JasonKoivu

Midway through Middlemarch I was fully through with Middlemarch.

Perhaps I've read too many Austen, Gaskell and other books of this genre and era for my own good, because I saw every plot turn, twist and device coming from a country mile away, and I got bored of it pretty quickly. I did not need the multitude of examples Eliot gave for each character's failings or whatever trait she might have been trying to illuminate. While useful to the plot to an extent, the excess wasn't necessary. It only served to tire this reader.

Circumstance, circumstance, circumetcetera…I might add happenstance to that, as chance came into play almost too much. But then again, any time a writer relies on chance encounters is one time too many for me. Regardless, back to my main point: This is a story of circumstance. Eliot has laid out various characters on different social strata and painstakingly described their circumstances. The foundation is laid on a grand scale, but if we reviewed the blueprints we'd see the plan calls for nothing more than a modest house. (Double and triple checked to make sure I didn't write "mouse".) Surely, this house will overflow with drama, nearly overwrought drama on occasion, and seem to require a veritable castle to contain it, but nonetheless this vast foundation is a waste for all the big huffing nothing it all turns out to be.

And what is this "I think" business, Eliot? Are you not the omniscient narrator? Do you not know what your characters are thinking? Most of the time you are all-knowing, but then suddenly for no reason it seems that you are shut out of their thoughts and left to conjecture and guesses as to your own creations' feelings. As a writer's device I see no point to this occasional hand-tying of the narrator.

The bottom line is that Middlemarch was a perfectly okay read. However, boredom set in and I got nitpicky about details that others probably didn't notice or care about, especially if they were enjoying the read. For me, the best I can say for it is that it felt like something an Austen/Dickens lovechild would've written, and that ain't bad.