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. ( )

This wasn't a book I knew much about beyond its title before I picked it up. Following brother and sister Tom and Maggie Tolliver through a happy childhood and family disaster where their father loses a lawsuit and with the costs, the mill he's run after his father and all his lands. Maggie adores Tom, but they are very different from each other, and he always ends up seeing the worst in her when they grow up. He successfully becomes a respected man, she's more independent-minded and struggles against the conventions of their community. Maggie kept me engaged all the way through this book, which felt a bit slow going at times. ( )

Pretty grim. Pretty grim. I did enjoy the author's wry commentary throughout. ( )