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Middlemarch (Penguin Classics)
by George Eliot

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/750821.Middlemarch?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Middlemarch (Penguin Classics)" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1178030971m/750821.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/750821.Middlemarch?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Middlemarch</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/173.George_Eliot">George Eliot</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12319048?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 4 of 5 stars<br/>Middlemarch is largely the tale of three characters and their struggles with love and their peers, their relations and fellow Middlemarchers. Dorothea, a young woman who dreams of fulfilling a purpose bigger than herself, marries an aging scholar, Mr. Casaubon, only to wrestle with the disappointment she feels with her husband, whom she finds to be less than the great man she had longed to help in his ascent to glory. Fred Vincy lives as a young gentleman, but he lacks the wealth necessary to support his own frivolous habits and moreover finds that his inclinations alienate him from the affections of his only love, Mary Garth. And Tertius Lydgate, who arrives from Paris with the highest ambitions of reforming medical practice in provincial Middlemarch, falls for Rosamond Vincy against his better judgment, learning too late that Rosamond loved him first as an instrument to her rise in rank, a love which suffers greatly as the lifestyle her tastes demand swiftly exhausts the meager resources that her husband's practice provide. A number of characters who are woven into the lives of these couples give Middlemarch remarkable death. Most important of them is Will Ladislaw, a younthful distant relative of Mr. Casaubon, of brilliant potential but fickle taste. He and Dorothea have an uncommonly deep understanding of one another. Their affection unjustly rouses the jealousy of Dorothea's husband and the general disapproval of those around them. A great role is also played by Mr. Bulstrode, a wealthy banker, whose belief in his instrumentality in the plans of the Almighty arouses the ire of many of his peers. Yet Bulstrode's self-righteousness rests upon murky foundations, which come to haunt him in the shape of a former associate, Mr. Raffles.
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<br/>The novel is a penetrating work of insight into the motives and misunderstandings of men, of desire and disappointment, of the nature of love, friendship, and marriage, and of the mirror of society. Eliot draws each character with remarkable clarity and depth. There is little to criticize. My one objection is to her manner of dwelling on the actions or emotions of the characters. She addresses the reader as all-knowing, offering countless observations on human nature, which in many cases might have been left to the reader's inferences. Then again, some of her remarks are striking aphorisms. My own tastes, I must admit, lead me to prefer shorter authorial interjections, and many readers may delight in Eliot's reflections.
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/772359?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Lucian's review
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Middlemarch is largely the tale of three characters and their struggles with love and their peers, their relations and fellow Middlemarchers. Dorothea, a young woman who dreams of fulfilling a purpose bigger than herself, marries an aging scholar, Mr. Casaubon, only to wrestle with the disappointment she feels with her husband, whom she finds to be less than the great man she had longed to help in his ascent to glory. Fred Vincy lives as a young gentleman, but he lacks the wealth necessary to support his own frivolous habits and moreover finds that his inclinations alienate him from the affections of his only love, Mary Garth. And Tertius Lydgate, who arrives from Paris with the highest ambitions of reforming medical practice in provincial Middlemarch, falls for Rosamond Vincy against his better judgment, learning too late that Rosamond loved him first as an instrument to her rise in rank, a love which suffers greatly as the lifestyle her tastes demand swiftly exhausts the meager resou...more Middlemarch is largely the tale of three characters and their struggles with love and their peers, their relations and fellow Middlemarchers. Dorothea, a young woman who dreams of fulfilling a purpose bigger than herself, marries an aging scholar, Mr. Casaubon, only to wrestle with the disappointment she feels with her husband, whom she finds to be less than the great man she had longed to help in his ascent to glory. Fred Vincy lives as a young gentleman, but he lacks the wealth necessary to support his own frivolous habits and moreover finds that his inclinations alienate him from the affections of his only love, Mary Garth. And Tertius Lydgate, who arrives from Paris with the highest ambitions of reforming medical practice in provincial Middlemarch, falls for Rosamond Vincy against his better judgment, learning too late that Rosamond loved him first as an instrument to her rise in rank, a love which suffers greatly as the lifestyle her tastes demand swiftly exhausts the meager resources that her husband's practice provide. A number of characters who are woven into the lives of these couples give Middlemarch remarkable death. Most important of them is Will Ladislaw, a younthful distant relative of Mr. Casaubon, of brilliant potential but fickle taste. He and Dorothea have an uncommonly deep understanding of one another. Their affection unjustly rouses the jealousy of Dorothea's husband and the general disapproval of those around them. A great role is also played by Mr. Bulstrode, a wealthy banker, whose belief in his instrumentality in the plans of the Almighty arouses the ire of many of his peers. Yet Bulstrode's self-righteousness rests upon murky foundations, which come to haunt him in the shape of a former associate, Mr. Raffles.

The novel is a penetrating work of insight into the motives and misunderstandings of men, of desire and disappointment, of the nature of love, friendship, and marriage, and of the mirror of society. Eliot draws each character with remarkable clarity and depth. There is little to criticize. My one objection is to her manner of dwelling on the actions or emotions of the characters. She addresses the reader as all-knowing, offering countless observations on human nature, which in many cases might have been left to the reader's inferences. Then again, some of her remarks are striking aphorisms. My own tastes, I must admit, lead me to prefer shorter authorial interjections, and many readers may delight in Eliot's reflections....less

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