Reviews

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

upsidedown10's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This was a tale of two halves for me. The first half, I found very slow paced, but in a relaxing and pastoral way. I was vibing along with the descriptions of farm life and the villagers' stories even though not a lot was actually happening. Then the second half, things start to spin tighter and tighter until we come to the dramatic and quite explosive ending. 

I liked both Shepherd Gabriel and Farmer Boldwood as characters and I found the twists and turns with them very interesting. I found Troy to be a little tedious as a character and I wasn't very engaged when he was on screen. Then we have Bathsheba, who I partially liked, but it was hard to love her when it felt like Thomas Hardy didn't like her. She was very wishy washy as a character and I found that I could feel the author moving the story more than I would have liked. 

I also found the writing to be a little difficult to read compared with other classic books of the time. Hardy gets a bit tedious with his descriptions of farm life and I can see how this could be perfect for people looking for some cottage-core vibes, but it didn't make it very engaging for me. I was immensely grateful for the audiobook for this one. 

lucy_evans's review

relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

_reading_with_kate_'s review against another edition

5.0

What a wild ride. I did not pick this up thinking it would be my favorite book I've read so far this year, but here we are.

charlypeters's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I'm not the biggest fan of classics as a rule, and this book took effort to get through, but it was ultimately worth it.

velocitygirl14's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

seanajk's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

4.25

zebra52's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

1.5

jobustitch's review against another edition

4.0

I am starting to think that Thomas Hardy is one of my favorite authors. The characters he creates are so multi-faceted that they jump off the page. I feel like the four main characters are so very real that I may have met them somewhere. Maybe I'll make this my summer thing. Listen to one Hardy novel every summer. So enjoyable.

akosmia's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

cait_readsxox's review against another edition

5.0

I really enjoyed this Victorian Classic! It was a phenomenal story with phenomenal writing! Definitely a new favourite of mine and I can’t stop thinking about it! It really had the flare for dramatic and really vivid writing. Hardy writing is similar to L.M Montgomery, in the sense that they both write very beautiful and vivid settings in their stories. This is definitely not a classic with likeable characters, these characters are flawed and make awful decisions sometimes. There is a lot of dramatic moments, stunning farmland setting, beautiful scenes, sad scenes, funny dialogue & humorous scenes. I’ll definitely read more of his stories! ❤️