From the Bookshelf of Works of Thomas Hardy…

Far From The Madding Crowd

Thomas Hardy

Start date: March 17, 2024

Finish date: May 30, 2024

Discussion: Far from the Madding Crowd

Discussion leader: Bionic Jean

Why we're reading this: Our second annual group read of a novel by Thomas Hardy
[close] Our second annual group read of a novel by Thomas Hardy

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Far from the Madding Crowd

Far From the Madding Crowd 5th Thread Chapter 39 - 47
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last updated May 30, 2024 02:35PM

Far From the Madding Crowd 6th Thread Chapter 48 - 57
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What Members Thought

May 23, 2024 Connie G rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, england, classic, fiction, thomas-hardy

Bathsheba Everdene, an independent beautiful young woman, inherited her uncle's farm in rural southwestern England. Complications arise between Bathsheba and her three very different suitors. Gabriel Oaks is as solid and strong in character as his name suggests. Sergeant Troy, who lives for the moment, is a seductive cad. Bathsheba's neighbor, Mr Boldwood, is a middle-aged, serious man who is becoming alarmingly obsessed in his quest to win her hand in marriage. The scene is set for an explosive ...more

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May 23, 2024 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

This is only my second Hardy novel and won't be my last! I just love his writing. I started out reading this as a chapter a day discussion with the Works of Thomas Hardy reading group. Things got in the way, and I couldn't quite keep up with the discussions. Bathsheba had my admiration in the beginning when she was determined to make a go of a farm that fell to her after a death in the family. Quite ambitious for a young woman in Victorian times, but as the story evolved, she frustrated me to no ...more

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Apr 01, 2024 Antoinette rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, pre-1900, british-literature, classics

A story about love and obsession, class distinction and the farming life.

The story revolves around Bathsheba, a young lady who is independent and beautiful. She inherits her uncle’s farm and plans to run it on her own.

Three different men enter her life: Gabriel Oak, a shepherd and farmer, whom she had met prior to receiving her inheritance. He is a good man- steady, reliable and kind, but definitely ranks below her now. Boldwood is a rich landowner and farmer, whose farm is situated next to hers A story about love and obsession, class distinction and the farming life.

The story revolves around Bathsheba, a young lady who is independent and beautiful. She inherits her uncle’s farm and plans to run it on her own.

Three different men enter her life: Gabriel Oak, a shepherd and farmer, whom she had met prior to receiving her inheritance. He is a good man- steady, reliable and kind, but definitely ranks below her now. Boldwood is a rich landowner and farmer, whose farm is situated next to hers. A confirmed bachelor who becomes obsessed with Bathsheba after she plays a mean trick on him. Francis Troy. A sergeant in the army- a charmer, a scoundrel and a very good looking man.

All are interested in Bathsheba. The choices she makes will affect them all.

“It may have been observed that there is no regular path for getting out of love as there is for getting in.”

“When a strong woman recklessly throws away her strength she is worse than a weak woman who has never had any strength to throw away.”

Hardy is a wonderful writer. He loves nature and the countryside- he so aptly shows this in his descriptions of the natural world.

“Being a man not without a frequent consciousness that there was some beauty in this life he led, he stood still looking at the sky as a useful instrument, and regarded it in an appreciative spirit, as a work of art superlatively beautiful.”

It was wonderful immersing myself in Hardy’s world. He had me totally involved in all their lives. Of course, I had my favourite when it came to the men. That was easy! It’s amazing how all our actions can affect those around us- even the smallest ones. The intricacies of living in the country and running a farm are well explored as well as the habits of the workers on the farm. Hardy gave me a complete portrait of the place and time.
This has gone straight to my favourites shelf! What also made this special to me is that my sons asked to read this one along with me. Maybe they did not love it as much as I did, but that’s Ok- it was a joy to have them interested!

Published: 1874 ...more

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May 19, 2022 Lori Keeton rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, 2022-reads, favorites, victorian-lit, british, catching-up-on-classics, own-it, 5-stars

"You know, mistress, that I love you, and shall love you always.”

I can’t totally express how much I loved this captivating book. It has such richly drawn characters, a lushly vivid landscape, and an elaborately complex story that captured me from start to finish.

Hardy’s prose is just lyrical and beautiful. You just want to take it in slowly and let it linger in your ear for how stunning it is to read. He makes you take note of his descriptions of the countryside in a way that produces awe. I sl "You know, mistress, that I love you, and shall love you always.”

I can’t totally express how much I loved this captivating book. It has such richly drawn characters, a lushly vivid landscape, and an elaborately complex story that captured me from start to finish.

Hardy’s prose is just lyrical and beautiful. You just want to take it in slowly and let it linger in your ear for how stunning it is to read. He makes you take note of his descriptions of the countryside in a way that produces awe. I slow down and take in each word and revel in the mastery that he has composed. Take this passage, for example. How expertly he writes of the simplicity of trees and their leaves in winter:

The hill was covered on its northern side by an ancient and decaying plantation of beeches, whose upper verge formed a line over the crest fringing its arched curve against the sky, like a mane. To-night, these trees sheltered the southern slope from the keenest blasts, which smote the wood and floundered through it with a sound as of grumbling, or gushed over its crowning boughs in a weakened moan. The dry leaves in the ditch simmered and boiled in the same breezes, a tongue of air occasionally ferreting out a few, and sending them spinning across the grass. A group or two of the latest in date among this dead multitude had remained on the twigs which bore them till this very mid-winter time, and in falling rattled against the trunks with smart taps.

Marvelous!

He does the same with his characters. Bathsheba Everdene is a Victorian young woman who has chosen a precarious position within a man’s world. She is beautiful, independent, strong-willed, prideful and temperamental. However, her vanity is her biggest pitfall. She exhibits what I thought was a modern type of moxie as she takes over running her uncle’s farm and expects she will do it even better and without the help of a husband. In fact, she has rather stark ideas about marriage: I shouldn't mind being a bride at a wedding, if I could be one without having a husband.

She comes across as confident and capable but when it comes to love, Bathsheba has no idea what she is really up against. When it comes to love, her decisions are questionable. I loved how Hardy allowed the reader to be privy to happenings that the characters knew nothing of but the reader could use this information to deduce what was going to happen. My analysis of Bathsheba would be that she can handle a crisis and rise to a challenge, but terribly impulsive and essentially quite gullible in matters of the heart. Sadly, others pay a higher price for her actions and decisions.

Bathsheba’s beauty, belonging rather to the redeemed-demoniac than to the blemished-angelic school, she never looked so well as when she was angry — and particularly when the effect was heightened by a rather dashing Sunday dress, carefully put on before a glass.

Bathsheba’s three suitors could not be more different. Gabriel Oak is the sturdy, faithful, dependable helper. Farmer Boldwood’s obsession for Bathsheba has tragic tendencies, and Sergeant Troy uses his charm and flattery to his advantage without thought to consequences. What Hardy creates with these characters is an unforgettable and compelling saga filled with scandal, intrigue, passion, devotion, obsession, dismay, tragedy, humor…..It really has it all! ...more

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Feb 29, 2016 grllopez ~ with freedom and books rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, personal-canon, fiction

My favorite Hardy.

My review: https://www.greatbookstudy.com/search... ...more

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Jun 04, 2018 Tracey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-modern-classics

This was my first book by Thomas Hardy and I've really enjoyed my forray into his world.
The main characters names are incredibly memorable Bathsheba Everdene who beautiful and feisty captures the heart of 3 men, first Gabriel Oak a shepherd who remains a true and loyal friend throughout, then a rich landowner farmer Boldwood who becomes obsessed with her and also Sergeant Troy a handsome soldier who turns her head even though we as the reader know he is a vile man.
Bathsheba throughout the book ...more

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Jun 14, 2017 Jim Puskas rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, place-and-time, literature

Anyone stepping into a classic 19th century novel such as this needs to leave 21st century ideas of literary style behind and immerse oneself in an entirely different world. Having once made that shift, a feast awaits. Hardy's craft and inventiveness in presenting the personality, appearance, demeanor and habits of of his characters is unmatched in English literature. He often employs what in a lesser writer might be considered a trick, that of introducing a seemingly trivial event or action tha ...more

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Mar 11, 2015 Lori rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, victorian, nineteenth-century

**Spoiler alert** I am a little ashamed to say that I only picked up this book on a whim after seeing the movie trailer of the film adaptation being released this month. Wow! A kindly shepherd falls in love with a beautiful girl in this pastoral romance set against a mid 19th century farm with, of course, plenty of sheep. Yes, please! This is my first Thomas Hardy read, and I am glad I kept reading through the sad parts,(thanks to my absolute belief that this book would ultimately wind it's way ...more

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May 24, 2024 Pamela Mclaren rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, book-club, historical-fiction, literary-fiction

Far From the Madding Crowd, published originally in serial form, is one of Hardy's most popular novels, and its hard not to agree that this tale of a young woman and her loves: a soldier, an older farmer and Gabriel Oak, a shepherd who of all her loves knows her best perhaps and provides her with a true and lasting love.

Its also the tale of how a beautiful young woman grows and matures. When the reader meets her, she is very independent, impetuous and willful. Throughout the story, she learns th ...more

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