mill on the flossTitle: The Mill on the Floss

Author: George Eliot

Date Finished: 17/07/14

Re-Read? : First time read

Challenges? : The Classics Club

Overall: 4/5 – rather good

Firstly, let me apologise for the complete silence on this blog since early May!  I have been so crazily busy that I just didn’t find any time to read, let alone post.  I had lots of A2 exams which were a mixed bag to say the least, left school, had prom, had an amazing week in Crete with my friends and I’m now back home (for the time being).  Sadly this week my lovely Grandpa passed away and we are all already missing him lots but keep reminding ourselves that he lived 92 amazing and happy years so we should be happy and grateful for that.  All of this combined with reading quite a long and heavy classic – The Mill on the Floss – has resulted in rather slow progress in terms of reading but finally today I managed to finish this book!  I’m not saying it wasn’t good, I just didn’t have the time to read it quickly.

The plot focuses on a brother and sister pair – Tom and Maggie – and follows their lives as they grow from young children to adulthood.  They are originally close but life seems to conspire against them until they are driven further and further apart.  The plot is slightly predictable in some cases but still very engaging and most of the time you don’t really know what is going to happen next.  I liked the earlier plots more than the latter ones I think as it all got a bit too serious from the middle onwards!

The characters are really great – there are not many main characters so we really get to know the few that there are and follow each of their journeys over the years. I felt for Maggie a lot but aside from that there weren’t many characters I actually liked!  Tom was always so hard on Maggie I just couldn’t engage with him and Lucy was a bit dull, Philip too moody and Stephen slightly annoying!  This didn’t stop me reading about their stories though.

One of the main themes in the book would be the relationship between brother and sister and how it is broken further and further and I think this may have also contributed to why I read the book so slowly.  I am very close to my sister as we are only one school year apart, have the same hobbies etc so we have always shared everything and I find one of the worst sadnesses in life is bad relations between siblings.  As Tom and Maggie grow further apart with each page I probably subconsciously didn’t want to read on anyway as I would hate that.

Overall this is an interesting and unique book that I would recommend as a thought-provoking read – definitely definitely not as a quick read though!!