Daniel Deronda
Dec. 6th, 2005 08:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eiriasI just finished reading Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (1876). Definitely my favorite of my library book pile so far.
Though it seems odd to speak in this way of anything so old, I should probably cut for spoilers.
Things I liked about the book:
1) It displays much contempt for "respectable" marriage matches and a higher regard for those unexpected by society.
2) One of its big moral messages is, "Jews are A-OK!"
3) Another moral message: keeping your upperclass women hog-tied, bored, and with no purpose greater than Pleasing A Man is a great way to encourage moral degeneracy.
4) You're supposed to like most of the characters, but nevertheless most of them have the capacity to be really stupid and annoying about something. Also, there are some you're not supposed to like who nevertheless have some damn good points. Just like real life.
Things I didn't like so much:
1) In its fervor for acceptance of Judaism it nevertheless manages to put forward an awful lot of stereotypes about Jews, revolving largely around money. True, none of the three Jewish characters you're supposed to identify with follows the stereotype, but a disturbing number of the rest do.
2) In a similar vein, if Jews are so A-OK, why was it necessary to contrive that the main character suddenly and unexpectedly be one (through some rather convoluted plot devices) in order for it to be acceptable that he marries one?
3) Too much emphasis on women as special purveyors of empathy. Natural aptitude my ass; a number of the nastier people I've encountered in my life have been women.
4) The heroine sucked as a person, but that was by design and was part of what made the book worth reading. On the other hand, the other female protagonist didn't have much to recommend her other than beauty and too-perfect kindness. Enh. There are less annoying women in the book, just not as main characters.
Well, anyway, if you like nineteenth-century fiction I think it's worth reading. Pretty long, too (my edition is 600+ pp), so it'll keep you busy for a little while.
Though it seems odd to speak in this way of anything so old, I should probably cut for spoilers.
Things I liked about the book:
1) It displays much contempt for "respectable" marriage matches and a higher regard for those unexpected by society.
2) One of its big moral messages is, "Jews are A-OK!"
3) Another moral message: keeping your upperclass women hog-tied, bored, and with no purpose greater than Pleasing A Man is a great way to encourage moral degeneracy.
4) You're supposed to like most of the characters, but nevertheless most of them have the capacity to be really stupid and annoying about something. Also, there are some you're not supposed to like who nevertheless have some damn good points. Just like real life.
Things I didn't like so much:
1) In its fervor for acceptance of Judaism it nevertheless manages to put forward an awful lot of stereotypes about Jews, revolving largely around money. True, none of the three Jewish characters you're supposed to identify with follows the stereotype, but a disturbing number of the rest do.
2) In a similar vein, if Jews are so A-OK, why was it necessary to contrive that the main character suddenly and unexpectedly be one (through some rather convoluted plot devices) in order for it to be acceptable that he marries one?
3) Too much emphasis on women as special purveyors of empathy. Natural aptitude my ass; a number of the nastier people I've encountered in my life have been women.
4) The heroine sucked as a person, but that was by design and was part of what made the book worth reading. On the other hand, the other female protagonist didn't have much to recommend her other than beauty and too-perfect kindness. Enh. There are less annoying women in the book, just not as main characters.
Well, anyway, if you like nineteenth-century fiction I think it's worth reading. Pretty long, too (my edition is 600+ pp), so it'll keep you busy for a little while.