trustworthy, respected among his peers and even admired by the small town’s gentry. But Eliot does not give her reader an unflawed hero. Adam is proud and severe in his judgment of others. He is also blind to the failings of the woman he loves. This ultimate but innocent fault will nearly cost him his happiness when the truth of all that has occurred between Hetty and Arthur finally comes to light.

Despite its pastoral setting and overall bucolic tone, there is a serious scandal at the heart of the novel. Eliot’s frank, forthright treatment of Arthur and Hetty’s love affair, and its ensuing complications, turn this seemingly quiet novel into a careful investigation of morality and human limitations.

Eliot’s real skill lies in portraying the rural setting as well as each of her characters with as much detail as possible. This makes for a layered novel, filled with a number of multifaceted moral dilemmas: Will Dinah consent to marry Adam’s brother Seth, even though she feels called to continue her ministry? Will Adam eventually understand Hetty’s true character? How will Adam negotiate his long-standing friendship with Arthur after the scandal is revealed?

Adam Bede is read less often than Eliot’s purported masterpiece Middlemarch and for good reason. Although a highly accomplished first novel and a rewarding and entertaining read, Adam Bede does contain a certain number of conspicuous flaws. The structure for instance, lacks a certain shape and economy. Eliot takes some time to get her plot moving and there are even a few chapters which appear to be superfluous. These small failings, however, only indicate how accomplished Eliot already was at the time she published Adam Bede and provide a wonderful discussion base for her later novels.

George Eliot’s Adam Bede is a deeply psychological work which delves into the darker corners of human weakness using the complex realities of love, friendship, sorrow and forgiveness to paint its splendid portrait.(less)

like 1 like · see review

Oct 20, 2009 Alison rated it 5 of 5 stars

A great book about love and forgiveness. I was reading on a cruise ship with dozens of people around and I still cried toward the end (if I'd been alone in my room, I would have been SOBBING). It was so heart-wrenching and I found myself feeling sympathy and pity for characters I previously didn't care for. I love how Adam truly learned the meaning of forgiveness. My only complaint is that I wish Seth's fate had been different. I really liked his character.

"It's no use meeting to say more hard w...more

like 2 likes · see review

May 13, 2012 Furqan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Eliot's fans, lovers of Victorian literature

Shelves: classics, george-eliot, victorian-literature, british-literature

As with pretty much all of Eliot’s novels, a little dose of patience wouldn’t go amiss, because in the end she does reward you for your perseverance. Adam Bede was Eliot’s first novel and was a huge success upon its publication. Although, it pales in comparison to her succeeding works, Adam Bede is still a damn good read; even if it slightly lacks the immaculate characterisation and masterly control she brings to Middlemarch (her masterpiece) and my favourite, The Mill on the Floss.

description

As with most...more As with pretty much all of Eliot’s novels, a little dose of patience wouldn’t go amiss, because in the end she does reward you for your perseverance. Adam Bede was Eliot’s first novel and was a huge success upon its publication. Although, it pales in comparison to her succeeding works, Adam Bede is still a damn good read; even if it slightly lacks the immaculate characterisation and masterly control she brings to Middlemarch (her masterpiece) and my favourite, The Mill on the Floss.

As with most of Eliot’s novels, the setting is provincial England. Slowly, we are introduced to novel’s four main characters – the proud and hunky Adam Bede (Eliot loves to remind us of Adam's muscular physique and his tender heart), beautiful but self-absorbed Hetty Sorrel, her kind cousin Dinah Morris and finally Arthur Donnithorne, the egotistical and weak-willed Squire of Hayslope. Of course, there are myriad of other equally interesting and important characters, who are necessary to form the atmospheric and tight-knit community of the village of Hayslope. The description might give the impression of a typical love story, but believe me it's more than that. Eliot was not some petty romance writer, but one of the greatest intellectuals of her day who transformed her astonishing scholarly knowledge and her acute understanding of human nature into few of the greatest literary works of Victorian literature. I am not going to write a whole essay on intellectual qualities of her writing but it is suffice to say that Adam Bede is my fifth novel of hers and she has yet to fully disappoint me.

I repeat that you will need a lot of patience with this novel. There is very little plot development in first 300 pages (!) as Eliot takes her time to set the scene, gradually building pressure and finally bringing the much anticipated conflict. After that, plot gets more complex and darker as Adam's good nature is tested to its limits and Hetty and Arthur face the consequences of their choices. In fact, the first half of the story seems at odds with the other half and that is one criticism of the novel. The meticulous realism Eliot was trying to develop from the start descends into sensationalism in other half because of the few not-so-much realistic circumstances. However, as always Eliot was successful in evoking my sympathy for her characters. I do think Hetty was perhaps punished too harshly for a fault which is so common in our human nature but others might disagree. The ending was unexpected but left me very satisfied.

I wouldn’t recommend reading Adam Bede if you are new to Eliot, but read The Mill on the Floss or Middlemarch. Can't wait to get my hands on Romola! (less)

like 1 like · see review

Jan 15, 2009 James rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: u-of-chicago, fiction, newberry-library, everymans-library

George Eliot's Adam Bede lives in the charming rustic countryside and adheres to a stoic version of the Puritan work ethic. His world is disrupted by both the classic temptation of Eros in the form of the too beautiful Hetty and the dissenting spiritual views of the Methodist preacher Dinah Morris.
The author controls the narrative and lectures the reader as the other characters, brother Seth, Arthur Donnithorne, the Poysers, and the Rector Irwine are intertwined in the the fates of young Hetty a...more

like 1 like · see review

Nov 05, 2012 Linda Horn rated it 5 of 5 stars

I just finished this... I think it rates among my favorite books. Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Jane Eyre. Its excellent! Highly recommend. I love the characters in this book. I can somehow feel that they would be not unlike some of the people I have descended from who were from the British Isles. Even though Eliot herself struggled with religion, there is a lot of reference to true faith and spirituality.

like 1 like · see review

Nov 17, 2010 Lucero rated it 1 of 5 stars

It's rare that I'll dislike a book, but... I just didn't like this one. I won't deny that Eliot is a great writer and I loved a lot of her prose, especially the detailed descriptions (sometimes...at other times, it was just boring). I didn't see a plot in the works until halfway through the book, and then it just went downhill after the climax. I thought that despite her attempts to illustrate reality, some characters like Dinah and Seth were just...not realistic at all.

Overall, it was just pai...more

like 1 like · see review

Mar 08, 2013 Tristram rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classic-english-literature

Greater Tales Were Yet to Come

A modern reader who would like to appreciate George Elio’ts artistic talent as a writer had, in my opinion, better not start his explorations with Eliot’s first novel, “Adam Bede”, which was published in 1859, because, for all its merits bespeaking the richness of “Middlemarch”, it is, at times, quite taxing to read.

“Adam Bede” is set in a fictitious rural community by the name of Hayslope in the year 1799, and it tells the story of a young, superficial and inexperi...more Greater Tales Were Yet to Come

A modern reader who would like to appreciate George Elio’ts artistic talent as a writer had, in my opinion, better not start his explorations with Eliot’s first novel, “Adam Bede”, which was published in 1859, because, for all its merits bespeaking the richness of “Middlemarch”, it is, at times, quite taxing to read.

“Adam Bede” is set in a fictitious rural community by the name of Hayslope in the year 1799, and it tells the story of a young, superficial and inexperienced girl, Hetty Sorrel, who is seduced by the young squire, Arthur Donnithorne. When Adam Bede, an honest and principled carpenter, who has been in love with Hetty for a long time, notices that Arthur makes love to Hetty, he forces the squire to end his relationship with the young girl. Hetty, who feels betrayed by Arthur and put to shame by Adam’s knowledge of their clandestine liaison, is willing to engage herself to the simple craftsman, but to her dismay she finds out that she is pregnant and, wishing to evade public shame and hoping for some kind of help from Arthur, she leaves Hayslope under the pretence of wanting to visit her distant relative Dinah Morris, a Methodist preacher. Having been delivered of her child among strangers, she finally becomes so despaired that she leaves the baby behind in a field. Overwhelmed by her sense of guilt, however, she soon rushes back, only to find her child dead and herself arrested for infanticide.

“Adam Bede” bears witness of George Eliot’s prodigious talent of characterization, which is best shown in her description of Hetty’s inner life and actions. Neither is she a completely naïve and innocent country wench brought to grief by a lecher nor a calculating hussy whose schemes have gone awry, but a young woman who certainly has her faults and who grows up in surroundings that, for all their Christian benevolence, barely offer any real understanding of what is going on inside her. The same sense of realism is used by the author in the characterization of Arthur Donnithorne, who is not at all a bad and unfeeling man. Even Adam Bede, whose staunch righteousness might alienate him from many a modern reader, is still a very credible person. The microcosm of Hayslope is furthermore peopled with a handful of minor characters, such as the Poysers – Hetty’s well-meaning relatives – and rector Irwine, who are life-like and likeable. These characters and the description of the pre-industrial, rural idyll of Hayslope make “Adam Bede” a very rich and convincing novel.

However, there is a lot to spoil this positive effect. For a start, we should mention Eliot’s tendency to intrusive writing, which makes her come up with a very contrived and dissatisfying ending and induces her into frequently interrupting her story in order to edify us with various observations on topics of little concern. For example, the title of chapter 17 “In which the story pauses a little” all too eagerly lends itself to the irreverent question “What from?” Unfortunately the author’s intrusiveness comes under the guise of one character, who, strictly speaking, has hardly any real bearing on the story and who is just a vehicle of Bible-bashing preaching. I am speaking of Dinah Morris, who is such a bloodless, uninteresting, straight-from-the-pages-of-a-Sunday-school-book figure that she would have made the perfect female protagonist of any Dickens novel. In chapter 2, for instance, when we are still fresh and full of avid expectation, Eliot has nothing better to do but let Dinah preach on relentlessly for several pages. It therefore seems rather hard on Hetty, who, after her trial, is waiting in her prison cell for the day of her execution, that the last moments of her earthly existence should have to be spent in the company of such a depressingly edifying kind of person. Other characters that strain the patience of the reader to no little degree are Adam’s mother, who is constantly wailing in a self-righteous, seemingly humble manner and somehow brought up memories of Gerhart Hauptmann’s drearier-than-life characters in me, and Bartle Massey with his invectives against womenfolk in general. In these characters we can experience what must have been the charm of a typical Victorian Sunday and we start counting the e’s of the adjective “teeeeeeeeeeeeedious” that slowly starts taking shape in our minds.

I would say that as soon as you have read “Middlemarch”, however, you will also be able to notice what is good about “Adam Bede”, but you will definitely need this little bit of preparation.
(less)

like · see review

Feb 09, 2013 Karl H. rated it 2 of 5 stars

Reading George Eliot’s Adam Bede, I found myself reminded of Norman Rockwell paintings, with their impeccable technique and saccharine kitschy everyday subjects of the not so distant past. Like a Norman Rockwell of the 19th century, Eliot smiles at most of her subjects and makes us long to return to the good old days, even if she pokes a bit of sly fun at their expense from time to time. But nostalgia is not a lens through which we see clearly, and this Norman Rockwell portrait of a community mi...more Reading George Eliot’s Adam Bede, I found myself reminded of Norman Rockwell paintings, with their impeccable technique and saccharine kitschy everyday subjects of the not so distant past. Like a Norman Rockwell of the 19th century, Eliot smiles at most of her subjects and makes us long to return to the good old days, even if she pokes a bit of sly fun at their expense from time to time. But nostalgia is not a lens through which we see clearly, and this Norman Rockwell portrait of a community mixes uneasily with a tone which seems judgmental and harsh.

The greatest strength of ‘Adam Bede’ are the characters living in the town of Hayslope. There are only a few characters in this town who are not true to life and sharply observed. Lisbeth is the perfect portrait of a mother who fawns over one son and is perpetually complaining. Mrs. Poyser is a wonderful wit and hard worker who manages her husband, her dairy and her children with a sharp tongue, quick eye and heart of gold. The hapless Seth Bede is a scatterbrained but well-intentioned and kind-hearted man. The only boring character, unfortunately, is Adam himself. Strong in arm, generous in deed, noble in reason, and infinite in faculty, he’s the best carpenter since Jesus. Not a chapter goes by where we’re not tediously reminded that he’s a “good man.” Fortunately there are vast swaths of the book where he is not directly involved, and he does become slightly more interesting by the end.

Such a portrait of life makes Hayslope seem like a paradise. It’s true that there are some problems in Hayslope: Adam’s father is an alcoholic, and the landlord is a jerk. But any community where a sermon can be delivered about the evils of wearing earrings clearly doesn’t have a lot of problems on its plate. Into this veritable Garden of Eden steps Hetty Sorrell, the beautiful stupid peasant girl. If Adam Bede has a villain, Hetty is it. Just as our feelings about Adam are clearly meant to be positive, Hetty winds up bearing the brunt of the narrator’s scorn. What’s not so clear is how she earned it. She’s vain, she’s stupid, and she’s materialistic. Admittedly these are character flaws. But the amount of judgmental scorn heaped on her immediately seems so excessive in measure with her deeds. Hetty’s real sin seems to be that she wants out. She doesn’t want to be the poor pretty girl working the dairy, or the steadfast carpenter’s wife. She wants something better for herself- and how else is she going to get it besides marrying up? The narrator claims to feel sorry for her, but to me this seems the same sort of ‘pity’ you see on the TV when a televangelist says he’s sorry those sodomites are going to hell. I feel quite sorry for Hetty and did not appreciate the narrator belittling her as a childlike idiot at every turn.

It’s hard to talk much about the plot of the novel without giving too much away, because as I said before, not a lot happens and what does happen seems a bit melodramatic. George Eliot has a nasty habit of starting her novels with about two hundred pages of tedium. In Middlemarch, this is excusable, as the novel is about nine hundred pages, so things have time to get interesting. But ‘Adam Bede’ is only about four hundred pages and this is a problem. There are about one hundred pages of interest before we start getting to the ending, which I particularly disliked. It tries too hard to please and seems contrived and unsatisfactory.

Despite the beauty of Eliot’s writing and the sharpness of her characterization, I can’t recommend Adam Bede. Even interesting characters need something to do besides stand around talking about the weather, and just too much of this book is unsatisfactory to garner a good rating. Middlemarch was much less judgmental, and all the better for it.
(less)

like 1 like · see review

Jan 31, 2013 Megan Larson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: late-renaissance-to-early-modern, thoughtful, favorite-books-ever

4.5 stars. Why are there not half stars?
George Eliot won me with Middlemarch. She kept me with Adam Bede. The full five stars were within its grasp, if it weren't for a couple of chapters where the author pushed the patience of even this lover of the pastoral pace. I probably didn't need the background of all of the Poysers' servants, who make no other appearance in the novel. But I've gotten a little better at knowing when to skim. Isn't reading delicious?
The tale itself is about virtue and co...more 4.5 stars. Why are there not half stars?
George Eliot won me with Middlemarch. She kept me with Adam Bede. The full five stars were within its grasp, if it weren't for a couple of chapters where the author pushed the patience of even this lover of the pastoral pace. I probably didn't need the background of all of the Poysers' servants, who make no other appearance in the novel. But I've gotten a little better at knowing when to skim. Isn't reading delicious?
The tale itself is about virtue and compassion, holiness and suffering, loyalty and betrayal, and consequences. It is set amid the advent of the evangelicals to Britain, and highlights the dichotomy between the comfortable morality of the Church of England and the passionate self-denial and soul-winning of the Methodists. There is some top-notch preaching given by the young Dinah Morris, who has become one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. This doesn't make Adam Bede a religious novel, however.
It may surprise modern, post-Christian readers (it even surprised me, definitely not post-Christian) that George Eliot had completely rejected God by the time she wrote this novel. Her early life was full of strong religious influences, and it is obvious that the themes fascinated and did not entirely offend her. It is praiseworthy that she created Dinah Morris, so thoroughly committed to the way of Christ, as a deep and admirable character who does not fail to leave people better than she finds them.
I am being unfair to the title character, however. Adam is the thread at the center of most of the tale, although several other characters get significant alone time with the narrator (who is also quite a character!). He is complex too, perhaps the most complex, because he so fully exceeds the standards of other men in his class, in thoughtfulness, intelligence, diligence, self-control, and loyalty. Furthermore, he grows, through brokenness, and learns compassion on top of them all.
There are two characters who contribute exclusively to the suffering and brokenness of Adam Bede, and they are (amazingly) not caricatures either. Foolish, selfish, self-deceived, but real. I doff my hat to Ms. Evans (Eliot)--she had studied people very well.
And there is comic relief; what hillside hamlet could be considered remotely genuine without its share of loud-mouthed men and women whose opinions everyone knows? And there is joy--the narrator's descriptive powers are almost magical, and I don't mind reading for pages and pages without anything "happening."
Read Adam Bede. It's wonderful.
(less)

like · see review

Sep 30, 2012 Krissie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Krissie by: Dolores Kroeger

Shelves: historical-fiction

First, a note: One of the lovely ladies at my church loaned her Reader's Digest copy of this, which is not the copy this review is listed with. "My" edition is a hardcover, green with brown binding and gold lettering, 568 pages. I'm posting my review with this edition because the page count is closest and I like the cover (it isn't a cover that has a lot to do with the book, but I like it anyway).

The biggest difficulty I had in reading this book was the time required and the language. It took me...more First, a note: One of the lovely ladies at my church loaned her Reader's Digest copy of this, which is not the copy this review is listed with. "My" edition is a hardcover, green with brown binding and gold lettering, 568 pages. I'm posting my review with this edition because the page count is closest and I like the cover (it isn't a cover that has a lot to do with the book, but I like it anyway).

The biggest difficulty I had in reading this book was the time required and the language. It took me at least two months to get through this tome, and three or four chapters to get used to the dialect. I have no skill with accents (if I try to affect one, I inevitably sound like a Swedish masseuse), so I had a hard time hearing voices in my head, speaking in the accents indicated by Eliot's way of writing out the dialogue. This slowed me down whenever I didn't have the hang of it (it was a come-and-gone kind of thing for me, not a riding-a-bike kind of thing), since the dialect makes more sense when it's heard than when it's seen.

(Tip to future readers: "nor" usually means the same as a modern "than," not the same as a modern "nor.")

I enjoyed the book. I'm not sure that it has greatly changed my life; I tend to agree with what was said too much for it to really make me think, but I appreciated the way Bede described Adam's work in terms of Adam's religion: "His work, as you know, had always been part of his religion… [and] was that form of God's will that most immediately concerned him…" (Book VI, Chapter L, page 516). Just because it isn't directly related to the church – preaching or singing or what-have-you – doesn't mean it isn't the work of God (or whatever higher power you may or may not believe in).

Conclusion: Not a waste of my time, but I doubt I got from it what Eliot wanted me to. Further, it probably won't stay with me very powerfully, since I got relatively little from it. But if the page count and the dialect don't scare you off, I encourage the time and effort it will take to get through this one.(less)

like · see review

Sep 16, 2012 Carly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, historical-fiction

It may be heresy (why is it always heresy to dislike a "classic" when a book's status as a classic mainly stems from its age?), but I'm not particularly fond of George Eliot. Granted, I read her books when I was rather younger, but I found her tone too moralistic and prescriptive, and the political overtones too strident. Adam Bede is perhaps one of my least favourite of the books of hers that I have read. We have our overly prim, proper, and holier-than-thou protagonists, Adam Bede and Dinah Mo...more It may be heresy (why is it always heresy to dislike a "classic" when a book's status as a classic mainly stems from its age?), but I'm not particularly fond of George Eliot. Granted, I read her books when I was rather younger, but I found her tone too moralistic and prescriptive, and the political overtones too strident. Adam Bede is perhaps one of my least favourite of the books of hers that I have read. We have our overly prim, proper, and holier-than-thou protagonists, Adam Bede and Dinah Morris, to teach us the proper path. Apparently the "right way" is, at the tender age of twenty, to go around preaching to everyone and providing moral guidance for those lesser beings from one's own tremendous heights of experience. The "right way" is to be uptight and silent, to enjoy nothing, and to purposefully inflict suffering upon oneself to mimic the humiliation Jesus endured. (Oh, and to be Methodist. Although Dinah is called alternately Quaker and Methodist--I really don't understand how these beliefs were confused. Were they more similar back in the day, or did Eliot simply conflate the two Welsh belief systems?) We also have our standard moral exemplars, the characters who behave badly and are duly punished. Interestingly, in this book it becomes clear that bad behaviour includes vanity, self-satisfaction, selfishness, infanticide(how dare women step outside the role of wife and mother?), and, most importantly, stepping outside one's social station. Jane Austen, most notably in Emma, also preaches the virtues of rigid social classes and the evils of interclass fraternization, but I can't help but feel that Eliot is far more dogmatic and obvious in shoving the message down her readers' throats. Unlike Austen, Eliot also demonizes the upper class as frivolous and amoral. In terms of tone, Eliot uses the same wealth of description and narrative commentary favoured by other writers of the period, including Dickens and Hugo. It's not particularly my favorite. She has a few sly barbs, but every one I caught is stated much more cleverly by the inimitable Austen. Overall, I found it a lugubrious and preachy read.(less)

like 1 like · see review

Feb 19, 2013 Connie Rossini rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

Mar 26, 2013 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is my first book by Eliot, and I read it for English class. I have some mixed feelings about it:

Eliot has been praised for her portrayal of rural life in the English countryside, and I see why. There's interesting insight into the village and community, with colorful supporting characters. All of her characters felt well-rounded and I enjoyed how she described them. I felt I knew them all very well by the end, which is always a satisfactory thing to find in a novel, to be sure.

The book did...more This is my first book by Eliot, and I read it for English class. I have some mixed feelings about it:

Eliot has been praised for her portrayal of rural life in the English countryside, and I see why. There's interesting insight into the village and community, with colorful supporting characters. All of her characters felt well-rounded and I enjoyed how she described them. I felt I knew them all very well by the end, which is always a satisfactory thing to find in a novel, to be sure.

The book did take a while to get going, although the last third or so was very interesting. The leisurely pace throughout may frustrate those looking for a gripping plot. Eliot sometimes goes off on little tangents to express her views on a certain subject, although this didn't bother me too much. At most, they are a few pages, whereas I've been reading Les Miserables lately and therefore appreciate any tangent that doesn't go on for chapters and chapters.

I know Eliot was trying to make Hetty's "child-murder" a big plot twist, but I was irked that there really wasn't any indication that Hetty was going to have a child at all until it happened. With novels like this, it's not totally surprising if a girl gets pregnant after having a love affair, but it still came out of the blue. There had been no real hint that Hetty's virtue had been completely "ruined" by Arthur (although I realize Eliot couldn't give too much detail, for fear of scandalizing her audience). Not to mention that the narrator speaks from Hetty's point of view for several chapters as she runs away, and again there isn't the slightest indication that Hetty is pregnant besides her sense of shame and desire to drown herself.

Maybe smarter readers than I picked up on subtle hints to this that I missed. I don't know. Personally, the randomness of it all just bothered me.

The ending was slightly less tragic than I had expected, which was a relief. I really didn't expect Dinah and Adam to fall in love, but hey, I was happy about it. It did feel to me that after all the time we spent with them, the narrator pretty much abandoned Hetty and Arthur. There are mentions of their fates, and I suppose we are left with the implications that they must pay for their mistakes, even as they repent of them and forgiven for them.

I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a slow, atmospheric novel with interesting characters. (less)

like 1 like · see review

Jul 21, 2012 Carsten Thomsen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow...what a read. What a classic. George Eliot has drawn characters here that will stick with you long after you have read the last page.

The proud, honest, hard-working but also hot-tempered and unforgiving Adam Bede - the beautiful but vain and inexperienced Hetty Sorrel - the landlords grandson Arthur Donnithorne, who so easily deceives himself unable to fight temptation, and the merciful Methodist preacher Dinah Morris - and then - as a voice of experience -you have the kind and wise preach...more

like · see review

Feb 11, 2013 Radoaller rated it 5 of 5 stars

When we encounter a book which the least that can be said about it is a "masterpiece", one can only sit and watch the words slowly do their magic. I can easily say that there were several parts in the book which blew me away.

" In our times of bitter suffering, there are almost always these pauses, when our consciousness is benumbed to everything but some trivial perception or sensation"
or the one which says:
" It would be a poor result of all our anguish and our wrestling, if we won nothing but...more

like · see review

Jul 14, 2012 Jenny rated it 3 of 5 stars

I don’t usually like dialogue written in dialect, but in this 1859 novel by Mary Ann Evans (aka George Eliot), I first got used to it, and then started to enjoy it. After a while, the dialect seems indispensable. There are lots of colorful characters, especially middle-aged and old women, who express themselves with great eloquence.

This is a love story, but it’s also a story of early lost love and disillusionment, and of the abuse of class privilege. Adam Bede is a righteous, hard-working carpe...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (206)

More editions...

Genres

Classics

392 users

Literature

44 users

Literature > 19th Century

35 users

European Literature > British Literature

30 users

Romance

26 users

Historical Fiction

25 users

Literature > English Literature

20 users

Novels

15 users

Literary Fiction

10 users

Classics > Classic Literature

10 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About George Eliot

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Mary Ann (Marian) Evans, better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist. She was one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. Her novels, largely set in provincial England, are well known for their realism and psychological perspicacity.

She used a ma...more

More about George Eliot...

Books by George Eliot

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Adam Bede

1 trivia question

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Adam Bede

“Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them: they can be injured by us, they can be wounded; they
know all our penitence, all our aching sense that their place is empty, all the kisses we bestow on the smallest relic of their presence.” — 8 people liked it

“Her own misery filled her heart—there was no room in it for other people's sorrow.” — 8 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Adam Bede
avg rating	preview: Adam Bede Goodreads rating: 3.71 (8215 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20563.Adam_Bede?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1167298252l/20563.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20563.Adam_Bede?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Adam Bede by George Eliot[/url]

Adam Bede

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website