Far From the Madding Crowd in Pick-a-Shelf

Mar 06, 2009 BJ Rose rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, classics, audiobooks

What a marvelous telling of 19th century rural life, and of the steadfastness, patience, and reliability of the hardworking Gabriel Oak, who definitely lives up to his name - strong in character and able to bend with the storms of life.

We are told that Bathsheba is a strong, independent woman, but I didn't come away with that impression at all. She lives an independent life because she is financially able to do so - but what might have happened to her if she hadn't inherited the farm? Might she ...more

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Mar 03, 2009 Sam rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: proper-books, classics

I have never gone through so many different emotions by reading one book, the story is well written, engrossing and at times slightly frightening. Hardy's descriptions of the time are well thought out and really put you in the thick of it. A must for any litery fan ...more

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Jan 05, 2014 Rebekah rated it really liked it

Shelves: e-book, genre-classics, genre-classics-classic-literatu, genre-book-club, genre-historical-fiction, genre-literature, genre-novels, rating-4, genre-literature-19th-century, genre-romance

This book was quite the doozy! It's been awhile since I've read 19th century literature and I had forgotten how patiently the authors set up the setting and introduce all of the characters. The first 51% of the book was boring, with an abundance of long flowery scenes of pastoral bliss. Around the half-way point, the book really took off plot-wise and was gripping to the very end. Hardy's characters are shockingly well-developed and interesting.

From today's perspective and cultural lens, there This book was quite the doozy! It's been awhile since I've read 19th century literature and I had forgotten how patiently the authors set up the setting and introduce all of the characters. The first 51% of the book was boring, with an abundance of long flowery scenes of pastoral bliss. Around the half-way point, the book really took off plot-wise and was gripping to the very end. Hardy's characters are shockingly well-developed and interesting.

From today's perspective and cultural lens, there are some moments that are ridiculously misogynistic and the narrator, who I assume to be Hardy, keeps throwing out these sexist generalities about "women" that are pretty eye-rolling. (At one point our heroine proclaims that is is better for a wife to be a victim of domestic violence - insulted, beaten, starved - rather than face the shame of running away! "There is one position worse than that of being found dead in your husband's house from his ill usage, and this is, to be found alive through having gone away to the house of somebody else"). Truth of the matter is, though, Bathsheba lives in a paternalistic sexist society and does the best she can to survive and thrive in it. Hardy also shows how damaging that worldview is to both the female and male characters. Bathsheba has to constantly live in a place where men take one look at her, declare themselves to be madly in love, claim her for marriage, and then berate her when she says she needs time to think! Two of her three suitors both view her as primarily an object that they want to win, albeit in different ways (one through money and the other through charm). She is also coerced into acquiescing by the two potential rival suitors, also in different ways. One basically terrorizes her with a sword (in one of the more disturbing scenes of sex and violence I have read in awhile) and the other makes her think he will go insane if she refuses him. Romantic, huh?

Overall, I think I can mark myself a Hardy fan. I read Tess of the d'Urbervilles in high school and still vividly remember some of the scenes. This book similarly looks at gender and class politics with well-developed characters and settings that stick out in your mind. This book took on a pretty morbid Gothic twist reminiscent to me of Wuthering Heights and I ended up talking about this book with my mother while reading it, sending her updates. Also the parallels with the Biblical heroine of Bathsheba are obvious and striking and interesting to discuss. ...more

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