1000 Books Before You Die discussion

Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

I expected to like this book, but struggled to get through it. It seemed unnecessarily long. The actual story was quite good but I disliked some of the characters & the views expressed.

I read this a while ago but I know I liked it. But then, I like long books, and discussions about religion.

Rosemarie wrote: "I read this a while ago but I know I liked it. But then, I like long books, and discussions about religion."

I’ve no objections to discussions about religion when they are relevant & done respectfully. In this book, I disliked the constant reminders about which characters were Jewish - it didn’t need to be stated so often. The non-Jewish characters weren’t labelled as Christian, atheist or whatever. It just seemed strange, especially as some of the religious aspects were written beautifully. The description of the Sabbath meal was excellent, I thought.

Many authors of the time portrayed Jewish characters in a very negative fashion, probably just portraying the attitude of the time. I read the book a while ago and wasn't too fond of the female main character, but really admired Daniel.

Rosemarie wrote: "Many authors of the time portrayed Jewish characters in a very negative fashion, probably just portraying the attitude of the time. I read the book a while ago and wasn't too fond of the female mai..."

That’s interesting - thank you, Rosemarie.