That eyeshadow! 😍 I also find the concept of classic novels that were historical fiction at the time of publication super interesting! It’s fun to be reminded that 19th century (and earlier) readers liked historical fiction too. I loved A Tale of Two Cities when I read it earlier this year and I found it really interesting to read in the footnotes about which accounts Dickens drew his facts or stories from.
What a wonderful review! Just recently finished the book as a book club read and I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it. Eppie and Silas, and Mrs. Dolly are such wonderful characters! Loved the way you pointed the historical aspect of the book, upon industrialism, that moment where Silas was revisiting his native land. Just subscribed and would like to see more of your videos! : ) Cheers.
I love hearing your insights about this book! I haven't read this one yet, but I have read some other books from George Eliot and they are always meaningful and deep, but also heavy to slog through. I never quite enjoy her books while I'm reading them, but I'm always glad that I read them once I'm done.
I read “Silas Marner” several decades ago. Until now it never occurred to me to re-read it. I enjoyed it at the time but I think I would appreciate it in a much more layered way now after hearing your great review. It’s interesting that a weaver would settle in a village called “Raveloe”. Ravel can be an undoing or in turn, it can be weaving together. 🧐 so interesting.
I'm glad that you're doing book reviews. I heard somewhere they're not as popular lately, and I think they're so important for a booktube channel. I film won yesterday oh, but I didn't have notes so I forgot to say some important things and not sure if I should do it over or not. When I watched your review of Silas Marner I felt very inadequate LOL. If you have any tips 4 fellow booktubers, I'd appreciate it. I don't think I'd like Silas Marner though the story sounds very familiar. What turns me off is not feeling close to the story all the character. That happens to me while reading memoir. Some authors are so careful not to sounds self-pitying that they keep themselves away from the reader. I found that tendency in the book educated which was highly lauded. I didn't care for that book because I couldn't care for the character even though she suffered. I think that's what you're saying about Silas Marner in a way, correct me if I'm wrong. Keep on doing reviews. It's much appreciated. Aloha
Yeah, Silas Marner feels more distant from its protagonist than for example a Charlotte Bronte novel, so it might not be for you if you know you don't get on with those types of stories. It is true that reviews get about half the amount of views compared to other videos. It's unfortunate, because I put the same amount of effort into a review video, but of course not everyone will want to hear about this specific book. I try not to get too worried about the form of my reviews, meaning, I don't always start with a summary and then pros and cons. I do script my reviews, so I don't forget to talk about certain things when I record. When I script them, I simply write down everything I want to say about a book without a specific structure, and that works for me. But other reviewers prefer to do highly structured reviews that follow a specific outline and that works for them. I think it's just a question of playing around with the format.
@@SpinstersLibrary Hi Claudia, thanks for the tips. I think book reviews are very important on Book tube and should be Appreciated more. Are used to write reviews of books I loved and hated on Amazon and good reads for no reason at all except the book touched me in some way. I Watch all your videos because I learned some thing in everyone. Aloha
I haven't read anything from George Eliot yet but I really like the sound of the plot of this! Class and the industrial revolution, very up my street. Love the eyeshadow too!
Thank you! I think you would enjoy the book if you like reading about industrialisation, but bear in mind that it is mainly a rural setting so the effects are really more felt from a distance.
Namaste Claudia🥰Loved your book review & your eye makeup really brings out the cool brightness of your eyes.Loved this look as well! I'll be reading George Eliott and Elizabeth Gaskell from Victorian era all throughout next year .Have a few books of her but did not venture into them this Victober but will definitely be reading this work- anything with fantasy and realism 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰💞💞💞👍👍👍
I've just read this. I really enjoyed it I did struggle a bit with the slang at times however I could still more or less understand what was being said. I've got middlemarch next I think that's going to be a daunting task!!!
I really appreciate this review. I've had Middlemarch on my list forever and have never managed to slag through it. I think if I commit to at least the first 50 pages like you did, I can do it. Also, LOVE your cat! :-)
I still remember the name silas marner as a miser since my high school english class. I started this vid based on that name that I had in my head. I got to the part where little girl came to his door. I stopped the vid. I am going to go back and read silas. Then I can come back to this vid. I can't have this vid spoiler.
George Eliot is underrated. I am 50 years old and often reflect of how much the world has changed in that time. You make some other great observations about this book, which I must now add to my list of books to read again. Thank you 😊
Hi, Claudia, thank you for sharing! I’ll have to look, where my SILAS MARNER went, after I completed (you guess it) about 50 pages😂... I kind of liked it, but wasn’t too deep into it and became distracted by other more inviting books, which happens quite often. By the way: my young age was in the 1970s, and I only had my German teachers for discussions about books...no interest in my sourounding, but a quite small library in a very small town gave me enough food... Looking forward to read this intriguing plot fully. Happy reading, Monika❣️
The first 50 pages are really not that inviting, and like you, I put it away the first time around because it just didn't keep my attention. Worth sticking with though.
The way is was written was perhaps planned to bring the reader through the drabness of the main character's life. Then the contrast with the last half becomes even more significant to the reader.
The representation of dialect is an interesting question. How people in different areas of the UK speak has changed enormously in the last two hundred years. The impact of radio, film and television as well as mass education and greater movement has been profound in homogenising how we speak. Is it wrong for a novelist to try to represent local forms of speech? Although it reads quite oddly to us now and can seem patronising perhaps.
Of course language has changed over the centuries, and I don't mind when authors try to represent dialects in their writing - but Victorian authors are spectacularly bad at it. Hard to explain what I find so grating about how they go about it, but it always reads bad and, even when you try to read it out loud, doesn't sound natural at all.
@@SpinstersLibrary But are you sure her rendering of the dialect is inaccurate? Given that she grew up in the Midlands in the early 19th century, I would have thought that she would have had a good idea of what the dialect was like. I always got the impression that she drew on the memories of her childhood and early adulthood when writing books like Silas Marner and Adam Bede.
As a second-language English speaker, I wouldn't presume to judge on the accuracy or authenticity of the dialects. I am criticising the way she translated those spoken dialects into writing. Here's an example from the book: "there's allays two 'pinions; there's the 'pinion a man has of himsen, and there's the 'pinion other folks have on him." Read it out loud, it just doesn't sound natural. She tries too hard to capture those dialects which makes them read like an exaggerated parody.
@@SpinstersLibrary I think this reflects a general problem with writing dialects - they are often spoken languages more than written ones. These characters, or at any rate those of them who could write, would probably have written in something closer to standard English. But if you wrote their speech like that you would lose the dialect. Therefore, with no clear standard as how the dialect should be written, writers are left to attempt phonetic renderings (which is what I assume Eliot is doing - and I certainly don't think she is intending to parody them). Certainly the sentence you have quoted does not sound natural to those of us who are not used to the dialect of the time and place, but perhaps it would to those who were.
Silas Marner is my favourite of the books I've read by George Eliot (the others being Middlemarch and The Mill on The Floss). It does have certain fairytale elements as you point out. I don't think I was aware of it as a historical novel when I read it, as my mind lumped all the 19th century together, now having read more I appreciate a big difference between the beginning, the middle and the end of the century. Thank you for another interesting video.
I'm halfway through Silas Marner & last night I thought I would set it aside for another time. But after watching this video I'm going to stick with it. I enjoyed Middlemarch. Thank you so much for this video. Plus your cat is beautiful & I love the name :)
I watched the tv film adaptation of Silas Marner, with Ben Kingsley playing Silas Marner. And I was thinking the same thing. The accents of the actors playing the characters from the village of Raveloe sound nothing like the people I’ve heard speak from the midlands. Ben Kingsley is a Yorkshireman and so is the title character, so definitely he got the accent right. Another thing I’ve noticed over the years is that there are plenty of stories turned into tv shows from England, that focus on the North of England (Mainly the Northwest)., the South of England (mainly the Southeast) and the West Country (The furthest south). But there is never any story that really focuses on the midlands, and that’s a real shame!
It happens in either Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice too... How come the third-person narrator turns into a first-person narrator on occasion? Weird. Thank you for this very interesting video. I can appreciate Master Marner's exasperation at having to tell his story to everyone and then being at their mercy, so to speak, until he can find his money and return to his reclusion.
lol i am 50 yrs old! lol and yes no computers abd cell phones but there were books to read. and i was a kid in the 70's. and most people who are hooked on computers and cell phones are not millienals, my age group! lol but there were a lot of books to choose from and even the banned books that you can read were readable. but times have changed and so does reading as well. but classics will always be classics. :) i have a few of George Eliot's books, but not Silas Mariner. i think i will go and buy it and read it thank you for the good outline of the book. :)
Eliot was in her early 40s when she published Silas Marner, so she was writing about a time just before she remembered, which probably adds to the slight romanticising and general mystique in the way she describes the early 19th century.
This plot sounds great! I really enjoyed The Mill on the Floss and Middlemarch, so I assume this would be at least a 4 star book for me. Thanks for the thorough review.
@@SpinstersLibrary Well, since you liked the historical fiction aspect of Silas Marner, I'd suggest Middlemarch - it takes place about 40 years before its publication year, and if I remember correctly, focuses quite a bit on what was socially and politically important at the time. The Mill on the Floss I remember as being more insular, not incorporating those bigger themes into the plot and lives of the characters as much. I also remember enjoying the characters in Middlemarch quite a bit more! I think I didn't like heroine in The Mill on the Floss. It's been several years since I read these, though, which is why I'm a bit short on details (2015 for Middlemarch, 2011 for The Mill).
Great review, though i missed in your review the mention of Godfrey and Nancy who were besides Silas the main characters in the book. I liked the book, i liked it`s cleverness and it`s frequent changes of perspectives, though i couldn`t catch Silas`character.
![Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy | Book Review [CC]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JTZOz8THCZc/mqdefault.jpg)
That eyeshadow! 😍
I also find the concept of classic novels that were historical fiction at the time of publication super interesting! It’s fun to be reminded that 19th century (and earlier) readers liked historical fiction too.
I loved A Tale of Two Cities when I read it earlier this year and I found it really interesting to read in the footnotes about which accounts Dickens drew his facts or stories from.
Not book related but had to say: Love that eyeshadow look 🥰 makes your eyes stand out beautifully 😉
Thank you ❤️
What a wonderful review! Just recently finished the book as a book club read and I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it. Eppie and Silas, and Mrs. Dolly are such wonderful characters! Loved the way you pointed the historical aspect of the book, upon industrialism, that moment where Silas was revisiting his native land. Just subscribed and would like to see more of your videos! : ) Cheers.
I love hearing your insights about this book! I haven't read this one yet, but I have read some other books from George Eliot and they are always meaningful and deep, but also heavy to slog through. I never quite enjoy her books while I'm reading them, but I'm always glad that I read them once I'm done.
Thank you! I'm looking forward to reading more of her works, even if, like you said, they're not exactly page-turners
I read “Silas Marner” several decades ago. Until now it never occurred to me to re-read it. I enjoyed it at the time but I think I would appreciate it in a much more layered way now after hearing your great review. It’s interesting that a weaver would settle in a village called “Raveloe”. Ravel can be an undoing or in turn, it can be weaving together. 🧐 so interesting.
Great observation, I hadn't thought about the meaning of the name at all! Adds to the fairy tale aspect
My friend Dave has written a musical based on Silas Marner :D
Sounds fun!
I'm glad that you're doing book reviews. I heard somewhere they're not as popular lately, and I think they're so important for a booktube channel. I film won yesterday oh, but I didn't have notes so I forgot to say some important things and not sure if I should do it over or not. When I watched your review of Silas Marner I felt very inadequate LOL. If you have any tips 4 fellow booktubers, I'd appreciate it. I don't think I'd like Silas Marner though the story sounds very familiar. What turns me off is not feeling close to the story all the character. That happens to me while reading memoir. Some authors are so careful not to sounds self-pitying that they keep themselves away from the reader. I found that tendency in the book educated which was highly lauded. I didn't care for that book because I couldn't care for the character even though she suffered. I think that's what you're saying about Silas Marner in a way, correct me if I'm wrong. Keep on doing reviews. It's much appreciated. Aloha
Yeah, Silas Marner feels more distant from its protagonist than for example a Charlotte Bronte novel, so it might not be for you if you know you don't get on with those types of stories.
It is true that reviews get about half the amount of views compared to other videos. It's unfortunate, because I put the same amount of effort into a review video, but of course not everyone will want to hear about this specific book. I try not to get too worried about the form of my reviews, meaning, I don't always start with a summary and then pros and cons. I do script my reviews, so I don't forget to talk about certain things when I record. When I script them, I simply write down everything I want to say about a book without a specific structure, and that works for me. But other reviewers prefer to do highly structured reviews that follow a specific outline and that works for them. I think it's just a question of playing around with the format.
@@SpinstersLibrary Hi Claudia, thanks for the tips. I think book reviews are very important on Book tube and should be Appreciated more. Are used to write reviews of books I loved and hated on Amazon and good reads for no reason at all except the book touched me in some way. I Watch all your videos because I learned some thing in everyone. Aloha
I haven't read anything from George Eliot yet but I really like the sound of the plot of this! Class and the industrial revolution, very up my street.
Love the eyeshadow too!
Thank you! I think you would enjoy the book if you like reading about industrialisation, but bear in mind that it is mainly a rural setting so the effects are really more felt from a distance.
Thank you for this video. You are very clear and I really appreciate the way you speak! Cheers from Italy
Namaste Claudia🥰Loved your book review & your eye makeup really brings out the cool brightness of your eyes.Loved this look as well! I'll be reading George Eliott and Elizabeth Gaskell from Victorian era all throughout next year .Have a few books of her but did not venture into them this Victober but will definitely be reading this work- anything with fantasy and realism 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰💞💞💞👍👍👍
Hope you enjoy them when you get to them! I definitely plan to read more George Eliot in the future
I've just read this. I really enjoyed it I did struggle a bit with the slang at times however I could still more or less understand what was being said. I've got middlemarch next I think that's going to be a daunting task!!!
I really appreciate this review. I've had Middlemarch on my list forever and have never managed to slag through it. I think if I commit to at least the first 50 pages like you did, I can do it. Also, LOVE your cat! :-)
Thank you, I love her too even when she insists on making every video about her 😂
I had heard of Middlemarch before but not Silas Marner! Great review, will definitely be checking it out :)
I hadn't heard of it either before I found this copy in a charity shop last year - one of her more obscure works, I think
I still remember the name silas marner as a miser since my high school english class. I started this vid based on that name that I had in my head. I got to the part where little girl came to his door. I stopped the vid. I am going to go back and read silas. Then I can come back to this vid. I can't have this vid spoiler.
George Eliot is underrated. I am 50 years old and often reflect of how much the world has changed in that time. You make some other great observations about this book, which I must now add to my list of books to read again. Thank you 😊
Hi, Claudia, thank you for sharing! I’ll have to look, where my SILAS MARNER went, after I completed (you guess it) about 50 pages😂... I kind of liked it, but wasn’t too deep into it and became distracted by other more inviting books, which happens quite often. By the way: my young age was in the 1970s, and I only had my German teachers for discussions about books...no interest in my sourounding, but a quite small library in a very small town gave me enough food... Looking forward to read this intriguing plot fully. Happy reading, Monika❣️
The first 50 pages are really not that inviting, and like you, I put it away the first time around because it just didn't keep my attention. Worth sticking with though.
This was a great discussion, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
It has a touch of Les Miserables !
The way is was written was perhaps planned to bring the reader through the drabness of the main character's life. Then the contrast with the last half becomes even more significant to the reader.
The representation of dialect is an interesting question. How people in different areas of the UK speak has changed enormously in the last two hundred years. The impact of radio, film and television as well as mass education and greater movement has been profound in homogenising how we speak. Is it wrong for a novelist to try to represent local forms of speech? Although it reads quite oddly to us now and can seem patronising perhaps.
Of course language has changed over the centuries, and I don't mind when authors try to represent dialects in their writing - but Victorian authors are spectacularly bad at it. Hard to explain what I find so grating about how they go about it, but it always reads bad and, even when you try to read it out loud, doesn't sound natural at all.
@@SpinstersLibrary But are you sure her rendering of the dialect is inaccurate? Given that she grew up in the Midlands in the early 19th century, I would have thought that she would have had a good idea of what the dialect was like. I always got the impression that she drew on the memories of her childhood and early adulthood when writing books like Silas Marner and Adam Bede.
As a second-language English speaker, I wouldn't presume to judge on the accuracy or authenticity of the dialects. I am criticising the way she translated those spoken dialects into writing. Here's an example from the book: "there's allays two 'pinions; there's the 'pinion a man has of himsen, and there's the 'pinion other folks have on him." Read it out loud, it just doesn't sound natural. She tries too hard to capture those dialects which makes them read like an exaggerated parody.
@@SpinstersLibrary I think this reflects a general problem with writing dialects - they are often spoken languages more than written ones. These characters, or at any rate those of them who could write, would probably have written in something closer to standard English. But if you wrote their speech like that you would lose the dialect. Therefore, with no clear standard as how the dialect should be written, writers are left to attempt phonetic renderings (which is what I assume Eliot is doing - and I certainly don't think she is intending to parody them). Certainly the sentence you have quoted does not sound natural to those of us who are not used to the dialect of the time and place, but perhaps it would to those who were.
@@SpinstersLibrary yes it is hard to pull it off successfully in print isn't it?
Thanks Spinster
I should definitely give this a reread as an adult, but wheeeeeennnnnn? ;D
So many books, so little time...
Silas Marner is my favourite of the books I've read by George Eliot (the others being Middlemarch and The Mill on The Floss). It does have certain fairytale elements as you point out. I don't think I was aware of it as a historical novel when I read it, as my mind lumped all the 19th century together, now having read more I appreciate a big difference between the beginning, the middle and the end of the century. Thank you for another interesting video.
Thank you! I can see why it's your favourite, there is so much to this little novel
I'm halfway through Silas Marner & last night I thought I would set it aside for another time. But after watching this video I'm going to stick with it. I enjoyed Middlemarch. Thank you so much for this video. Plus your cat is beautiful & I love the name :)
I watched the tv film adaptation of Silas Marner, with Ben Kingsley playing Silas Marner. And I was thinking the same thing. The accents of the actors playing the characters from the village of Raveloe sound nothing like the people I’ve heard speak from the midlands. Ben Kingsley is a Yorkshireman and so is the title character, so definitely he got the accent right. Another thing I’ve noticed over the years is that there are plenty of stories turned into tv shows from England, that focus on the North of England (Mainly the Northwest)., the South of England (mainly the Southeast) and the West Country (The furthest south). But there is never any story that really focuses on the midlands, and that’s a real shame!
Sounds like I should read it!
It happens in either Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice too... How come the third-person narrator turns into a first-person narrator on occasion? Weird. Thank you for this very interesting video. I can appreciate Master Marner's exasperation at having to tell his story to everyone and then being at their mercy, so to speak, until he can find his money and return to his reclusion.
Where are you from?
Germany
lol i am 50 yrs old! lol and yes no computers abd cell phones but there were books to read.
and i was a kid in the 70's. and most people who are hooked on computers and cell phones are not
millienals, my age group! lol but there were a lot of books to choose from and even the banned books
that you can read were readable. but times have changed and so does reading as well. but classics will always be classics. :) i have a few of George Eliot's books, but not Silas Mariner. i think i will go and buy it and read it thank you for the good outline of the book. :)
Eliot was in her early 40s when she published Silas Marner, so she was writing about a time just before she remembered, which probably adds to the slight romanticising and general mystique in the way she describes the early 19th century.
This is a great review video.
And Minerva...cats. Sigh. ❤️
How dare I disrupt her corkboard-scratching-time with my book review 😂
This plot sounds great! I really enjoyed The Mill on the Floss and Middlemarch, so I assume this would be at least a 4 star book for me. Thanks for the thorough review.
Sounds like I might enjoy those two books as well - which one would you recommend to read first?
@@SpinstersLibrary Well, since you liked the historical fiction aspect of Silas Marner, I'd suggest Middlemarch - it takes place about 40 years before its publication year, and if I remember correctly, focuses quite a bit on what was socially and politically important at the time. The Mill on the Floss I remember as being more insular, not incorporating those bigger themes into the plot and lives of the characters as much. I also remember enjoying the characters in Middlemarch quite a bit more! I think I didn't like heroine in The Mill on the Floss. It's been several years since I read these, though, which is why I'm a bit short on details (2015 for Middlemarch, 2011 for The Mill).
Best is Deronda. Felix Holt next.
Great review, though i missed in your review the mention of Godfrey and Nancy who were besides Silas the main characters in the book. I liked the book, i liked it`s cleverness and it`s frequent changes of perspectives, though i couldn`t catch Silas`character.
Yes, I should have spoken about them in the review!