Rating: 
Summary: Long, too descriptive
Review: This is a book that is too descriptive for its own good. I am currently reading this book for the Academic Decathalon and I find it long, uninteresting, and boring. It spends way too much time talking about how the individual trees are while not moving back to look at the forest.I give it three stars for the story, because it is a classic, but overall, I did not enjoy it, because it was too darn long and descriptive. It was a drag for me. My recommendation: if you like descriptive, thoughtful, where the underdog gets the girl, vanity type of books, I'd say go ahead and read this one, you'd enjoy it. If you don't, stay away from the whiff.
Rating: 
Summary: A story of patience
Review: Though I have never read Thomas Hardy before, I shall again very soon. I greatly enjoyed Far From the Madding Crowd. I kept associating Bathsheba, the heroine, with Scarlett O'Hara. They are both women from the past who are struggling for a place where only men typically tread. Unlike Scarlett, Bathsheba's emotions are more restrained. She's so young, but matures through the book. The reader yearns for the day she finally matures to the point that realizes she needs a partner in life, and her perfect partner is Gabriel Oak, her steadfast mate of fate. I definitely recommend this book for one of those cold rainy weekends curled up on the couch. I am looking forward to diving into my next Thomas Hardy novel, Jude the Obscure.
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