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A review by octavia_cade
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
emotional
slow-paced
4.0
This is less depressing than Tess of the D'Urbervilles, but that is hardly a high bar. This novel at least has a happy ending, which I suppose is something, but the misery quotient is still very high. Granted, this and Tess are the only two of Hardy's books I've ever read, but he doesn't seem like a barrel of laughs, frankly.
Which doesn't mean that this isn't both effective and affecting, because it is. I admit that it took me a while to get into, but by the end I was riveted. I think it's the characterisation that's the main appeal here: Bathsheba, especially, is both convincing and compelling, and I enjoyed her immensely. Gabriel Oak is likely more admirable, but less interesting. The one I'm stuck on, though, is Boldwood. I suspect in generations past he might have had a more sympathetic hearing from readers, and I am somewhat sympathetic... but only to a point. He's a tragic figure, yes, but he's also a creepy sort of obsessive who has no problem guilting Bathsheba into a relationship. There's a sort of weaponised patheticness there that reads very differently in the age of Me Too. He'd be unbearable to be around, the kind of nice guy you warn other girls about. I wonder, frankly, about Hardy's intentions with him, and how much of that off-putting behaviour was intentional. How much sympathy did Hardy expect us to have for him?
I think if I were Bathsheba, I'd be glad he escaped the gallows, and equally glad that he was locked up and far the fuck away from me.
Which doesn't mean that this isn't both effective and affecting, because it is. I admit that it took me a while to get into, but by the end I was riveted. I think it's the characterisation that's the main appeal here: Bathsheba, especially, is both convincing and compelling, and I enjoyed her immensely. Gabriel Oak is likely more admirable, but less interesting. The one I'm stuck on, though, is Boldwood. I suspect in generations past he might have had a more sympathetic hearing from readers, and I am somewhat sympathetic... but only to a point. He's a tragic figure, yes, but he's also a creepy sort of obsessive who has no problem guilting Bathsheba into a relationship. There's a sort of weaponised patheticness there that reads very differently in the age of Me Too. He'd be unbearable to be around, the kind of nice guy you warn other girls about. I wonder, frankly, about Hardy's intentions with him, and how much of that off-putting behaviour was intentional. How much sympathy did Hardy expect us to have for him?
I think if I were Bathsheba, I'd be glad he escaped the gallows, and equally glad that he was locked up and far the fuck away from me.