The Mill on the Floss
George Eliot
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The novel details the lives of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, a brother and sister growing up on the river Floss near the village of St. Oggs, evidently in the 1820’s, after the Napoleonic Wars but prior to the first Reform Bill (1832). The novel spans a period of 10-15 years, from Tom and Maggie’s childhood up until their deaths in a flood on the Floss. The book is fictional autobiography in part, reflecting the disgrace that George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) herself had while in a lengthy relationship with a married man, George Henry Lewes.
Maggie Tulliver holds the central role in the book, as both her relationship with her older brother Tom, and her romantic relationships with Philip Wakem, a hunchbacked, but sensitive and intellectual, friend, and with Stephen Guest, a vivacious young socialite in St. Oggs and fiance of Maggie’s cousin Lucy Deane, constitute the most significant narrative threads. (summary from Wikipedia) (21 hr 15 min)
Chapters
Reviews
The Mill on the Floss
Maryland Girl
I truly enjoy listening to the books that are read and I truly appreciate the efforts that various readers make when they take the time to read to others but there comes along a book which is just so interesting and you get so engrossed in listening then toward the end when the good parts come along comes a reader who does not set the volume right or you can't understand what he/she is saying and it ruins the whole book. This is such a reading. I truly enjoyed this book and would recommend it highly to others but the last three or four chapter readings ruin the enjoyment of the ending. I sometimes wonder if the reader listens to what they have recorded. No disrespect here and cudos to their even reading. Mostly I enjoy one reader but am grateful for everyone that takes the time to read. Wonderful storyline - Enjoy
Granny G
Haven't finished the book yet though I still hope to; however, I have to say the experience is marred by one very poor contributor. I generally feel the effort of any reader compensates for small errors but my compatriot not only inserts commas after each partial phrase, she also makes many mispronunciaions. Sometimes these are minor distractions but too often they were just confusing. By the time I translate "prooshins" and "pappists" to Prussian and papists, I've lost sense of the sentence. Sorry to be negative and, yes, I should volunteer.
uneven
Frequent listener
This is an important book and a great story. Some of the readers are excellent but a very few are quite weak. Libravox should replace several of the chapters with versions read by better readers. Nevertheless, if you can be patient with the bad readings, there are enough good ones to make it worthwhile.
Brandon Dixon
The first 6 chapters are great. But chapter 7 has several mispronounced words and a rhythm to it that makes it distracting to listen to.
Sidharth Vardhan
one reader was too quick but most a good audio read. Book is amazing
Some poor later chapters
Morph
Generally good but some later chapters are of lower standard.
Mark Hackett
some readers were difficult to follow.
DULL BOOK WITH A BUMMER ENDING
Avid Listener
Eliot's reputation as a great story teller takes a big hit. The book started on an unhappy note and got progressively worse. It seems like the author got tired of the characters and their unrealistic struggles (I know that I did), and simply put them (and any readers) out of their misery.