Adam Bede by George Eliot

[victorianfan]

Adam Bede is the first novel written by the greatest victorian novelist ever, George Eliot. Since I've decided to read all her novels, this novel would come up sooner or later.

I want bother you with the basic plot. I'll just assume that you've all read it or very soon going to.

We all have been in Arthur's position where we were besotted with some beautiful human creature and thought: "Let me have him/her now and I'll think about the consequences later" Because, desire, not to say lust, is a powerful thing, my friends. When hormons talks, sense usually stays silent. How many times, just a chance saved us from doing stupid thing we might regret through the rest of our lives.

Well, for me, the real hero of this novel was Mrs. Poyser. Anyone of you, who happened to be underpaid in his/her life, would find himself/herself in this Mrs Poyer's words.

[neilgee]

To be honest I prefer this novel - along with Mill on the Floss and Felix Holt - to the better known work she wrote at the end of her career, namely Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda [the latter which I must admit I'm still reading] which are just a little too cleverly melodramatic for my taste.

I enjoy her firm psychological grip of characters like Adam, she really does tell you exactly what makes the guy tick [although with reference to the chance factor discussed in your first quotation I did find Adam almost too good to be true, which might be because Eliot was underlining her point that anybody - even a blamelessly "good" man like Adam - can make a bad decision that would adversely affect his whole life], but I also really enjoyed the details of how the societies that her characters inhabited functioned. It's a history lesson and a novel at the same time.

I feel an affinity with the poster of this thread because I've read all Eliot's work [well, almost] after beginning with Floss about two years ago. If you're thinking of missing one I'd make it Romola, myself. That's her Italian novel and lacks all the localised feeling that I enjoyed so much in novels like AB. Reportedly she stalled alot with Romola, grew bored with it, and you can feel that in the writing too.

[victorianfan]

To be honest I prefer this novel - along with Mill on the Floss and Felix Holt - to the better known work she wrote at the end of her career, namely Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda [the latter which I must admit I'm still reading] which are just a little too cleverly melodramatic for my taste.

Middlemarch is one of my top 10 favourite novels. In Daniel Deronda, the most intriguing thing was the relationship between Gwendolen Harleth and Henleigh Mallinger Grandcourt (one of my favourite villains). Please, post your thoughts, when you finished the novel.
However, I wasn't thrilled with Mill on the Floss, I don't like Maggie, her brother Tom even less. The only positive and likeable character was Phillip Wakem. As for Felix Holt, I haven't read it yet. Nevertheless, I read Silas Marner and I liked it.


I enjoy her firm psychological grip of characters like Adam, she really does tell you exactly what makes the guy tick [although with reference to the chance factor discussed in your first quotation I did find Adam almost too good to be true, which might be because Eliot was underlining her point that anybody - even a blamelessly "good" man like Adam - can make a bad decision that would adversely affect his whole life], but I also really enjoyed the details of how the societies that her characters inhabited functioned. It's a history lesson and a novel at the same time.

I don't like Adam or Dinah. They're plain boring. Adam isn't particularly intelligent, either. Or imaginative. Or insightful.
Anyway, that overall black and white approach annoyed me a bit.


I feel an affinity with the poster of this thread because I've read all Eliot's work [well, almost] after beginning with Floss about two years ago. If you're thinking of missing one I'd make it Romola, myself. That's her Italian novel and lacks all the localised feeling that I enjoyed so much in novels like AB. Reportedly she stalled alot with Romola, grew bored with it, and you can feel that in the writing too.

I have Romola on my shelf for months now, waiting to be read.

[L.M. The Third]

What don't you like about Maggie in "The Mill on the Floss"? I thoroughly agree about disliking her brother though!

[victorianfan]

What don't you like about Maggie in "The Mill on the Floss"? I guess I don't entirely like the character myself, but am quite fond of the book. I thoroughly agree about disliking her brother though!

I don't like Maggie's too moralising approach to life. What does she want, anyway?! To be acclaimed as a saint, maybe?! She sacrificies herself for what, exactly? I'd would respect her more if she stayed with Stephen Guest (which I didn't like either). In that way she'd be just a b***h, but not a goose.

[Jozanny]

I think Bede is a flawed but more powerful novel than Middlemarch, and Eliot deserves credit for having the courage to deal with illegitimate pregnancy and infanticide; this is something not easy to do even in the modern era, as Irving's Cider House Rules carries some of the sheer emotional singe of the older novel. She goes on too long about getting Bede married to the Methodist, and most critics admit she fails horribly with love scenes, but the novel respects everyone's humanity, even the lord who started the tragedy rolling and snow balling into an avalanche. I rated it very highly @ Amazon and think schools should include it in their sex education classes to juice things up a bit--not that this would ever happen.

[neilgee]

Middlemarch is one of my top 10 favourite novels. In Daniel Deronda, the most intriguing thing was the relationship between Gwendolen Harleth and Henleigh Mallinger Grandcourt (one of my favourite villains). Please, post your thoughts, when you finished the novel.[/CODE]

I certainly will, when I have finished it, since you have asked me to.

[QUOTE]However, I wasn't thrilled with Mill on the Floss, I don't like Maggie, her brother Tom even less. The only positive and likeable character was Phillip Wakem. As for Felix Holt, I haven't read it yet. Nevertheless, I read Silas Marner and I liked it.

To be honest I found Silas Marner a little thin just because she skimps on her usual penetrating psychological insight into her characters. It's by far her shortest novel. I actually like all that blow-by-blow insight into even what character's like Adam are driven by. Although Adam's goodness is made over-obvious yet I still think the intensity of his belief's and his feelings carries the novel forward and it's his intensity that makes the novel readable.




I don't like Adam or Dinah. They're plain boring. Adam isn't particularly intelligent, either. Or imaginative. Or insightful.
Anyway, that overall black and white approach annoyed me a bit.

That's very true, but I didn't want to say that straight out :lol: but as I said above I still find Adam's character very readable due to Eliot's skill in describing him.




I have Romola on my shelf for months now, waiting to be read.

and I suppose that, like me, you will read it to complete the set, despite the warning. :thumbsup:


I think Bede is a flawed but more powerful novel than Middlemarch, and Eliot deserves credit for having the courage to deal with illegitimate pregnancy and infanticide; this is something not easy to do even in the modern era, as Irving's Cider House Rules carries some of the sheer emotional singe of the older novel. She goes on too long about getting Bede married to the Methodist, and most critics admit she fails horribly with love scenes, but the novel respects everyone's humanity, even the lord who started the tragedy rolling and snow balling into an avalanche. I rated it very highly @ Amazon and think schools should include it in their sex education classes to juice things up a bit--not that this would ever happen.

I agree that it was a brave theme to take on in the Victorian era but I fear that the lack of actual sex in the novels makes it a little absurd to today's reader. Babies just seem to appear in Eliot's novels, and I remember thinking that where there is an illegimate pregnancy in AB! At no point do the characters seem to be have managed to be alone for long enough for sex to have taken place.

It's the same in Felix Holt, i hope I'm not mixing the two plots up but I think it's in FH where there's a sham marriage at a fair and the encounter of the two is described in detail throughout without any reference to an opportunity for that kind of intimacy coming about.

[Jassy Melson]

I read Adam Bede a few months ago, and my initial impression upon the very first page was: my god! Thomas Hardy read this. It is so plain and clear that Hardy was greatly influenced by George Eliot, particularly by Adam Bede. I dare say that Henry James was influenced by her, as well as others. For a first novel, Adam Bede is pretty good. I think it lacks being great by just a small margin. It is definitely on my list of books to reread.