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Middlemarch cover art

Middlemarch

By: George Eliot
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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Summary

Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon’s mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, and reforms, as well as betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment.

Dorothea Brooke is an outstanding heroine; Middlemarch is filled with characters that are vivid and true, comic and moving. It is one of the greatest novels in the English language.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2011 Naxos AudioBooks

What listeners say about Middlemarch

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

All consuming

Great audio book. It has totally disrupted my life over the last days because I've stayed awake to listen, not been able to work because I couldn't stop listening and thinking about it whilst not listening. Really brilliant reading and I will be totally bereft when it finishes in about an hours' time. Best audio book I've had for ages.

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104 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A great book enhanced by a brilliant narrator

I first read Middlemarch many years ago and much enjoyed it. Browsing through the audible website recently I came across this version read by Juliet Stevenson and downloaded it on impulse. Since listening to it, I have been recommending it to anyone who will listen. Juliet Stevenson is a wonderful storyteller - she captures the mood of the book and the personalities of the characters. The combination of a good narrator and good book is irresistible - I resented every interruption!

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74 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Juliet Stevenson's astounding tour de force

The book is excellent, of course, but Juliet Stevenson's narration is an astounding tour de force. Characters are many, demanding all tones and dynamics - from those of deep-voiced or husky males to silvery, pacific or spiritually conscious females. All are convincingly manifested. Overlaying their natural timbres, the acquired tones of experience convey characters as middle-aged & deeply earthed, shallow, criminal, loving, hating, Oxbridge intellectual & innocent, enthusiastic, bumpkin, familial, old & wavery, drunk, idealistically or dully clerical, brilliantly or spitefully medical and otherwise totally various. Every character is believable and immediately recognisable throughout the entire performance of this very long book.
I feel obliged (if unwilling) to mention that I found most of the introductory quotations to each chapter, in various languages, long and (even when in English) incomprehensible. Such quotations were, I assume, written for the reader to slowly cogitate over, whilst looking to the drama ahead and waiting for their undoubted relevance to be revealed. Not only did I find the quotations extremely irritating, but I was really sad to find Ms Stevenson's rendering of those in Italian, French and German equally so. Even so I choose not to remove any of my 5 stars, which are, in my demanding estimation, totally deserved.

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46 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • R
  • 30-07-11

beautifully descriptive

I bought this audio book for something different to listen to and thought that listening to a classic may educate me into a different type of listening.
the book is beautifully descriptive which to start off with i found hard going as I wasn't used to this way of writing. However after a number of times wondering whether to give up or not I was glad i didnt as it was wonderful and found i was listening to it for hours in the middle of the night captured by the various characters who i felt i had begun to know and be part of their lives.
well worth pursuing

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42 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Resistance is, eventually, futile.

Posh society in nineteenth century rural England is not really my thing. Classic stories of reputation, honour and doomed love... Nah. not for me, I thought. But Middlemarch is supposed to be one the greatest novels.

Quite a claim. So when i had some work to do that meant I had some serious listening time ahead of me I begrudgingly thought i would do my duty. At first all was as I expected; an archaic story about stuffy and privileged people who need a kick up the backside... Where are the working people? Where are the servants and tenants?

But in time I put away my modern self and began to understand that the attraction is in characters that are so well drawn you understand them perfectly, and so believable are their actions and yearnings that listening to Middlemarch got steadily less and less tiresome. It became a quiet pleasure, and eventually a whole-hearted and peculiarly innocent JOY.

I may even have cried a little, though this seldom occurs to me and I would not tell anyone i know... ;-)

An absolutely superb reading by Juliet Stevenson too. Top of the class.

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36 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Highly recommended

If Oscars were awarded for audio-book narrations, Juliet Stephenson would surely be in the front line to win several for her multiple performances in Middlemarch. This inordinately long book is made to feel considerably shorter by her fine portrayals, giving each separate character his or her own distinctive voice.

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32 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A triumph!

I knew this book to be excellent but I was not prepared for such a feat of narration. Juliet Stevenson is outstanding! She creates a million different voices so that each character is instantly recognizable, and just seems to add to Eliot's depth of meaning. Every day I long to put my earphones in and just immerse myself in the story. Unmissable!!

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Quite outstanding

If you could take only one audiobook to a desert island, this would have to be it! I have long been a fan of both George Eliot's work and of Juliet Stevenson's narration, but this surpassed all expectations. A well-crafted story brilliantly characterised.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Perfect

I have read the novel at least 5 times over the years but hearing the words read in Juliet Stevensons beautiful and flexible voice has added a unique new pleasure to the enjoyment of this great story. I found it perfect!

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Middlemarch

One of the best written books, ever. I have read the book many times over the years, watched the BBC drama numerous times, and now I have enjoyed listening to it. A wonderful piece of English literature, superbly narrated by Juliet Stevenson.

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15 people found this helpful