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kelialql 's review for:
Far From the Madding Crowd
by Thomas Hardy
One of the most readable of Hardy’s novels, Far From the Madding Crowd is, at its heart, a rather simple love story of rather simple people. Filled as it is with all of the poetic allusions, biblical references, and meticulous details of country life we’ve come to expect from Hardy, though, its presentation is anything but simple. As the central tale of the love triangle (quadrilateral? or maybe it’s a pentagon?) unfolds before us, we see the characters’ hopes and dreams, their fears, their very hearts laid bare. From the hero, resourceful shepherd Gabriel Oak, to the heroine, independent beauty Bathsheba Everdene, from the antagonist, shameless charmer Sgt. Francis Troy, to the would-be rival, passionate obsessive William Boldwood, and all the local yokels in between, we find a delightful range of human spirit in this rustic romance – and that’s where the simplicity falls away.
While Hardy is commonly known for his adulation of English country life and his exaltation of all things rural over all things urban, Far From the Madding Crowd manages a neat twist on this theme. Despite the pastoral setting, there are “frenzied” happenings, anguish and suffering a-plenty for farmer and shepherd alike. After all, nothing is truly simple when the frailties of the human heart are involved. In the end, though, it is through the shedding of the excessive and impractical trappings of romance and the embracing of the unpretentious constancy of genuine affection that our lovers finally find their idyllic haven.
While Hardy is commonly known for his adulation of English country life and his exaltation of all things rural over all things urban, Far From the Madding Crowd manages a neat twist on this theme. Despite the pastoral setting, there are “frenzied” happenings, anguish and suffering a-plenty for farmer and shepherd alike. After all, nothing is truly simple when the frailties of the human heart are involved. In the end, though, it is through the shedding of the excessive and impractical trappings of romance and the embracing of the unpretentious constancy of genuine affection that our lovers finally find their idyllic haven.