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Adam Bede (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

George Eliot , Margaret Reynolds
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)

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Book Description

June 24, 2008 Penguin Classics
Carpenter Adam Bede is in love with the beautiful Hetty Sorrel, but unknown to him, he has a rival, in the local squire's son Arthur Donnithorne. Hetty is soon attracted by Arthur's seductive charm and they begin to meet in secret. The relationship is to have tragic consequences that reach far beyond the couple themselves, touching not just Adam Bede, but many others, not least, pious Methodist Preacher Dinah Morris. A tale of seduction, betrayal, love and deception, the plot of Adam Bede has the quality of an English folk song. Within the setting of Hayslope, a small, rural community, Eliot brilliantly creates a sense of earthy reality, making the landscape itself as vital a presence in the novel as that of her characters themselves.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

?Adam Bede has taken its place among the actual experiences and endurances of my life.? ?Charles Dickens


From the Trade Paperback edition. --Charles Dickens --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Founded in 1906 by J.M. Dent, the Everyman Library has always tried to make the best books ever written available to the greatest number of people at the lowest possible price. Unique editorial features that help Everyman Paperback Classics stand out from the crowd include: a leading scholar or literary critic's introduction to the text, a biography of the author, a chronology of her or his life and times, a historical selection of criticism, and a concise plot summary. All books published since 1993 have also been completely restyled: all type has been reset, to offer a clarity and ease of reading unique among editions of the classics; a vibrant, full-color cover design now complements these great texts with beautiful contemporary works of art. But the best feature must be Everyman's uniquely low price. Each Everyman title offers these extensive materials at a price that competes with the most inexpensive editions on the market-but Everyman Paperbacks have durable binding, quality paper, and the highest editorial and scholarly standards. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 608 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books; Revised edition (June 24, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0140436642
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140436648
  • Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1.2 x 7.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #850,901 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born Mary Ann Evans, Victorian novelist George Eliot (1819-1880) is the author of a number of remarkable works, including the masterpiece Middlemarch.

Customer Reviews

Also, she has much detail in her minor characters. J. Robinson  |  2 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
50 of 52 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Goodness prevails July 28, 2003
By A.J.
Format:Paperback
Adam Bede, the titular hero of George Eliot's first novel, is of a character so sterling that one little anecdote serves to define his whole life and work ethic: He's a carpenter, and he had done some work for a lady whose father, an old squire named Donnithorne, suggested that she pay him less than the fee he requested. Adam insisted that he would rather take no money for the job, for to accept a reduced amount would be like admitting he overcharges for shoddy work. By standing on his principles, he won his full fee in the end and cemented his reputation as a businessman of honor and acumen, proving his fairness to both his customers and himself.

Thus he seems an unlikely match for Hetty Sorrel, the prettiest girl in the village of Hayslope. Vain, selfish, materialistic, hating her laborious farm chores, Hetty bears more than a passing resemblance to Flaubert's Madame Bovary. However, while Madame Bovary's unattainable dream world is inspired by her reading romances, Hetty "had never read a novel" so she can't "find a shape for her expectations" regarding love. Unable to foresee any possible consequences for her actions, she allows herself to be seduced by Arthur Donnithorne, the old squire's grandson, who stands to inherit the land on which most of the Hayslopers live.

Arthur is a radiant example of Eliot's mastery in complicated character creation. Acutely aware of his position in society, he has the kind of charisma with which he can talk to his tenants politely but with just the slightest hint of condescension and completely win their respect for his authority....

Religion plays a curious role in the story. Adam's brother Seth is infatuated with a woman named Dinah Morris, a cousin's cousin to Hetty and a Methodist evangelistic preacher who was inspired by Wesley in the flesh. Her influence among the villagers comes to the attention of the Anglican Rev. Dauphin Irwine, the vicar of Hayslope, who visits her to try to figure out her game and concludes that she's essentially a good woman with a good heart. Indeed, she is the first one to sense that Hetty may be headed for troubled waters and earnestly offers her spiritual guidance, to which Hetty responds with distrust and irritation.

Most powerful of the novel's images is that of Hetty wandering through the darkness and dangers of the English countryside in desperate search of the departed Arthur, carrying with her a symbol of their tormented love, and oblivious to the goodness of Adam, whose only desire is to protect her from the disappointment, shame, and disgrace that result from her pitiful reliance on Arthur's ability to buy her pretty things. But Eliot is too fond of her hero to let him suffer for long when the tides of fate come crashing violently to their inevitable shores, and the ultimate product is a novel of great compassion for its characters. Read more ›

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Classic! September 4, 1999
Format:Hardcover
Highly recommended for those who loves classic literature. George Elliot beautifully captured the lives of the people in rural English country in the late 18th century and early 19th century. I guarantee you'll fall in love with all the 4 main characters ie. Adam Bede, Hetty Sorrel, Lord Arthur and Dinah Morris before you finish the book. The courting scenes involving Adam Bede and Dinah are both very romantic and honest. George Elliot had a great understanding of human nature which makes the story very believable although it's fiction. ADAM BEDE's a hero in my heart, and this book's a must read for all literature fans.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A simply beautiful classic... July 7, 2001
Format:Paperback
I just finished "Adam Bede," turning to the novels of George Eliot after a long stint of reading only Thomas Hardy. A long-time fan of Hardy's work, I thought him to be my favorite English author -- George Eliot, however, has proven to be quite the challenger to Hardy for a place in my heart.

"Adam Bede" is the tale of simple people making their way in the world, each of them encountering hardship and sorrow along the way. Eliot's style is immediately engaging: she addresses the reader directly, and it seems like she is behind the scenes everywhere, pulling up a curtain to reveal vignettes in the lives of her characters. She forces the readers, almost, to fall in love with Adam immediately -- the strong, righteous man whom the story will carry along its rocky path. Similarly, Dinah emerges immediately as the source of peace and goodness in the novel, and it is always refreshing when, in times of turmoil, she appears.

I was bothered by only one element of the story, but I think it is rather easily overlooked: Adam's unrelenting love for Hetty. Eliot gives little background as to why his feelings for her are so strong, and all we really know of her personality is that she is incredibly vain because she is incredibly beautiful. Adam never struck me as a character who would fall for such a "surface" woman. His final choice for a wife (which I will not reveal in case amazon.com surfers haven't read the book yet) seems much more appropriate.

All in all, the journey through this book is a most rewarding one. I look forward to my next Eliot read!

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Watch George Eliot invent the modern novel! May 21, 2001
Format:Paperback
ADAM BEDE is a thrilling read, though it may seem hard to believe given the unpromising setting and the stilted way Eliot introduces her story. But after the first few starchy chapters, abruptly, something wonderful happens: she gets wise to herself. It's as if you can see her realize that the upright characters she *thought* she was pinning her story on, dull Dinah and Mr Irwine, aren't really the stuff of which fiction is made -- so she shoves them aside and takes up the flawed characters of her triangle, who resonate with possibility at every turn. Suddenly, miraculously, with almost no warning, all Eliot's amazing gifts as a writer take center stage: Her psychological insight. Her phenomenal wit. The dramatizing genius that allows her, effortlessly, to plot the most intimate narrative developments against the gigantic backdrop of a county-wide feast or funeral. Her fearlessness and surefootedness in picking her way (and ours) through the tangle of social and class relationships of an entire village. In this embarrassment of riches, maybe most rewarding for a reader like me is Eliot's unerring ability to pay off her plots: here, ladies and gentlemen, is a writer who knows how to write the hell out of a climax -- George Eliot's big confrontation scenes never, ever disappoint.

Too, some wizardry seems to keep her narrative touch both incomparably delicate and completely unflinching at the same time. At the heart of ADAM BEDE is a story so sordid I wonder whether it could be broadcast on network TV today, and Eliot tells it without vulgarity but without ever shying away from its ugliness. My most serious criticism of the book is that Eliot didn't quite trust herself enough not to tack an unconvincing (and, worse, uninteresting) happy ending onto her story.... Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars David Case's audiobook reading
Many summed up this classic work's plot, so a word for this engrossing dramatization by veteran David Case. Read more
Published 3 days ago by John L Murphy
5.0 out of 5 stars 150 years old - still a better love story than Twilight
Adam Bede, George Eliot's first full-length novel, borders between traditional values and liberal attitudes regarding women (at least for its time). Read more
Published 6 days ago by brutusmuktuk
4.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Through and Through
My high school English teacher, a nun, assigned this book in my junior year. I think I considered it a great accomplishment to make it through the entire book and the fact that I... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Donna Hill
5.0 out of 5 stars Country Carpenter's Crush Comes a Cropper; English Literature Gains...
Having read George Eliot's great work 25 years ago and forgotten why I'd liked it so much, I recently re-read ADAM BEDE and liked it just as much again. Read more
Published on April 3, 2011 by Robert S. Newman
4.0 out of 5 stars Interestin'
I am still in the middle of reading Adam Bede. So far, it is a very interestin' book by George Eliot; not her best; it it her first novel; but interestin', just the same. Read more
Published on February 6, 2011 by Jeanette Thompson
3.0 out of 5 stars A warning for Kindle users buying the Penguin Kindle edition.
As far as the Kindle, Adam Bede seems to be the best "Adam Bede" as far as the free classics go, though there are formatting errors and misspellings (I checked against the online... Read more
Published on December 3, 2010 by Misanthrope™
3.0 out of 5 stars Slow Going
"Adam Bede" is a bucolic novel, and in its attempt to capture daily life in a small, rustic town in England (circa 1800) it succeeds remarkably well. Read more
Published on April 28, 2009 by Michael Pendragon
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Entertaining
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans, 1819-1880) has gained the reputation as being one of the finest writers of 19th century England. Read more
Published on April 14, 2009 by J. Robinson
5.0 out of 5 stars Adam Bede is the classic tale of child murder & bucolic romance in...
"George Eliot" is the masculine pen name of the brilliant English classic novelist Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880). Read more
Published on July 14, 2008 by C. M Mills
5.0 out of 5 stars Unqualified
As the title indicates, I feel quite unqualified to review the writings of George Eliot. But I did like the edition that Penguin classics puts out. Read more
Published on January 6, 2007 by Nancy Dailey
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