Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - Far From the Madding Crowd

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Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

3 reviews

edwardian_girl_next_door's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This is my second Hardy read after The Mayor of Casterbridge. There's something so intoxicating about the world of Wessex that keeps drawing me back. I love when authors have multiple works set in the same relative universe -- it's so fun to see how they develop a common landscape, characters, &c. and to see how much you can recognise work to work. I definitely plan on returning, either through Jude the Obscure or Return of the Native.

I loved Bathsheba as a main character. Her independence and intemperate nature in the beginning of the story wasn't like the "strong, independent, not-like-other-girls" trope, which tends to be tacky and overboard. (Sometimes the author seems like they're trying reallllly hard for an inclusivity point, if you know what I mean.) Some people don't like the way her character changes over the course of the novel, but I think it is perfectly reasonable.

For instance, when she falls in love with Serjeant Troy: Hardy sets up well beforehand that her besetting sin is vanity, and with a smooth-talker like Troy, who constantly tells her she's beautiful, she's doomed. At first, I didn't think that her love for him was believable, but then again, how many of us have a lovely friend who falls for someone so below their league? And we have to stand by and hold in our screams of rage while said friend dismisses all the flaming red flags because they're besotted. That's how I felt with Bathsheba. Troy can manipulate her so well that it's no surprise she ignores others' advice and her own gut feelings about him. After he turns into the abusive good-for-nothing he really is, she is understandably changed. She's more somber and realistic; a bit of wind is taken out of her sails. She says herself, "Love is an utterly bygone, sorry, wornout, miserable thing with me". If people are looking for a buoyant, happy story, they probably shouldn't read Hardy. However, I really liked the fact that, even though she is permanently changed, having grown into a more serious person, there is a hint of the old Bathsheba returning at the end of the novel: "Yet, though so plainly dressed, there was a certain rejuvenated appearance about her: -- As though a rose should shut and be a bud again. Repose had again incarnadined her cheeks; and having, at Gabriel's request, arranged her hair this morning as she had worn it years ago at Norcombe Hill, she seemed to him remarkably like the girl of that fascinating dream". Gabriel was there at the beginning, and Gabriel is there at the end; and it gives us reason to hope that with him she will be able to regain the parts of herself lost to her experiences with Troy and Boldwood.

The one part of this novel that kept it from being five stars was Troy. Oh, Troy. A rakish, cajoling, manipulative man, the epitome of the folk song "The Rambling Soldier".

At no point could I believe that he actually cared for Fanny Robin. When he was with her, he was extremely reluctant to marry her, and very cruel at her simple mistake of confusing the churches. The only thing I could think of (to make him love Fanny) was guilt after seeing her destitute and pregnant, but even that's a stretch. I really don't think he cared for anyone, or at least a woman, for a day in his life. If he really did love Fanny, and only married Bathsheba for her money, then why didn't he try to find Fanny afterwards? It simply doesn't make sense to me, and my confusion was only magnified by his grand display of grief at her grave. Perhaps I'm viewing him from the wrong angle, or missed some clue that Hardy dropped about his true character, but I wonder if his sudden adoration of Fanny resulted from a forced plot change, since it rings so false.

In my opinion, Francis Troy is one of those people who uses their relationships to advance their own standing in the world because they refuse to use their own talent for good or profit.

If anyone's interested in watching the 2015 movie adaptation, I'd recommend it! It's a pretty faithful adaptation -- it necessarily cuts out a lot of the side character happenings for the sake of time, and I don't quite like the way they represented Boldwood, but I'll forgive it all for the talented Carey Mulligan :)

Content Warnings

iwishihadmoretimetoread's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective relaxing sad 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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

nerdkitten's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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