A review by karenluvstoread
Under the Greenwood Tree, Or, the Mellstock Quire by Thomas Hardy

2.5

I found this book confusing and harder to follow at times. It also felt kind of silly sometimes. I saw a lot of similarities between it and Far from the Madding Crowd; then I realized that all the Hardy books I’ve read so far look like they have the same love triangle trope. And that is absolutely fine! But it also means I don’t want to read Hardy back to back.

Hardy writes beautifully descriptive prose which does put it above the cut of a typical romance type book. In addition, some of his novels I’ve read have deep themes as well. I haven’t read Tess of the D’Urbervilles or Jude the Obscure which may not have a love triangle at all in them. It seems I've heard they are more depressing. Hmm....

Anyway, this book was only Hardy’s second novel; so one can see how it may not have been more fleshed out like, say, Far from the Madding Crowd or even The Woodlanders. I think we just didn’t get the chance to get to know the characters as in-depth in this one. 

To be honest, I thought the movie adaptation was far better. In my opinion, the best part of the book was the opening paragraph:

“To dwellers in a wood almost every species of tree has its voice as well as its feature. At the passing of the breeze the fir-trees sob and moan no less distinctly than they rock; the holly whistles as it battles with itself; the ash hisses amid its quiverings; the beech rustles while its flat boughs rise and fall. And winter, which modifies the note of such trees as shed their leaves, does not destroy its individuality.”

Honestly, this one was a bit of a disappointment. Still, that doesn’t detract from the other Hardy books I’ve read and loved so far. And I look forward to reading another one at some point. When I’m in the mood. 😉😁