Mini Book Review #17: Middlemarch, by George Eliot. A classic novel this time in our series of short-but-sweet book reviews!
Note: George Eliot was a woman! She was one of the first well-known female writers of classic literature.
Although confined to one small corner of England, this is yet a sprawling epic of a tale, delving into both heroic and petty human motivations. Eliot indulges heavily in authorial interjections, and I think she could have benefited from an editor unafraid to cut lengthy paragraphs. Yet the small lives of these mostly ordinary people draw the patient reader into their world. I love the last, optimistic line: “…the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life…”
My favorite characters in Middlemarch were the members of the honest, kindly Garth family. Caleb Garth’s advice on choosing your career is worth memorializing: “You must be sure of two things: you must love your work, and not always be looking over the edge of it, wanting your play to begin. And the other is, you must not be ashamed of your work, and think it would be more honourable to you to be doing something else. You must have a pride in your own work and in learning to do it well…” (ch. 56)
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What is your favorite classic novel? Let us know in the comments below.
