Middlemarch Book Review

Mostly a discussion about my five favorite characters from Middlemarch.

[@czarquetzal8344]

I'm "Middlemarch" now, devouring its constituents and even extended my quest for this type of consumption by reading what are alluded here: " Don Quixote", " Paradise Lost", "Song of Experience" by Blake, " Tempest" of Shakespeare, the history of the Victorian England, the history of medical science in the 19th century England, the biography of Saint Theresa, the concept of " children pilgrimage" that is also shown in Decameron, and the biography of Mary Anne Evans , and why she had chosen as her pen name just to understand what she said in the Prelude as the " mysterious mix" of history.

[@kevinrosero9723]

Thank you, for talking about these characters. Middlemarch is one of my oldest favorites. Dorothea and Tertius would be top of my list. The portrait of each of their marriages is unforgettable. And what happens to their idealism, also very poignant. But even though they grow wise and just a little more cynical with experience, they remain inspiring characters!

[@noxregis2757]

The Garth family as a whole are the best characters in my mind. Mary is quite charming and Caleb is the only man worthy of true approbation.

[@hansouth2355]

best characters as being good and wholesome or well written(not needing to be good or wholesome)?

[@ViennaWaitsBooks]

I totally agree that we have a different way of reading these days and I really love when I take a couple of months and read a really chunky book!

[@katehowereads]

Yes! Booktube makes me too excited for too many books. It would be glorious just to slowly absorb and really get to know one book for a little while.

[@katiejlumsden]

Fred and Mary were my favourite characters in the book

[@katehowereads]

I agree about the miniseries! I did find Dorothea's character hard to understand from just the miniseries so I was glad to get to know her better. I won't be re-reading this anytime soon but I'll definitely be watching the miniseries.

[@katiejlumsden]

I haven't seen it for ages, but I just love it. I think one of the reasons why I didn't enjoy the book as much is because the first 200 pages or so are just about Dorothea and we don't get to meet all the rest of the characters for a while. I like it when books with lots of characters switch between them more. I'd watched the TV adaptation before, so maybe that clouded my expectations, or made me more keen to get onto the other characters in the book!

[@katehowereads]

+Books and Things Which is why Dickens suits you so well! I think I like a little bit of both.

[@PMS1950]

I enjoyed your review and choice of favourite characters. Poor Rosamund, still too shallow to be understood or valued, alas. Middlemarch has been, for me at least, one of the great 19th cent novels, which I'd wanted to read and has taken me, almost, to my 70th year to begin and almost finish . It's a magnificent novel and certainly needs time and patience. There are long passages, which are not only difficult to understand and need to be read and re - read, but require some previous knowledge of the great political and social events evolving in Britain at that time - 1828 - 1832. Also, her sentence construction can be complex and long (reminiscent to my mind of Henry James) and which seem to digress and enter another profound world of comparisons and psychological detail. I've almost finished the book and have grown to love, detest and treasure the inhabitants of this fascinating novel. I know that Virginia Wolfe considered Middlemarch to be a novel truly written for adults. Well, I think I can with confidence say that approaching 70, I've almost grown up!

[@KnowledgelostOrgOnline]

Very interesting video, I kinda read this book as a social satire, that explored small town life and the gossiping that goes on between the people.

[@katehowereads]

Yes - it has so many different elements that it makes it hard to talk about everything in a review. I ended up feeling bogged down as I was reading it that I really had trouble seeing the bigger picture. If I ever read it again it would be fun to look for those elements of satire you really saw.

[@rachelport3723]

A bit of trivia - writing the miniseries was the price Andrew Davies had to pay before they would let him do Pride and Prejudice.

[@throckmortonsnephew6395]

Just finished Middlemarch - same copy as yours - a beautiful book with a satisfying weight and feel. And though I can appreciate the negative reviews from others, I find I lean more toward your take on the novel.

[@neerajmak7814]

good explanation proved helpful to understand the story.

[@rashmika9742]

For anyone who has seen the KZbin web series modernisation of Middlemarch, what did you think? I've only seen the series and really want to dive into the book.

[@michaelgarcia2973]

I've yet to read Middlemarch by George Eliot but i'm watching it on BBC Middlemarch series on Film and it's wonderfully come to life on film

[@TheNovelNomad]

A wonderful review, especially on such an intimidating novel :) I will need to attempt Middlemarch again as I was unable to finish it during a Lit course, but haven't been able to rustle up the determination yet.

[@katehowereads]

Thanks! I recommend with any chunky and daunting classic to pair a physical copy with the Audiobook. That always helps me - if I cleaned for an hour to look at my phone and see that I made significant progress in a huge book.

[@TheNovelNomad]

I utterly agree, I managed to survive my Victorian Literature course due to audiobooks, The teacher gave us a book per week, all chunky tomes! :)

[@katehowereads]

+The Novel Nomad 😵 I love me some Victorian literature but I can't imagine!

[@hansouth2355]

finally finished after 3 trys, worth it

[@nowvoyaging8881]

Great job! Really enjoyed this video!

[@katehowereads]

Thank you so much!

[@aanagul8787]

Is that an unabridged version of the book? Thanks

[@katehowereads]

It is unabridged, yes!

[@aanagul8787]

@@katehowereads thanks

[@KevTheImpaler]

What about poor Mr Farebrother? Misses out again. Who are your five least favourite characters?

[@hansouth2355]

in the end it was revealed that mary was only interested in one man. farebro had no chance. my fav is casabon...sad and pitiful character, all too human

[@aclif0316]

I really disliked Rosamond. She just annoyed me

[@Fortheloveofclassics]

I love Middlemarch by George Eliot: it made me fall in love with classics 💛

[@chanm01]

No way! Tertius is the worst! Bleh. Haha. Okay, ready? The real top 5 goes like this: 1. Caleb Garth 2. Camden Farebrother 3. Dorothea Brooke 4. Mary Garth 5. Fred Vincy But can we even talk about the fact that there are even enough characters to choose from so that everyone can have their own top 5 list favourites list? How impressive is that?