Total Page : 165
Publisher : Twayne Pub
Publication Date : 1988 04
>> Not my kind of book
I m reading this book for my Great Books class at university and it is one of the hardest reads for most of the class I have a lot of difficulty getting into the story and find myself skipping huge parts of it and just using sparknotes to see if I missed anything
>> Reviewed plenty of times but it s a favorite so I ll add one more
I ll give you my favorite quote Will Ladislaw a devoted admirer of the book s lead Dorothea is caught by her in what appears to be a precarious situation with another woman I won t reveal who This woman flippanty tells Will he can follow Dorothea who fled the scene and explain his preference
He found another vent for his rage by snatching up her words again as if they were reptiles to be throttled and flung off Explain Tell a man to explain how he dropped into hell Explain my preference I ve never had a PREFERENCE for her any more than I have a preference for breathing No other woman exists by the side of her I would rather touch her hand if it were dead than I would touch any other woman s living
Quick review one aspect of this novel is about unwise choices in marraige HOWEVER this novel is NOT anti marraige as the most popular positive review seems to allude In fact at its core is the idea of marraige for love and in several cases this novel examplifies the need of pushing through trials with your spouse Lydgate Garth and even creepy Bulstrode No character walks away from their marraige in this novel and ultimately it has happy endings
What I love most about Dorothea is that she LEARNS throughout the novel That she changes In the beginning she is prudish opinionated and spurns romance to marry a man under a disillusioned ideal it will broaden her usefulness At first I didn t care for her I liked her sister better who becomes somewhat silly later on Through her trials Dorothea softens She is humbled She sees the value in others and spurns viscious gossip and judgments By the end of the book my opinion of her has managed to rotate 180 degrees
I ve already said more than I intended but I hope you give this novel a chance
>> Want to read a long book
This was a monster of a book Not recommended if you are a flaky reader Luckily I was forced to read this giant in about a week or so However I must admit that I lost track of a few of the characters throughout the book which is why a family tree is helpful But I suppose it just takes a matter of getting used to something and then it becomes second nature
I felt the same way about shows like Lost and Heroes I was a little turned off by how many characters there were However the more I watched the show the easier it became for me to figure out each of the characters back stories and how they were connected Middlemarch should be given the same chance and learning curve It takes time Overall it s a good read if you are into a long book I usually don t have the patience for a book this long but at least I can add it to my impressive reading list of books
If You are looking for >>> Middlemarch A Novel of Reform Twayne s Masterwork Studies find the best one here
