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Apr 24, 2008

Ferris rated it:

I listened to this audiobook while on vacation. It is a bit slow in the first third, but I stuck it out and became completely engrossed in this second of George Eliot's novels that I've read. I think she really believed in karma. In this novel, as in "Middlemarch", characters clearly reap the consequences of the choices they make, particularly in relation to their behavior towards other people.

If you can get through the first third, it is well worth the read.

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Apr 10, 2008

Michael rated it:

When I was a teen, I heard that Silas Marner was a horrid old book about a rotten old miser and that I never wanted to read it. My Thanks to modern day Steve Martin who has updated several classics (ie Cyrano de Bergerac's 'Roxane') and 'Silas Marner' with modern movies that beautifully hold true to the books. The Movie was "A Simple Little Wish" and it was a beautiful story of a man and a child he adopts. In the credits I saw that the movie was based on 'Silas Marner'. At that poi More...

3 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jun 17, 2008

Paul rated it:

I find it hard to believe that a writer so distanced from religion and God can write in such a compelling way about the morality – and especially the redeeming power – of human relations. But that’s George Elliot. Marner, an old weaver who clings to his gold (after experiencing betrayal by his closest friend –and God? – in his early life), finds that his outlook changes when his gold is stolen and fate leaves a child at his doorstep. Really a good book, and a short read, as far as Elliot is c More...

3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 28, 2011

Julie rated it:

I remember hating this in high school English, but as I have learned lately, many books ruined by high school teachers deserve a second chance. This book was recommended by my daughter Rose as one that would be good for discussion on A Good Story is Hard to Find.

Truth be told, I brought it on a trip out of town because it was the smallest paperback I owned and it would fit in my purse. I have only had a chance to read a few pages but am fascinated by the description of England at that More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 04, 2009

Marni rated it:

Early in the story Silas Marner has a great life - he's happily engaged, living among good friends, and doing work he enjoys. Unfortunately he is framed by his best friend who then marries the woman he is engaged to. Silas leaves the village and travels far away. He stays as secluded as he can, and hordes the money he earns as a weaver.

His money, the only thing he loves, is taken away from him, and while stewing over that, a young child appears at his door that he accepts as from More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2009

Kathy rated it:

I read this over the weekend -- it was difficult to get into at first because I'd just finished _Lost in the City_. Eliot's use of language is so different from the contemporary Edward P. Jones' use of words. Long sentences that I had to read over and over again to get all the meaning out of. The first sentence in my little mass market sized book (so pages are small) covers over 6 lines. And you had to get used to the archaic use of "nor" for "than". I learned some new v More...

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Mar 11, 2009

Becky rated it:

Shocker of all shockers: I liked this one. Quite a lot, in fact. Why is that shocking? When I read this little volume--and no, it's not the same copy--in tenth grade I absolutely hated it. Hate is really too kind a word for what I felt. Needless to say, it held the title of most-hated-book until my college days when Jude the Obscure took its place. (It still holds the honor, in case you're curious.) Which just goes to show you that almost without a doubt classics--at least some classics--fail to More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 08, 2009

CaterinaAnna rated it:

For anyone who doesn't know the outline of this, here follows a synopsis. Silas the weaver arrives in a village from somewhere 'oop North' and plies his trade. He keeps himself to himself and makes lots of money, which he doesn't spend, but hides and marvels at. One night his money is stolen, which begins to garner him some sympathy, but it is only when he finds and adopts a little girl lost one snowy evening that his life changes for the better.

Of course, that's not the half of it - More...

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Jan 10, 2012

Isabella rated it:

The Gifts of a Child
Silas Marner, Book Review
By: Isabella Didier
Some people may say that money isn’t everything, but when you have nothing else to look forward to or to dedicate your life to it may become the only thing that matters. George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evans was one of the leading authors of the Victorian era she wrote seven novels one of them being Silas Marner. Her books were well known for their realism and psychological insight.
In the book Silas Marner an ol More...

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Dec 30, 2011

Mary Ronan rated it:

Back in the fall of 1963 I was practice teaching at New Bedford High School. I didn't get to choose any of the books I taught and I was distressed that I had to teach Silas Marner. I had read it myself in high school not so long before and didn't like it at all and couldn't see the point of it all. Too sentimental, too stilted in language, too unrealistic.

But of course I sat down with the book and a notepad and started to do some close reading, as they taught us to do in those days. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 28, 2011

Jessica added it

This was a book assigned to me to read in grade or high school. Unfortunately, I faked my way through it and never actually read the book. But when I heard how much the other students enjoyed it, I always had a bit of regret about not reading it. So I’ve finally read it.

This is the story of Silas Marner, the wronged man that becomes a lonely miser and how he is brought back to a world of love and interaction with others. There are several other themes running alongside the main More...

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Dec 09, 2011

Smita rated it:

Quotes the resonate:

-"In that moment the mother's love pleaded for painful consciousness rather than oblivion--pleaded to be left in aching weariness, rather than to have the circling arms benumbed so that they could not feel the dear burden."
-"That quiet mutual gaze of a trusting husband and wife is like the first moment of rest or refuge from a great weariness or a great danger--not to be interfered with by speech or action which would distract the sensations from More...

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Nov 27, 2011

Benjamin rated it:

I liked the book, but I have a hard time putting my finger on why exactly that is the case. The characters are not easy to identify with, the plot is only moderately engaging, and Marner's redemption in and of itself is not very meaningful to me. Eliot's writing is superbly witty, however, and her story unfolds in an extraordinarily well-crafted manner. that being said, Part II felt like nothing so much as necessary wrapping up, with one notable exception in the big revelation,

my favor More...

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Oct 08, 2011

Richard rated it:

This book was a real-life Book Circle read that, well, got mixed reviews. Some people thought the writing was brilliant and others found it dated; some people thought it was too short, others too long for the short story they felt it truly was and not the novel it's pretending to be.

I think it's a lovely book. I think Silas is about as honestly drawn and cannily observed a character as fiction offers. I think the village of Raveloe is as real as my own village of Hempstead. It's a de More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 03, 2011

Suzie rated it:

This was my intro to George Eliot. The style and content certainly fit the times; a young man is betrayed by his best friend and framed for theft, whereupon he flees his hometown to an even smaller sleepy English farming community to continue his lonely miserable existence in peace, away from the hypocrisies of people or the Church. Somewhere along the line, his perfectly sealed shell of existence is infiltrated: first when his life savings are stolen from his home, and second, when he finds a s More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 13, 2011

Tyler rated it:

2011 marks 150 years since the publication of Silas Marner. I can see why some modern readers would find the pace slow, the language difficult, the moral message too strong and the story too neatly tied up. That will happen if you insist that a mid-19th century novel be judged by early-21st century standards. I don't understand why some people refuse to read a book on it's own terms, but insist that the book conform to their terms. It's like they live in a city with great restaurants that repres More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Apr 19, 2011

Carre rated it:

The story of a simple weaver in an Olde Englande that's not quite as Merrie as some lore would have us believe. Silas, who has an affliction that would be recognized today as petit mal seizures, is suspected by the other townfolk of being possessed by the devil. Silas is unlucky enough to have a seizure as he sits vigil over a dying church deacon. When he comes out of his state of mental absentia, the church money is missing from the deacon's dresser. Silas is accused of stealing, and in a folk- More...

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Mar 31, 2011

Ana rated it:

Silas Marner / 0-553-21229-X

"Silas Marner" is a wonderful story of maintaining perspective in life - a tale extremely comparable to Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol". In the height of his youth, when he is healthy, happy, and totally in love, young Silas is betrayed, cast down, and taught the 'lesson' that only the criminal and avaricious get ahead in life. He moves to a new town and abandons any attempt to connect with the society around him, instead focusing on hoarding More...

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Jan 22, 2011

Ali rated it:

This is the third time that I have read Silas Marner, and it remains for me an old favourite, and it was like revisiting an old friend whom I hadn't seen for some time, but with whom everything was just as it had always been. I read the first two thirds of the book on my ipod touch via the ibooks app. I had wanted to see what I thought of reading in this way before dismissing it out of hand. It is useful to always have a book with me - and so I have added a couple more free books to my ipo More...

1 comment like

Jan 03, 2011

Sara rated it:

Silas Marner at it's core is a story of loss, regret and redemption. The title character is a weaver who looses everything - his job, his love, and the respect of his community. Brokenhearted he leaves his home and moves to a land as different from all he knows as possible. He is looked upon with suspicion and fear by the residents of Raveloe, but allowed to live his life quietly and undisturbed. Then two events conspire to change everything. When he fully enters into the community and finds More...

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Jul 25, 2010

Mrfishscales rated it:

It is my recollection that I was assigned to read this book in high school and simply did not do it. I feel sure that I would have hated it at age 15 or 16.

I read it immediately after having read Ethan Frome. The contrast was fascinating. Edith Wharton had one foot in the Victorian world and one in the modern. Her characters were presented as recognizably modern individuals.

Eliot is clearly a Victorian writer. Her characters seem to exist very much to serve the story, and the More...

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Jul 13, 2010

Em rated it:

I agree with the other reviews that the book is very slow at first, but then I really got into it. I loved reading about the characters and how they changed. I too loved the same qoute the Kelsey did:

"In old days there were angels who came and took men by the hand and led them away from the city of destruction. We see no white-winged angels now. But yet men are led away from threatening destruction: a hand is put into theirs, which leads them forth gently towards a calm and brig More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 13, 2009

Adama rated it:

question 12
are you puzzled on or confused about anything in the story? whatis it that confuses you, and why do you find it confusing?

this book is amazing and awesome. in the beginning(1,2,3 chapters) i regret taking this book. But i endeavor to focus on it. The other chapters were fantastic.
however, in this book, i m very confuse about mr SILAS behaviour and mr GODFREY attitude.
in fact, after DUNSEY'S(GODFREY'S brother) has stolen mr SILAS gold.mr SILAS has become More...

1 comment like

Aug 22, 2009

Sandhya rated it:

Every now and then, when I feel underwhelmed with contemporary works - some of it either because it's too sparse or simply lacking in quality -- I'm gripped by the urge to take up a classic. It allows me to soak my mind in the elegance of the English language, luxuriate in long-winding sentences that bristle with beauty, offering timeless insight into the human condition.
So last weekend I found myself scanning my bookshelf, seeing if there were any classics that I'd left unread and could t More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Heidi added it

I read this in high school, and recently re-read it for book club. I thought it was ok, but would have been better with a different editor.

The entire first part of the book after Silas moves to his new town was difficult to get through. Irrelevant characters were introduced, they spoke in archaic dialect which was difficult to understand, and there was generally a lot of filler that didn't seem to me to advance the plot or themes of the book. Although I did laugh in several spots, I recognize More...

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Dec 17, 2008

Haylee rated it:

"Silas Marner feels like a folktale, a narrative that lies deep in the unconscious read to be revived by those opening words "Once upon a time in a land far away." So claims Kathryn Hughes in the afterward of this delightful, heartwarming story.

Silas Marner was a bit hard for me to get into at first, for Eliot's beautiful yet unaccustomed language and seemingly irrelevant relaying of Marner's exile from Lantern Yard. However, after the first forty pages or so I was su More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 15, 2011

Michi added it

Silas Marner, I think, deserves more time and energy than I could give it when I read it at school. I found most of it rather difficult to read and had some difficulties with the structure of the novel. Long, rather dull passages about what at first seem uninteresting and weird characters are, however, frequently interrupted by brilliantly depicted key events and memorable scenes. This is one of those novels that deserve a second chance. Within the awkward structure lies (again, at first sight) More...

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Jan 18, 2011

Roger rated it:

I dutifully read this book decades ago in Junior High School. The sum total of what I remember is a miser and there was something about a girl. It did not make any kind of impression, much less a profound impression. Now, many years later, I decided, for unknown reasons, to read this book again. And I am happy I did.

Yes, this is a story of a miser who lives for his gold and silver coins. Having closed himself off from a world that has betrayed him, he finds his only solace in wo More...

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Nov 11, 2009

Shonali rated it:

Summary of the book : Silas Marner , a wrongly accused weaver makes a new home for himself at Raveloe and comes to acquire a small fortune which he guards very dearly. When he gets robbed of his treasure he feels that nothing good can ever happen in his life. Until a little girl with golden hair ends up on his door step. The girl whom he names Eppie becomes the centre of his life only to be brought face to face with a reality that threatens to take Eppie out of his life.

Things I More...

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Nov 20, 2010

John rated it:

True, the first couple chapters bored me to tears. But after that, I found Silas Marner to be a surprisingly enjoyable read; one of those rare books that manages to walk that difficult tightrope of being charming but not sappy, sentimental but not saccharine. It's a syrupy kind of story, but you never once feel like gagging on it the way you might if it was a Hallmark Original Movie instead of a brilliantly controlled piece of writing. At times, Eliot gets way too wordy for the story's own go More...

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