I thoroughly enjoyed My Life in Middlemarch, which I listened to as an audio book immediately after finishing the audio book Middlemarch. I was expecting a memoir, which it was to some extent. But to a greater extent, it was a biography of George Eliot. It told the story of Eliot’s life as it related her writing and to Middlemarch. It greatly enhanced my understanding of both Eliot and Middlemarch. I’d highly recommend My Life in Middlemarch as a companion to the reading of and/or listening to Middlemarch.I also found a graduate paper titled: Louisa May Alcott and George Eliot on Class, Gender and Marriage written by Elizabeth Michelle Meyers in December 2010. I’m going to read it, because I think it will be an interesting read and may help me better understand the works of both authors. I'm not sure if it was because of the very dry, emotionless narrator of this audio book, but this book came off as so empty of actual emotional feeling. The author is obviously extremely passionate about George Eliot, Virginia Woolf and other great female authors of their time, and yet she digresses so deeply into very encyclopedic, empty facts and so rarely shares what is truly going on inside of her passions that the journey through this book is jarring and disjointed. When she DOES share what moves her so deeply about 'Middlemarch' (and other books), it's so powerful and it left me yearning for more. But as soon as she sucked me in to her passions, she immediately locked me out in the cold with a long digression into what kind of house George Eliot lived in and what kind of boots she wore. Of course, if this time period is your obsession, you'll probably love this book, but it just wasn't for me.
What do You think about My Life In Middlemarch (2014)?
Analysis of George Eliot, Middlemarch, and the author's life. Interesting and well-written.
—Shubham
Charming story of one woman's love for and growth with a novel.
—pams
