Far from the Madding Crowd

by Thomas Hardy

Dr. Ronald Blythe and Ronald Blythe

Bathsheba Everdene is a strong, confident woman who becomes a powerful farmer. But her emotional life descends into chaos as she becomes involved with three very different men.

• ISBN10: 0140431268
• ISBN13: 9780140431261
• Publish Date: 25 January 1979 (first published 4 April 1874)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 7 August 2002
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 496
• Language: English

Reviews

[brokentune]

Review first posted on BookLikes: http://brokentune.booklikes.com/post/888908/far-from-the-madding-crowd

"All the female guests were huddled aghast against the walls like sheep in a storm, and the men were bewildered as to what to do."

Thomas Hardy and I don't gel. Maybe it's the pastoral setting, maybe it's the rather monotonous way he tells a story, maybe it was the endless descriptions of sheep and the use of sheep-symbolism in this book, but Hardy just does not do anything for me.

I get the book. I get Hardy's writing. But, as with Tess, he just does not persuade me to care about any of the characters.

I will persevere with two or three more titles - two on the recommendation of BL friends and Return of the Native because the audio book is read by Alan Rickman.