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Nov 05, 2011

Shovelmonkey1 rated it:

Ah Far from the Madding Crowd, even saying the book title aloud summons images of an overcrowded class room, sweaty adolescents and a fraught English teacher. I was forced to read this book when I was about thirteen. Other books I was forced to read, learn and regurgitate in vast, ungainly and probably largely misunderstood swathes include Macbeth, Hamlet, Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Dead, Pride and Prejudice, A Winters Tale, The Colour Purple and Wuthering Heights.

A diverse selec More...

10 comments like (13 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2008

brian rated it:

A cloud of doom is right! I won't give anything away, but corpses do appear in this tale! And not just one or two!

I think this book is about life and true love, but man alive, what a way to make a point. At the time this was written I imagine Hardy was proud of his progressive views towards women. Bathsheba is quite a strong woman. But I am disappointed that Hardy could not quite level the gender playing field, I mean Bathsheba really has some men trouble. Why not let her be an all-a More...

29 comments like (7 people liked it)

Mar 23, 2008

Brad rated it:

I don't quite know what to make of the character of Bathsheba Everdene. She vexes me as I have rarely been vexed by literary characters. She is independent, strong and fearless. The she meets Francis Troy and everything that we like about her is lost. She becomes this unappealing character that you root against. There are other mitigating factors that make her a bit more wretched, but it is how easily she is duped into loving Troy that makes the reader want to reject her. I had qualms with More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Sep 26, 2010

Christopher rated it:

I just completed re-reading Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, and just fell in love with it all over again! The first time I read the novel was last summer as a serialized group read with one of my groups on Shelfari.com. I loved it the first time through, but realized that I could find even more in it with a careful re-reading. I did.

It really is a beautiful novel, and so very well written with an engaging plot. The novel is loaded with allusion, much of it biblical; and even More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 30, 2008

Sara rated it:

Ok, so I actually have to read this for my Victorian Lit class. I just finished it, though, and can honestly say I enjoyed it. If you enjoy sumptuous imagery descriptions and thorough character development, you'll enjoy this book. Hardy is a symbolist, so there's no getting around that there is an underthought, so to speak, to most of his writing, but even if the symbolism does not resonate with you, this book should be enjoyable.

Bathsheba (ooh la la, what a name), the heroine of thi More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Apr 13, 2008

Jessie added it

A few months ago, in another life, I read a book called 'Far From The Madding Crowd', by Thomas Hardy. I bought it second hand in Invercargill in March, when I found myself on the road for two weeks with nothing to read. I got about four pages into it during that time, having discovered other and better ways to pass the time.

It sat on a table, neglected for six months, until musings in another life on the title bid me take a second look. It was first published in 1874. On the back cove More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2008

Graham rated it:

I had never read Thomas Hardy before so I had no idea what to expect. Would this be a page-turning classic or a boredom-introducing dud, like MIDDLEMARCH? I needn't have worried. FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD is a brilliant book and one that I loved reading.

Hardy's depiction of rural life in the 19th century is spot on and spellbinding. I was so drawn up in what was happening to the various characters that I couldn't put it down. At times the story is moving, funny, dramatic and frighte More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 02, 2008

bookyeti rated it:

Forget the infamous “love triangle”

In Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy introduces us to the precarious “love square”. At the core of all the turmoil is beautiful farm girl, Bathsheba Everdene - spirited, vain, intelligent and adept at toying with the hearts of men.

Inevitably beguiled by her charms a humble and kind farmer, Gabriel Oak, fervently attempts to win Bathsheba’s affections. Enter the competition: (suitor#2) Farmer Boldwood - a wealthy and temperate middle-aged man respected in More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 16, 2009

April rated it:

The afterword of my 1960 copyright book begins with this, "To read the word of any famous author is in itself something of an art. A reader must develop the poise of courage in order to stay the judgement of his elders until he can read the work for himself." I have many friends who had to read this book for their 10th grade honors English class. They hate this book. As a 21 year old, I struggled with parts of this book, so I can only imagine being 15 and required to read it.
The More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 08, 2008

Rashaan rated it:

In high school I devoured Hardy's novels. Over fifteen years later, I'm reminded why I fell in love with Tess, Jude and Return of the Native. Hardy is a classic novelist in every sense. His attention to detail, his keen insight to characters and landscape are elastic. He is open to his own imagination and awake to the world around him. His characters, though over-wrought with passion and drama, breathe and dance off the page. He does not limit the possibilities of their actions, their drives, or More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 25, 2008

Kirk rated it:

"Far from the Madding Crowd" is a pastoral novel; the nature symbolism is applied with a liberal brush, and it's definitely reactionary to the Industrial Revolution in England. Nature = good, urban = bad.

It's a really good book. It's an unconventional love story between a strong-willed woman who values her independence (a daring characterization for the time period) and a solid, honest shepherd. The cast of characters are very well developed, and the story is never as More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 28, 2007

Claire rated it:

I recently got on a kick to read the old classics, although it was a review of Tess of the D'Urbervilles I read on Amazon that led me to Far from the Madding Crowd. The poster suggested that readers start with "Crowd" before any other Hardy books, which I took to heart since I'm completely unfamiliar with his work.

Although it took a while to get going, "Crowd" was one of the most pleasant surprises I have discovered yet this year. The book is what I would desc More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 07, 2010

SarahC rated it:

I am glad to say that I enjoyed this, my first Thomas Hardy novel. I had gathered that he was a writer of more intensity than even many other Victorians. This IS an intense story involving relationships and choices in life.

And I understand now too the appeal of Hardy's settings in his Wessex countryside. This is depicted as a beautiful place, very stirring to the senses in all ways, and also a place where a special sort of timelessness exists. All his many variety of characters ar More...

7 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 18, 2009

Kimberly rated it:

I loved his flowery descriptions. The way he pulled images and feeling to my mind as he described things. I enjoyed the story line. This book made me think about how little we know about that special someone we marry. This was especially true back then and with how young they sometimes were their judgment was not really developed enough to see what an impact their choices would make.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 03, 2010

Julie at All Ears rated it:

The main character of this 19th century British classic is Bathsheba Everdene, an independent woman who through an inheritance gains ownership of a farm. Bathsheba is feisty, smart and both willing and able to succeed in a man's world. That is until she falls in love with Sargeant Troy, a womanizer and overall scoundrel. This book could be a 19th century version of 'Why Women Choose the Wrong Men'. Although the language and the setting make this a classic, the personalities and the motivatio More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 25, 2008

Laura rated it:

This is my favorite Hardy novel, and the one with which he gained national acclaim. Although the characters suffer from the usual cruel twists of fate, our hero, the wonderfully name Gabriel Oak, is hardworking, careful, and responsible. Perhaps that’s why I like it so much — we see the effects of folly and carelessness, but everyone isn’t completely flattened by bad luck falling out of the clear blue. The lives and loves and losses of the characters are interwoven with a striking portrait of ru More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 24, 2008

Margi rated it:

i am a serious hardy fan. i savor the descriptions of english countrysides and farmlands. the hardships and struggles of country life. the characters are real and earthy and human. they evolve amidst life's stream of experiences. might we hope for as much? love is introduced and developed with the appropriate weight and complexity it requires. in my mind, hardy is one of the greats. this love story thrusts the shepherd, gabriel, his good heart and sound character into our view. may every woman More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2011

Patrick rated it:

Mayor of Casterbridge is one of my favorite books. This book, however, drags and reads more like a more interesting Jane Austen book to me. You get some wonderfully written prose, but Hardy seems to rely on lengthy descriptions of atmosphere to stretch out the material. The descriptions are, for the most part, amazingly clever, but it's like eating too much sugar.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 02, 2011

Barbara added it

Even though "Tess" is supposed to be Hardy's masterpiece written a decade after "Madding," having read each book in succession, I enjoyed "Madding" far more. Maybe my enjoyment is derived from the most trite reasons that I cannot say here as they would spoil the ending, etc., but the playing out of plot via character development seems to follow more logically than did some of the more melodramatic "phases" as Hardy labels them, in "Tess." With More...

0 comments like

Apr 06, 2011

Blah rated it:

This is the first Thomas Hardy book I've ever read. (Not sure how I got out of high school with that accomplishment)! I found this book to be extremely engaging. In particular, Hardy's main characters were deeply developed; quite three dimensional enough to think of them very much as real people. Indeed, the story with all it's tragedies and triumphs was compelling and believable.

The books is not perfect to be sure. We're given glimpses of the various minor characters that peak our interest More...

0 comments like

Apr 06, 2011

Brett rated it:

This is the first Thomas Hardy book I've ever read. (Not sure how I got out of high school with that accomplishment)! I found this book to be extremely engaging. In particular, Hardy's main characters were deeply developed; quite three dimensional enough to think of them very much as real people. Indeed, the story with all it's tragedies and triumphs was compelling and believable.

The books is not perfect to be sure. We're given glimpses of the various minor characters that peak our interest More...

0 comments like

Jan 04, 2012

Christina Marie rated it:

Hardy presents strong female characters. I appreciate that. Bathsheba is one of those characters. She's so strong that she started to grate on my nerves. What got me even more was that while sometimes she is completely mean, men seem to want her more and more.

Basically, men fall over themselves and others to get to Bathsheba. The more she shoots them down, the more they make a play for her affections. Not only do they want to court her, they want to marry her. Yes, marry her.

More...

0 comments like

Oct 02, 2011

Peter rated it:

"Fantastic! I read Hardy's ""Tess"" earlier, and this was even better. It starts rather light-hearted, but takes many deeply felt twists and turns to one of the most satisfying conclusions I have encountered-a win for the romantics.

And such characters! Proud ice princess Bathsheba Everdene-a woman of power. Gabriel Oak, her loyal, long suffering farm foreman, Reserved yet passionate farmer Boldwood. Even the dashing but shallow Sgt. Troy who catches Bath More...

0 comments like

Aug 25, 2011

Derek rated it:

OK, a quarter of a star to the first half, 4+ to the second. One of those things where I wonder what benighted impulse lured me to continue.

Nothing happens in the first half. Zilch, nada (except for a wonderfully bizarre sheep accident). There are incidents, but they go nowhere. The dialogue is some of the worst ever produced in the English language--not just poor choices of words, but blather than doesn't sound like it could come from any human mouth. The descriptions of the land are More...

0 comments like

Aug 03, 2011

Andrew rated it:

Whilst at first glance this may seem to be a simple tale of a few 19thC characters, their farm activities and their sheep, there is a depth in the telling found all too rarely in novels. Hardy may occasionally fall into Dumas' trap of seeming to be paid by the word, but this wordiness is usually welcome, often elevating descriptions of everyday rural scenes to near poetry. The plot, whilst simple and mostly predictable, is refreshingly free of the incredible contrivances of many other classic wo More...

0 comments like

Jul 24, 2011

Jill rated it:

This is the third Hardy book I’ve read – after the Mayor of Casterbridge and Jude the Obscure – that’s left me feeling ambivalent. I didn’t dislike it or feel that it was a waste of perfectly good reading time. Neither did I love the book to bits, closing it and nodding my head vigorously in agreement with its status as a famous English classic. Like the Mayor of Casterbridge, Far From the Madding Crowd features a flawed central character – the beautiful and flamboyantly named Bathsheba Everde More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 15, 2011

Rachel rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Apr 11, 2011

Matt rated it:

Well, no matter what you think of the books themselves, Hardy's titles are pretty sweet (Far From The Madding Crowd, Tess of the d'Ubervilles, Jude the Obscure). For the story itself, this one was probably only a 2*, but gave it 3 for some of the aphorisms (see below). These aphorisms are enjoyable in and of themselves, but often seem to dominate the story, with the characters simply acting as faces to paint them on. The result for me at least was fairly one-dimensional characters that were cert More...

0 comments like

Apr 02, 2011

Graham rated it:

The only emotions that this book evoked for me were boredom and annoyance. The boredom stemmed largely from its predictable plotline and its verbose narrative style (and its utter failure to engage me intellectually, which may have made this verbosity pardonable). The annoyance stemmed from Hardy's method of creating the protagonist, Bathsheba. He repeatedly describes Bathsheba as being self-willed, confident, independent, and poised; but he only tells us this about her, while her actions dem More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 10, 2010

Monthly Book Group rated it:

Isn’t love the major theme of the book? Taking Bathsheba as the central figure, the novel explored love as conquest (Troy for Bathsheba), love as infatuation and passion (Bathsheba for Troy), love as obsession (Boldwood for Bathsheba), and love as steadfast devotion (Oak for Bathsheba). And how cunningly the plotting pulled these elements together, with the reader being drawn irresistibly along by the narrative, hoping that Gabriel and Bathsheba would eventually marry.

But, challenged o More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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