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Loading... The Mill on the Floss (1860)by George Eliot
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This was just okay. While Eliot certainly can write, and I liked the insights into human nature and personalities that she included, I didn't particularly like the story or any of the characters. I felt the author was a bit harsh when it came to the character of Tom, painting him as only terribly selfish and immature, with very little redeeming qualities; when it came to Maggie, she was too merciful, making her out to be a wonderful person even when she acted completely thoughtlessly, just because she "had a good heart." Since I learned this account was somewhat autobiographical for the author, based on her turbulent relationship with her own brother, this made sense, but didn't make for an objective story. There were multiple love triangles (which always make me roll my eyes), and the ending was very abrupt and ridiculous. It just felt like a cop-out. However, I did like some of it, and here are a few quotes in particular that struck me: "...conscientious people are apt to see their duty in that which is the most painful course..." p 587 "There is something sustaining in the very agitation that accompanies the first shocks of trouble, just as an acute pain is often a stimulus, and produces an excitement which is transient strength. It is in the slow, changed life that follows - in the time when sorrow has become stale, and has no longer an emotive intensity that counteracts its pain - in the time when day follows day in dull unexpectant sameness, and trial is a dreary routine - it is then that despair threatens; it is then that the peremptory hunger of the soul is felt, and eye and ear are strained after some unlearned secret of our existence, which shall give to endurance the nature of satisfaction." p 313 Tom was a heartless, self-righteous ass. Maggie was an insipid sop of a fool, self-righteous in her own way. The one was a mindless roar, the other a detestable whimper. Such wonderful writing, but I ceased caring about any of these hateful characters at least halfway through the book. I had to force myself to finish it. By the end, I was earnestly hoping that Maggie would fling herself into the Floss and make a pleasing end of things for everyone. It isn't hard to imagine how happy I was about the ending, at least, though no auto de fé could suffice to redeem these two obnoxious characters. Why did you do this to me, George Eliot? I won't soon forgive this offense. While I immediately disliked the way everyone except her father treated Maggie, I was mildly enjoying this classic about the struggles of a middle class family in Victorian England until the final 2 books (about the final 20%). I found Maggie's behavior in these final sections so intensely irritating that it ruined the book for me. This is the 3rd George Eliot book I have read & overall I haven't been a fan. Guess I will skip Daniel Deronda and Adam Bede (both on the Guardian's list) at least for the near future! Nadia May was excellent even though I didn't care for the book & I would recommend her narration. This novel was Eliot’s follow-up to her successful Adam Bede. While I didn’t feel it was consistently as strong as that book, and my attention wavered at times, I enjoyed it overall. In particular, the crisis that destroys Maggie Tulliver’s reputation while at the same time strengthening her moral conviction, as well as the denouement that followed, swept me along like the raging waters of the Humber (sorry, Floss). As for what bothered me: I felt the relationship between Maggie and her beloved, implacable brother Tom was too closely modeled on that of Eliot and her brother Isaac, who never reconciled with her after she set up house with George Henry Lewes. And the depiction of Maggie’s four aunts was, to me, overdone; I felt the same effect could have been achieved with fewer pen strokes. In addition, the juxtaposition of satire and pathos pulled the narrative in opposite directions. And the repeated foreshadowing of Maggie’s eventual fate was, to my taste, heavy-handed. Balanced against that is the lovingly detailed realism of rural life evident in every one of her works I’ve read so far. In addition, there is her characteristic analysis of the dynamics of small-town society. For me, the contrast of the demands of competing modes of “morality” — Christian and societal — in the wake of Maggie’s ordeal is a strong point of the book. The ground had been prepared for it at the midpoint, the opening chapter of Book 4, “A Variation of Protestantism Unknown to Bossuet.” I continue to be struck by Eliot’s “post-anti-evangelicalism,” her sympathetic depiction of a faith she no longer shares. In this book, this is not only embodied by Maggie but also by the local vicar, Dr. Kenn (well-named; he is the one who truly knows). As a child, Maggie is so impetuous and clumsy that it’s hard to imagine, given her precocious intelligence, that she can’t foresee the consequences of her actions. This trait of the childhood Maggie returns at the book’s climax, when she awakens to the reality of having allowed herself to be swept away with the tide (literally) in the company of her cousin’s intended, Stephen Guest. At this book’s heart, as in most of Eliot’s work, is the theme of the restricted life chances for women in early nineteenth-century England. Her behavior throughout this episode must be read in the context of the options of a young woman in her time. When so read, it’s clear that alongside her acquiescence to her fate is the fierce struggle to support herself and achieve self-determination. At heart is a profound ethical resolve.
Belongs to Publisher SeriesDoubleday Dolphin (C21) Everyman's Library (325) — 16 more Penguin English Library, 2012 series (2012-04) The Pocket Library (PL-509) Prisma Klassieken (54) The World's Classics (31) Is contained inThe Best-Known Novels of George Eliot: Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, Romola by George Eliot The Works of George Eliot: Vol. I - Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Romola; Vol. II -- Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial life, Daniel Deronda; Vol. III -- Felix Holt, The Radical, Silas Marner, The Lifted Veil, Brother Jacob,Scenes from Clerical Life by George Eliot (indirect) 90 Masterpieces You Must Read (Vol.1): Novels, Poetry, Plays, Short Stories, Essays, Psychology & Philosophy by Various George Eliot Six Pack - Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda, Silas Marner, The Lifted Veil, The Mill on the Floss and Adam Bede by George Eliot Works of George Eliot. The Mill on the Floss, Daniel Deronda, Adam Bede, Middlemarch, The Lifted Veil & more. (mobi) by George Eliot George Eliot's Works: Adam Bede/Daniel Deronda/Felix Holt and Clerical Life/Middlemarch/Mill on the Floss/Romola (6 vols) by George Eliot THE BEST-KNOWN NOVELS OF GEORGE ELIOT. Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Maner, Romola by George Eliot Novels of George Eliot in Five Volumes with Illustrations: Adam Bede; The Mill in the Floss; Silas Marner; Clerical Life; Felix Holt; Middlemarch by George Eliot George Eliot Collection: The Complete Novels, Short Stories, Poems and Essays (Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda, Scenes of Clerical Life, Adam Bede, The Lifted Veil...) by George Eliot The Works of George Eliot, Cabinet Edition, 19 volumes: Adam Bede; Romola; Middlemarch; Mill on the Floss; Daniel Deronda; Scenes of Clerical Life; ... by George Eliot George Eliot's Works (Six Volumes): Adam Bede, Scenes of Clerical Life, Middlemarch, The Mill On the Floss, Daniel Deronda, Felix Holt (The Radical), The Spanish Gypsy, Jubal and Other Poems, Romola, Theophrastus Such by George Eliot The Complete Novels of George Eliot - All 9 Novels in One Edition: Adam Bede, The Lifted Veil, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, Romola, Brother Jacob, ... the Radical, Middlemarch & Daniel Deronda by George Eliot The Complete Works of George Eliot: St. James Edition:; Volume II:; The Mill on the Floss, Brother Jacob, and Leaves from a Notebook by George Eliot ContainsHas the adaptationIs abridged inHas as a studyHas as a commentary on the textHas as a student's study guideNotable Lists
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HTML: Set in nineteenth-century England, this great novel of domestic realism sympathetically portrays a young woman's vain efforts to adapt to her provincial world. Maggie Tulliver, whose father owns a mill perched on the banks of the River Floss, is intelligent and imaginative beyond the understanding of her community, her relatives, and particularly her brother, Tom. Despite their opposite temperaments, Maggie and Tom are united by a strong bond. But this bond suffers when Tom's sense of family honor leads him to forbid her to associate with the one friend who appreciates her intelligence and imagination. Later, when Maggie falls in love with the handsome and passionate fiancé of her cousin and is caught in a compromising situation, she fears her relationship with Tom may never recover. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.8Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Victorian period 1837-1900LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. Penguin Australia2 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia. Editions: 0141439629, 0141198915 Tantor MediaAn edition of this book was published by Tantor Media. Urban RomanticsAn edition of this book was published by Urban Romantics. |
The description of the mill in chapter 1 almost made me miss my stop during my commute. There is a peculiar magic in the writing. It’s lyrical and sharp all at once.
I loved Maggie so much. Oh, how I felt for her. All these people telling her what books not to read, and wishing she was a boy (too clever for a girl, you know…), and reminding her at every turn that there are things you cannot do because you are a girl. George Eliot sees this so clearly. How I wish that Maggie had been loved *enough* when she was a child. How I wish she had a brother that knew that showing affection did not mean being a narrow-minded misogynic idiot.
“She loved Tom very dearly, but she often wished that he cared more about her loving him.”
Here is Maggie, saying no to a gift and breaking readers’ hearts:
“It would make me in love with this world again, as I used to be, it would make me long to see and know many things; it would make me long for a full life.”
George Eliot’s insights into human nature, relationships, and society are wonderful and often funny, it was a bit like talking to a good friend in a cozy place, nodding “I know! I know! You’re so right!”
“It is always chilling, in a friendly intercourse, to say you have no opinion to give. And if you deliver an opinion at all, it is mere stupidity not to do it with an air of conviction and well-founded knowledge. You make it your own in uttering it, and naturally get fond of it.”
“...but incompetent gentlemen must live, and without private fortune it is difficult to see how they could all live genteelly if they had nothing to do with education or government.”
The thing that was woven with great skill and that impressed me the most, was the story of two people who have no idea how to handle a sudden and strong sexual attraction (this is exactly what it is and all it is, Eliot does everything but scream at the reader).
I certainly wish that Elliot would do less Victorian moralizing; fewer sentimental and very long Victorian asides. These either bored me to tears or made me react in all the wrong (cynical) ways. Also, the story keeps coming apart at the seams when you look at the novel from a distance, having finished it. The plot meanders, it goes every which way, gets predictable at times, drowns in details and aforementioned asides. If it weren’t for the ending, it might still have been a four star read, because the book had grown on me. But what was that ending for, where did it come from? Nobody knows and out of nowhere! It seems like the author said, “I have no idea how to get my characters out of this situation and finish my story, so let me just…”. Oh, PLEASE. ( )