Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

This is the discussion thread for The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot, our Old School Classic Group Read for June 2018.

Spoilers allowed here.

Please feel free to discuss anything you wish, relating to the book and let us know what you thought :)

I thought the ending was very dramatic. And I also kept thinking "Poor Maggie!".

We used to have a buddy read for this over here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Several very perceptive comments by my fellow-readers, I thought =)
Should we have that thread closed perhaps, and redirected here?

Nente wrote: "We used to have a buddy read for this over here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Several very perceptive comments by my fellow-readers, I thought =)..."

Will do that now, thanks for pointing it out :)

That cannot be how that ended it just cannot

I am so angry with Mrs. Tulliver. As if things were not already bad enough!

Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I love the complexity of these characters and the way Eliot deals with the heartbreaking choices that Maggie is asked to make. That she does what is morally right is without doubt, but she suffers a worse fate than if she had only considered her own feelings and ignored the pain of Lucy and Philip. In fact, had she married Stephen, I have no doubt Tom would have been very proud of her within a very short space of time. Still my favorite Eliot.

Just finished the book, and I think if I had known how it would end, I wouldn't have read it. Although with a different ending it probably would have been a lot longer.

Maggie is a very interesting character, much too passionate and impulsive for the milieu she is in. Actually Lucy and Philip are my favorite characters. Lucy is so sweet and Philip is very mature and philosophical for his years. The aunts and uncles are also fun, sort of charicatures.

Found this excellent review from "The Guardian" which connects this wonderful story to the author's life.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

Be patient, it takes little while to load.

i found the contrast between the two letters to Maggie at the end very interesting.

Philip was concerned primarily with Maggie's feelings whereas Stephen just talked about his own.

It was pleasing that Maggie and Tom were reconciled but the story was crying out for a happy ending.

Having just recently read Silas Marner, I was expecting a happier ending, wow, was I suprised. An outstanding read.

I’m really glad I read this, and I probably wouldn’t have without this group read. The tragic ending was hard for me, I wasn’t in a great place for it, and none of the other Eliot I’ve read ended this way. But I thought it was a really beautiful story and so, so well done. She truly was a literary genius.

I just finished The Mill on the Floss -- I was really surprised by the ending. I am grateful this novel was suggested -- would not have picked it up on my own. Having a problem letting go of Tom and Maggie.