grrrlbrarian's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexism, Death, Grief, Misogyny, and Death of parent
chalkletters's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
As a teenager, I made a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. One of the things on my list was to read every book by one author. I thought it would be cool to know I’d read every novel in someone’s canon. I certainly didn’t manage it in 1001 days. In fact, I still haven’t managed it (unless you count authors who’ve only written one book), but a few years after making the list, I did make an effort to read every book by George Eliot — purely on the strength that I’d quite liked Adam Bede. I got halfway through Romola before giving up, but that means I did finish The Mill on The Floss once before.
I didn’t remember much about the story, except a vague sense of the tragic ending. (It’s only February and this is the second tragedy I’ve read this year!) Each time I read Adam Bede, I find it’s easier than I expect it to be, but The Mill on the Floss was the opposite — I found it harder going than I expected. Perhaps that’s because there’s a bit more philosophy and religious teachings that I’m not entirely familiar with. As with Adam Bede, I got impatient with all the digressions, especially around the middle of the novel.
The characters are very different from those in Adam Bede — the setting is somewhat less rural, or perhaps it’s set slightly later and so society has progressed. Nonetheless, I really liked most of the characters who are intended to be sympathetic: Maggie, Tom, Lucy, Phillip, Bob. The characters who aren’t supposed to be sympathetic, namely ‘the aunts’, were well-drawn, too. The only character I really didn’t care about was Stephen Guest, which was something of a problem for the final act.
Stephen and Maggie’s relationship just seemed so… shallow. They hardly ever had a proper conversation, they barely knew anything about each other and, as a reader, I hardly knew anything about Stephen. Maybe George Eliot intended it that way, to show how young people can be carried away by the first flood of emotion that is based on little more than physical attraction. The relationship suffered in comparison to Maggie’s friendship with Phillip, who she could have actual conversations with. In the pivotal scene between Stephen and Maggie they both 'feel too deeply to speak’, which I just didn’t find satisfying.
Maggie’s inner struggle is definitely compelling; she wants to be a better person, and she tries so hard, but she’s flawed and has moments of weakness, just like a real person. It’s such a shame that her story has to end in tragedy. Despite having read The Mill on the Floss before, the conclusion took me by surprise. It’s fairly sudden and quite brief, but George Eliot did manage to wrap up all the loose ends quite nicely beforehand. I felt the most sorry for Tom, who hadn’t really experienced much in comparison to his sister and his friends.
Despite Maggie’s strong characterisation, I didn’t enjoy this as much as I enjoyed Adam Bede. The dialect is easier, but the philosophy and diversions are more distracting.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Infidelity
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Misogyny
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