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mondovertigo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Abandonment
Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, and Murder
Minor: Child death
edwardian_girl_next_door's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I loved Bathsheba as a main character. Her independence and intemperate nature in the beginning of the story wasn't like the "strong, independent, not-like-other-girls" trope, which tends to be tacky and overboard. (Sometimes the author seems like they're trying reallllly hard for an inclusivity point, if you know what I mean.) Some people don't like the way her character changes over the course of the novel, but I think it is perfectly reasonable.
The one part of this novel that kept it from being five stars was Troy. Oh, Troy. A rakish, cajoling, manipulative man, the epitome of the folk song "The Rambling Soldier".
If anyone's interested in watching the 2015 movie adaptation, I'd recommend it! It's a pretty faithful adaptation -- it necessarily cuts out a lot of the side character happenings for the sake of time, and I don't quite like the way they represented Boldwood, but I'll forgive it all for the talented Carey Mulligan :)
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Minor: Child death
aloy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
jedore's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
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.
This is one of the rare occasions when seeing the movie prompted me to read the book. I loved the movie! It pretty much nailed the lives of my adult life…my ex-husband, my ex-lover, and the ultimate love of my life. So I ran and bought the book, but held off reading it until the memory of the book faded.
I so wanted to love this book as much as I loved the movie…but, I didn’t.
The theme and character development were excellent, but they weren’t enough to make up for the shortcomings for me.
First, this is a hardcore classic. The language and many references, including lots of biblical ones, were very dated making footnotes a regular occurrence and a lot of nuances missed (unless you wanted to conduct research (which I did not).
Second, oftentimes descriptions of the environs would drag on for multiple paragraphs. Zzzzzz…
And, finally, the most important part of the whole story felt like an afterthought. I don’t want to spoil it, but let’s just say that Mr. Hardy should have spent way less time describing the countryside and way more time on the last chapter!
If not for my love of the movie, I don’t think I would have finished this book. I read mostly at night and it acted like a Benadryl stretching my total read time to over a month.
I’m really glad the filmmakers brought this story to the current generation because the theme and message really are fantastic.
Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Stalking
megxlily's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Child death and Suicide attempt
Minor: Pregnancy and War
bloomingpear's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, and Alcohol
elliejhnsn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Many descriptions of women in general as well as Bathsheba specifically are demeaning and untrue. While having a problematic heroine is not a problem, I’m concerned with Hardy’s motivations in writing this. Seemed like he was encouraging an ignorant narrative of woman’s nature (and my footnotes also led me to believe this). I wish books like this were not so prominent in the “classic” English canon we keep in contemporary times. Read for the nature descriptions and to get angry at long-dead men and their sexism.
Moderate: Child death, Death, Sexism, and Suicide attempt
nerdkitten's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Minor: Pregnancy and War