Middlemarch cover art

Middlemarch

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Middlemarch

By: George Eliot
Narrated by: Gabriel Woolf
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About this listen

Middlemarch is considered one of the masterpieces of English fiction. Published in 1874, it is the seventh and penultimate novel by George Eliot. It pursues a number of underlying themes, including the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism and self-interest, religion and hypocrisy, political reform, and education.

Set in the fictitious Midlands town of Middlemarch during the period 1830 - 32 and subtitled "A Study of Provincial Life", the novel creates a concept of life and society confronting the scepticism that was taking over the age.

English novelist George Eliot (1819-1880), real name Mary Ann (Marian) Evans was one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. Her novels, largely set in provincial England, are well known for their realism and psychological perspicacity.

Please note: This is a vintage recording. The audio quality may not be up to modern day standards.

©2009 RNIB (P)2009 RNIB Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction

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Critic reviews

"You will learn more about life, your own and other people's, from Middlemarch, Madame Bovary or Moby-Dick than you are likely to from yards and yards of memoir."( The Times)
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A lot going on, many characters and issues to keep track of. a very captivating story.
Enjoyed it .

Captivating

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I love this story, and the narrator’s voice and characterisation is good. However his delivery was not fluent and there are occasional background noises and volume fluctuations.

Poor narration

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Love Middlemarch, one of my favourite books. But this is an old RNIB reading, I assume by a volunteer who sounded like he was reading something from Watch with Mother. It was OK and he did his best but I think Audible have a cheek to charge for it!

Not a professional reading!

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This recording, done for RNIB, has some technical problems but for me those were unimportant compared to the quality of the narration. Middlemarch is my favourite novel. A book I know well, and I have not been happy with any of the other narrators available on Audible. With this there are some extraneous sounds, the narrator sometimes makes a slight mistake and corrects himself, or clears his throat, there are pauses in a sentence where there should not be - but the overall effect is of being read to by a friend. The words comes first, There are no self-conscious theatricals. Gabriel Woolf CARES about what he is reading.

For me this is the best of all narrators,

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'Middlemarch' is one of the great classics, but undeniably fairly long, with its 86 chapters. Listening to it rather than reading the book prevents you hurrying through it too quickly 'to find out what happens' and enables you to appreciate to the full the mastery of George Eliot's writing, her shrewd observations and her humour (even if there are some passages of social commentary which have now become a little obscure). The reading by Gabriel Woolf is clear and well paced, but there are some stumbles and mistakes - perhaps this has to do with the origin of the recording which was made for the RNIB rather than for a commercial company. If you are prepared to bear with the fact that it seems not to have been edited in any way, the recording represents amazing value - 8hrs plus of a great classic for under ?5.

not perfect but remarkable value

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This recording was made for the RNIB many years ago, and as such the audio may not be quite as good as current recordings. There’s no editing, so on occasion the narrator clears his throat or corrects himself. However Gabriel Woolf’s reading transcends these minor issues. His understanding of the narrative is evident - he inhabits this book. He understands the rhythm of the language, and his rendering of the characters is for me unsurpassed.

Sympathetic narration

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Hard to recomment this book too higly. One of the great novels of all times. Try it if have not read it.

Middlemarsh

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A good, clear, no-frills reading.

Short Review

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This is the first time I've given up on a book. Honestly, this recording should be removed from the listings. The sound is metalic for one, but more importantly, the narrator seems to feel the need to reproduce what he probably imagines to be a speech pattern that reflects the tone of the Middlemarch world. It's monotone, sad, bored, lethargic, and unnecessarily upper-class. Surprisingly, the narrator is excellent when it comes to the characters' voices, which are a relief to his slow and tedious humdrum.
Another feature of the recording is the way the narrator stumbles through words, often re-reading parts of sentences from which words are initially omitted. There is also the occasional clearing of the throat. It does make for a genuine "live" performance, but it's not what one expects from a serious recording.
Finally, the story itself is long and full of unnecessary detail, but generally I like that sort of thing in 19th century literature, and the characters are interesting, even if there's not much drama.
Incidentally, I managed about 20 hours, out of the 32, but enough is enough. I'll probably listen to a different version of the book.

pick a different narrator

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Couldn't listen to it. Deleted it after one chapter and bought the Juliet Stevenson version which is delightful.

Dreadful

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