Far from the Madding Crowd

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I can't wait for the movie. There was much to enjoy in this book, yet I don't think I want to read any other Hardy novels. His style is preachy, teachy and tiresome. In creative writing classes, would-be authors are advised to "show, not tell." Well, Hardy tells. And tells. And tells. So I learned a few fun facts about shepherding and farming in 19th century England, was forced to look up the meanings Greek and Latin words and phrases, and had to guess in what way "Greenhill was the Nijni Novgorod of South Wessex." Underneath all the verbiage and filler, he had a pretty good love-triangle storyline simmering away. That's why I can't wait for the movie.


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