Thursday, October 16, 2008

Silas Marner (book review)

From the desk of The Movie Snob

Silas Marner, by George Eliot. I was looking around the house for something new to read, and I decided to give this book a try. I had bought it on sale for a dollar in a hard-cover "Borders Classics" edition, and it wasn't too daunting in size (171 pages). And I had never read George Eliot before. Anyway, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I quite enjoyed it. It is a simple tale about a mysterious fellow named Silas Marner, a young weaver who has moved to the little English village of Raveloe around 1800. He keeps to himself in his little cottage outside of town, and the villagers talk about his odd ways but send him enough work for him to live. Meanwhile, the son of one of Raveloe's leading citizens is hiding a secret that prevents him from marrying the woman he loves. And from there the tale unfolds very nicely. Why is Marner such an odd, solitary fellow? Can anything draw him out into the world of human relationships again? What will become of the tormented son of the forbidding Squire Cass? I kept turning the pages because I wanted to know, and I felt satisfied at the end of the tale. I recommend it.

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