From the Bookshelf of Topeka & Shawnee Co. Public Library…

Middlemarch

George Eliot

Start date: July 11, 2013

Finish date: August 12, 2013

Why we're reading this: August selection for the Classics Made Modern Ebooks discussion group
[close] August selection for the Classics Made Modern Ebooks discussion group

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Sep 10, 2012 Elise Barker rated it it was amazing

I decided to have a "George Eliot summer" but I probably won't re-read Middlemarch because I read it too recently. That said, since I have so far finished The Mill on the Floss and am a little ways into Daniel Deronda, I can't help but think about the great achievement of Middlemarch.

While the Dorothea/Casaubon/Ladislaw triangle looms the most dramatically in my memory, with the tragically ill-matched pair, Rosamond and Lydgate following in a close second, one of my favorite moments in the book I decided to have a "George Eliot summer" but I probably won't re-read Middlemarch because I read it too recently. That said, since I have so far finished The Mill on the Floss and am a little ways into Daniel Deronda, I can't help but think about the great achievement of Middlemarch.

While the Dorothea/Casaubon/Ladislaw triangle looms the most dramatically in my memory, with the tragically ill-matched pair, Rosamond and Lydgate following in a close second, one of my favorite moments in the book is when Mary Garth enjoys quietly sitting in a chair as she watches over Mr. Featherstone. All these other characters struggle in their moments of solitude, working on improving themselves or the world, and her contrasting meditative composure is such an interestingly sedate foreshadowing of her self-assurance and moral rightness.

I love the contrasting and conflicting visions of what constitutes a "scholar": the traditional Casubon, the scientific Lydgate, the artistic Ladislaw, and the idealistic Dorothea. Their differing conceptions of intellectual work was one of my favorite subtle and coded conflicts/debates in the novel.

*Spoilers* Conversely, it is so exciting when Dorothea and Ladislaw come together in the midst of a thunderstorm, a scene which Eliot masterfully keeps from being cheesy or overwrought. Instead the electric heat from the storm mimics the powerful attraction between these passionate characters. I read this scene with my heart pounding, and I could hardly stand to keep still! I can't think of many things more exciting and fascinating (for me) than to watch Victorian repression and shame come unravelled.

*spoilers continue* As I'm writing this, I find myself recalling a plot that I had actually completely forgotten, that of the hypocritical Bulstrode. He was repellant to me , especially in his dealings with Lydgate, but the blackmailing business with Raffles actually made me squirm in sympathy with him, even as I continued to find his behavior abhorrent. I simultaneously hate and love when an author forces me to pity a character that I previously despised.

Although it is impossible not to get caught up in the various individual stories of the book, especially Dorothea's, part of the fun of Middlemarch is to think of the community as a whole, to see the tragedies and successes, both large and small, political and personal, as part of something bigger. Many of the symbols, metaphors, and philosophical discussions in the book drive that point home further. I find myself thinking about it frequently and in unexpected moments, and I feel as though thinking about this community has made me a better person. ...more

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Apr 09, 2019 Melanie rated it it was ok

I have seen this book on many lists, and was really looking forward to reading it. Maybe because of all the hype I was disappointed. Dorothea Brooks Casaubon and Mary Garth were too perfect of characters. The roles of the virgin saints were already taken by Dorothea and Mary so that Rosamond had to be the "whore," and yet she wasn't one. She was a beautiful and raised to get the attention of all the men. She was the only one who when to finishing school, because her destiny was to be a wife and ...more

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Sep 17, 2013 Lissa rated it really liked it

The Librivox recording was by many different narrators, not in a good way, but having voices from different genders and cultures reading the story really reinforced the universality of the human experiences in the story.

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