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A review by b0okcupidity
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
4.0
First, a little theme music courtesy of American R & B singer, Doris Troy:
Just one look and I fell so hard
In love with you, oh-oh, oh-oh
I found out how good it feels
To have your love, oh-oh, oh-oh
Say you will, will be mine
Forever and always, oh-oh, oh-oh
Just one look and I knew
That you were my only one
Oh oh-oh oh!
I thought I was dreamin' but I was wrong, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh, but-a, I'm gonna keep on schemin'
Till I can a-make you, make you my own!
So you see, I really care
Without you I'm nothin', oh-oh, oh-oh
Just one look and I know
I'll get you someday, oh-oh, oh-oh
Just one look, that's all it took
Just one look, that's all it took
Just one look, that's all it took
Of course, you might also know that song as it was covered by The Hollies & Linda Ronstadt, among others...but I digress. This theme song is appropriate for this tale.
After reading Far from the Madding Crowd, I thought to write a semi-serious review. It is a classic, after all, and all classics require seriousness. Right? That's what I was taught in school anyway, when they forced me to read such wonderful stories as The Scarlet Letter, The Jungle, The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, (the list goes on...), thus showing me that classics should all be avoided if you don't want to fall into a pit of depression.
Sigh.
I'm sorry to say that I just don't have it in me.
On the onset, I drew a very obvious parallel between Bathsheba Everdene and King David's Bathsheba, where just one look was all it took for the good king to succumb to temptation and lust and desire. And we all know that story and how it ended for Bathsheba's husband.
Not good, my friends.
So, for most of the book, I just had to accept that Bathsheba's beauty caused men to lose their minds. Which, honestly, is a poor way to paint a love story.
To be fair, there was an effort on Hardy's part to show Bathsheba as an intelligent and independent woman, and I suppose that at the heart of it, any woman who would take over a farm and act as her own bailiff during this time period is, undoubtedly, intelligent and independent. But I also found her to be silly, impulsive and thoughtless - hardly stunning qualities.
Even with this picture of Bathsheba, I did enjoy the story. There were some very amusing chapters (The Malthouse being a favorite of mine), intermingled with some dull-as-spoons chapters (The Sheep Fair), but overall I wanted to turn the pages and see what would happen with these men and their unbridled love of a single woman.
After finishing, my gut was to go with three stars for this one. I labored through so many descriptions of leaves and barns and fairs that it dampened my enthusiasm, but upon reflection, I really did see some spectacularly nuanced writing - particularly around Boldwood's character, which made me reconsider.
Now, for some spoiler-y thoughts and reflections...
When Bathsheba's sheep where laying dying in the field after eating the clover, I cheered aloud when Oak sent back a message to Bathsheba to ask him nicely to come help her.
And while on that subject, I had no idea why her sheep were dying. I live in the mid-west where cattle reign on high (not to mention I live in the suburbs), and know nothing about sheep. My assumption was that they overate - or gorged on young clover that gave them deadly gas? As horrible as it was intended, it was nearly comical truth be told.
Bathsheba's beauty even drove her a bit crazy I think. When she rails at Liddy and Liddy tells her that she'll not be railed at, I also cheered.
I basically cheered anytime someone gave Bathsheba the finger.
Oh, and why, oh why, could we not get an additional chapter of Oak and Bathsheba's courtship? Some of that banter? I really wanted Oak to say, at the end when Bathsheba came to his home, that he was waiting on her to come to him as it was HER TURN to give in a little. It opened with Oak, I knew it would close with Oak, I just wanted more of it.
Just one look and I fell so hard
In love with you, oh-oh, oh-oh
I found out how good it feels
To have your love, oh-oh, oh-oh
Say you will, will be mine
Forever and always, oh-oh, oh-oh
Just one look and I knew
That you were my only one
Oh oh-oh oh!
I thought I was dreamin' but I was wrong, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh, but-a, I'm gonna keep on schemin'
Till I can a-make you, make you my own!
So you see, I really care
Without you I'm nothin', oh-oh, oh-oh
Just one look and I know
I'll get you someday, oh-oh, oh-oh
Just one look, that's all it took
Just one look, that's all it took
Just one look, that's all it took
Of course, you might also know that song as it was covered by The Hollies & Linda Ronstadt, among others...but I digress. This theme song is appropriate for this tale.
After reading Far from the Madding Crowd, I thought to write a semi-serious review. It is a classic, after all, and all classics require seriousness. Right? That's what I was taught in school anyway, when they forced me to read such wonderful stories as The Scarlet Letter, The Jungle, The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, (the list goes on...), thus showing me that classics should all be avoided if you don't want to fall into a pit of depression.
Sigh.
I'm sorry to say that I just don't have it in me.
On the onset, I drew a very obvious parallel between Bathsheba Everdene and King David's Bathsheba, where just one look was all it took for the good king to succumb to temptation and lust and desire. And we all know that story and how it ended for Bathsheba's husband.
Not good, my friends.
So, for most of the book, I just had to accept that Bathsheba's beauty caused men to lose their minds. Which, honestly, is a poor way to paint a love story.
To be fair, there was an effort on Hardy's part to show Bathsheba as an intelligent and independent woman, and I suppose that at the heart of it, any woman who would take over a farm and act as her own bailiff during this time period is, undoubtedly, intelligent and independent. But I also found her to be silly, impulsive and thoughtless - hardly stunning qualities.
Even with this picture of Bathsheba, I did enjoy the story. There were some very amusing chapters (The Malthouse being a favorite of mine), intermingled with some dull-as-spoons chapters (The Sheep Fair), but overall I wanted to turn the pages and see what would happen with these men and their unbridled love of a single woman.
After finishing, my gut was to go with three stars for this one. I labored through so many descriptions of leaves and barns and fairs that it dampened my enthusiasm, but upon reflection, I really did see some spectacularly nuanced writing - particularly around Boldwood's character, which made me reconsider.
Now, for some spoiler-y thoughts and reflections...
Spoiler
When Bathsheba's sheep where laying dying in the field after eating the clover, I cheered aloud when Oak sent back a message to Bathsheba to ask him nicely to come help her.
And while on that subject, I had no idea why her sheep were dying. I live in the mid-west where cattle reign on high (not to mention I live in the suburbs), and know nothing about sheep. My assumption was that they overate - or gorged on young clover that gave them deadly gas? As horrible as it was intended, it was nearly comical truth be told.
Bathsheba's beauty even drove her a bit crazy I think. When she rails at Liddy and Liddy tells her that she'll not be railed at, I also cheered.
I basically cheered anytime someone gave Bathsheba the finger.
Oh, and why, oh why, could we not get an additional chapter of Oak and Bathsheba's courtship? Some of that banter? I really wanted Oak to say, at the end when Bathsheba came to his home, that he was waiting on her to come to him as it was HER TURN to give in a little. It opened with Oak, I knew it would close with Oak, I just wanted more of it.