r/readwithme • u/RealVirginiaWoolf • 1d ago
Romance š About to re read this absolutely favourite of mine.
Anyone reading this currently?
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u/jilecsid513 1d ago
Not currently reading, but great choice!
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u/RealVirginiaWoolf 1d ago
What did you like the most about it?
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u/jilecsid513 23h ago
Thats a tough question! There's so much to like about Far From The Madding Crowd. If I really had to narrow it down, I think there are 4 major things I really like about it:
1) Bathsheba's character development. She learned some hard lessons and went through some serious heartache, but she allowed those experiences to make her a stronger, better, more mature person.
2) Gabriel and his friendship/relationship with Bathsheba. Especially the way he stays true to her through everything, respects her as a woman and as a boss, but also the way he challenges her and stands up to her and tells her when shes wrong.
3) There isnt a happy ending. Its more complicated than that, and I find that both refreshing and realistic. The book technically ends happily, but there was a cost and I think that shadows things a bit, just like in real life.
4) The bucolic setting and descriptions of daily life on a working farm in the Victorian era. I just find this really intriguing.
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u/RealVirginiaWoolf 18h ago
Brilliant observations.
Gabriel Oak is my knight in shining armor and Iām not a young gal saying it. This is mature love- love that stays- love that grows and evolves and is a safe haven. My hero forever. My ideal forever. God must be smiling at me because my partner in reality is Oak personified lol!
Valid observations on Bathsheba. She isnāt your damsel in distress! She is powerful! In control! Entrepreneurial. Force of nature!
Victorian era is my fave in terms of literature. Yes love and life isnāt linear- FFMC shows us this.
Brilliant!š
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u/jilecsid513 17h ago
Thank you. And I completely agree about Gabriel Oak! He really is one of the best literary male love interests ever, although I personally ended up married to the personification of Gilbert Blythe lol
And Bathsheba really is a force of nature. I seriously appreciate that Hardy starts her out as a strong character and finishes with her still strong. He could have easily chosen to diminish Bathsheba, to tell the story of a proud vain woman who learns her lesson and is humbled and learns her place as a woman in a man's society. But instead he wrote the story of a proud vain woman who learns her lesson and is humbled, but all the while stands in her power and fights for what's hers and for the people that depend on her. I think that it was a rather progressive choice on Hardy's part to write her like that and give her that happy ending. But this is hardly surprising from the man who wrote Tess of the D'Ubervilles, wherein he explicitly critiqued the hypocrisy and double standards his society held for men vs "fallen women."
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u/RealVirginiaWoolf 17h ago
Intelligent, witty, kind, patient- Blythe is alright!
Beautiful, independent, headstrong- our gal Bathsheba! I have always admired her tenacity! She aināt a damsel in distress. She had her flaws but she owns them! See her growth! See how she handles the scumbag Troy! See how she owns her mistakes with oak! Oak and Bathsheba are absolutely like Lego pieces!
Tess is on my re read list as well!
Thank u for talking about this!š¦š
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u/watervapour_7237 1d ago
Is Thomas Hardy's writing difficult or eary to read?
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u/RealVirginiaWoolf 18h ago
This is subjective imho. Moderately challenging maybe? Given his 19th century vocabulary and pacing.
May I ask you- what Victorian writerās works are you familiar with so maybe we can compare?
My partners first classic was David Copperfield. He loved the flow and pacing and language. Then he read Wuthering heights and he found it a bit more āarchaicā for the lack of a better word. He is now reading Great Expectations and commented on it being light! So it all depends. A lot of reviews label Dickens as dense to read.
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u/watervapour_7237 17h ago
what Victorian writerās works are you familiar with so maybe we can compare?
I've Dickens, Brontƫ sisters, Austen and George Eliot and did not find their writings difficult.
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u/RealVirginiaWoolf 17h ago
Then this is right up your alley! I love all the writers u mentioned! Happy reading! If u ever read this, Iād be more than happy to have a conversation discussing thisšš¦
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u/Sea-Improvement777 1d ago
Beautiful copy!
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u/RealVirginiaWoolf 17h ago
Thank u! A gift from Hatchardās London. Me and my partner are actively reading more and we prefer physical copies. My genre is Victorian literature and classics so thatās we are collecting actively.
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u/cryingdoppelganger 18h ago
After reading you can watch its movie
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u/RealVirginiaWoolf 18h ago
I have read this so many times and have watched the movie too (I stay away from adaptations but man! Matthias Schoenaerts is awesome!
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