Book info

• Title Far From the Madding Crowd
• Author Thomas Hardy
• Year 1874
• Genre Romance

The novel is set in Thomas Hardy's Wessex in rural southwest England, as had been his earlier Under the Greenwood Tree. It deals in themes of love, honour and betrayal, against a backdrop of the seemingly idyllic, but often harsh, realities of a farming community in Victorian England. It describes the life and relationships of Bathsheba Everdene with her lonely neighbour William Boldwood, the faithful shepherd Gabriel Oak, and the thriftless soldier Sergeant Troy.

Thoughts

I’ve been harsh on some of the classic works before and it is usually because, although I love the stories, I find it hard work digging through all the stuffiness. Not so much language, because some classical fiction has beautiful sentences, but the problem is usually just bloated chapters and too many characters.

Thankfully, this one was something different. There were a lot of characters, I’ll grant you that, but there were only a few that really mattered and they were absolutely fascinating. I loved the twists and turns of the story, even though it was blatantly obvious where it was going to end. It sometimes got frustrating that Bathsheba couldn’t just swallow her pride and do what everyone could see was the right thing to do, but hey, that’s where fiction comes from.

I really enjoyed following the progress of all the characters, even if hardly any of them were likeable. It was great to see little actions turned into much bigger parts of the story, and watch as the characters got themselves in and out of situations. Definitely recommended.

Rating: 4 / 5