Following the praise of the audio version of Far from the Madding Crowd read by Nathaniel Parker by Malin and bonnie this year I decided that I would attempt my first Thomas Hardy. While I had a pretty good foundation in literature at school there are definitely some classics, or classic authors, that have escaped my purview (looking at you Charles Dickens). I don’t remember if I’d heard good things or bad, but I was definitely a little wary of this undertaking.
I should not have been worried at all.
The logline for this novel was simplistic, but the story is not. From Goodreads: “This is the story of Bathsheba Everdene, who inherits her uncle’s farm, then surprises the villagers of Weatherbury by deciding to run it herself rather than hire a manager. Three men vie for the affections of this independent young woman.” Sounds like a basic romance novel set-up, right? But it’s not. I also argue that Bathsheba, while the hub at the center of the narrative wheel, is not truly the main protagonist. Perhaps that was Hardy’s goal, but the parallel story of Gabriel Oak (the first of the aforementioned three suitors) is at least as strong, if not stronger, than Bathsheba’s.
What I found to be truly engaging about this work, some 140 years after its original publication, is that Hardy uses the characters to explore the dynamics of marriage, courtship, and selfhood. What defines each of these people? For Gabriel it’s the losses he experiences early in the book, and then the success later. For Bathsheba it’s her decisions to be independent, and then the circumstances which change that reality. For Sergeant Troy it’s the capricious nature of the decisions he makes about his life, which will eventually be its undoing. For Farmer Boldwood it’s abandoning his preconceived notions of himself as a confirmed bachelor. By giving each of these characters a linchpin hardy really digs into what long-term consequences come of both the small and large choices they, and by extension we, make.
I also loved the title of this book once I got used to it. In the pubic consciousness we don’t usually use the word madding anymore. For a very long time I thought this book’s title was Far from the Maddening Crowd and have to remind myself it’s not every time I talk about it (I’ve been singing its praises to my local peeps).Upon a little research I discovered that the phrase madding crowd is used to indicate especially the crowded world of human activity and strife. Then Weatherbury should indeed be far from the madding crowd. However, this novel is all about the basic human activity and strife we all experience, regardless of whether or not there are throngs of people near us.
Definitely a 4.5 read. Give it a chance.
