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Feb 11, 2012

Briynne rated it:

I've come to accept that I'm the only person of my generation with whom I am personally acquainted that likes Thomas Hardy. It's fine. It's astonishing and amazing to me, but fine. This particular sort of isolation has it's perks, though; I like to think that Tom and I are buddies - you know, sort of us against the world. And through this bizarre, completely imaginary relationship, I had myself pretty well convinced that I knew what to expect from a Hardy novel. Not so, friends.

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1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Nov 25, 2008

Laura rated it:

An optimistic Thomas Hardy novel? Is there such a thing?? Published the same month Hardy turned 32, this is, at least as far as I’ve read, the cheeriest of his works — that alone should be a selling point! In some ways it’s an exploration of the changes he saw enveloping England, played out in the changes to a tiny parish church. The story centers on Mellstock, a village much like Hardy’s native Higher Brockhampton, and the local church that’s much like his own beloved Stinsford. The story’s pre More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2011

Audrey rated it:

Reading this book was like seeing childhood photos of a good friend. I recognized Hardy's minute attention to the natural world, the way the seasons move through the countryside, and his ability to capture a person's movements and individuality so that I feel like I could draw his portrait myself. But the general optimism of the story was a pleasant surprise (usually Hardy = big downer). Here, we still have the fallible, three-dimensional characters Hardy is so good at delineating, but they are More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2010

Christopher rated it:

If you're looking for an enjoyable and relatively quick summer read, I highly recommend Thomas Hardy's Under the Greenwood Tree or The Mellstock Quire: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School. This delightful little novel is one of the more bucolic and pastoral novels I've read in some time, and depicts the disappearing rural life of Hardy's southwestern England. This novel was first published in 1872, and was the last of his work published anonymously. This novel is considered the first of Hard More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Jul 24, 2007

علی rated it:

A triangle vilager love, which is typical Hardy's. A vilage in Wessex which represents all other vilages in England 19.cent. Years after I read this for the first time, happened to see a film, named "The Singer not The Song" with Dirk Bogard, almost the same story, with different characters, though it happens in a vilage. A triangle love inwhich the preast of the vilage is also involved, as it is in Hardy's novel...
از آنجا که "زیر درخت گرینوود" رمانی ست سخت عاشقانه، در More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 04, 2011

Sorcha rated it:

Second book to be read in the local "Hardy Readers" bookgroup after Desperate Remedies.[return][return]This is a shorter, lighter book that is also easier to read that Desperate Remedies. It is about a small local community, and the story starts with description of the "choir" (singers and musicians) who are going round the houses (often isolated) one Christmas night. They briefly glimpse sight of the new school teacher - Miss Day - who becomes the centre of attention. [ret More...

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Sep 20, 2011

Sam rated it:

This is my first Thomas Hardy book, recommended as it eases you into his style of writing, and man alive is it a strange style! Hardy makes sure the conversations of country folk sound genuine so you get a lot of "ye", "o'ny", "squizzling", "stimmilent", "onmistakable", "husbird", all of which takes a lot of getting used to. The main character, Dick Dewy, is a "tranter" something I had to look up -it's basically a driver.
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Mar 31, 2010

Treasa rated it:

Dick Dewey, a young man of Mellstock, falls in love with the new schoolteacher, Fancy Day. Meanwhile, Fancy is being courted by other men and being pressured by her father to accept a wealthier suitor than Dick. This book chronicles the relationship of Dick and Fancy over a full year.

Thomas Hardy is such a wonderful writer. This book differs from others that I have read by him by not being completely depressing. However, it certainly has a sense of melancholy that I would expect from More...

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Jul 01, 2009

Nikii rated it:

This was another book to movie, where I saw the movie first, & I think both were pretty good. This was my first Thomas Hardy book & I do plan on reading more of his works, but I will admit, going with 'the book tends to be better then the movie' bit, I kinda of expected more out of this book. I'm not saying that the book is bad at all, it is a well written piece of work, but you can almost tell that the heart wasn't completely in the novel. And if you read the beginning of notes in the book that More...

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Nov 16, 2011

Kim rated it:

I chose to listen to this audiobook as part of what I anticipate will be an ongoing project designed to overcome my long-held prejudice against Thomas Hardy; a prejudice entirely grounded in my strong dislike of Tess of the D'Urbervilles. The experience of listening to this book has been less successful in achieving that end than my previous excursion into Hardy's work: the truly wonderful audiobook of The Return of the Native, narrated by Alan Rickman. That said, the novel itself and its More...

11 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 15, 2010

LifetimeReader rated it:

This and other reviews can be found on my my blog, Lifetime Reading Plan.

Under the Greenwood Tree establishes the world which will become the setting of many of Hardy's later novels: Wessex, his representation of rural southern England. Under the Greenwood Tree tells the story of the social life of Mellstock, a small town in Wessex, though the lens of the community's musicians. Joining the community as the story starts is Fancy Day, the attractive--and ambitious--new school mistres More...

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Dec 10, 2010

Megan rated it:

I love Thomas Hardy's writing style. Really! All the verbose descriptions that leave some people cold warm me right up. He has such a way of describing the most mundane things in a way that make you feel like you're there, breathing the air, sipping the cider, experiencing life in a small village. That said, I didn't feel that this book had much substance or strong direction in terms of its message. As it started, it felt like it would simply be a 'slice of life' in a small village as it ex More...

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Jul 10, 2010

Victoria rated it:

Honestly? I liked the movie better. There, I said it. I almost always like the book better, on principle if nothing else. But Under the Greenwood Tree was much improved by the heavy editing it underwent for the screen.

Ultimately my argument lies with the two main characters, Dick Dewy (typically apt last name, as he is a totally limp character, once in love) and Fancy Day (again, indicative name: her fancy changes with each proverbial day). They simply sucked as characters. I adored More...

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Dec 09, 2008

Matthew rated it:

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Sep 13, 2011

Kate rated it:

An interesting tale of rural life at a time when things are beginning to change and yet there are many simple pleasures.
The arrival of two newcomers in the quiet village of Mellstock arouses a bitter feud and leaves a convoluted love affair in its wake. While the Reverend Maybold creates a furore among the village’s musicians with his decision to abolish the church’s traditional ‘string choir’ and replace it with a modern mechanical organ, the new schoolteacher, Fancy Day, causes an uphea More...

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Feb 29, 2008

K' Lati rated it:

Mix one imature guy and a woman who doesnt know what she wants, with a bunch of nice small town characters more intresting than the first two and you get this book.

I guess women like Miss Fancy Day have been around longer than I thought.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2010

Jeannette rated it:

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Jun 04, 2010

Everett rated it:

This is not one of Hardy's best novels, but a worthy read if you've wanted more from Wessex, or some well-written narratives on nature and people, that are as honest as anything he has ever written. Hardy is in fact a great writer, and this novel does not make that untrue.

Having just read his final novel, Jude the Obscure a month ago, I wanted to make a bookend effect with this one, his first. At a mere 230 pages, this wouldn't be a bad introduction to Hardy's brand of pastoral mod More...

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Dec 15, 2009

Matthew rated it:

well... i can tell this in one of his earliest works. the plot is not as complex as later novels and his observation about nature and human nature are not as prevalent as later pieces. However, the simplicity of the story is refreshing in some respects. what i enjoy about hardy is that his stories transport me to a time, a time where hand labor was still predominate. some of the words/trades he depicts are difficult to research because they have died out, thus i find it compelling because i lear More...

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Nov 12, 2009

Erin rated it:

Before I read this book I watched the BBC movie. I loved the movie and so thought I knew what would happen in the book. As far as I can tell, the only similarities between the movie and the book were the characters' names and maybe one or two events. The book was originally titled "The Mellstock Choir." It deals with a church choir in some country village in England and how they react when the parson decides to get a new harmonium (played by the new school mistress) to replace the More...

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May 22, 2011

Clare rated it:

Hardy's style of writing is delightful, though his characters never get very close to my heart. Nor was I satisfied with the shortness of this novel, in fact, I think I almost preferred Tess' misery... at least we were able to understand her with some depth. This is supposed to be Hardy's lighter side, but the lightness wasn't very convincing, even if it wasn't exactly dark. However, for what it is, it's a beautifully written short story that helps to contextualise his other more sombre tales. I More...

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Aug 15, 2011

Season rated it:

I loved this story. I am finding that Thomas Hardy is becoming one of my absolute favorite authors. I have enjoyed everything I have read by him so far and I am excited to read more. This is a story of a beautiful woman whose beauty deeply affects the men around her and they all set off in a chase of who will win her. She is somewhat unaware of this effect she has on these men and finds herself in some uncomfortable situations. Because of her choices of men she has to look at herself and decide More...

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Oct 03, 2011

Dara rated it:

My issue with this novel is the same as many other readers. I go to Thomas Hardy looking for strife, existential crises and cruel twists of fate. There was little of any of that to be found in this book.

Instead, it focuses on Hardy’s other well-known trait of painting a picture of pastoral England. These beautifully imagined scenes are one of the hallmarks of Hardy’s writing. This book does not disappoint in that respect. In a note at the beginning Hardy remarks to his current More...

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Dec 13, 2010

Prof. Mohamed rated it:

THE NOVELIST
Thomas Hardy was born in England in 1840 and his father's name was also the same. His mother's name was Jemima Hand. His father was a stone mason and the family lived in an isolated village cottage near Dorchester. At the age of 16, he became an apprentice under an architect and at the age of 22, he moved to London to become a draftsman in the office of an architect. Because of his poverty, he could never get a college education. At the age of 27, he published his first nove More...

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Jan 20, 2011

Kelly-Louise rated it:

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Jul 25, 2010

Dave rated it:

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Jan 10, 2010

Maria rated it:

Still going through all the Hardy's I had missed (and this is another I had never heard of), for once I was pleased with one of Hardy's titles, since it reassured me that there was no one to kill off by the end of the book. Then I realized that the subtitle, The Melstock Quire, made it possible to kill off a whole choir, so I had that worry hanging over my head through the rest of the book. By the end of the fifth chapter, I was checking to see if I had not accidentally gotten hold of a Wodeho More...

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Sep 24, 2011

Dianna rated it:

I love Tess of the D'Urbervilles for its scenery, but this book was ten times more enjoyable to me because it's still got good scenery; it's written about a group of rustic, drunk church musicians; and it's happy. Now of course Hardy couldn't end the book without making us question whether they'll stay happy, but I'll take what I can get.

As a violinist and a lover of literature, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Reading it soon after The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 16, 2009

Jeanette rated it:

Under the Greenwood Tree begins as a humorous and somewhat charming look at a simplistic group of church musicians who are about to be disbanded to make way for an organ. Along the way the story morphed into the strange and still often humorous love story between Dick Dewey and the village's new school teacher, Fancy Day. As a couple I found the pair rather mismatched but it did lead to some fun reading.
This is my first Hardy novel and was surprised at how humorous and light the story was. More...

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Apr 24, 2008

Cindy rated it:

This past Christmas I received a copy of the 2005 film adaptation of Hardy’s novel – Under the Greenwood Tree. It stars Keeley Hawes (well known British actress, Spooks and many, many Period Drama roles) as Fancy Day and James Murray (an unknown to me) as Dick Dewey. I shared the enjoyment of this film with my sister who is a Period Drama Junkie like myself. What can I say? We both loved it. Wonderful characterization of the local people and their quire or choir. And Parson Maybold played by Ben More...

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