Ah, I saw this on a children's show as a kid and years later decided to read it. Beautiful story--READ THIS!!! I don't want to give away the story, but I love this book.

For the record, I would give this book a 2.5 stars. Now- I considered giving it a 2 star rating to further drive the point home, however the remainder of the books that I have given this rating fall far below Eliot's work. It would be unfair to pair her with the others.

This review will contain mild spoilers.

I found that Eliot relies too greatly on deus ex machina to resolve her plots. Janet's repentance is spurred forth in action truly by Mr Dempster's sudden injury, while Caterina's liberation is far more unexplainable, with the spontaneous death of Wybrow. Perhaps this is a sign of Eliot's inexperience as a writer at the time of publishing these stories, as I truly felt that she was yet to get used to the form which she was trying to master, and how to adequately keep the reader's interest by balancing description with action and plot. It must be acknowledged that these are three separate stories, and I look forward to reading her longer spanning works to decipher if my issue with Eliot so far is merely due to the newness of the short story form to her style, or if I simply dislike her work in general. I found myself suffering through ample sections of these short stories while being bored and not particularly engaged. Amos Barton's story was not especially memorable, and so this is best illustrated by using Janet's repentance as an example. The introduction to Janet took far too long, and I felt bored having been thrust into the anti-Tryanite movement which involved names I did not care for nor had reason to recognise. The introduction of the Linnet’s was similarly purposeless in my opinion, however, Eliot must be credited for her ability to create an abundance of truly three dimensional characters, even if they blur when viewing the bigger picture. Eliot’s humanism can be sourced from her very ability to create lives which surround the central characters, perhaps reducing the importance of each person as a singularity, while still managing to emphasise the unity of human nature as one characterised by waves of suffering and pleasure. Each character is in the grand scheme of things unimportant, yet in the meantime given such complete attention

Eliot flips our first impressions of the triviality of Milby’s inhabitants by calling attention to her preference for the ordinary.

"is there not a pathos in their very insignifcance,-in ourcomparison of their dim and narrow existence with the glorious possibilities of the human nature that they share?"

"I wish to stir your sympathy with commonplace troubles- to win your tears for real sorrow"

This is similarly achieved with Caterina’s comparison to Helen, Dido, Desdemona and Juliet, bringing attention to the little tragedies that Eliot urges us to explore within the three short stories as opposed to the popular, dramatised heroines whose sorrows tend to receive more recognition. This lends itself well to Eliot’s criticism of utilitarianism in Janet’s Repentance,

“absolutely refuses to adopt the quantitative view of human anguish… for angels too there is a transcendent value in human pain, which refuses to be settled by equations…”

This clear subversion of Bentham’s scientific approach to ethics, which prioritises quantity and not quality, elucidates the narrator’s view that human life has intrinsic value. I am not sure yet how this might agree with Eliot’s personal ethical view, and am keen to read her translation of Spinoza’s Ethics to see if this sentiment might overlap with its content. In any case, the value of human life strays within these three novels from a religious one, and diverges into a humanist exploration of the fecundity of our kindness towards other people. Tryan and Janet’s relationship is particularly exemplary of this, their platonic love towards each other is equated to that of a religious force, “of the Divine love that had rescued her, of the human love that waited for its eternal repose”. Eliot’s view here is particularly endearing, and makes Tryan’s death all the more impactful. What contributes to this is Eliot’s conclusion to Tryan’s life, which is not defined so much by his clerical work (although his protection of Janet comes under such duties) but by the mark it has left upon Janet. Tryan does not receive an ornamental grave, “but there is another memorial of Edgar Tryan, which bears a fuller record: it is Janet Dempster.” Barton is similarly consoled by Patty’s resemblance to Milly, through which she lives on. There is an element of pity here- we are fleeting, and as such, our lives and their impacts are constrained to a temporary nature.

A final point of interest for me was Eliot’s subtle criticism of religion, woven into the conflict between the Evangelical and Protestant traditions in Milby. She seems to frown upon church divisions caused by differences in tradition, employing her wit to do so. Eliot’s use of reduction to absurdity was especially filled with irony,

"it is probably that no speculative or theological hatred would be ultimately strong enough to resist the persuasive power of convenience: that a latitudinarian baker... would command the custom of any dyspeptic Puseyite; that an Arminian... would prefer a skilful Calvinistic dentist..."

Religious differences are reduced to consequences of ordinary preferences, emphasised further by Eliot’s revelation of the multifaceted aspects of human nature, "'he is Evangelical and narrow,' 'Latitudinarian and Pantheistic'... that man, in his solitude, is perhaps shedding hot tears because his sacrifice is a hard one". Tryan, though detested throughout Milby, is revealed to Janet as merely a man. It is the centrality of this idea, the prominence of our unity in suffering which pushes us to religion, that ultimately points Eliot into the direction of humanism, or dare I even say- pluralism. "Our subtlest analysis of schools and sects must miss the essential truth, unless it be lit up by the love that sees all forms of human thought and work..." Indeed it is the essential truth which we should pursue, and not the rightness of tradition. I found this idea refreshing and agreeable. However, while Eliot praises the kindness which religion puts into our hearts, she is keen to place the spotlight on its derisiveness, "... selfishness, turning its eyes upward, called itself religion". There is a delicate balance that must be achieved in retaining a loving purpose to religion, the fragility of which undeniably points to Eliot’s disillusionment with religion.


This review in its length undoubtedly gives off the message that I enjoyed this collection of novellas more than I did. I think the morals that Eliot imbued her work with are interesting, but not enough to enjoy sitting through the boredom.

Don't care if this is her first "novel". It is a sublime collection and example of narratives of the humanity of clerics who serve their communities. So much discussion and commentary about religion, the nature of love, the nature of service, humanity, and redemption. Evans has a fascinating history in religious faith and belief; considering her history, this collection is contemplative and beautiful in its portrayal of the reality of faith and the transparency of those who serve. I loved it.

george eliot writes so beautifully but this book was so fucking boring that reading it was like pulling teeth