Customer Reviews

Silas Marner

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Most of us, at some time during out late elementary school years, are given the vaunted task of reading and reporting on the text entitled 'Silas Marner'. I know I was! And I also know that, because of my age at the time of the assignment, I got little, if anything, from the reading of it. What a dire shame! This beautiful tale is literally filled with credos on how to live a quality and meaningful life! But we, being mere immature elementary students at the time, had most of these teachings allude us completely.

'Silas Marner' truly is a literary classic. The author brings to light the life areas of deceit, mistrust, bribery, greed, and eventual unrepentant love through a set of intermingled and memorable characters. Her style is very similar to that of Dickens insomuch that there is not only a riveting plotline that weaves its way throughout the book but a series of side adjuncts which not only give us a firmer grasp of the life and times of a small town but the inequalities that are caused through its income and social disparities.

Take the time, as I did, now that you are an adult to grasp the life-teaching tale that our 8th grade teacher so desperately wanted us to glean from this classic novel. It is worth the journey back to a long forgotten academic assignment......

This book is considered a true classic. The story about a miser who was driven from his original home by false acusations to end up as a miserable weaver in a new town. His life changes when he finds a foundling and begins to care for her. It turns out the girl is the daughter of landed gentry who now want her and Silas does not to give her back. The story is not bad, but I do not understand why it is such a classic. I must be missing something because it was originally written in 1861. It is possible I am missing the forest for the trees in this case. It is a fast read and it is not a bad book by any definition.

Tyndale continues to excel in the radio drama presentation of classic stories. The sound effects and vocal presentations were right on, conveying the emotion and pathos of this enduring classic. Well done!

I will not attempt to recount the happenings of this story, as many other reviewers have already done so, but I did want to say that I enjoyed Silas Marner greatly.

The first George Eliot book I read was The Mill on the Floss, and while that book did present some characters I found interesting, I was extremely disappointed in the tragic and depressing ending. Silas Marner, on the other hand, while it does contain some tragic events, turns around in the second half of the book as things gradually start to go better for Silas, and the ending of the book is satisfying and happy.

I found the relationship between Silas and the young Eppie to be the most heartwarming and enjoyable part of the book. I also enjoyed the conversations Silas had with his simple-minded yet warmhearted neighbour, Dolly. In a way, this book was unusual for a Victorian novel (at least compared to those others I have read) because it dealt with a variety of kinds of human relationships, rather than the male-female romantic relationship that we see more commonly.

Another strong point of this book is its length--unlike many Victorian novels, which are difficult to get through, this book can easily be read through in a few days.

In all, I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in trying out a book by George Eliot. It's much more enjoyable than The Mill on the Floss, although I can't speak for Middlemarch as I haven't read it yet.

George Eliot, born Marian Evans in 1819, spent most of her early life in rural Warwickshire. This early upbringing is apparent from her easy comfort in writing about country settings, with attention to detail and niceties that a born-Londoner would generally not be able to provide. Eliot's life was not that of the typical Victorian lady; she worked in publishing, including periodicals, translations, and writing her own fiction. Eliot led a 'colourful' life; living in a common-law marriage with Lewes, a man who left his wife and children for her, she then married after his death a man twenty years her junior, only to die eight months later.

Silas is a weaver, a rather grumpy and sour man, whose primary occupation and avocation is the making of money. He is an outsider in Raveloe, having been driven from his earlier community under the false accusation of theft, an accusation that also cost him his engagement to his beloved, and left him with little faith in human nature, particularly that of the church-ly humans.

The high society in Raveloe reached the pinnacle in the Cass family. Squire Cass had two sons, Godfrey and Dunstan, each his own unique form of scoundrel. Godfrey, who had an illicit marriage to a local barmaid Molly, is being blackmailed by his spendthrift brother Dunstan. Alas, Godfrey is expected to marry another, Nancy Lammeter, daughter of another society family. Godfrey attempts to buy off Dunstan with his horse, Wildfire, and during a journey to sell the horse Dunstan accidentally injures and kills Wildfire.

Dunstan is stranded in the countryside, but sees light from a cottage -- the home of Silas Marner, reputed after fifteen years of weaving and miserly activity of having accumulated a large stash. He steals the bags of money he finds in the deserted cottage, and disappears into the night.

Silas reports the theft, but is unaided. He is heartbroken, for his life's purpose has been the accumulation of this wealth. No one seems to make the connexion between the lost money and the disappearance of Dunstan (one flaw in the novel, in my opinion). Silas gradually recovers from this blow, and the people of Raveloe begin for the first time to see him in terms of friendship.

At a Christmas party, the Cass family is in full celebration, for the upcoming marriage of Godfrey and Nancy. However, Nancy is not pleased, given Godfrey's reputation. Later in the holiday season, Molly makes her way to the Cass estate and confronts Godfrey with a two-year-old daughter in tow. Upon her return from the estate, she falls and dies in a drunken, drug-induced stupor, and the child wanders through the snow to the cottage of Silas. Silas lays claim to the golden-haired child, and Godfrey is relieved to be free from Molly and paternity.

Sixteen years pass, and we come to meet a very different Silas, one who is now a truly human being, who is loved, and has an object of love in his daughter Eppie. Eppie is in fact about to be wed to the nice Aaron Winthrop. Godfrey and Nancy, however, have had a loveless and childless marriage.

Things develop rapidly near the end of the novel. A pond near Silas' cottage is drained, and the remains of Dunstand with two bags of gold coins is found. Godfrey feels compelled to tell his wife now everything, how Dunstan dishonoured the family, how he (Godfrey) was being blackmailed, and admits his paternity of Eppie. Nancy is strangely tolerant -- she only complains of not having been told sooner. They decide to demand that Eppie be returned to them.

In a beautiful scene of compassion and love, Eppie, given the free choice of deciding between Silas and connexion with the noble Cass family, opts for the man who was her true father, and chooses to remain with Silas.

Later, Silas and Eppie revisit Lantern Yard, from which Silas was expelled so many years before. Here in no longer the old church, his old home, or his old friends -- all has changed; life has gone on. The old place is dirty and noisy by comparison to the serene Raveloe. The question of Silas' guilt or innocence cannot be resolved, but then, is no longer a question of concern for anyone in either place. Eppie then marries Aaron, in a wedding paid for by Godfrey, who cannot attend due to business, and Eppie declares in the end that 'nobody could be happier than we are.'

Elliot intended to show that misfortune can lead to greater things, and provided a typical Victorian happy ending.

This novel has been a traditional one assigned to students of secondary school age for decades now; it is a classic, fairly simple in construction and vocabulary, and brings up the timeless themes of good, evil, fate, and has a wide range of characters who change over time. Alas, many school-age readers come away cold, often determined never to read another novel again, as it is presented poorly and not put in a more modern context which students will more readily understand. But, it remains a good story, and a fine representative of the Victorian novel.

I'm sure there are other good versions of Silas Marner available on CD or audiotape, but I must express my admiration for the reading by Andrew Sachs in an excellent unabrdiged edition of this Victorian classic. I was perhaps fortunate that I was not forced to read this book in high school when I might have found it a chore, so I approached the story with an open mind. Sachs manages beautifully to convey the inner life of Eliot's characters through his acting talent and his choices of slightly differing voices for each individual. A great reading of a great novel.

This is an odd little book, but it's a good one. It's odd because the famous story of the old miser who is redeemed by taking in an angelic little girl to raise doesn't really even begin until half-way through the novel. This was definitely a surprise to me, but it wasn't a bad one. It ends up that there is a lot more to this novel than I thought there would be. In that first half of the novel, George Eliot brilliantly elucidates the fallen nature of both Silas Marner and the community. They're are revealed to be such selfish and sinful people. They are all in the throws of despair, lamenting their plight as humans and questioning a God who placed them in their lives. Eliot is really wonderful at capturing the need of each individual for redemption and also that need in the community as a whole. The individuals are criticized as is the unfair societal structure. Into this fallen world comes the angelic Eppie, and that's when the story really picks up. Eppie is the catalyst of grace offering redemption to Silas and the rest of the community.

Silas Marner is really an extraordinary little novel. It's a thoroughly enjoyable book (especially after you get through the first half) with a lot of valid criticism and some hope. It's a really beautiful little classic.

Reviews of this novel, seem to fall into three categories: those written by people who like to read great literature; those written by people who would prefer to read brain candy; and those written students forced to read the novel as a class assignment and,in some cases, would prefer not to read anything (if the third category is discarded, the average rating is much higher).

One of the most remarkable things about this novel is the fact it was written by a woman, using a male pen name, in 19th century England when women were generally oppressed, i.e., they were not encouraged to have careers or to do anything outside the home. The story is well known. A man who blacks out during seizures, not remembering what happened, is falsely accused of theft of money from his church. He is shunned by his former friends and becomes a recluse. When he is later robbed of his savings, and an abandoned child appears on his doorstep in place of the gold, his life is changed as he takes responsibility for the child.

This is classic literature from that time period, and is most certainly easier to read than many other novels from the same period (students should consider themselves fortunate that they were not assigned to read one of Thomas Hardy's novels). I first became acquainted with the novel when it was assigned reading in a high school English class. That was over 50 years ago, and the story is one that has stuck in my mind.

Long ago George Eliot breathed some life into these characters and their world of Raveloe, and if you look in on that place and time through the words on these pages, you'll find that things are still very vibrant there today. "Silas Marner" lives on because of the outstanding prose style and moral connundrums Eliot lays down as the foundation of her story.

Her descriptions of people and places are so beautiful, her command of language so complete, and her style so refreshing, that it makes the world these people inhabit seem more alive and real than the worlds other authors attempt to spin. Her dialogue occasionly lets slip a touch of upper class pride, but overall her characters are expertly drawn, well filled out, and entertaining.

The moral underpinnings of the story make it seem like a fable almost, but Eliot fortunately leaves final judgement of her characters up to the reader. Seeing Silas vindicated after so much going wrong for him made this worth the read for me. Despite some of the harsh realities of the class differences depicted, it is pleasant to watch the goings on in a small English town and to see Silas Marner at last catch some breaks and come into his own as a person. Even if it's a little unrealistic, heck, it's a novel so that's part of the fun.

The choices we make for ourselves only determine part of our fate, Eliot seems to say with this story. Other things are not up to us, and those happen to us independent of any choices we make. I enjoyed pondering my own fate that way, through the lens of the little world of Raveloe. For such a short book, "Silas Marner" packs a lot of power in both language and meaning. This was my introduction to the work of George Eliot, and now I look forward to reading some of her other works.

I've just spent the day reading this book. It's one of those stories that unexpectedly warms the soul and grips the heart.

The plot is simple: Silas Marner, a naive young weaver, is betrayed by his best friend. Deeply hurt, he leaves his home for a village where he cares for no one and has no connections. He becomes increasingly reclusive, focusing only on the his weavings and the gold they'll bring. Like Ebenezer Scrooge, Silas covets his gold until it's the only thing he's living for. And then the gold is stolen.

It takes a miracle for the gold to come back in the form of a fair-haired, trusting little girl whom Silas names Eppie. Once, the gold robbed Silas Marner of the outside world; now, it comes back to help him reclaim his joy.

I'm fifteen years old and will remember this story for the hopeful message it builds up, but I know anyone be uplifted when they get to know Silas and Eppie.