Thalia @ Pictures in the Words

Well, you know, I almost wish there was more to say about this novel than the brief summary above (if you’re reading this review on my blog). Unfortunately, I found that Silas Marner greatly lacked in actual story, while focusing too much on being symbolic and analytical. I don’t appreciate or like “classics” that forget they’re supposed to be telling a story. For a large part of this book, absolutely nothing happened. It got a little more interesting near the end, but it, unfortunately, wasn’t enough to make up for the painful first portion of the novel.

For these reasons, this will be a rather short review!

What I Liked: Spoilers!

• I really did enjoy watching Silas’s transformation after he adopts Eppie. I think the whole thing was really sweet and honest—thinking she is his stolen gold transformed and brought back at first, only to learn to love and appreciate human life again. Silas is a hermit for most of the book, but Eppie brings him back. She brought some life into the story, and I’m sure that’s symbolic in some way as well. I actually wanted to read the story after she was introduced, and it was nice to see everything neatly resolve.

What I Didn’t Like:

• Unfortunately, the whole first part of this book (the hundred and something pages) were just extremely boring. It was slow. It was disconnected. It didn’t make any sense whatsoever when put together. You think, briefly, that the fact that Dunsey Cass has stolen Silas’s money will finally bring Silas’s and Godfrey’s paths in line—but that never happened until the last twenty pages of the book. It was all just build up in the hope of something more, and honestly, Eppie being dropped into Silas’s lap was pretty random itself. It had nothing to do with his gold. The characters were set up a bit, but still. It didn’t really make up for how poorly the beginning seemed to be executed, in terms of an actual story.

Overall: I didn’t personally like this book very much; the style and set up weren’t really my cup of tea, and I didn’t find much redeeming in the plot until the last thirty pages. I’m sure there are plenty of people who have enjoyed it regardless of the faults I found, but if classics aren’t really your thing, this probably isn’t the type of book you’d enjoy.

(http://thaliasbooks.tumblr.com/post/75560054240/silas-marner-review)