This book is set in the 1870s, following a women called Bathsheba Everdene. The book follows her life as she takes a position as a farmer with a big estate. Due to Bathsheba being as bold as she is, three suitors are drawn to her and ask for her hand in marriage.
My favourite character in this book was Gabriel Oak, who is Bathsheba’s first suitor, because he seems really genuine and humble. He also knows how to react to certain things and he has a heart.
On the other hand, I didn’t like Bathsheba because she was quite vain and proud of who she is. She didn’t really think about her choices thoroughly, although as I read on I realised that she is very independent, which is quite a surprise context-wise, because women during this time period didn’t have to same freedom that she has and traditional family values were normally followed. Bathsheba is just very different.
I think that certain parts of the plot was quite obvious, in my opinion. I could guess what was going to happen and the ending was very obvious, if not a cliché. However I am aware that during the time this book was published, it may not have been.
The writing was easy to read and when I went into the book, I expected it to be quite hard to read, due to my little knowledge of classics. However, it reads like today’s English with more detail added. So if you’re thinking of reading this book before you watch the film, or just reading this book, then do! I didn’t have any trouble so I’m sure you won’t. I really loved how Thomas Hardy really goes into detail about the setting of the book, because as a reader it means that you can create a visual image and it definitely improves the reading experience.
To conclude, I do recommend this book; I did have a little trouble trying to get into it, but when I got in it was an amazing reading experience and you got to explore the characters with depth - something you won’t be able to do with modern texts.
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