Rating: 
Summary: FAR FROM COMPELLING
Review: Classic soap opera, sometimes dull and very mannered, though not without some redeeeming qualities. Character studies quite good, but they sometimes are bogged down in trivial details and verbosity. This could easily have been half as long. Bathsheba Everdene is a great name for the protagonist.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic treasure
Review: Forget the infamous "love triangle". In Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy introduces us to the precarious "love square". At the core of all the turmoil is beautiful farm girl, Bathsheba Everdene - spirited, vain, intelligent and adept at toying with the hearts of men. Inevitably beguiled by her charms a humble and kind farmer, Gabriel Oak, fervently attempts to win Bathsheba's affections. Enter the competition.... (suitor#2) Farmer Boldwood - a wealthy and temperate middle-aged man respected in the community, eventually plunges into maniacal obsession at the mere possibility of making the beloved Miss Everdene his wife; and (suitor#3) Sergeant Francis Troy - a dashing young philandering soldier, with his share of inner demons, ruthlessness and vanity, vies for Bathsheba's hand in marriage. Bathsheba's ultimate decision, and the cataclysm it evokes, lies at the epicenter of Hardy's unforgettable ambivalent story.
"Far from the Madding Crowd", Thomas Hardy's fourth novel, saw publication in 1874 and earned him widespread popularity as a writer. A delicately woven tale of unrequited love and regret, set in the mid-19th century, "Far From the Madding Crowd" is a masterpiece of pure story-telling. Hardy's classic style is a pleasure to read as he masterfully brings his characters and their dealings to life. I would not hesitate to say it definitely captured my heart as another favourite.
Rating:
Summary: Far From Ordinary
Review: Hardy is not my favorite author by any stretch of the imagination, but this is a work of beauty. Unlike other Victorian works (like those of Jane), "Far From the Madding Crowd" leave the chattering jiberish of scheming aristocrats behind to focus on the drama of the country and the working class. Also, this novel explores the "Woman Question" of the day (place in society) and presents a strong willed lead that breaks many of the molds of the time. Loyalty, love, loss, and understanding are all very beautifully and strongly discussed as well. A novel that should be required reading for all students.
Rating:
Summary: Far From Ordinary
Review: Hardy is not my favorite author by any stretch of the imagination, but this is a work of beauty. Unlike other Victorian works (like those of Jane), "Far From the Madding Crowd" leave the chattering jiberish of scheming aristocrats behind to focus on the drama of the country and the working class. Also, this novel explores the "Woman Question" of the day (place in society) and presents a strong willed lead that breaks many of the molds of the time. Loyalty, love, loss, and understanding are all very beautifully and strongly discussed as well. A novel that should be required reading for all students.
Rating:
Summary: Forget the infamous "love triangle"...
Review: In "Far from the Madding Crowd", Thomas Hardy introduces us to the precarious 'love square'. At the core of all the turmoil is beautiful farm girl, Bathsheba Everdene - spirited, vain, intelligent and adept at toying with the hearts of men. Inevitably beguiled by her charms a humble and kind farmer, Gabriel Oak, fervently attempts to win Bathsheba's affections. Enter the competition: (suitor#2) Farmer Boldwood - a wealthy and temperate middle-aged man respected in the community, eventually plunges into maniacal obsession at the mere possibility of making the beloved Miss Everdene his wife; and (suitor#3) Sergeant Francis Troy - a dashing young philandering soldier, with his share of inner demons, ruthlessness and vanity, vies for Bathsheba's hand in marriage. Bathsheba's ultimate decision, and the cataclysm it evokes, lies at the epicenter of Hardy's unforgettable ambivalent story. "Far from the Madding Crowd", Thomas Hardy's fourth novel, saw publication in 1874 and earned him widespread popularity as a writer. A delicately woven tale of unrequited love and regret, set in the mid-19th century, Far From the Madding Crowd is a masterpiece of pure story-telling. Hardy's classic style is a pleasure to read as he masterfully brings his characters and their dealings to life. I would not hesitate to say it definitely captured my heart as another favourite.
Rating:
Summary: Forget the infamous "love triangle"...
Review: In "Far from the Madding Crowd", Thomas Hardy introduces us to the precarious 'love square'. At the core of all the turmoil is beautiful farm girl, Bathsheba Everdene - spirited, vain, intelligent and adept at toying with the hearts of men. Inevitably beguiled by her charms a humble and kind farmer, Gabriel Oak, fervently attempts to win Bathsheba's affections. Enter the competition: (suitor#2) Farmer Boldwood - a wealthy and temperate middle-aged man respected in the community, eventually plunges into maniacal obsession at the mere possibility of making the beloved Miss Everdene his wife; and (suitor#3) Sergeant Francis Troy - a dashing young philandering soldier, with his share of inner demons, ruthlessness and vanity, vies for Bathsheba's hand in marriage. Bathsheba's ultimate decision, and the cataclysm it evokes, lies at the epicenter of Hardy's unforgettable ambivalent story. "Far from the Madding Crowd", Thomas Hardy's fourth novel, saw publication in 1874 and earned him widespread popularity as a writer. A delicately woven tale of unrequited love and regret, set in the mid-19th century, Far From the Madding Crowd is a masterpiece of pure story-telling. Hardy's classic style is a pleasure to read as he masterfully brings his characters and their dealings to life. I would not hesitate to say it definitely captured my heart as another favourite.
Rating: 
Summary: It's a romance...
Review: Not my typical fare, whether in classics or in modern literature. The beautiful heroine of this 19th century novel, Bathsheba Everdene (naming of characters evidently isn't one of Hardy's foremost strengths), is pursued by three men. Their personalities remind me of the movie "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly". Gabriel Oak is the Good dependable and reticent hero, Francis Troy is the Bad dashing soldier, and you find out towards the end that the handsome Farmer Boldwood is actually quite Ugly inside, though not Bad like Troy. Bathsheba is a somewhat unconventional woman for the time: confident in her ability to deal with men in matters of business, able to endure jarring emotional setbacks, and not afraid of confrontation. Naturally, since this is a romance novel the heroine must also possess some deeply feminine qualities: she's an emotional roller coaster, has a keen yearning to be desired, and feels great empathy for others' sorrows. The characters' personalities and the numerous coincidences and accidental events that drive the plot all smack of "soap opera." The story may have been a groundbreaking achievement in its heyday, but today it just feels overused because many dramas, whether in novel or film form, recycle this work's themes and plot devices. However, Hardy displays extraordinary skill with the English language and I was delighted with his word choice numerous times throughout the novel. As an example, Hardy's way of describing a pocket watch whose hour hand is broken: "...though the minutes were told with precision, nobody could be quite certain of the hour they belonged to." Now imagine virtually everything in the settings described in witty fashion like that and you'll understand why the prose can be relished on its own merits, quite aside from the generally lackluster plot. The shocking climax did surprise me though. Due to Hardy's formidable descriptive powers, I got a clear picture of all people and events and my attention never wandered. Also, as an avid amateur astronomer I greatly appreciated Hardy's evident knowledge of the night sky. He makes numerous references to actual constellations and asterisms, by which Oak has incidentally learned to tell time at night. We can hardly blame Hardy for writing a romance that was unique and original 100 years ago but not today. But it does keep this novel from rating five stars, in my opinion, for a reader *today*. Nevertheless, it's highly enjoyable and I'm still savoring the many brilliant moments of prose contained in this novel.
Rating:
Summary: far from the madding crowd
Review: This book "Far from the Madding Crowd" starts off pretty slow with a girl "Bathsheba Everdene" that is described to be a fairly goodlooking lady that meets a man who was Gabrial oak. The whole thing starts when Miss. Everdene saves Gabrial's life one night. Then Gabrial asks Everdene to marry him, but of course she says no because why does she want to get married. Everdene doesn't love Gabrial and that was her main reason why she wasn't going to get married to him. Gabriel continues on and shortly after on his farm loses his sheep. This caused him to be forced out of farming. Gabrial not knowing what else to do he goes and looks for another job and winds up in Weatherbury. There he is hired as a shepherd to Bathsheba.
From here on out to almost the end of the story is pretty much where i noticed that it seems like there could of been alot cut out to kind of get right to the point but i guese some of it was needed. I though this cause the next major event didnt happen till like the near end. Then it goes it where Gabrial helps Bathsheba out wit the farm different sorts of things on the farm and she begins to notice her neighbor. Her neighbor is Mr. Boldwood. She starts to get so interested into him that she sends him a valentines card and he gets so excited but he is a guy that was chased after by many of the ladies becuase of his wealth. Mr. Boldwood soon later asks if she will marry him and just like before she refuses because she says she doesn't love him. Then later on the same day that she was asked to be married she meets a man named Troy. What she doesnt know about him though is that he had just got a girl pregnant and was just about to marrie her. Of course just like all of the other guys, Troy also falls in love with Bathsheba and the other man that Bathsheba was with of course finds out about this and quit angry. So Bathsheba goes to let troy know and while she is there Troy makes her beleive that she loves him and wants to marry him. So they get married and shortley after they get married the girl that Troy got pregnant had his child and the lady died in the process. Once Troy knows that she is going to find out about this he runs away cause he knows it was the wrong thing the whole time to do what he had done to Bathsheba. I feel that when Troy new that he had just got another lady pregnant the he should definatly told her because he had to of known it was only gona come back up in the future to stab him from behind which of course it did. So it goes to serve him right for messing around and trying to hide things in his past that should of been revealed.
So now that it seems that Troy is out of the whole picture Boldwood thinks he may have his chance again at her so he has a party and invites her. Not knowing that Troy is also going to show up at the party which he does and when he does Boldwood is in shock because Boldwood just asked her to marry him and she said that she would and now Troy shows up so Boldwood pulls his gun and fires it at Troy. Killing Troy Boldwood is sentenced to life and prison. Then you think where else could this story go but to where you would almost forget at the begging Gabriel the young farmer. Gabriel meets up with Bthsheba a lil while after the killing and gets married to him. I feel that this part was the best part of the whole story because it was the most action that was taking place through out the whole novel and since i like action books i guese this wasnt the book for me but it was still a good reading novel.
So i guese over all in my perspective the moral of the novel was that you can never expect to expect what you want when dealing with love. Love is something i guese you could say shouldnt be tampered with and just let it take its course. Unlike the characters in this novel they tried to direct the love of one girl more by forcing her to try and like them but it doesnt work out to be like that. Thats why the one gentleman that stood back for a bit and waited did get to marry the girl of his i guese dreams.
Rating:
Summary: far from the madding crowd
Review: This book "Far from the Madding Crowd" starts off pretty slow with a girl "Bathsheba Everdene" that is described to be a fairly goodlooking lady that meets a man who was Gabrial oak. The whole thing starts when Miss. Everdene saves Gabrial's life one night. Then Gabrial asks Everdene to marry him, but of course she says no because why does she want to get married. Everdene doesn't love Gabrial and that was her main reason why she wasn't going to get married to him. Gabriel continues on and shortly after on his farm loses his sheep. This caused him to be forced out of farming. Gabrial not knowing what else to do he goes and looks for another job and winds up in Weatherbury. There he is hired as a shepherd to Bathsheba.
From here on out to almost the end of the story is pretty much where i noticed that it seems like there could of been alot cut out to kind of get right to the point but i guese some of it was needed. I though this cause the next major event didnt happen till like the near end. Then it goes it where Gabrial helps Bathsheba out wit the farm different sorts of things on the farm and she begins to notice her neighbor. Her neighbor is Mr. Boldwood. She starts to get so interested into him that she sends him a valentines card and he gets so excited but he is a guy that was chased after by many of the ladies becuase of his wealth. Mr. Boldwood soon later asks if she will marry him and just like before she refuses because she says she doesn't love him. Then later on the same day that she was asked to be married she meets a man named Troy. What she doesnt know about him though is that he had just got a girl pregnant and was just about to marrie her. Of course just like all of the other guys, Troy also falls in love with Bathsheba and the other man that Bathsheba was with of course finds out about this and quit angry. So Bathsheba goes to let troy know and while she is there Troy makes her beleive that she loves him and wants to marry him. So they get married and shortley after they get married the girl that Troy got pregnant had his child and the lady died in the process. Once Troy knows that she is going to find out about this he runs away cause he knows it was the wrong thing the whole time to do what he had done to Bathsheba. I feel that when Troy new that he had just got another lady pregnant the he should definatly told her because he had to of known it was only gona come back up in the future to stab him from behind which of course it did. So it goes to serve him right for messing around and trying to hide things in his past that should of been revealed.
So now that it seems that Troy is out of the whole picture Boldwood thinks he may have his chance again at her so he has a party and invites her. Not knowing that Troy is also going to show up at the party which he does and when he does Boldwood is in shock because Boldwood just asked her to marry him and she said that she would and now Troy shows up so Boldwood pulls his gun and fires it at Troy. Killing Troy Boldwood is sentenced to life and prison. Then you think where else could this story go but to where you would almost forget at the begging Gabriel the young farmer. Gabriel meets up with Bthsheba a lil while after the killing and gets married to him. I feel that this part was the best part of the whole story because it was the most action that was taking place through out the whole novel and since i like action books i guese this wasnt the book for me but it was still a good reading novel.
So i guese over all in my perspective the moral of the novel was that you can never expect to expect what you want when dealing with love. Love is something i guese you could say shouldnt be tampered with and just let it take its course. Unlike the characters in this novel they tried to direct the love of one girl more by forcing her to try and like them but it doesnt work out to be like that. Thats why the one gentleman that stood back for a bit and waited did get to marry the girl of his i guese dreams.
Rating:
Summary: A towering achievement of English literature
Review: This has to be my favorite of all Thomas Hardy's many classic works. "Far from the Madding Crowd" was published in 1874 when the novelist was 34 years old. It is one of the earliest works of English literature I can think of which has a fully rounded, fully independent, fully human female protagonist. Bathsheba Everdene runs a farm, is only semi-aware of her own extraordinary beauty, and is pursued by three very different men throughout the course of the book. "Far from the Madding Crowd" may, in some sense, be the model for every cheapo drugstore romance novel ever written, but it is a classic for the very simple and very good reason that it transcends the genre it may have helped to start. Bathsheba's trials, in love and elsewhere, are completely realized, with terrific detail. Hardy has a powerful understanding of human nature and makes each of the characters both deep and broad, both simple and complex, both good and filled with fault. The result is a story with many characters, each of whom is as full-blooded and human as a reader could hope. It's a book which bears reading again and again, as each new reading shows the reader new detail and new depth not previously seen. A more three-dimensional character study may not exist in novel form--and the beauty of it is that all this terrific character examination is done against the backdrop of a wonderful plot as well. You really couldn't ask for a more richly satisfying novel.
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