Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Silas Marner by George Eliot ~~ Book Review


I've had a copy of George Eliot's Silas Marner on my TBR shelf for several years now. Had I known what a treasure I was allowing to sit there lonely for so much time, I would have read it long ago! The story of Silas and Eppie is a sweet one and I know I'll enjoy this short novel again and again in years to come.

Book Description: "Although the shortest of George Eliot's novels, Silas Marner is one of her most admired and loved works. It tells the sad story of the unjustly exiled Silas Marner---a handloom linen weaver of Raveloe in the agricultural heartland of England---and how he is restored to life by the unlikely means of the orphan child Eppie. Silas Marner is a tender and moving tale of sin and repentance set in a vanished rural world and holds the reader's attention until the last page as Eppie's bonds of affection for Silas are put to the test."

There are so many great themes in this little 160 page book. Unforgiveness and redemption, innocence and the importance of honesty. I think my favorite lesson in Silas Marner is one that all of the characters learn in one way or another: just because things don't end up the way you wish they would, doesn't mean you can't still have a happy ending. Sometimes the the way things become "resolved" is by us accepting the fact that they're not able to be resolved. Accepting that and moving forward in joy is how we can truly be free from the things in our past that would want to bind us and hold us back. I have a feeling I'll take away a fresh meaning every time I read this delightful tale of Silas Marner and the people of Raveloe.

Silas Marner will be included in my goals toward these challenges:
Full House Challenge: "Novella"
Roof Beam Reader's TBR Challenge (this is #8 on my list)
New to You Challenge: New Author
For more information on the challenges I've joined this year, see my post, Reading Challenges.


6 comments:

  1. Nice review. It sounds like something I would enjoy.

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  2. I read that book about ten years ago, and enjoyed it far more than I expected from the short excerpt in my high school English class. Here is my review on Bookcrossing.com

    "I had read an excerpt of this book in high school, and was very unimpressed. I had no desire to read the book at all, judging from that particular excerpt (Silas in his cottage, counting his gold). This book is a gem! I am sorry I waited so long to read it. I have no idea why the editors of my high school literature textbook chose that particular passage - there are many much more interesting ones, that might whet one's appetite for reading more. I didn't give it a perfect 10, because there were left some unanswered questions about the mystery of Silas' past, and of Godfrey's relationship with Molly. But, maybe that's part of the charm - the reader supplies her or his own answers." http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/2333215/
    I don't have that book anymore, but if I find another copy, I'll read it again.

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  3. That was my favorite book in the required reading for high school!

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  4. We love this book and study it in our homeschool.

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  5. Sounds like a good book. Thanks for sharing over at the Snickerdoodle Sunday!

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  6. Thanks for sharing this book review at Good Morning Mondays, I haven't read this book yet but I think it is on the book shelves. I am going to search it out and give it a go. Blessings to you and yours.

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