Daniel Deronda

I watched the entire, three episode BBC Masterpiece Theater version of Daniel Deronda with my mother the other night. This is one of my all time favorite novels. It is so complex, with such intense, deep character development, and such unique plot lines. I thought the BBC did a great job. Of course so much dimension got lost, but they tend to stick closely to the books they adapt and pay a good deal of attention to detail that they still capture the gist.

It is one of the few novels where the "heroine" doesn't end up with the guy. I put heroine in quotes because it is really Daniel Deronda's story. Gwendolyn is such a strong, sad, unique character, however, that it feels like her story. The tragedy of her marriage to a sadist manages to trump everything else, that you find yourself rooting for her escape and fulfillment more than for Deronda's...