The Elizabeth Gaskell Series: Vol.2: Mary Barton [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Gaskell (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: IndyPublish.com (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1414200749
• ISBN-13: 978-1414200743
• Shipping Information: View shipping rates and policies
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,106,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A vivid description of life in the Industrial Revolution, October 17, 2006

By 

Robert Muirhead "Bob" (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Elizabeth Gaskell Series: Vol.2: Mary Barton (Paperback)

"Mary Barton" is one of five books written by Elizabeth Gaskell. Mary Barton is a young woman in a working class Manchester family in the early years of the Industrial Revolution in England. Industrial workers often lived lives of poverty and squalor, at the mercy of factory owners who ruled them with a rod of iron and fired them whenever economic conditions deteriorated.

Another of Gaskell's books, "North and South" deals with the same theme, but from the point of view of the better-off classes in society. Both books vividly portray life in the rapidly growing Midland towns of England.

It is difficult to say much about the plot of "Mary Barton" itself without giving away important details of the story. Suffice to say that Mary Barton is put through the wringer of life in a story that reaches an exciting and satisfying climax.

The characters and their actions are often exaggerated to the point of almost being caricatures to modern readers. But this style maximises the emotional content of many of the incidents described in the book and is very typical of "romantic" English literature of the era. The same can be said of Dickens, Thackeray and Jane Austen. However, it must be said that this book is the "worst" of Gaskell's books so far as convoluted and turgid prose is concerned.

Extended descriptive passages and the drawing-out of emotional scenes can be irritating because it slows down the narrative and is too obvious a device to hook the discerning reader. Presumably readers of the day loved this stuff - much as modern readers go for similar depictions on TV and in print.

However, the narrative itself is gripping, especially towards the end of the book when events reach their climax and the various threads of the plot are drawn together. There are exciting twists and turns in the plot, almost like a modern thriller. This is where Gaskell shines - she is a very skilful constructor of intricate story plots. It is difficult to put the book down as we near the end of the story.

Another area in which Gaskell shines is her depiction of characters, even though they might be standard "types" to readers of the day. What strikes the modern reader is the submissive role of women and attitudes towards women in the first half of the 19th century. Yet the actions of Mary Barton strikingly deviate from the norm as the story reaches its climax.

"Mary Barton", like all Gaskell's books is an enjoyable read for the story alone. One can skip over much of the purple descriptive bits without any loss. The book also gives a valuable insight into attitudes and ways of life in the early 19th century. This will interest readers who love history. Fiction such as this can illuminate social history.