Books I Should Have Read Sooner Friday: George Eliot’s Silas Marner

  While Middlemarch has been sitting on my kindle for a while it’s one of those books that always seems like a good idea to read, but never actually manages to get read.  It’s also very long.  While I’m happy to spend 5-800 pages of my life to read a sequel to the Shining, it’s a lot harder for me to feel like that same amount of time or more should be devoted to a classic I’m not sure I’ll enjoy.  But Silas Marner is short.  And a much easier introduction to Eliot.

Silas Marner is the scrooge character who doesn’t need 3 ghosts to change.  In fact, his transformation seems a little more sincere.  He doesn’t change to save himself from a fate worth than death.  He changes himself because he meets a little girl.  A little girl who wanders into his house and steals his heart.  Through this little girl Silas begins to return to his faith in God, believe in the beauty of the natural world, and trust in people.  Alongside a theme of lies and corruption…it’s really a dense read for so few pages, but surprisingly easy to follow.

This is one I’m glad I had the chance to read, and with the page count it doesn’t take up too much of your time.  Again, not a lot to say that hasn’t already been said, but it’s one I regret not reading sooner.  Eliot is one of the female Victorian authors I can get behind.  Although this is also a story about something other than marriage and while is does deal with social class does it in a different way.

If you’re one of those who can’t stand the thought of turning a page, try a movie.

BBC adaptation of Silas Marner with Ben Kingsley.  It’s a little on the hammy side, but it’s still good.

Modern day (and kind of humorous) adaptation of Silas Marner for those of you who can’t make it through the 2 hour BBC special.