Whilst Dickens is celebrated for his vivid depictions of urbanisation and the squalor of the city with attendant social vices and alienation, Hardy is undoubtedly the most accomplished literary artist of the countryside. His work evokes the splendour of our ‘green and pleasant land’ and the psyche of the village folk, which is often superstitious, less cynical and more cohesive than that of the city folk. A further contrast with Dickens lies in Hardy’s liberal use of biblical and classical references which immediately give his writing a more scholarly tone and arguably a little more esoteric to the secular twenty first century reader. Many of the biblical references are used in an ironic context and in juxtaposition to the rural superstitions held and expressed by many of the central characters. This particular edition is furnished with excellent explanatory notes to assist the reader who is less familiar with the classics or the Bible. Underneath the apparent serenity of bucolic life, Hardy brilliantly creates an undercurrent of unrest and danger represented by the self destructive temptation of clover to the sheep and that of the femme fatale figure of Bathsheba Everdene to the tranquility of the minds of three of the leading male figures in Weatherbury. Through the competing attentions of Oak, Boldwood and Troy, Hardy brilliantly explores the theme of male pride, ego and rejection. Like Wuthering Heights, this is an equally powerful study of passion and desire and their ability to corrupt, corrode and mould the human condition.

I absolutely love the Penguin Classics in their clothbound collection. This particular one has such wonderful, old colours and looks beautiful on a bookcase. Unfortunately the barcode is stuck onto the material at the back of the book has left a square of a darker colour and has taken with it a little of the print from the material. Fortunately it is on the back and is hardly noticeable now. It is full of notes just like the paperback editions, with a gold bookmark attached for easy reading. The story is a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I would recommend the book and this particular edition to anyone - it will look great in a collection.

I begun this novel with an open mind to Hardy's work, beforehand I had read Tess of the D'Urbervilles which I found rather upsetting and perhaps not the right novel of Hardy's to start with so I put it down and left it. Since discovering that Far From The Madding Crowd was to become a film with some splendid actors, I felt obliged to read the book beforehand. Reluctant as I was that this novel would depress me, I found myself drawn to the sweet, and yet adorable farmer- Gabriel Oak. He really captured my heart within a few pages of this book and he did until the very end, I didn't warm well to Bathsheba's other suitors Mr Boldwood and Sergeant Troy. Within meeting Bathsheba Everdene I immediately felt her to be this strong, independent woman who has inherited her late uncle's estate and I was excited for herself to convey this strong heroine character to those who worked her land. Sadly this opinion faltered when she is approached by Francis Troy, I grew to dislike her. She becomes charmed by Troy so easily and this made me dismiss her and think her to be ridiculous when there's the charming Gabriel Oak waiting on her. To begin with I didn't think she would be this dense. Funnily enough in my head when I had met these characters I felt like it was an episode of blind date where I put together in my head what each of the suitors had to offer to Bathsheba to make me decide who I thought would be the best companion (definitely not biased towards these descriptions at all)... Oak was very abrupt with this feelings towards Bathsheba but I found him to be romantic with telling her how he felt. He didn't feel the need to charm her like Troy and Boldwood had, he was very much in the way that he wanted her to accept him for who he was, despite his lack of wealth to offer her. He is constant with his love, despite not being so much the centre of the novel it wouldn't be without him in it. All of the suitors differ, with Troy very much the "bad boy" figure in that he had two women charmed by him at once. Flirtatious, outgoing, spontaneous- who doesn't like the idea of a man like Troy? We come to Farmer Boldwood, who again to begin with seemed very courteous and a gracious man. Although at 40 years a bachelor and a lot older than Bathsheba, he held promise with a large amount of land and great wealth to share. Later on however, I found him to be quite unbearable and desperate towards reaching out for Bathsheba to return his feelings it was almost as if I felt sorry for his patheticness. Despite this though, this obsession did stem from Bathsheba's own doing! The plot essentially revolves around the tragedy of both Troy and Boldwood and their doings with Bathsheba. With Hardy's descriptions of the Wessex countryside were wonderfully accepted in setting the scene and mood for this novel, although at times they were described at great length. Even so I loved this novel a great deal and the ending soared me into great spirits I couldn't give it less than a four star rating. I'm now keen to watch the film adaption as well as to read more from Hardy and perhaps try Tess of the D'Urbervilles once more.

This is a well thought out and clever composition, full of beautiful descriptions which allow the author to show off his vast array of knowledge. Each character is well developed over the course of the book and the changes they go through are reflected in the way in which Hardy writes the tale. The structure of the novel is rather like a series of short stories, each revealing more and more about the intertwining lives of the gentle farmer Oak and proud Bathsheba Everdene.