I don't think George Eliot will ever disappoint me. This was her first novel so it isn't Middlemarch or Silas Marner, but still wonderful nonetheless. The dialect takes a little getting used to and some of it is impossible to understand, but that is her point since the characters talk about the accents of different villagers they have trouble conversing with.
I wish I hadn't read the librarything tags because I don't think I would have foreseen Hatty's actions. Eliot must have pushed the boundaries with her descriptions of Hatty's and Arthur's affair. Although, I connected with many characters, there were way too many villagers that would pop in and out. Unlike her other novels they weren't developed enough for me to remember each character. And by the last 30 pages there really isn't any reason to introduce new villagers just to show english life that was already established throughout the novel. ( )

The story of Adam Bede's love for Hetty Sorrel, its unhappy outcome, and how he finds love at last is a hook for sympathetic reflections on the mess people make of their own and other people's lives without any malicious intent, just by not thinking about the likely consequences of their actions.

A wonderful read, full of wisdom and compassion both in the story itself and in Eliot's comments. There were too many passages which I found moving or which were worth pondering over to quote them all. I'm looking forward to reading more of her novels. 6 stars out of 5. ( )

When I read Silas Marner, I felt like I'd read a well-written story where nothing interesting had happened. After reading Adam Bede, I know why I felt that way-- Eliot just can't do something interesting in a mere two hundred pages. She takes her time: time to build the characters, time to let them work their ways into situations. It can take a long time, but it's time well-spent, because once she has everything in place, this novel just takes off. Hetty Sorrel's cross-country flight is amazing and captivating and heart-rending. You feel what she is feeling every step of the way, you feel her anguish and triumph and despair. Especially the despair. Eliot's prose is amazing: Hetty, having failed to find her lover Arthur and make him account for what has happened to her, sits by a dark pool in the night and tries to drown herself in it, but she doesn't have the strength of character to do even that. And so, "She set her teeth when she thought of Arthur: she cursed him, without knowing what her cursing would do: she wished he too might know desolation, and cold, and a life of shame that he dare not end by death." Fabulous! All the other characters are just as well drawn, from the title character to Dinah Morris to the random villagers, and Eliot does a fantastic job of making them all people you empathize with and understand, no matter what they do. I was swept up in this book (though admittedly, the last fifty or so pages drag a bit), and I will eagerly seek out more Eliot now. (originally written June 2009)

I recently reread this, but I don't have much more to say beyond that it's even better the second time around. Eliot sketches her characters with such detail, such precision: everyone of them is a real person whose every action you understand and sympathize with, even those who in simpler versions of this story would be out-and-out villains. Knowing what's coming makes it even better (though the ending drags even more), as you can see exactly how the characters' actions proceed inexorably from their natures. I love this book. I need to read more Eliot, and soon. (added November 2009)

Very enjoyable read, with three lovely main characters and several interesting minor characters. If you are a George Eliot fan, this one is not quite on par with "Silas Marner" or "Middlemarch", but it is definitely worth a read. ( )

Adam was an upright character and his story was full of tragedy, although ended in triumph. "Love Conquers All" Dinah the godly Methodist preacher seemed an unlikely match at first, although one would assume they would end up together in the end. Because Eliot focused on her so strongly at the beginning of the book, I knew she would be a savior in some way.

As Hettie took center stage, I began to think maybe the book should have been titled "The Runaway Bride." The trial of Hettie completely shocked me. I thought it was clever how Eliot kept the bastard child a secret from the reader, and I was floored when Hettie's secret was revealed. Her execution was heartbreaking, in spite of her crime.

Dinah saved Hettie's soul with the prison visit and the comfort she brought, allowed Hettie to face the truth, and gave her courage to ask her Lord for forgiveness. Although if Adam hadn't of confronted Arthur about the secret relationship he had with Hettie in the first place, her life might have been spared. She might have lived with her shame as a unwed mother, and maybe Arthur would have done the right thing.

I thought the ending was bittersweet as Adam realized because of his love and sorrow with Hettie, he felt even stronger about his love for Dinah. Only Dinah with her holiness would have been able to know how badly Adam needed a new life, to forget the pain of his past. I'm glad she found her feelings for Adam were strong enough to forsake the life of a ‘nun.’ Adam and Dinah's love is deep to carry them through the pain of the past to a promising future. ( )