Middlemarch Book Notes
2025-07-31
The first book in ~2.5 years to crack my booklist. This book has more character voices than any book I’ve read in a long time. I can hear so many of them: Dorothea, Celia, Fred, Caleb, Mary, and especially Mr. Brooke in my head.
A rebuke to the idea that cellphones ruin the plot of movies. Almost all of the driving conflicts in this story are about the things people cannot bring themselves to say. Dorothea reminds me of George Bailey: “The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
I was blown away by the self reliance of the main characters. They are so reluctant to blame others for their problems and/or lash out at them. I wonder if this reflects how society has changed?
I expect someday I’ll read it again. See also Mark’s ‘reflections on it.