Middlemarch

By: George Eliot

Narrated by: Nadia May

Length: 31 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Named for the fictional community in which it is set, Middlemarch is George Eliot's rich and teeming portrait of provincial life in Victorian England. In it, a panoply of complicated characters attempt to carry out their destinies against the various social expectations that accompany their classes and genders.

At the center of the narrative is Dorothea Brooke, a thoughtful and idealistic young woman determined to make a difference with her life. Enamored of a man she believes is setting this example, she traps herself into a loveless marriage. Her parallel is Tertius Lydgate, a young doctor from the city whose passionate ambition to spread the new science of medicine is complicated by his love for the wrong woman.

Epic in scope and unsurpassed in its study of human nature, Middlemarch is one of the greatest works of world literature.

Listen to the classics: peruse our full list of titles by George Eliot.

(P)1994 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"One of the few English novels written for grown-up people." (Virginia Woolf)
"One of the most profound, wise, and absorbing of English novels...and above all, truthful and forgiving about human behavior." (Hermione Lee)
"No Victorian novel approaches Middlemarch in its width of reference, its intellectual power, or the imperturbable spaciousness of its narrative....No writer has ever represented the ambiguities of moral choice so fully." (V.S. Pritchett)

Yawn

Far too long. Not a bad story, but it's just too long. Struggled to finish. Got to about chapter 60 then I had to stop. May come back to it, but ugh

Splendidly read

The narrator is splendid in reading period dramas. The characters come alive and we can really enter in to the unfolding story as a present but unseen observer.

Money money money

This book is about money: who has money, who needs money, who can marry into money, who’s giving away money, who can earn money, who can loan money, who has ill gotten money... and on and on. Life must have been a real bore in the early 1800s England. I just can’t find any redeeming qualities in any of the characters except for the Garth family. The rest are pompous twats.

The performance was very well done.

Be Careful for What You Wish

Nadia May is the performer; does one have to say more to indicate the level of excellence of this audio version of this splendid book? She obviously does her homework in order to make the nuances of character and plot alive to the listener. My first encounter with Ms. May happened to be with my first audio book cd, "Pride and Prejudice" from Blackstone Audio. She has an expressive voice which gently nudges the listener to hear details which would go right past a rock headed lump like me.

This is an odd book. Except for Dorothea's little sister, all the characters know exactly what they want and how to get it. They plotted, planned and got it. Then were miserable which goes to prove the wisdom of the fortune teller's advice in "Rude Awakening of a Jane Addict", "Thinking is over rated, humans do entirely too much of it." If we had a fortune teller in this book, she would also advise humans not to always believe their lying eyes. Little sis on the other hand, feather brained creature that she was, happily took Dorothea's cast off suitor, Sir Dull as Dishwater (whatever his name), had a baby with all proper decorum and was ecstatically happy with no planning or thinking at all. Life is just not fair!

Often, I wonder if the will forbidding Dorothea to marry Will which plays such a central role in Middlemarch was inspired by an actual incident involving Charlotte Bronte's brother and the wife of his employer related in her letters and recorded in Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Bronte.

Here is gratuitous advice. If you are new to this pre World War I style of writing, give it time. This is a time before birth control, antibiotics, internet, breaking news and not least, audio books. What would our value system be if based on pre-WWI facts?

Stick It Out To Part 3!

I have to admit I almost gave up on this book and based on the first half, it would be likely a 1 star. The first half is 90% introduction and description of a million characters (some of which prove extraneous) but the plot really picks up in the second half and makes it worth the wait! Since the book is about the lives of people in the town of Middlemarch, it has a much greater number of characters than a typical English classic. If you can make it through the first half, the second half is a 5 star...if you ignore the narration.

The narrator isn't the greatest. There are long pauses between just about every sentence (I'm assuming from recording one sentence at a time) and definitely mispronounces some words. Sometimes you can hear the editing break mid-sentence and occasionally the phone ringing in the background. I'd gotten used to these annoyances by the time the book picked up in Part 3, but this is definitely the worst narration I've listened to so far. I recommend the book overall, but not to anyone who can't get past a bad narration.

Great story

The story is epic. This narrator, however, leaves this title lack luster. Find another narrator and this story transports accordingly.

The Best of The Best

Middlemarch offers entry into the intimate lives of inhabitants of a small English town during 1820-1822. Nadia May is the PERFECT narrator for this and other books by the remarkable writer, George Eliot, a woman who defied conventions in her own time. Middlemarch incorporates views of the time but also mocks the elitist attitudes of English upper classes. By the time she wrote her last novel, Daniel Deronda, she had moved far beyond the pervasive class and anti-Semitic portrayals of the time.

Middlemarch

I love this novel. Nadia May’s reading of it is wonderful and a pleasure to listen to.

Human nature revealed in all its complexity

This book is what audiobooks are for - so many vivid characters brought wonderfully to life by a fine narrator. I couldn't believe she could have so many distinct voices, some of which are quite funny, and keep true to them all through this long book. Fantastic writing, wonderful insights into the human condition in all its grand, foolish, endearing and enraging complexity. This was my first Eliot novel and I look forward to listening to more. I also want to hear more books with this narrator. First rate.

Truly wonderful

This was the first novel I'd "read" of George Eliot's. What a prodiguously talented writer. I enjoyed the story, and considering my short attention span I managed to stay fulling engaged despite the profusion of detail that I suspect "is Eliot". The narrator was just as prodiguously excellent--I stood up and gave her a standing ovation at the end :).

I recommend this listen.