I love George Eliot's writing.
This is an 1860 tale with a timeless theme of family loyalty and expectations in a society where being female means being considered inferior to the opposite gender. That's only the beginning of Maggie's challenges. ( )

A finely detailed and carefully observed coming-of-age of a girl growing up in rural England in the 1830s. I found Maggie, the protagonist, a compelling and relatable character--in the early part of the book, when she was still a little kid, she often reminded me of other big-hearted and emotionally intense but sometimes-wayward (in the sense of not easily submitting to society's narrow expectations for her) literary heroines that I looked to for reassurance when I was going through my own growing up as that sort of girl. However, the sections of the book that were more focused on other members of her family did not hold my interest as well, and I would have been ok with a lot of them being trimmed and keeping the focus on Maggie. The startling ending was definitely one that will stay with me. ( )

Here is a book that creates conflicting emotions, lots of them.

The description of the mill in chapter 1 almost made me miss my stop during my commute. There is a peculiar magic in the writing. It’s lyrical and sharp all at once.

I loved Maggie so much. Oh, how I felt for her. All these people telling her what books not to read, and wishing she was a boy (too clever for a girl, you know…), and reminding her at every turn that there are things you cannot do because you are a girl. George Eliot sees this so clearly. How I wish that Maggie had been loved *enough* when she was a child. How I wish she had a brother that knew that showing affection did not mean being a narrow-minded misogynic idiot.

“She loved Tom very dearly, but she often wished that he cared more about her loving him.”

Here is Maggie, saying no to a gift and breaking readers’ hearts:

“It would make me in love with this world again, as I used to be, it would make me long to see and know many things; it would make me long for a full life.”

George Eliot’s insights into human nature, relationships, and society are wonderful and often funny, it was a bit like talking to a good friend in a cozy place, nodding “I know! I know! You’re so right!”

“It is always chilling, in a friendly intercourse, to say you have no opinion to give. And if you deliver an opinion at all, it is mere stupidity not to do it with an air of conviction and well-founded knowledge. You make it your own in uttering it, and naturally get fond of it.”

“...but incompetent gentlemen must live, and without private fortune it is difficult to see how they could all live genteelly if they had nothing to do with education or government.”

The thing that was woven with great skill and that impressed me the most, was the story of two people who have no idea how to handle a sudden and strong sexual attraction (this is exactly what it is and all it is, Eliot does everything but scream at the reader).

I certainly wish that Elliot would do less Victorian moralizing; fewer sentimental and very long Victorian asides. These either bored me to tears or made me react in all the wrong (cynical) ways. Also, the story keeps coming apart at the seams when you look at the novel from a distance, having finished it. The plot meanders, it goes every which way, gets predictable at times, drowns in details and aforementioned asides. If it weren’t for the ending, it might still have been a four star read, because the book had grown on me. But what was that ending for, where did it come from? Nobody knows and out of nowhere! It seems like the author said, “I have no idea how to get my characters out of this situation and finish my story, so let me just…”. Oh, PLEASE. ( )

This was just okay. While Eliot certainly can write, and I liked the insights into human nature and personalities that she included, I didn't particularly like the story or any of the characters.

I felt the author was a bit harsh when it came to the character of Tom, painting him as only terribly selfish and immature, with very little redeeming qualities; when it came to Maggie, she was too merciful, making her out to be a wonderful person even when she acted completely thoughtlessly, just because she "had a good heart." Since I learned this account was somewhat autobiographical for the author, based on her turbulent relationship with her own brother, this made sense, but didn't make for an objective story.

There were multiple love triangles (which always make me roll my eyes), and the ending was very abrupt and ridiculous. It just felt like a cop-out.

However, I did like some of it, and here are a few quotes in particular that struck me:

"...conscientious people are apt to see their duty in that which is the most painful course..." p 587

"There is something sustaining in the very agitation that accompanies the first shocks of trouble, just as an acute pain is often a stimulus, and produces an excitement which is transient strength. It is in the slow, changed life that follows - in the time when sorrow has become stale, and has no longer an emotive intensity that counteracts its pain - in the time when day follows day in dull unexpectant sameness, and trial is a dreary routine - it is then that despair threatens; it is then that the peremptory hunger of the soul is felt, and eye and ear are strained after some unlearned secret of our existence, which shall give to endurance the nature of satisfaction." p 313 ( )

Tom was a heartless, self-righteous ass. Maggie was an insipid sop of a fool, self-righteous in her own way. The one was a mindless roar, the other a detestable whimper. Such wonderful writing, but I ceased caring about any of these hateful characters at least halfway through the book. I had to force myself to finish it. By the end, I was earnestly hoping that Maggie would fling herself into the Floss and make a pleasing end of things for everyone. It isn't hard to imagine how happy I was about the ending, at least, though no auto de fé could suffice to redeem these two obnoxious characters.

Why did you do this to me, George Eliot? I won't soon forgive this offense. ( )