Middlemarch - Book 3: Waiting for Death

[Jenn, moderator]

Discuss book 3.

[Bill]

Ch xxxvi - the reading of Featherstone's will - is an utterly priceless satire on greedy relations. Swift or Petronius could scarcely equal it. Mrs Waull in particular is a hoot. I kept wondering how people could be so lacking in self knowledge as never to reflect, 'I've done nothing to earn anything from this estate, I've done nothing to deserve anything, & if I get nothing, i've nothing to complain of.' In fairness to these characters, we have to remember that one's status was pretty much fixed @ birth & you might hope to share in your relation's good fortune of being a 1st-born male. We have no such excuse.

[Alana]

I just started Book IV. I found it interesting that Mary refused to be a part of burning one of the wills. I wonder how having two wills will end up playing out and effecting the story!

Do we have threads for the last of these sections?

[Bill]

No new threads. I just posted my finish to the 1st. The reading of the will is a magnificent satire on greedy relatives - hope you enjoy it too.

[Alana]

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole book. The characters so well represent what life is like in a small town, no matter what era you live in. The gossip-mongers never change, but I love that Eliot created characters that grew (in good and bad ways) over time and weren't flat and black and white. It's not all happy, but ends up mostly happy for those we are most drawn to care about. Her biggest lesson seems to be that your mistakes can surely haunt you!

[Bill]

So glad you liked it. Each reading has been the same but different - this time I liked the Garths more & found Lydgate annoying.