Adam Bede (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

By George Eliot

Published in 1859, Adam Bede was Eliot's first novel.  This remarkably accomplished debut established Eliot as a writer of the first rank.  In rural Hayslope, Adam Bede, a local carpenter, falls in love with the beautiful but vain Hetty Sorrell, who is herself in love with a caddish young squire who seduces her and casts her aside.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Release date: Jul 19, 2011
• ISBN: 9781411438712

George Eliot

George Eliot (1819-80) was born Mary Ann Evans into the family of a Warwickshire land agent and did not escape provincial life until she was 30. But she was brilliantly self-educated and able at once to shine in London literary circles. It was, however, her novels of English rural life that brought her fame, starting with Adam Bede, published under her new pen name in 1859, and reaching a zenith with Middlemarch in 1871. Eliot was a devoutly moral woman but lived for 25 years with a man who already had a wife. It is indicative of the respect and love that she inspired in her most devoted readers that Queen Victoria was one of them.

Reviews for Adam Bede (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Adam Bede by George Eliot was her first novel and was originally published in 1859. The story explores the nature of physical and mental attraction and in this case lead to a tragedy and many misunderstandings before everything was worked out. The author sets her story of love, faith and redemption against a picturesque background of rural England. Unfortunately the rules and morals of society were not a pretty as the setting and there were some that had to pay a very hefty price for taking their attraction to each other too far.I read the book in installment form and found it to be an engrossing story. Set in a small rural village called Hayslope, a love triangle develops between the beautiful but self-absorbed Hetty Sorrel, her suitor, the stalwart Adam Bede and the young squire who seduces her. To complicate the story further, we have Adam’s brother Seth, who loves Dinah Morris, Hetty’s cousin, a virtuous and beautiful Methodist lay preacher. Dinah does not wish to give up her preaching for Seth, but she does have feelings for his brother, Adam.I liked this story but was never overly fond of Adam or Dinah. My sympathies lay much more with the other characters and in particular, Hetty, who really had nowhere to turn and no one to help her. I found Dinah, with her holier-than-thou attitude, rather a cold fish. However, the author enhances the story with rich details, wonderful writing and a wide variety of characters making Adam Bede a very good reading experience.

[sophiemaroon · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I guess this is Eliot's first book, and her novels definitely get much more interesting as her career progresses. The characters are pretty one dimensional, and I don't care if this the 19th century, the ending still makes me mad! Womanhood, gender relations, and sex are handled with much greater subtlety and insight in her other novels, IMO.

[revchrishemyock · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautifully written but at the same time I sometimes find George Eliot too sad for my taste - but not as desperately sad as Hardy though thank goodness.I have re-read this novel many times because it is so homely.

[manque_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A dense delight of a novel, full of amusing witticisms and engaging language. The detail provided in the cause of moral realism is at times a bit too much--these parts can be skimmed without loss. Eliot's views on aesthetics (as voiced by the narrator, particularly in Ch. 17) well reward any serious thought the reader gives them. The heavy-handed plot manipulation to draw the characters together at the end is too forced, but the end can be ignored and the novel still stands up well. The women--Lisbeth and Mrs. Poyser especially--are memorably drawn.

[samantha464 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Eliot in many ways defined the Vicotiran novel thorugh Adam Bede. The story, which takes place in 1799 (i.e. the very beginning of the Romantic age, as compared to the Victorian age in which she was writing the book), takes characters who would have been called heroes by the Romantic writers of the earlier half of the century, and judges them against Eliot's hero, Adam Bede, who defines Victorian morality. Characters like Hetty and Arthur, who fit the guidelines of Byronic heroes, are unable to live up to the strictures of Victorian morality. Through this conflict, Eliot was able to define those characteristics that a Victorian hero should have: control over passion, faith in religion, a strong personal moral code, and a sense of the expectations of his community.That being said, the truly fantastic elements of this novel lie in the rich description of the community and the minor characters that effect the lives of the central triangle. Like (almost) all VIctorian novels, the plot ends with a marriage and a death, and each character is somehow involved or affected by these events.It's been eight years since I read this book (12th grade English), and though many of the smaller details have escaped me, I remember the story well, and remember how reading it affected me. Few books from my high school years really stuck with me, so I have to say that the fact Adam Bede managed to insert itself into my psyche is pretty significant.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

George Eliot's Adam Bede lives in the charming rustic countryside and adheres to a stoic version of the Puritan work ethic. His world is disrupted by both the classic temptation of Eros in the form of the too beautiful Hetty and the dissenting spiritual views of the Methodist preacher Dinah Morris.The author controls the narrative and lectures the reader as the other characters, brother Seth, Arthur Donnithorne, the Poysers, and the Rector Irwine are intertwined in the the fates of young Hetty and Adam. The novel succeeds in conveying the bucolic charm of the place while almost convincing us of the inevitability of fate. Above all, the characters are interesting and believable. My favorite, the Rector Irwine is notable in his interest in the classics and his disdain of preaching. Hetty Sorrel, the narcissistic young girl is harder to believe or understand, but she certainly has the requisite beauty to catch the eye of the aristocratic young Arthur who lets his emotions hold sway over his reason (insufficiently developed to handle this battle). Rereading this early novel of Eliot suggests the potential that she would fulfill in her later work, particularly Middlemarch.

[sfm13 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Adam was an upright character and his story was full of tragedy, although ended in triumph. "Love Conquers All" Dinah the godly Methodist (woman) preacher seemed an unlikely match at first, although one would assume they would end up together in the end. Because Eliot focused on her so strongly at the beginning of the book, I knew she would be a savior in some way. As Hettie took center stage, I began to think maybe the book should have been titled "The Runaway Bride." The trial of Hettie completely shocked me. I thought it was clever how Eliot kept the bastard child a secret from the reader, and I was floored when Hettie's secret was revealed. Her execution was heartbreaking, in spite of her crime. Dinah saved Hettie's soul with the prison visit and the comfort she brought, allowing Hettie to face the truth, giving her courage to ask her Lord for forgiveness. Although if Adam hadn't of confronted Arthur about the secret relationship he had with Hettie in the first place, her life might have been spared. She might have lived with her shame as a unwed mother, and maybe Arthur would have done the right thing. I thought the ending was bittersweet as Adam realized because of his love and sorrow with Hettie, he felt even stronger about his love for Dinah. Only Dinah with her holiness would have been able to know how badly Adam needed a new life, to forget the pain of his past. I'm glad she found her feelings for Adam were strong enough to forsake the life of a ‘nun.’ Adam and Dinah's love is deep to carry them through the pain of the past to a promising future.

[hemlokgang · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very enjoyable read, with three lovely main characters and several interesting minor characters. If you are a George Eliot fan, this one is not quite on par with "Silas Marner" or "Middlemarch", but it is definitely worth a read.

[strandbooks_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I don't think George Eliot will ever disappoint me. This was her first novel so it isn't Middlemarch or Silas Marner, but still wonderful nonetheless. The dialect takes a little getting used to and some of it is impossible to understand, but that is her point since the characters talk about the accents of different villagers they have trouble conversing with. I wish I hadn't read the librarything tags because I don't think I would have foreseen Hatty's actions. Eliot must have pushed the boundaries with her descriptions of Hatty's and Arthur's affair. Although, I connected with many characters, there were way too many villagers that would pop in and out. Unlike her other novels they weren't developed enough for me to remember each character. And by the last 30 pages there really isn't any reason to introduce new villagers just to show english life that was already established throughout the novel.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thank god for sparknotes. While I enjoy Eliot and liked the story presented here, god forbid my attention wandered for a moment, I found myself completely lost. This is another book I'll have to re-read at a later date to thoroughly appreciate since I believe I would have enjoyed it more had I paid closer attention the first time.

[jcovington_12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A nice piece of fiction set in Napoleonic era Britain. It is a classic for a reason, with a well written story and well done characters. It does tend to reflect Victorian values, but then George Eliot was Victorian.

[bookmindful · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love, love, love this book - the morality of the story, the characters' honesty and Eliot's compassion for them. It just emanates goodness. It's not a difficult read but it's on the slow side. Still, it's well worth the effort.

[puabi_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Couldn't finish it, though I tried nobly. Dinah was a bore.

[samfsmith_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

George Eliot (aka Marian Evans) was so far ahead of her contemporaries. Her realist novels read as if they had been written a hundred years later. Of course, she skirts around some of the more difficult subjects in Adam Bede: the relations between Hetty and Arthur are only hinted at, and the murder of the child is related after the fact.But her characterizations are so much more realistic than anything that Dickens produced it is hard to even draw a comparison. Pip seems a caricature next to Adam Bede. And all of Dickens' female characters lack the depth of a Hetty or even a Mrs. Poyser from Adam Bede.An excellent novel, well worth reading again and again.

[mbmackay · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Finely captured snapshot of rural life in England. More believable characters than other Victorian fiction.Read Mar 2007

[clara53_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Credit must be given to George Eliot: she got the dialect of rural England so precisely - it's as if she grew up among the villagers there! She is equally good at pinpointing the sensitivities of bucolic mind and behavior of the peasant population of that era, late 1700s - early 1800s. Her description of rural landscape is vivid and idyllic.But BECAUSE of this adherence to the dialect in dialogues (with countless apostrophes and letter omissions and intentionally irregular grammar of illiterate peasant folk) it was so much harder to read, it was like a stumbling block throughout. About 70 % of the dialogue, I would say, was in dialect. True, the narrative part and dialogue between the educated people (the rector, the young squire and such) was in correct English, but the distraction of the dialect was still distracting.As for the plot - there is a religious theme (with a virtuous and angel-like Dinah, the Methodist preacher), and a tragic life drama, and a lot of moral dilemmas facing the main characters, with the help of the author's stepping in for a chat with the reader at times.I was taken by some insights the author offers, and I can't help but have a few quotes here (for they certainly ring a bell):In one she describes a mother (who is usually very abrupt) dealing with a child "...the mother, with that wondrous patience which love gives to the quickest temperament...".Then a few more:"The vainest woman is never thoroughly conscious of her own beauty till she is loved by the man who sets her own passion vibrating in return"."Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds....""And so Adam went to bed comforted, having woven for himself an ingenious web of probabilities - the surest screen a wise man can place between himself and the truth.""In bed our yesterdays are too oppressive: if a man can only get up, though it be but for a whistle of a smoke, he has a present that offers some resistance to the past - sensations which assert themselves against tyrannous memories ".(I think I should have started my George Eliot reading with "Middlemarch", and I will definitely get to that one...).

[m.belljackson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Adam Bede is a classic that reads even better after many years.Unlike Wuthering Heights, which overflows with meanness and cruelty and not the remembered passion,George Eliot's first book still flows into a compelling story of love sorrowfully lost. Characters and locale,as well as dogs and food, are finely revealed.Okay, this doesn't make Dinah's speeches any less insufferable or guide Hetty away from increasingly awful thinking.And when, aside from Vixen, did sex occur? Does a dropped handkerchief signify seduction?

[meredy_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Six-word review: Love and passion rule humble hearts.Extended review:Intersecting and overlapping romantic triangles generate drama in a rural English village, where Adam Bede, a carpenter, carries a torch for pretty, vain Hetty Sorrel.In this novel as well as those that came later, George Eliot treats her characters--ordinary people, for the most part, in a rustic setting--with respect and compassion. Even mean and despicable characters benefit by her redemptive insight; she never shies away from folly or ill deeds, but she shows the humanity in them. She writes: "The way in which I have come to the conclusion that human nature is lovable--the way I have learnt something of its deep pathos, its sublime mysteries--has been by living a great deal among people more or less commonplace and vulgar." Strong emotions and complex inner states are by no means the province of the privileged classes.Although this first novel has several conspicuous flaws, Eliot's storytelling skills, her rendition of ordinary people, and her depiction of the bond between people and place give this work a spacious scope and a quality of deep reflection. As we share in her perceptions and revelations, we grow our own capacity for empathy and our sense that everyone has a story worth telling.

[joansdavis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Accurate rendering of English pastoral life, realistic irrevocable consequences of human actions and on moral growth and redemption through suffering. This edition includes good historical notes, a glossary of old English, and a reading group guide which I found very helpful.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Our title character is a good man and a simple one. He sees the world in black and white. Work hard, take care of your family, and you will lead a good life. He falls in love with an impetuous young woman named Hetty. Unfortunately, Hetty has fallen for the wealthy Captain Arthur Donnithorne, a man above her station, but one who is still susceptible to the young woman’s charms. I loved the character of Dinah. She could be perceived as a killjoy or prude, but she never cane across to me like that. She is Hetty’s cousin and is a Methodist preacher who travels the countryside serving in local communities. Keep in mind, this was at a time when it was unusual for a woman to travel about on her own, much less to serve as a leader in the church. She has a fierce strength and independence and doesn’t give into the pleas from her family to give up her calling. When she is asked about being a woman preacher, this is what she says…“When God makes His presence felt through us, we are like the burning bush: Moses never took any heed what sort of bush it was—he only saw the brightness of the Lord.” ****SPOILERS*****Dinah: When she does finally fall for Adam, she still doesn’t agree to marry until he declares that he will never stand in the way of her duties as a preacher and he fully supports her. I was a bit heartbroken from Adam’s brother Seth, since he’s the one who originally pursued Dinah. Hetty’s story is so heartbreaking. I can’t imagine feeling so hopeless and abandoned. In the midst of her panic about her pregnancy she didn’t trust anyone with her secret and so she was unwilling to look for other options. Even though her life was spared, her future was still going to be full of grief and guilt no matter what. SPOILERS OVERBOTTOM LINE: I loved it. It reminded me so much of Tess of the d’Urbervilles and The Return of the Native (both of which were published decades after this one). It’s an intense look at the desperation of one woman and the man who loved her. I appreciated the rich depth of characters like Dinah and Adam. I also liked that Arthur wasn't a one-note cad. He easily could have been, but instead we see the situation from his point of view as well. “What destroys us most effectively is not a malign fate but our own capacity for self-deception and for degrading our own best self.” “What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to feel that they are joined for life--to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting?”“Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.”

[davidgnp · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Having been a George Eliot fan for many years ('Middlemarch' is my favourite novel of all time) I have been far too long getting round to reading 'Adam Bede'. I'm not sure whether this is a neglected classic or simply neglected by me, though I have noticed there seem to be few TV or film adaptations, perhaps an indication of the book's relative obscurity.It certainly deserves to be better known and more often read. Though not without faults (it was, after all, Ms Eliot's first novel) it is for the most part rich in its descriptions, absorbing in its plot, and generally strong in its characterisation. It is a slight pity that the 'saints' (Adam Bede and Dinah Morris) are not so imaginatively drawn as the 'sinners' (Arthur Donnithorne and especially Hetty Sorrel) and therefore interest us less, but the same could be said of many undisputed classics - Tess of the D'Urbevilles, for example, featuring the insipid Angel Clare.In fact there are a number of strong parallels between this novel and 'Tess' which make me wonder if Hardy used George Eliot's work as a model for his own. Hetty, like Tess, is a pretty girl of the country labouring classes, seduced and left pregnant by a member of the local gentry. Both babies die in infancy. Both women are arrested, tried and committed to hang, though in Hetty's case there is a rather contrived 'deus ex machina' reprieve brought by her repentant seducer. Both novels are set in rural England and both present a large supporting cast of colourful countryfolk who provide vernacular comic relief. Both are moralistic works of their time, though Hardy's characteristic pessimism about the human lot runs counter to the early George Eliot's optimistic, overtly Christian outlook.I am not claiming for 'Adam Bede' superior provenance over 'Tess of the D'Urbevilles', much less as high a place in the unofficial league table of English literature, but I would hope readers will be stimulated by this review among others favourable to the novel and not wait as long as I did to read it.

[katiebrugger-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Scarlet Letter written by a woman. Eliot addresses the horror of an unmarried woman getting pregnant amidst the good countryfolk of Britain in 1799.

I like George Eliot because, in my opinion, her characters are more complex than those of other female writers such as Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters. As much as I like The Scarlet Letter, I prefer Adam Bede because there is repentance and growth in Eliot's characters.

I felt the desire to be a better person after reading this book, perhaps the first time this has ever occurred to me on finishing a novel. And it was a complex better person, made up of bits and pieces of all the characters.

[page.fault · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It may be heresy (why is it always heresy to dislike a "classic" when a book's status as a classic mainly stems from its age?), but I'm not particularly fond of George Eliot. Granted, I read her books when I was rather younger, but I found her tone too moralistic and prescriptive, and the political overtones too strident. Adam Bede is perhaps one of my least favourite of the books of hers that I have read. We have our overly prim, proper, and holier-than-thou protagonists, Adam Bede and Dinah Morris, to teach us the proper path. Apparently the "right way" is, at the tender age of twenty, to go around preaching to everyone and providing moral guidance for those lesser beings from one's own tremendous heights of experience. The "right way" is to be uptight and silent, to enjoy nothing, and to purposefully inflict suffering upon oneself to mimic the humiliation Jesus endured. (Oh, and to be Methodist. Although Dinah is called alternately Quaker and Methodist--I really don't understand how these beliefs were confused. Were they more similar back in the day, or did Eliot simply conflate the two Welsh belief systems?) We also have our standard moral exemplars, the characters who behave badly and are duly punished. Interestingly, in this book it becomes clear that bad behaviour includes vanity, self-satisfaction, selfishness, infanticide(how dare women step outside the role of wife and mother?), and, most importantly, stepping outside one's social station. Jane Austen, most notably in Emma, also preaches the virtues of rigid social classes and the evils of interclass fraternization, but I can't help but feel that Eliot is far more dogmatic and obvious in shoving the message down her readers' throats. Unlike Austen, Eliot also demonizes the upper class as frivolous and amoral. In terms of tone, Eliot uses the same wealth of description and narrative commentary favoured by other writers of the period, including Dickens and Hugo. It's not particularly my favorite. She has a few sly barbs, but every one I caught is stated much more cleverly by the inimitable Austen. Overall, I found it a lugubrious and preachy read.

[fig2_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Adam personifies goodness, but he's in love with the shallow, self-obsessed Hetty. She is only interested in the material luxuries that the ego-maniacal Arthur can give her. This unfortunate love triangle leads to a tragedy none had anticipated. Eliot has a perfect ear for dialect. Beautifully written and emotionally satisfying.

[jmaloney17 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you like Middlemarch, you will like this story too.This was Eliot's first novel, and having already read Middlemarch that is pretty obvious. The writing is not as crisp. There are random chapters that seem to have nothing to do with anything. The first 75-100 pages are nothing but description (as typical of Eliot and the time period), but once you are through it the book moves very quickly. When I got towards the end, I did not want to put it down.The only real complaint I had was one of the characters, Seth Bede. Seth is Adam's brother. He is a doormat! He was a little frustrating. I wondered why Eliot even bothered with the character. He did not contribute much to the overall plot at all.At any rate, the book is good. If you like Middlemarch and Eliot read it. If you just want to try Eliot for the first time, go with Middlemarch over Adam Bede.

[justininlondon · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Did not finish. Which surprised me as I've loved other Eliot novels such as Daniel Deronda and Middlemarch. This one completely failed to grab me.

[bduke_15 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I believe this may be the most beautiful book I have ever read. I felt both uplifted and emotionally drained when I finished. The tragedy and the great beauty of George Eliot's writing! I didn't read this edition, mine was much older, but the introduction of my edition quoted Charles Dickens as saying that reading Adam Bede was an epoch in his life, and Alexandre Dumas called it the masterpiece of the century. I'm happy to agree with them. Most people say that Middlemarch is George Eliot's masterpiece. That was tragic and beautiful as well, but I was so much more drawn into the character's of Adam Bede. I loved them all (even Hetty) because even though they may have made bad choices, we were allowed to see things from their perspective and gain an understanding of why they did what they did. I love that about George Eliot. Dickens' characters sometimes seem almost like caricatures because they are either so good or so evil. I appreciate the humanity of Eliot. In fact, I understood Arthur Donnithorne all too well. He so wants to be a good person and have people think well of him, and yet he is weak when it really matters. This is a silly analogy, but I decided to make chocolate chip cookies one day while reading Adam Bede. I knew I really shouldn't because I would eat too many and not be able to stop, but when it came to the point I made them anyway and ate too many. I realized how like Arthur that was! He knew he shouldn't be doing what he was doing, and he talked himself out of it many times, but when it came to the point he still did it.It's interesting that although George Eliot personally seemed to have issues with the religion of her day, she can talk about religion so beautifully in her books. (I realize I have used the word "beautiful" way too many times, but oh if you read it, you will understand.) The year the story takes place is 1799, but the year it was published was (I believe) 1856. There was a lot of religious fervor going on at that time. People were searching and wanting to do what was right, and were dissatisfied with the nation's religion, even though there were many good and wonderful members of the clergy. Who could not love Mr. Irwine? And yet Dinah believed in so much more. I had ancestors in England around that time period who I believe felt the same way, and that's why they were so open to hear of the restoration of the gospel from the Mormon missionaries who were sent there.Mrs. Poyser was an absolute gem! I loved that she was able to tell off the Squire and hold her own with the woman-hating Mr. Massey (I wanted to tell him off, too - I wish we could have heard why he hated women so much.). I was grateful that George Eliot put in an epilogue so we could see what happened to the characters who were missing at the end of the book. This is an amazing book - everyone should read it.

[chocolatemuse · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There's no doubt that George Eliot consistently produces a similar kind of heroine in all her books (at least those I've read). Dorothea Brooke; Maggie Tulliver; Mirah Lapidoth; and now Dinah Morris - all of them are filled with an inner vision of some Greater Good, and they spend their lives single-mindedly pursuing it. All of them are simple in manner and noble in ideals. All are blind to the sordidness of life and are filled instead with a bright light, which they tend to temporarily pass on to others around them. They all, when described like this, seem as if they'd be preachy, moral characters, highly distasteful to the modern idea of a heroine - the Victorian Martyr type. Probably there are in fact many readers today who do dislike them, but I would find such dislike hard to understand. There is something about George Eliot which I've tried to describe before, and which I love. It resonates with all the things I hold dear in life, but I can never properly put it into words. It's a kind of intelligent compassion, a relentless exploration of how people tick, but without mockery or meanness. It's a way of looking at why people do the things they do (often things that are automatically judged as wrong or stupid), and pulling out all the deep-hidden motives and meanings and bits of personality that went into that action, until it all makes sense. It's a truism that the more we know about a person, the harder it is to judge them. For me, George Eliot shows us that in everything she writes. The story of Adam Bede is a Victorian cliche - simple young country girl 'gets into trouble'. But Eliot removes the cliche-ness of it and makes us see everything with new eyes. Of course, the consequences of it all are hard to understand in the modern world - probably one reason Adam Bede is less well-known than her other books. The issue, so deadly serious then, is of course a pointless nothing in today's common Western society. But that doesn't change the effectiveness of the story, unless the reader is utterly incapable of entering into a set of values different from their own. The other heroine of this book is a very different one for Eliot to depict. It must have been difficult, I think, for Eliot to sympathetically portray a shallow young rustic beauty like Hetty Sorrell, with the instincts of a luxurious animal and no capacity for any real thought at all. But it's very well done indeed.Another lovely thing about this book is its sense of place. Such a luxuriant wallow, this book is, in rural England at its best. Such floods of sunshine, such golden harvest, such shady groves of old oaks on green turf, such rose gardens and wheat fields, such white pure dairies and such winding roads on green hills! And then, when winter comes, such bleakness and dampness and black ice on still ponds! It's worth reading just for all this. I must not forget the minor characters. Mrs Poyser is wonderfully good fun - shades of Dickens. Every sentence out of her mouth is a treasure. And poor sweet Seth Bede is well worth loving too (though many seem to disagree). They all live, every character, their separate, whole lives; even if a lot of it happens in the background. My only gripe would involve a spoiler, so I will dance around it in this review. I'm talking about Dinah's ultimate destiny. It seemed to lessen her character. I thought it was a pity.

[diefledermaus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. In general, I love George Eliot’s writing, but sometimes with authors, their early stuff isn’t great and just makes you wish you were reading later works. However, this one was really good. The plot is involving and very suspenseful towards the end, but that’s not the reason to read this book. It’s for Eliot’s wonderful depiction of the community of Hayslope, her well-written character descriptions and the memorable asides on human nature in general. At first, the late 18th c dialogue can seem off-putting, but it gets easier soon on. It’s certainly no Joseph from Wuthering Heights, my all time standard for incomprehensible dialect.The main plot is essentially a love triangle between poor, upright Adam Bede, beautiful but shallow Hetty Sorrel and the spirited, generous, careless young squire, Arthur Donnithorne. Adam loves Hetty, but she’s more interested in the exciting and rich Arthur, who in turn finds his flirting with Hetty goes too far. There are some predictable and not-so-predictable twists and turns. Some of the plot points are rather convenient, and the suspense sags a bit after the climactic scenes. Again, however, not reading for plot.The character descriptions are superb, and no one can do justice to the story by saying it’s just a tragic love story. Eliot is able to build up the community of Hayslope by well-written extended and brief depictions of its inhabitants and various community events – a funeral, trial and Arthur’s extravagant birthday party. There are plenty of scenes that could be cut out if Eliot’s purpose was only to further the conflict between Adam, Arthur and Hetty. I always think of a great one where Hetty’s aunt tells off the imperious and despised landowner, Arthur’s grandfather, the present squire. Other important characters include Adam’s constantly worried mother, Lisbeth, his alcoholic father, his patient brother Seth, in love with Hetty’s cousin Dinah, a Methodist preacher, Hetty’s well-off aunt and uncle, the Poysers and the tolerant rector, Mr. Irwine. Eliot describes his mother – Women who are never bitter and resentful are often the most querulous; and if Solomon was as wise as he is reputed to be, I feel sure that when he compared a contentious woman to a continual dropping on a very rainy day, he had not a vixen in his eye—a fury with long nails, acrid and selfish. Depend upon it, he meant a good creature, who had no joy but in the happiness of the loved ones whom she contributed to make uncomfortable, putting by all the tid-bits for them and spending nothing on herself. Such a woman as Lisbeth, for example—at once patient and complaining, self-renouncing and exacting, brooding the livelong day over what happened yesterday and what is likely to happen to-morrow, and crying very readily both at the good and the evil.One of the minor character is Joshua Rann, the rather intolerant, unlikeable parish clerk and shoemaker. However, we get a brief glimpse at another side of him – But there was one reason why even a chance comer would have found the service in Hayslope Church more impressive than in most other village nooks in the kingdom—a reason of which I am sure you have not the slightest suspicion. It was the reading of our friend Joshua Rann. Where that good shoemaker got his notion of reading from remained a mystery even to his most intimate acquaintances. I believe, after all, he got it chiefly from Nature, who had poured some of her music into this honest conceited soul, as she had been known to do into other narrow souls before his. She had given him, at least, a fine bass voice and a musical ear; but I cannot positively say whether these alone had sufficed to inspire him with the rich chant in which he delivered the responses. The way he rolled from a rich deep forte into a melancholy cadence, subsiding, at the end of the last word, into a sort of faint resonance, like the lingering vibrations of a fine violoncello, I can compare to nothing for its strong calm melancholy but the rush and cadence of the wind among the autumn boughs. This may seem a strange mode of speaking about the reading of a parish clerk—a man in rusty spectacles, with stubbly hair, a large occiput, and a prominent crown. But that is Nature's way: she will allow a gentleman of splendid physiognomy and poetic aspirations to sing woefully out of tune, and not give him the slightest hint of it; and takes care that some narrow-browed fellow, trolling a ballad in the corner of a pot-house, shall be as true to his intervals as a bird.Even the secondary characters are important, as Eliot notes herself while describing Rev. Irwine’s sisters – the Miss Irwines were quite superfluous existences—inartistic figures crowding the canvas of life without adequate effect…Nevertheless, to speak paradoxically, the existence of insignificant people has very important consequences in the world. It can be shown to affect the price of bread and the rate of wages, to call forth many evil tempers from the selfish and many heroisms from the sympathetic, and, in other ways, to play no small part in the tragedy of life. And if that handsome, generous-blooded clergyman, the Rev. Adolphus Irwine, had not had these two hopelessly maiden sisters, his lot would have been shaped quite differently…As it was—having with all his three livings no more than seven hundred a-year, and seeing no way of keeping his splendid mother and his sickly sister, not to reckon a second sister, who was usually spoken of without any adjective, in such ladylike ease as became their birth and habits, and at the same time providing for a family of his own—he remained, you see, at the age of eight-and-forty, a bachelor, not making any merit of that renunciation, but saying laughingly, if any one alluded to it, that he made it an excuse for many indulgences which a wife would never have allowed him. And perhaps he was the only person in the world who did not think his sisters uninteresting and superfluous; for his was one of those large-hearted, sweet-blooded natures that never know a narrow or a grudging thought; Epicurean, if you will, with no enthusiasm, no self-scourging sense of duty; but yet, as you have seen, of a sufficiently subtle moral fibre to have an unwearying tenderness for obscure and monotonous suffering. Eliot is also skilled at depicting the psychological state, especially in Arthur and Adam. Adam, though upright and honest, cannot help feeling guilt about his treatment of his father, however much deserved it was. He’s also easily deceived by Hetty, mistaking her feelings for Arthur as signs of affection towards himself, and misinterpreting her petty nature and competitive flirtation to make another girl – who does love him – jealous. Arthur is essentially the villain of the plot, but he’s much more sympathetic than your usual seducer, rake, snobbishly entitled noble. The author shows his many good resolutions, evasions and slight delusions in his relationship with Hetty – nothing will go wrong, it’s not serious, but if something does happen, then it can always be repaired. He certainly does want to be generous and all the villagers in Hayslope contrast him favorably to his stingy grandfather and look forward to the day when he inherits everything. Arthur has many good qualities, but quickly become a liar and hypocrite. He’s sympathetically depicted, so it’s more like you want to smack him for his bad judgment than wish for bad things to happen to him.So highly recommended, for the wonderful prose, characters, descriptions.

[astrologerjenny · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I don’t usually like dialogue written in dialect, but in this 1859 novel by Mary Ann Evans (aka George Eliot), I first got used to it, and then started to enjoy it. After a while, the dialect seems indispensable. There are lots of colorful characters, especially middle-aged and old women, who express themselves with great eloquence.

This is a love story, but it’s also a story of early lost love and disillusionment, and of the abuse of class privilege. Adam Bede is a righteous, hard-working carpenter, whose main fault is a quickness to judge others, and he falls in love with a beautiful but self-centered milkmaid, Hetty. He doesn’t realize his main competition comes from Arthur, the well-meaning but self-important young squire, who has fallen for Hetty but can never marry her. All these characters are drawn in a careful and nuanced way. Then there’s Dinah, the saintly Methodist preacher, and she was a little too good to be true, at least for me. I would’ve liked her better if Eliot had made her a little less self-sacrificing!