Silas Marner for subterranean

[mono]

Hello, subterranean, and anyone else reading this. I finished Silas Marner by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) yesterday, and you, subT, asked for a summary.
The first few chapters tell a very sad story of the title character, who gets robbed, deceived, and swindled in nearly every way imaginable. He moves from his home town, in which he lived all his life, where he gets robbed once more by, whom you could call, the village idiot. Later on, despite his depression, he finds something that carries more worth than the money stolen (I will not tell what; you will have to read). While taking care of what he found for over a decade, someone attempts to claim what Silas Marner found so many years ago, but he refuses. There involves much more detail than I can explain, but I do not want to spoil the story for anyone who has not read the novel.
In retrospect, the novel seems a tale of hope, compassion, and optimism's possible growth in pessimism. I can tell you, with that word, that it ends happily.
Has anyone else read Silas Marner? What did you think of it?

[Helga]

I finished it last week and loved it. it's very sweet and has a good ending. But I would like to know what happened to William and Sarah and the community they lived in.

I like how Mary Ann describes Godfrey because I liked him, I thought he was a guy who was wronged just like Marner by his brother and a heartless father. I also think he loved Molly when he married her but realized soon that it was not meant to be and wanted it to be kept a secret. He also loved Nancy but since she couldn't bear him children he wanted Eppie in his life and wanted her to be the lady she should be.

I could talk for hours about this book but it would only bore you, but I am glad that more people enjoed this book since none in my class did...

[subterranean]

Thank you very much Mono. I really appriciate the review .
I'll read it soon and give it a comment or two
I have finished Jude the Obscure, and after the poll has been closed and we have an official winner for Nov and Dec book discussion, I'll post a review about Jude

Cheers to you and everyone

[mono]

I like how Mary Ann describes Godfrey because I liked him, I thought he was a guy who was wronged just like Marner by his brother and a heartless father. I also think he loved Molly when he married her but realized soon that it was not meant to be and wanted it to be kept a secret. He also loved Nancy but since she couldn't bear him children he wanted Eppie in his life and wanted her to be the lady she should be.

I also felt remorse for Godfrey; he easily became one of my favorite characters, particularly out of pity. Silas, for obvious reasons, deserved the most pity, but Godfrey, I agree, always seemed simply victimized by everyone, though I understand why by Eppie. I understand your wondering about some of the minor characters' fates, Helga; however, I greatly question the fate of Silas's home town's disappearance - how and why?
All in all, I can most definitely claim satisfaction with the novel - brilliant!

[Helga]

I also wonder about his hometown and why a factory was built were the chapel was....
I love the book very much, and I admire Eliot very much because she had an amazing and strange life, and was able to do things most women would never do.

[Tabac]

"The world is divided into two groups: those that love Silas Marner and those that hate it. My job is to try to get you to join the first group." That was how my sophomore English teacher introduced us to one of the most wonderful novels I've ever read (this was back in 1960). She got us started by reading the first chapter aloud, just so we could get a feel for the language that was a little halting at first.

I used the same technique while teaching it during my career in high school classes: I'm proud to say that a vast majority loved the book (even though many had parents that had absolutely hated it when they were in high school). One thing I added to my approach was to have students keep track of "soap opera" elements they encountered during the process of the story. It's full of little quirks that we see on the afternoon soaps, that weren't so rampant when I was in school.