Melanie’s review of Middlemarch > Likes and Comments

Lovely! Your review makes me want to re-read the book:)

Wonderful review Melanie

Rowena wrote: "Lovely! Your review makes me want to re-read the book:)"

Thanks Rowena! You should! I'm still under its spell, constantly thinking about it. Such a dazzling mind!

Melanie wrote: "Wonderful review Melanie"

Thanks Melanie! That was quite an experience...

Beautifully stated and I love the quote that you 'liked'.

Mikki wrote: "Beautifully stated and I love the quote that you 'liked'."

Thanks Mikki, it's such a beautiful sentence!

My kind of review. Not overly long, very concise but full of feeling and summarizing the crux of the novel's magic. Looking forward to reading it. :)

Baz wrote: "My kind of review. Not overly long, very concise but full of feeling and summarizing the crux of the novel's magic. Looking forward to reading it. :)"

Thanks Baz! I think you will love it. It's such a deeply resonating and fascinating survey of human beings, at their best and at their worst.

This is the kind of thing I wanted to say in my review of "Great Expectations", but instead, I wrote, "I really liked this book."

Nothing makes me want to read a book more than the idea of "a giant lens zooming in and out of human follies."

Great review!

Douglas wrote: "This is the kind of thing I wanted to say in my review of "Great Expectations", but instead, I wrote, "I really liked this book."

Nothing makes me want to read a book more than the idea of "a gia..."

Thanks Doug! It's really what it is! It's like peeling the layers of human interactions under a microscope. George Eliot lets her characters be, observes them, analyzes them, and yet she gives them complete freedom too. I've rarely felt such a dizzying display of intellect and heart. I'm still reeling from the last paragraph. It's a little ornate but completely reliable, it's old-fashioned but incredibly modern. I can't wait to know your impressions of this one!

Beautiful review, Melanie. I tried Middlemarch several years ago and it just didn't take. Between your review and the delicious Penguin Classics edition, I'm tipping toward a re-try.

Julie wrote: "Beautiful review, Melanie. I tried Middlemarch several years ago and it just didn't take. Between your review and the delicious Penguin Classics edition, I'm tipping toward a re-try."

Thanks Julie! It did take me a good 250 pages to really get into it. Then I was completely hooked!

Middlemarch has been sitting on my iPad saying,"Hello! Read me!" for months. Your sparkling and brilliant review has inspired me to finally listen and read it!

Lovely review, Melanie. I need to read this book without further delay.

A review of vertiginous beauty, Melanie. An incisive, poetic accounting of all that makes literature great. The perfect homage to a wonderful book. Standing ovation.

I adored that last sentence Melanie, lyrical and effective. A straight to the point and most deep review, you've done a fantastic job. Congratulations.

Sean wrote: "Middlemarch has been sitting on my iPad saying,"Hello! Read me!" for months. Your sparkling and brilliant review has inspired me to finally listen and read it!"

Oh awesome! And it'll be less heavy on your iPad as well. ;) A dazzling work of art.

Garima wrote: "Lovely review, Melanie. I need to read this book without further delay."

Thank you so much Garima! I think you will love it and I can't wait to know your thoughts and impressions of this novel. Quite a feast!

Dolors wrote: "I adored that last sentence Melanie, lyrical and effective. A straight to the point and most deep review, you've done a fantastic job. Congratulations."

Thank you so much Dolors! It's not an easy book to review because it is so gigantic (in every sense of the word) and multi-layered. I just wanted to express that feeling of mathematical beauty that rises from its pages, how insanely crafted yet free-flowing it is. Such a brilliant, brilliant mind.

gorgeous review!

Bette is for Books wrote: "gorgeous review!"

Thank you! :)

Great review. I'm putting it on my list.

Suzanne wrote: "Great review. I'm putting it on my list."

Thanks Suzanne! Can't wait to know your thoughts on this novel!

Stephen wrote: "A review of vertiginous beauty, Melanie. An incisive, poetic accounting of all that makes literature great. The perfect homage to a wonderful book. Standing ovation."

Aww, thank you so much Stephen! :)

I agree with every well chosen word you write. My only problem with Middlemarch is that it moves and inspires me so much and in so many different ways that I just don't know where to begin reviewing it, so I probably never will. But if I did (write one), I think I would try to write one like yours (though it wouldn't be as skilled): succinct, tight and only hinting at the glory within.
I think, like many do, that this book defines what great literature does: it takes us places that no other human achievement can.
Thank you for your review; I could not better it!

Paul The Uncommon Reader wrote: "I agree with every well chosen word you write. My only problem with Middlemarch is that it moves and inspires me so much and in so many different ways that I just don't know where to begin reviewin..."

Aaww, thank you so much! It IS such a difficult book to review because it encompasses so much. And I always try to never give anything away about the plot. I think books are more powerful the less you know about them when you start.

"A work of vertiginous beauty"

*swoons onto chaise longue*
I LOVE YOUR REVIEWS.

You make me want to quit my job to sit in my library and read. Well, even more than usual. :)

Would you recommend this book to listen to on a daily commute? I find that I often read too quickly to appreciate beautiful language, but audio forces me to slowly savor.

Also, as I think of my students, do you think there is a particular demographic in high school who might love Middlemarch?

Hi Larissa! Thank you so much! I have no idea how George Eliot's language would translate to audio but I'm guessing that if it's read well, it should be quite good! I'm a visual person myself, I have to "see" words in order to appreciate prose...

Great review!!!

Cristianardelean wrote: "Great review!!!"

Thank you! :)

Just finished reading it. Still digesting it. Your review is the closest to how I feel about it so thankyou Melanie. Your analogy of the lens focussing in and out on human motivation and desire and ambition is spot on. I will associate Middlemarch with that analogy from now on.

Stuart wrote: "Just finished reading it. Still digesting it. Your review is the closest to how I feel about it so thankyou Melanie. Your analogy of the lens focussing in and out on human motivation and desire and..."

Thank you Stuart! It really is an astounding work of art...

Thank you for your insightful and consise review. Due to your review I ordered the book and look forward to reading it. :)

Hey Melanie! I'm about to start reading this. I really hope it lives up to your praise. Thanks

I highly recommend Juliet Stevenson's audio version. She is as talented as George Eliot.

Yes, brilliant.

I'm so glad, Melanie, that you took even longer over this book than I did myself. It not only requires slow reading but—as illustrated by your glowing analysis of your reactions—it repays it. R.

Okay okay! I long to read it and I shall! I will take it with me wherever I go...for how can I not after such a review. With many thanks to you for sealing the deal, I first heard about Middlemarch on Instagram ha! Truth! I predict many an hour pouring over pages I will, as many a book before it, wish I could write myself. Will it be in my purse in the long line at the grocery store? By my bedside at night keeping me up til 3:00 AM and collecting sand on the bay as I burn through its pages like the sun will surely burns my skin as I neglect personal safety?! Will I curse the day I leave it home when I’m running errands?! And the best test of all...will I read it at every stop light?
All I can say is it sounds like a YES to me! (It’s that word “vertiginous”...gets me every damn time!)📚

Cant wait i just started reading the book 🤓

What does one read after a book like this? I feel warmed by the company of these intimate friends, this friend of a book, and saddened to have parted from it.

This is it.

Wow sounds like i should read it someday I have so many others on my list altready

Nice review, Melanie. This is truly a stunning work.

I hesitated to review this book that I adored because I didn’t feel I could do it justice. Your review expressed my feelings so well that I will simply say “thank you” for your excellent review.

You capture the novel beautifully.

Agree with every word apart from empathy.

100% Agree! Great review

Wonderful review! This is one book into which you can dive (flip open a random page) and come out refreshed and enlightened. Genius is a term well-deserved by Eliot. We are lucky to have read her.
I am also glad that I didn't read her earlier in my life. I lacked the experience and patience to absorb everything that she conveys with the words that we all use. But how she strings them together!

You brought out the "thriller" aspects, the suspenseful atmosphere of this book that most reviewers don't mention! I read it years ago, but this is one I'd revisit again.

@switterbug (Betsey) I hope to revisit again some day as well!