A review by feelsattack
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- 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
3.5
I think for the first classic lit book that I willingly and voluntarily read, it wasn't bad at all. I really enjoyed it and although the English is old and a little tough to understand, it wasn't enough to make me drop it. I simply skimmed over the parts that were too difficult to understand, usually just being Hardy's ramblings that weren't too pertinent anyways.
Hardy somehow managed to make the characters seem real, I could almost imagine them as real people. There is something very human about Michael Henchard's constant mercurial-ity, Donald Farfrae's consistent kindness despite the mistake of others, and Elizabeth-Jane's suffering at the hands of others. I felt like this book was a pendulum, constantly going back and forth with Michael's actions, feelings, and behaviour. I felt sorry for Elizabeth-Jane throughout all of it, because she was being caused suffering through no fault of her own. Sometimes I wished Donald would have just gone away with the polite kindness and be petty for once!! I certainly would have!!
I built the basis of my opinion of Michael Henchard on the first thing he did--which was the selling of his wife and daughter. In the first half, he seemed to be a changed man, so I indeed liked his character, but I made sure to always remember the horrible thing he did of selling his wife and daughter. Starting in the second half, I was constantly going back and forth between liking and disliking Michael Henchard as he would do something bad, but then would do something good.
At some point I grew tired of it all and wished Michael, Donald, and Lucetta dead and Elizabeth-Jane to be the sole survivor. I'm pretty sure Hardy did this on purpose, LOL. Sometimes you just grow sick of people and their annoying antics.
Actually, for a while I was convinced this was a hidden MLM friends-to-lovers-to-enemies book because the things that were happening and being said between Donald Farfrae and Michael Henchard were just a bit TOO sus to be entirely straight. I thoroughly enjoyed laughing at these parts, LOL.
Hardy somehow managed to make the characters seem real, I could almost imagine them as real people. There is something very human about Michael Henchard's constant mercurial-ity, Donald Farfrae's consistent kindness despite the mistake of others, and Elizabeth-Jane's suffering at the hands of others. I felt like this book was a pendulum, constantly going back and forth with Michael's actions, feelings, and behaviour. I felt sorry for Elizabeth-Jane throughout all of it, because she was being caused suffering through no fault of her own. Sometimes I wished Donald would have just gone away with the polite kindness and be petty for once!! I certainly would have!!
I built the basis of my opinion of Michael Henchard on the first thing he did--which was the selling of his wife and daughter. In the first half, he seemed to be a changed man, so I indeed liked his character, but I made sure to always remember the horrible thing he did of selling his wife and daughter. Starting in the second half, I was constantly going back and forth between liking and disliking Michael Henchard as he would do something bad, but then would do something good.
At some point I grew tired of it all and wished Michael, Donald, and Lucetta dead and Elizabeth-Jane to be the sole survivor. I'm pretty sure Hardy did this on purpose, LOL. Sometimes you just grow sick of people and their annoying antics.
Actually, for a while I was convinced this was a hidden MLM friends-to-lovers-to-enemies book because the things that were happening and being said between Donald Farfrae and Michael Henchard were just a bit TOO sus to be entirely straight. I thoroughly enjoyed laughing at these parts, LOL.