Thanks, Claire! I really enjoyed your substack this year. A lot. I'm actually glad to hear that Middlemarch wasn't for you. I started in on audio days after having my oldest. I didn't love it, but I chalked it up to postpartum exhaustion. I always felt a little bad I never finished it. Now I feel vindicated!
I didn’t realize you were so young! I could easily be your mother (if I hadn’t spent most of my 20s in the convent that is. 😉)
Young you are... but wise. Your writing has given me much food for thought. I’m glad I stumbled across your Substack and chose to subscribe. I look forward to what you bring forth in 2024!
This is funny, because I reread Middlemarch after hearing from several people (including you) that they were reading it. I strongly disliked it when I read it in college, but then I gave it another shot.
I loved it.
Hear me out. Yes, it's long, and yes, there's a lot of small-town politics. But Eliot is incredible in her understanding of what makes people tick. She has a gift for getting you into the mind of a character so you can empathize with them EVEN WHEN you know they are making horrible decisions. My experience of the book reinforced the idea that reading great fiction helps develop a strong sense of empathy. It's a book about knowing yourself (or not), knowing the people closest to you (or not), idealism, hypocrisy, faithfulness, human failures found in unexpected places, and quiet greatness found in equally unexpected places.
Also, the end is similar to Dickens in weaving together all the different threads and characters' lives and histories together in an unexpected way. (Believe it or not, all those conversations about who should be the hospital chaplain are actually relevant in how everything plays out in the end.)
I listened to it on Audible, read by Maureen O'Brien, who did an impeccable job.
OK audio might be a better option! I actually really, really enjoy the Dorothea parts. The problem is that she's literally the only character I care about. I might try to push through on audio though, I thought it was too long for me to able to track on audio but I have a few really long car rides coming up!
Thanks, Claire! I really enjoyed your substack this year. A lot. I'm actually glad to hear that Middlemarch wasn't for you. I started in on audio days after having my oldest. I didn't love it, but I chalked it up to postpartum exhaustion. I always felt a little bad I never finished it. Now I feel vindicated!
I didn’t realize you were so young! I could easily be your mother (if I hadn’t spent most of my 20s in the convent that is. 😉)
Young you are... but wise. Your writing has given me much food for thought. I’m glad I stumbled across your Substack and chose to subscribe. I look forward to what you bring forth in 2024!
Happy New Year to you!
Haha thank you so much! So glad you're here!
This is funny, because I reread Middlemarch after hearing from several people (including you) that they were reading it. I strongly disliked it when I read it in college, but then I gave it another shot.
I loved it.
Hear me out. Yes, it's long, and yes, there's a lot of small-town politics. But Eliot is incredible in her understanding of what makes people tick. She has a gift for getting you into the mind of a character so you can empathize with them EVEN WHEN you know they are making horrible decisions. My experience of the book reinforced the idea that reading great fiction helps develop a strong sense of empathy. It's a book about knowing yourself (or not), knowing the people closest to you (or not), idealism, hypocrisy, faithfulness, human failures found in unexpected places, and quiet greatness found in equally unexpected places.
Also, the end is similar to Dickens in weaving together all the different threads and characters' lives and histories together in an unexpected way. (Believe it or not, all those conversations about who should be the hospital chaplain are actually relevant in how everything plays out in the end.)
I listened to it on Audible, read by Maureen O'Brien, who did an impeccable job.
OK audio might be a better option! I actually really, really enjoy the Dorothea parts. The problem is that she's literally the only character I care about. I might try to push through on audio though, I thought it was too long for me to able to track on audio but I have a few really long car rides coming up!