May & June 2024 - Classic Group Read - Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (spoiler free thread)

[Alannah]

Please discuss our winner here.

If you have already read the book, or wish to discuss possible spoilers, please go here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Jade]

Looking forward to this

[Greg]

I'm reading it now; so I'll definitely join in the comments.

[Alannah]

I'm looking forward to starting this on. It may in late June once things quiet down for me though.

[Erica]

I'm hoping to read this next. I picked up a copy at a second hand book sale last year

[Erica]

I've managed to read the first 100 pages. As far as classics go I've found the writing quite easy to follow. Sometimes it takes me a while to get used to the old style of language. Great descriptions of characters.

[Greg]

Erica wrote: "I've managed to read the first 100 pages. As far as classics go I've found the writing quite easy to follow. Sometimes it takes me a while to get used to the old style of language. Great descriptio..."

Yes, I do think the descriptions are beautifully done!

[Greg]

So far, I'm enjoying it too, though not quite as much as I did Tess of the D’Urbervilles. The characterizations in Madding are a bit scattered by comparison. Tess' reactions felt almost inevitable given the social climate and her upbringing. But in this book, I am not sure about Bathseba - she's all over the place.

I think it's the descriptions and the quality of the writing itself that are carrying me through, rather than the characters or story.

Erica, have you gotten to the chapter with the storm yet? The way he describes it is so vivid that I felt like I was there!!

[Erica]

Yes I just read that bit. About 2 thirds through now. Def get your points about characterisation of Bathsheba. To me it feels a little like the author's message is: silly women don't know what's good for them. I really like the Farmer Oak character I think he definitely is the most well-written and his actions make sense.

[Erica]

I haven't read Tess of the d'ubervilles so will have to check that out as well. I've also got that on my bookshelf

[Erica]

From a commentary about society perspective I don't think it adds much. I thought Middlemarch by George Elliot was much more interesting in that way.

[Greg]

Erica wrote: "From a commentary about society perspective I don't think it adds much. I thought Middlemarch by George Elliot was much more interesting in that way."

Completely agree with all your comments Erica. Hardy does seem to be thinking of women as silly or in stereotypical old-fashioned ways as weaker and in need of guidance. And I think in this book, his prejudices or obsessions got in his own way and muddled what he was trying to do. I don't see any coherent social commentary in Madding either.

But Tess has a really strong social commentary, or at least it felt that way to me. And Hardy himself receded into the background enough that he didn't get in his own way in Tess.

The character Tess' predicament has much to do with her culture's social assumptions, with class distinctions, and with Victorian ideas about gender. But here in Madding, what happens seems more happenstance or fate or even just weakness of character than anything else.

I agree that Middlemarch is a wonderful book with such sharp social commentary! And I do think if you liked that, you would probably like Tess much better than Madding.

I still want to read Jude the Obscure - as it is another of his late novels, I'm hoping it will be more like Tess.

[Erica]

I did still really enjoy it as a classic though, found it quite easy to read and found the action scenes gripping :)