“It is a great novel in spite of its inartistic ending. I could have pardoned the marriage of Adam and Dinah, however, if it had not been brought about in such a hurried and artificial manner. Mrs. Poyser is a delightful creature in a book. Out of it she might not be so agreeable. The character of Hetty Sorrel is wonderfully analyzed. Dinah is just a little bit too good for ‘human nature’s daily food.’ Yet there are such people — and the rest of us are not fit to untie their shoe-laces. Nevertheless, Dinah does not enlist our sympathy or interest. We don’t care a hoot whether she ever gets a husband or not. But our hearts go out to poor, pretty, vain, sinning, suffering Hetty. After all, it is the sinners we love and pity — perhaps because they are nearer to ourselves and we recognize so many of our hidden weaknesses in them.”
