Silas Marner in Classics and the Western Canon

Jun 05, 2009 Everyman rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-library, british-classics, classics

I hated this when I was forced to read it in school. For some reason, went back to it about ten years later and loved it. Have read it several times since then, and each time I find it richer and more satisfying. It's a beautiful little tale with some morals right out in the open and others hidden. ...more

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Dec 08, 2012 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I listened to this wonderful reading of Silas Marner for this year's holiday season instead of doing my usual reread of a Christmas Carol, the story of another miser. This is a more realistic, gentler story of human failings and redemption, although coincidence underpins some key plot points. And despite the title, this is as much the story of the unredeemed secrets of local gentry Geoffrey Cass as it is the story of the lonely weaver Silas Marner and his bags of gold. ...more

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Feb 16, 2009 Laura McDonald rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Much shorter than Middlemarch, Silas Marner ironically takes a bit longer for the reader to become involved with the story. It starts almost too simply: Silas Marner, a weaver living in a religious community, is unjustly accused of theft, expelled, and becomes a recluse in another small village called Raveloe.

A little more than halfway through, however, one realizes what a great novel this is. With a slight turn of events, this simple story takes on grand themes of faith, trust, community, and l ...more

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Aug 14, 2007 Inder rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: england, selfhelp, 1001-books, fiction, 19th-century, alltimefaves, favorites

This story is so famous it feels like a fairy tale. Yes, this is Ms. Eliot at her most moral, and most preachy. But is preachy always bad? I rarely enjoy a sermon this much. Like Great Expectations, this is Victorian self-help at its best.

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