Three years later, I finally worked up the motivation to read it. Although it was a little difficult to get through in the beginning, the story hooked me in as it developed. The author, Thomas Hardy, was a known poet, and so I imagine that this is the reason why many of his descriptions and narration in the novel are wordy and superfluous during several instances in the book. This read was a great contrast to the previous book I had read, Bird Box, because of the poetic phrases and extended descriptions that include tons of imagery. I can see why my cousin's neighbor was surprised that it was not on my curriculum reading list. This book is exploding with literary analysis potential; Hardy implements more mythological, literary, and biblical allusions than I could possibly count (I had to spend some time apart from reading to search up vocabulary and certain meanings).
Despite the lack of complete comprehension I had while reading this book, I enjoyed it. I especially love how Hardy, a nineteenth-century man, was surprisingly a big advocate for women independence. This is seen in Far From the Madding Crowd as it centers around the life of Bathsheba Everdene, a woman who inherits a large farm estate and runs it by herself while confronting criticism from the rest of the town. Hardy paints Bathsheba as an independent woman; however, her pride and "womanliness" are what lead to her downfall. This line especially spoke to me: "Bathsheba loved Troy in the way that only self-reliant women love when they abandon their self-reliance. When a strong woman recklessly throws away her strength she is worse than a weak woman who has never had any strength to throw away." Because of this, I believe the way Hardy matched his characters to people in the real world creates a timeless effect. Alongside Bathsheba's representation of independent women, the three very different suitors Bathsheba has in the story are almost like Hardy's way of categorizing the history of the entire male population, even for centuries to come.
This book is a classic, and includes some humorous scenes in between poetic narration which makes it that much more enjoyable.
Happy reading!
xx
Kristina
