The Mill on the Floss — George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans, better known by her nom de plume George Eliot, is one of the greatest English writers of the Victorian era. Her magnum opus, Middlemarch, is even considered by some to be the greatest book ever written in the English language. However, this review is of another one of her books, which may not be remembered as her best but certainly as her most personal.
The Mill on the Floss takes place in rural England at the beginning of the 19th century. It tells the story of the Tullivers, a family who lives in a mill near the river Floss. The father, Mr. Tulliver, a proud but loving man; the mother, Mrs. Tulliver, worried about having an orderly home and keeping up with appearances; the eldest son, Tom, a stubborn and pragmatic boy; and the younger daughter, Maggie, a curious and intelligent girl, who wishes the love and approval of her older brother over anything else.
The book covers the lives of Tom and Maggie from childhood to adulthood. Maggie runs around the vicinity of the mill getting in all sorts of trouble, while the author makes a point of writing detailed descriptions of the landscape of the place. This young girl, a bit mischievous and not very feminine, doesn’t meet the expectations of the women of her time. Thirsty for knowledge, Maggie reads as many books as she can find, while her brother Tom envies her cleverness and punishes her by the way of mocking and contempt.
As the young Tullivers grow, their roles within the family will change. A sizeable debt that Mr. Tulliver acquires will provoke in Tom an obsession for cleaning the family name, and for Maggie, it will mean the sacrifice of one of her biggest dreams. The expectations of society and the sacrifices made to meet them are the main themes of this novel that portrays family life at that time.
This book is especially close to its author since she drew a big part of her inspiration from her own childhood; Maggie is the alter ego of Mary Ann Evans. The sections that deal with the childhood of Maggie and Tom are particularly detailed, focusing for several pages on meeting every member of the extended family, and this is the part of the book I found too slow. However, the story takes a 180 degree turn when they reach adulthood. The series of events, although a bit rushed, is completely captivating, and the ending is genuinely surprising and moving.
This is the first book I read by this author, and it left me with mixed feelings. While the language is clever and poetic, the first sections contain so many descriptions that it made it difficult for me to see where the story was going and to remain enthusiastic about reading further. Nonetheless, I thought the ending was phenomenal. In addition, after finishing the book and reading about the author’s life, it’s easy to spot the similarities not only with the environment she grew up in, but with the social prejudice and discrimination she suffered because of her decisions as an adult.
Perhaps this wasn’t the best book to start with this author, but I still intend to read Middlemarch someday. Have you read The Mill on the Floss? Which other books by George Eliot do you recommend?
This review was originally published in Spanish at Cuaderno Reciclado.
