middlemarche

[eleanor2]

me and hott are going to be starting a book review on monday on c.l. so i thought i would do the same book review on here.anyone upto reading middlemarche.

[Healing Hands]

Good idea eleanor, but I have got a book on the go at the moment.

[eleanor2]

i have just started.it is a bit hard going getting into it but am expecting a good read.i went to the library today to see about having the new kate moss book out.there was a waiting list of 10 people.i like the classics .there are also some good modern books as the kate moss list proves.

[Healing Hands]

I had some vouchers for Christmas and brought the new Kate Moss book, but I have two other books to read before that one. I will let you know what it is like once I have got around to reading it.

[eleanor2]

h.h did you read kate moss first one labyrinth it is unputdownable.can't wait to read sepulchre.will prob take it on holiday with me in march.

[eleanor2]

i have started middlemarche.at first i though this will be hard going.it is well written and the grammer is a bit difficult.but i now have the jist of the story forming in my head. two rich orphan girls.one about 18 one twenty.the twenty year old dorothea is attractive and very intelligent.a young handsome neighbour sir james chettam has fallen in love with her.the thing is she is super spiritual and ultra intelligent.she sees sir james as boring and fickle.dorothea actually i think imagines herself in love with a 47 year old vicar.he is ugly and boring to others but she sees him in the light of his spitituality and super intelligence.she is raptured just by conversing with him.he asks her to marry him.she is enthralled by him to the point of sitting at his feet in awe.she has accepted his proposal.i am waiting to see what each expects of the marraige and does dorothea live to rue the day she married mr cassaubon.

[eleanor2]

it appears that dorothea is even to serious for middle aged mr cassaubon.he is begining to wory about his proposal.one of the old ladies who is a neighbour has only given the marraige a year before she thinks dorothea will hate he middle aged serious unhandsome husband.what will she do then.the book is hard going but i think it wil be a good study of life in the times.

[eleanor2]

we are now introduced to another group of people.residents of the locality. fred a lazy gambler who has a good side to him,rosy his sister who is very pretty.their uncle who is very wealthy and manipulative.Dr lydgate a handsome bachelor .oh and we musn't forget mary garth.she looks after her uncle featherstone .he puts on her terribly yet there is no hint of her inheriting his money.it seems like fred is the one expected to inherit.

[eleanor2]

after a few chapters about the boring day to day living of the villagers.we come back to dorothea.guess what she is on honeymoon.already crying and having a few regrets.the young cousin of mr casaubon is already on the scene.

[eleanor2]

goerge elliot keeps bringing different characters into the story.she is so descriptive.but can be long winded.i think she gives a good description of different personalities of her time.the doctor,banker,vicar.lord of the manor.local gambler,rich girl,poor little not so rich girl,people waiting for the rich relative to die.arguments over inheritance.

[eleanor2]

things are progressing.oh the chapter on the dying week of the wealthy relative.it is so awful to think if you have money the only thing on peoples minds is is he going to leave me some.all the family hanging around like vultures.no love or sympathy.just backbiting between them.who deserves to be left some money. the crafty old codger has left 2 wills.he wanted mary garth to get his wills so he could destroy one.she refused to touch them.i think he was going to keep the will that left freddy a lot of money.he died before he could destroy one of them.fred now gets nothing and mary feels guilty.she is a true old fashioned honourable woman.she did not want to tamper with a dying mans will.he was so distraught on his last breaths because the fun he hoped to get in playing his relatives off backfired when he couldn't destroy one of his wills.he died with money and gold in his hands and not a soul in the world who loved him.

[eleanor2]

back to dorothea.will ladislow is her young admirer.her husband old casaubon is jealous.its quite interesting reading about how wil is wangling his way into dorotheas affections.look and learn.men can be subtle and devious.

[eleanor2]

well i have broke off to read a wilbur smith book .triumphs of the sun,based in egypt.absolutely gripping.i sobbed my heart out when it finished. back to middlemarche now.all the characters are getting sorted out in my mind now. dorothea the ever vigilant wife.will ever trying to be alone with her...to chat. mary garth feeling so guilty that she didn't destroy the will when asked to by a dying benefactor.love,health,politics,religion and social class fit heavily in this story.

[eleanor2]

dorothea is being continually manipulated and controlled by her jealous self righteous husband.all she wants to do is please him and feel useful in helping him n his work.even tho will ladislow is in love with her.she cant notice that she is to intent on pleasing her husband.mr casaubon her husband however is being eaten away with jelousy.he does not try to straighten out his thoughts and discus with Dorothea his suspicions he just keeps feeding on them and getting more and more morose.his bad heart and stress from his own suspicious mind finally finishes him off.he had tried to manipulate dorothea into promising to fulfill his wishes after his death.poor dorothea if she had promised she would have kept it even if it killed her.luckily he dies before he squeezed the promise from her.he did make conditions in his will tho that shed a bad light on her as well as will.men can be so self centred can't they.

[lily]

Think this is the book we read at school which has the sex bit under the guise of peaches rolling together. Apparently that was as explicit as things got in novels of the time. Remember it caused much hilarity.

[eleanor2]

hi lilly can't say i have noticed that line.if i had read it i probably wouldn't have noticed what it meant.unless of course it is in the last chapter.which i am dying to read and see if dorothea and will get together.i wonder if its them 2 rolling their peaches together at the last.

[eleanor2]

George ellot begins the story introducing a mix of socially ethical people,with different standing in the community.the main character dorothea unfolds her personality slowly.at first appearing haughty.it soon becomes clear she really does not like riches or snobbery.she genuinely loved and honoured her husband.she has strong altruistic drive and likes to see the best in people.which she shows strongly when she supports dr lydgate when all had turned their backs on him.a woman standing strong in a mans world.i liken dorotheas goodness to melanie in gone with the wind.when i come to this paragraph it reveals all."even if we loved some-one else better than the one we are married to it would be of no use.this murders our marraige.then the marraige stays with us like murder and everything else is gone.then our husband who loved and trusted us,we do not help him,but make a curse in his life"
this paragraph makes it clear will had become a shining light that showed up her husbands dullness.she had been unknowingly falling in love with will.
as for the other characters there is a turnaround.some that appeared holier than thou suffer downfall because of their past misdeeds.those that had been struggling to do right succeeded in making something of themselves.the finale did make me cry .after the boring start i realised she was spinning a web of intrigue. the end.