Book review of Far from the Ma
Far from the Madding Crowd was written by Thomas Hardy and was first published in 1874. This name derived from Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard written by Thomas Gray，in order to express the dream of Hardy that he wanted to stay far away from industrial civilization.
Its writer, Thomas Hardy, a great Victorian novelist, is the last important novelist and poet of 19th century and witnessed the change from the period of liberal capitalism to the period of imperialism. When most people is excited about the development of industrial civilization，Hardy considered more about the nature and country. He is a trans-century writer. Besides, lots of masterpieces are written by him such as Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Under the Greenwood Tree, and The Return of the Native and so on. Among them, Far from the Madding Crowd, which is considered as the second novel describing the characters and environment of his native countryside，is the first full-length novel of Hardy. The village，Wessex，which is based on Hardy’s hometown，Dorset，is also first invented in this novel and it became the first book of the series of Wessex novel.
Far from the Madding Crowd is divided into fifty seven chapters to describing the intricate love by using third-person narration，which makes the whole story more objective. The story talks about the intricate love among four people：Bathsheba, Oak, Boldwood, Troy. The diligent and skilled farmer，Oak ,falls in love with Bathsheba who is finally refused .Then，when Oak lost his farm，Bathsheba，the charming and arrogant woman comes to Wessex to inherit her uncle’s farm. During that time the rich farmer，Boldwood has paid court to her for several times because of a small misunderstanding. Bathsheba，however，falls in love with the handsome but frivolous soldier，Troy and marries him. Nevertheless，their marriage leads a bad ending. Finally Boldwood is sent to prison after he shoots Troy. Besides When Bathsheba not only loses her husband but also has to face the problem that she may lose her farm，Oak comes to her and marries her.
It is obvious that Hardy shapes the characters successfully and makes some excellent comparisons. For example，Bathsheba，the well-educated but vain and arrogant woman，represents feminism and chases freedom，while Fanny may stand for traditional women depending on men；Oak，the diligent and skillful farmer，represents the romantic love in patriarchal clan society，while Troy stands for the bourgeois egoism，which disturbs the tranquility of Wessex. Hardy laid emphasis on description of characters’ feelings and he is good at letting them fall into the contradiction in their hearts，which makes them more real. Furthermore，Hardy often revealed their feeling directly by using dialogues when describing those characters.
In every chapter，there must be some descriptions about the environment，which indicates the feeling of the characters or helps develop plots. What’s more, describing environment to create a heavy atmosphere is first shown here. Besides，one of the most important features of this novel is that it is like a mixture. Firstly，it is the mixture between tragedy and comedy. Though Oak happily wins Bathsheba’s love，both Boldwood and Troy lead to the sad ending. Secondly，there exist both ideal love in patriarchal clan society and the utilitarian love of capitalism. This feature makes this novel different from other novels and it may also become a reason that many people appreciate it and view it as the milestone of Hardy’s work.
Far from the Madding Crowd reflects fatalism and some factors of tragedy. Though the characters in it try to get rid of the fate but finally it seems them fail and obey the fate. Unlike the other works of Hardy，Far from the Madding Crowd shows the style of sad romanticism，which makes it play a very important part in Hardy’ s creation.
In my opinion，it is worth reading. To be honest，there is no such a place that is totally far away industrial civilization，but it can bring us a fresh feeling and make a place to relax for the hearts of people who live in the madding crowd. Nowadays，with the development of industrial civilization ，the environment becomes worse and more and more people are aware of the value of the peaceful life in countryside. By reading this story，we can have a better understanding of the ideas of the author and the society he lived.
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