The Mill on the Floss (Oxford World's Classics)
by George Eliot
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Read in August, 2006
'Middlemarch' de George Eliot sea probablemente uno de mis libros favoritos, uno de los más perfectos que he podido leer en mi vida. Pero luego me topé con 'Silas Marner', que era tan árido, tan alegórico, tan moral-filosófico, que me producía pesadez de estómago y no pude terminarlo. Por su parte, 'El molino junto al Floss' me ha dejado con sensaciones contradictorias. Buena parte de la culpa la tiene el final.
Valoro demasiado los finales. Y esta vez he sufrido mucho porque lo vení...more
Valoro demasiado los finales. Y esta vez he sufrido mucho porque lo vení...more
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Read in March, 2008
I've had this book for awhile, but just recently got around to reading it. I'd read Adam Bede a couple years ago, and I loved it and hated it. I thought that I may have a similar reaction to The Mill on the Floss. Instead, I reacted thusly -- Poor Maggie Tulliver! That is the sentiment you get at the beginning of the novel and you really feel it the entire way through. She is just a martyr. No one loves her enough, no one thinks she is smart enough, no one will take her seriously, no one...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
Austen lovers who want to branch out
Very impressive. I'd say 4 1/2 stars. After 500 pages, I still don't know how I would have wanted the book to end! Though slow-going at first, it builds to a memorable climax of emotion, as Maggie Tulliver is torn between affections for family, friends, and love. I had wanted to try a book by George Eliot for some time--at least, one a little more complex than Silas Marner. This answered very well. Eliot (Evans) is very incisive about human nature. I was amazed at her ability to describe inner f...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Sarah by:
Joyrecommends it for: Autumn, Emma, Molly
Realistically I might have given this book 4.5 stars, but as that is not an option on Goodreads, I gave it 5 because I simply couldn't bear it to be relegated to my other 4 star books -- it moved my soul too thoroughly.
I have to advise anyone who may read this that it is not as narratively superb as Middlemarch or Daniel Deronda. George Eliot is still working some of the kinks out of her style. That being said, the emotions, ideas, and truths contained in The Mill on the Floss are moving bey...more
I have to advise anyone who may read this that it is not as narratively superb as Middlemarch or Daniel Deronda. George Eliot is still working some of the kinks out of her style. That being said, the emotions, ideas, and truths contained in The Mill on the Floss are moving bey...more
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Read in April, 2008
It is true that George Eliot understands human nature. One of the pleasures of this book was the canny characterization of even small characters. This is why I was puzzled by the fact that I found it impossible to get close to the main character, the heroine, Maggie. As a child she is impossibly messy and impetuous and clever - which as a reader I take to mean that she will be a spellbindingly fascinating woman when she grows up that I will (of course!) identify closely with, as would any woman ...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
people who enjoy the classics
I really enjoyed this book -- much more than I thought I would when I first started it. I had a little experience with Eliot in college, though I don't remember much of it, and I expected her work to be much drier and difficult to wade through. But upon reading the Mill on the Floss, I find her to be more a unique combination of Dickens and the Bronte sisters -- the story had the doom and gloom of Wuthering Heights, but with far more complex and enjoyable characterizations, and just the right ti...more
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Read in August, 2007
I'm tempted to say really foul-mouthed things about Tom Tulliver here, but I'll restrain myself. (And about Stephen Guest! And... just about every man in this book, other than perhaps Philip. Also, three-quarters of the women.)
Good, occasionally extremely powerful, but not half as amazing as Middlemarch or Daniel Deronda. Maggie is heartbreaking, and her story feels more like a c18 he...more
Good, occasionally extremely powerful, but not half as amazing as Middlemarch or Daniel Deronda. Maggie is heartbreaking, and her story feels more like a c18 he...more
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i've read this book a few times, and have written about it, and still it has more layers of secrets for me every time. it's a book about the struggles of childhood, the struggles of adolescence, the struggles of womanhood---the struggles to define oneself against, as in many victorian novels, the restrictions of cultural mores.
for me, this is a book about the conflicts between internal imagination and external realities. and so as much as it's about victorian realities, i think for everybod...more
for me, this is a book about the conflicts between internal imagination and external realities. and so as much as it's about victorian realities, i think for everybod...more
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There were some really wonderful parts to The Mill on the Floss, particularly Eliot's ability to follow the characters over time and to draw on complex social dynamics to create character. I found the long passages of exposition to drag the narrative, though, and that much of them didn't really carry beyond the society in which they were written. I also contemplated murder when I reached the ending. After building up interesting and well-motivated choices, I don't know that it would be po...more
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Read in March, 2008
I feel very mixed about this book. In some instances the writing is drawn out and quite boring and it could have been told in under 500 pages. Yet the story line and the characters are strong and when the writing is focused on character developement and the plot the details are as vivid as you could hope for when reading. The second half of the book was engrossing and yet the ending left me with such mixed emotions I don't know how I feel yet. I won't give it away but I still feel emotionally t...more
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Read in January, 2008
Upon waking this morning, I'm already thinking about this book that I finished last night. I might need to change the number of stars to 5. However, my initial response is that I "really liked it". It has a Jane Austen feel, but with a twist. Eliot was able to write so that without me even realizing it, I was falling in love with the characters and intimately identifying with them. So much so that in the end when one little word is written, I almost burst into tears. I think I w...more
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Apparently this book bores some people silly. I don't know what they're thinking, because this is one of the most poignant pieces of literature I've ever come across. Focusing on the relationship between Maggie and her brother Tom, the story follows their transformation from children into adults, and the scandal (well, scandalous for the 1800s) that has nasty repercussions on their bond. Feminists will mentally be screaming "That's so unfair! I hate Tom" in pretty much every other chap...more
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Read in January, 1977
George Eliot at her best!
The reflection of Maggie and Tom's station in life was so apparent..George Eliot's struggle to be recognised as being on a par with men when it came to writing....how glad I am that she, like the Bronte Sisters, battled on for recognition in the then, Man's World of Writing!
How easy it is for us women writers now....thanks to courageous and determined women like her!
I salute her!
I love her description.
I love anything written around this time period. ...more
The reflection of Maggie and Tom's station in life was so apparent..George Eliot's struggle to be recognised as being on a par with men when it came to writing....how glad I am that she, like the Bronte Sisters, battled on for recognition in the then, Man's World of Writing!
How easy it is for us women writers now....thanks to courageous and determined women like her!
I salute her!
I love her description.
I love anything written around this time period. ...more
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recommends it for:
Anyone
This book is so funny and sometimes dark. It's like if Dickens had been a woman. Maggie Tulliver is one of my favorite literary characters right alongside Scout Finch & Francie Nolan and Scarlett O'Hara. I'm really looking forward to reading Middlemarch because it is supposed to be George Eliot's best.
This book, at times, reminded me of Great Expectations, the way the bumbling adults would make fools of themselves.
Anyway, a wonderfully surprising read and I highly recommend it.
This book, at times, reminded me of Great Expectations, the way the bumbling adults would make fools of themselves.
Anyway, a wonderfully surprising read and I highly recommend it.
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Read in March, 1995
I read this when I was studying in England and I have distinct memories of sitting on benches in Regents Park with my library copy. The copy I was reading was one of those charming small British hardcovers with thin pages. I can practically feel the pages, the sun on my face, and the light wind tossing my hair around as I think about it. I'm sure that contributes to my fondness for the book.
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Okay, I was a bit skeptical when my professor said that this was her favorite book, but it really is a masterpiece. The way that Eliot is able to capture emotion is breathtaking and her descriptions of place are beautiful. I have read Eliot's "Daniel Deronda" and was unimpressed but this is worth a read even if you are not a fan of 19th century British bildungsromans.
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
no one i liked
i hated this book, mostly because of how sickly i found the ending. It's fairly good, although painful, for the majority of the book but i felt that the actions of the characters were inconsistent and i feel that she ultimately betrayed them with the ending.
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recommends it for:
I don't recommend it.
What can I say? Unbelievably boring.
Sure, she (George Eliot) had some interesting themes going, and the characters have enough depth, but each and every one of them is pathetic in his/her own way.
The story is basically about nothing, and drags on for over 500 pages. If I didn't have to read it for class I would have put it down after Chapter 1.
Sure, she (George Eliot) had some interesting themes going, and the characters have enough depth, but each and every one of them is pathetic in his/her own way.
The story is basically about nothing, and drags on for over 500 pages. If I didn't have to read it for class I would have put it down after Chapter 1.
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I picked this one up because Middlemarch was so fantastic, and I was not disappointed. Eliot's command of the language, skillful use of syntax and diction, and constant awareness of multiple facets of her story make her books fantastic and deeper than most. This one follows a family that owns a mill, and how siblings grow together.
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recommends it for:
anyone
this book is so beautifully written that I didn't even have time to add it to my 'currently reading' bookshelf. It was a quick read full of poetic beauty. Moments in this left me breathless and I couldn't put it down. There is certainly social commentary that you would find in a Wharton piece but it is not didactic or overdone.
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