Mill On The Floss review

[alobear]

I really enjoyed Middlemarch, and thought I had discovered another nineteenth century author, whose many books I could experience for the first time and appreciate a great deal.

Then I read The Mill On The Floss, which turned out to be one of the most dire books of recent memory.  In Middlemarch, all of the characters were either likeable or interesting (and, in a lot of cases, both); in The Mill On The Floss, none of the characters were either.  In Middlemarch, whilst some people's stories were tragic, those of others ended happily; the plot of The Mill On The Floss was unendingly depressing.

There was still some enjoyment to be had in the excellence of the narrative, but not enough to get past the dreariness of the story - not a book I will be keeping to read again.  And to the eminent personage who told me he much preferred The Mill On The Floss to Middlemarch, I would ask this - dear god, why?

Comments

'Mill on the Floss'

[(Anonymous)]

The eminent personage can only pass on his memories from nearly 40 years ago when he read both books. His eminence is such that he is unable to recall any details of the criteria by which he compared the books!

[(Anonymous)]

I also couldn't stand The Mill on the Floss - it put me off reading other Eliots, but perhaps I should give Middlemarch a try... Lx