Needless to say this is a beautifully written book with elegant prose comprehensively describing the lives and times of a wide range of characters.

I was engaged throughout the whole book, not least because the narration is first rate. From my modern viewpoint the core attention to marriage defining/ruining the lives of the protagonists was wearing, but that was clearly a function of the time and so historically accurate.

Overall I enjoyed the development of the intermingled plot lines, but the "Finale" came a surprise - basically it wrapped up most things as historical fact without any further reference to the characters.

All in all, a very pleasant way to spend thirty plus hours. ( )

It took me a long time to read this but I thoroughly enjoyed becoming entwined in the lives of Dorothea, Lydgate, Rosamunde and every else in Middlemarch. There were some parts I should have underlined. Maybe in a few years I will go back and re-read it. ( )

DNF'ing for now... at about 11% (audiobook edition)

narrator is grand, my attention span is not. this is a novel i love, so i will come back to the audiobook again at some point.

Middlemarch, is a brilliant tale set in an English provincial town within the first half of the 19th century. George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evans, addresses society and the hypocrisies that come with it using well developed characters such as the sharp-tongued Mrs. Cadwaller to the narrow-minded Sir Chettam.

Dorothea, the main character of the book, is a beautiful and intelligent young lady whose first marriage to Mr. Causabon falls short of the expectations she had of helping the rather 'dry' scholar as Milton's daughters helped their father aiming to improve her knowledge.
Eliot describes the expectations before marriage and the disappointments of the realities after, with all the young married couples in the book. Apart from Dorothea, Mr. Causabon himself is dissatisfied after his marriage as well as Mr. Lydgate the provincial doctor and his wife, Rosamond.

Rosamond another main character in the book, a beautiful young woman who had been reared in ways of being a pleasing woman since school, enjoys ensnaring men with her beauty and climbi up the ladders of society. She married her husband (Mr. Lydgate) because she felt by doing so it would propel her higher into society. Rosamond Vincy, in many ways is reminiscent of the character Emma Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. Both characters indebt their families with expenses, both are wives of provincial doctors and both characters have or, in the case of Rosamond, intend to have extra-marital romantic affairs.
However, unlike Emma, Rosamond is spared of a fate similar to Emma. It is however very ironic when Rosamond feels Mary Garth shouldn't marry her brother due to their social position being lower than her family's yet she does the same thing with Lydgate.

The book is without a doubt an incredible piece of work that highlights on hypocrisies within religion and society while having a beautiful prose and dramatic turns including haunting past secrets and unexpected will arrangements and death affect and shape the characters in the book. ( )

I have read and admired Mill on the Floss and Silas Marner so I have no idea why I put off reading Middlemarch. I have just begun it and I am so overwhelmed by how wonderful it is I have been telling everybody. I am enthralled. It is early days yet but I do wish I could take a few days off work and stay for awhile in a place I already feel at home at. I am madly in love with the minor characters: Mr. Brook, Mrs. Cad-Wallader and Celia. So far (just before the marriage), I have no patience at all with Dorothea (she irks me much as Jane Eyre did: they try my patience close to violence). We will see what happens as matters progess.

Oh, I have enjoyed this book so much, I have been loving every minute of it. And now I am on the last part and am totally conflicted between wanting to read full steam ahead and wanting to draw it out as long as possible. ( )