Anyone who loves Tess and Hardy's Bathsheba is okay with me. Tess is too sad for me, and I've only read it once. Far From I managed to read twice and, like you, have watched all the adaptations. Boldwood makes my skin crawl, too. The Hardy novel I like best is Return of the Native. Talk about a book packed with memorable scenes and strange characters, like the Reddleman. Very atmospheric and Shakespearean. Would be interested to hear your opinion of that one.

@@kevinrussell1144strange indeed. I loved Return, but the same way I loved Mayor. Almost none of the characters are likeable, in that, they all make the dumbest decisions. Eustacia gets a pass with some of the readers because she's got the burden of beauty. We tend to forgive beautiful people for their flightly characters. And I think that is the point. I see why they act the way they do though. Eustacia feels trapped and is just crawling out of her skin to get out. Clym is jaded with the glitz and glamor of society and just wants to live a simple life. But their severe attraction to each other gets the better of them. Wildeve is your typical "can't get what you want so you want them even more but you settle for less because they went with something/someone else type" of character. Thomasin, just pure but kinda boring tbh. But Diggory Venn is one of Hardy's most interesting characters. He's like Gabriel Oak on steroids in his devotion to Thomasin. Mrs Yeobright and her relationship with her son and her niece. The side characters, I think, are realy interesting also - Susan and her superstitious beliefs. The scenery is also a main character altogether. What is not to love. ROTN is not my top Hardy but it is certainly up there!

@@Youknowwhoyounopoo Thanks for the reaction and the response. The one time we were in England we never made it to Dorset, but I still hope to make it before being boxed up. We were east and north of there, but never saw Wessex or Cornwall. Watching Poldark didn't help, either (with the longing), as we like rocky seacoasts and English geology. And Guy Fawkes to cap it all! I'll have to stir myself and make a stronger effort to read the Trumpet Major and Woodlanders. These two may also contain mostly characters I don't like (as in Mayor or Jude), but if you can't like Gabe or Tess, there must be something wrong with you. And nothing else is like Hardy's prose.

@@kevinrussell1144oh! I hope you do make it there. I would like to, someday, also. Please do read the Woodlanders and the Trumpet Major. They are excellent pieces of work! The Woodlanders may be the best TH novel in terms of making the setting a main character in the book. There are 2 highly likeable characters in it. In fact, I have imagined the behind the scenes story between them and maybe, one day, I will put it in writing to share with the universe. The Trumpet Major is almost ... lighthearted, compared to the other novels. It's a quicker read too, in that everything is kind of handed to you. Most of Hardy is you wrestling with the passages and give your imagination something to materialize. But the Trumpet Major was quite literal (idk of this is the right word). So my suggestion is if you're in for a bit of light reading, do TM. If you want to dig deep and get your heart squeezed, the Woodlanders it is! The surprising one that quickly made its way to one of my top faves is Two on a Tower. Disclaimer that the ending is trash, but up until then, the novel just hit me in a way I can't fully ever describe. I often think about it and rewrite the ending. Lol. But that is one to go for also.

I had to add too, about Tess. I am also sad when I read it but I've read it so much that I've developed this almost parasocial thing, where I feel like I need to protect her from these nogood characters she got entangled with. Almost like I am her big sister, or her guardian. I want to go find her guardian angel and reprimand him for slacking at his job and not being there that night. I want to punch Alec and Angel in the nuts so hard they puke. I cheer when she does what she does in the end, moral compass be damned. She went through so much, and I feel the need to go through it with her. I come out of reading it with more empathy and sympathy with people who were not dealt the best cards in life. I feel like if her life happened now instead of then, she would be a survivor and an advocate. One day, I hope you give it a reread and see it from that point of view.

I actualy like the 1998 ITV adaption best - Paloma Baeza is exceptional as Bathsheba.

Ooh, I'll keep those in mind for Victober!

Also, wonderful video. I found Bathsheba character more believable than you, actually she's one of my favourite characters ever, I think she's proud and stubborn and silly and intelligent and kind, but doesn't know which trait will dominate in a given day, so seems inconsistent. Also I think she's used to being intelligent enough all the time and doesn't like it when sheep explode for example and she can't think her way out of it... But I totally understand the inconsistent vibe you're getting from her.

Thank you for the rec! I'll definitely put Tess on the shortlist for my next Hardy pick. I totally see your take on Bathsheba as well.

Thank you so much!

Oh no, that doesn't bode well for my future attempts at his books 😅

Ah I haven't seen that particular adaptation, though I did watch the more recent one.

Thank you! It's definitely not the most tightly written book, which I find fairly typical for Victorian fiction, but it does take some getting used to.

@@SpinstersLibrary I have to say that I don’t quite enjoy this book in the end. 😏 But unlike you, not gonna try another from Hardy. 😃

A modern retelling of this one would certainly be interesting

Yeah, someone probably will make another, more modern version, and it will be "interesting". I've watched both the Julie Christie and Cary Mulligan versions, both are good, but they are different and reflect the societal attitudes of their time. Watching your fresh take on a classic I read MANY years ago was fun and made me want to take the book off the shelf again. I've only read a half dozen or so of his novels, and I've heard some are "odd" or even bizarre, so I can't claim to fully understand the man, but he, too, I suspect, would have been interesting to meet. Thanks for the continued quality of your channel.

It's explicit in the text that Bathsheba's interactions with Boldwood are marked not by propriety but a real fear of him, and that was something that I and my buddy reading partner both found extremely relatable. He seeks her out alone and intimidates her in a way that many female readers will have experienced themselves, and that certainly transcends the period in which this was written. That's why he stood out to me as a character.

@@SpinstersLibrary Perhaps I missed something in the text, but I didn't take her to be afraid of him (in the way that one would be afraid of a likely prospect of physical harm) so much as distraught by the dooming implications of the strength of his feeling, and the absurd expectations and petitions they engendered. The curious thing for me was why she seemed to be so compelled by them, but that's another matter. The fact of my impression of Boldwood's depiction as a good-natured and well-meaning gentleman rather than anything consciously sinister prevented me from drawing the conclusion you describe. He was just labouring under a mentally derranging infatuation, which was ultimately borne out in an act of fatalistic passion more reminiscent of Shakespeare than Stephen King, i.e. I got no sense that he was in any way a danger to Bathsheba. His obsession didn't express itself through any immoral action towards her. Here's an interesting question though: how do you think Boldwood would've acted if Bathsheba remained earnestly apologetic and regretful of messing him around, but resolved to be intractably polite and patient in a determination that she was under no obligation to him as a consequence? I think he would've been stoic and learned to lump it, he may have left the area, but I don't think he would have harmed her. Thank you for making me think.

He certainly can't be construed as an "incel" though. If a person is involuntarily celibate, the reason is because society has ubiquitously judged the individual too ugly to kiss or cuddle throughout the whole of his/her adult life. But Boldwood was an eligible bachelor, he was just besotted with B and it made him loopy. His situation might've improved if he had greater access to other forms of distraction, alternative ladies to consider, or indeed a friend to confide in and sober him up. But on another note, I would much prefer the world if we could at least be more sensitive in inventing and dealing out epithets to those victims of the least desirable form of casual discrimination. Society expects these poor souls who will never know eros love to solider on regardless, as if the privation were less than a trifle, when I expect most individuals (certainly myself) would so dread this fate if it were theirs that they would suffer an acute and chronic despondency over the fact. Are we to abhor these people as moral monsters also? That would provide a very poor reflection indeed. But I'm sure I'd be doing you an injustice to imagine you think that.

PhD still very much in progress but going slowly 😅

@@SpinstersLibrary There were days and weeks that I was definitely the Turtle from Aesop's Fables. My younger son would often remind me that the Turtle wins. He was five at the time. It is a long slog but the end is so worth it. Good luck.

Thank you! I had much the same experience, this was so close to being a truly outstanding book and yet it didn't quite get there. But I too am not giving up on Hardy just yet.

@Spinster's Library me neither, I have read Tess a good ten years ago I remember it being incredible but very painful! I'm going to read Return of the native after I've finished Why didn't they ask Evans? Which is wonderful. Thanks for replying to my comment xx

As long as you realize and keep in mind that Hardy was NOT a woman and didn't really understand them, despite being (in many ways) a man sensitive to the plight of women in the society of his time, you'll do fine with Return and some of Hardy's other novels. I've read Austen but (for some reason) can't get in the proper headspace to appreciate the Brontes. I guess I just don't think enough like a woman and am not at all Progressive politically. Someone (preferably female) breaking down and analyzing all of Hardy's female characters would make an interesting study. Women of a certain type he seemed to understand, and perhaps as he grew older, his own experiences in life added depth to some of his characterizations. In many ways Sheba is mysterious rather than transparent, and Eustacia V. is marvelously multi-sided. Tamsin, in contrast, is more cardboard than flesh and blood. Tess seems the simplest and most lovely of his characters, but he has her hanged. The two women in "Jude the Obscure" are not at all appealing to THIS man. As you can guess, I'm a big Hardy fan, but I have to be in the mood to read him, now that I'm older. I tried reading the Woodlanders last year and failed (shame on me). Personally, I think Austen and Dickens are the most universal and top of the heap novelists, whereas Hardy and Conrad are merely my favorites. I'm probably being unfair to the Brontes and Ms. Gaskell but just can't help myself.

Great ❤ from 🇮🇳

Yeah, a lot of novels that were originally serialised have that issue - with some books it bothers me more than others.

Thank you for the rec! Might check that out for Victober this year if I've recovered from this by then...

@@SpinstersLibrary lol excellent! And if you do read it I have to recommend you watch it also. Staring a very young Catherine Zeta Jones! Love your channel and Victober is my favorite!

@@katieflaxbeard1019 I've read the book a couple of times, and it is my favorite Hardy. Diggory is very odd. I don't think Hardy really liked any of the women presented, but he was still fascinated by them. Thanks for the recommendation about the movie. I assume Catherine ZJ portrayed the very modern and conflicted Eustacia V?

@@kevinrussell1144 hi there! Yes you are exactly correct she plays Eustacia V and she does a lovely job. You will really enjoy the film! This is my favorite Hardy novel as well. I always wanted Eustacia with Damon- her perfect match but she seems to have been so overly romanticized that she can’t see it. You are right Hardy is not I think a fan of women or happy endings lol for that matter. I love Eustacia as a character. I personally like characters who feel too much versus feel nothing.

@@katieflaxbeard1019 Well said. I think Eustacia is the most complex and fascinating female character ever created by Hardy. Funny that you like her with Damon. I couldn't stand Wildeve, but I understand why both Tamsin and EV are drawn to him. She needed to find a composite of Clym the Drip and Damon, but he didn't exist. She just knew she needed to get out of Dodge. The only man with the smarts and character to truly understand EV was Diggory, but he only had eyes for Tamsin, and EV wouldn't look twice at him. Talk about star-crossed entanglements? Thanks for the conversation.

You realise it's perfectly alright for us to have differing opinions about this book without me being "lazy and dismissive?"

@@SpinstersLibrary it's my opinion that your critique comes across (to me) as lazy and dismissive. It's far easier to criticise than to create. Someone who stumbles across your "review" might be put off from reading the book, based only on your negative feedback of Bathsheba as a character, and the book as a whole. You're entitled to your mixed feelings about the book (it's your channel) and I'm entitled to my mixed feelings about your review, and the language you use to frame it. As your reply shows, you don't like being criticised!! So then think before you criticise a writer who isn't alive to defend himself or his art in the comments section!!

I'm not sure about that. I was thinking the same, but I thought of the hottest actors I know and if let's say Keanu Reeves or Cillian Murphy acted like Troy and styled on me like that, I'm not sure I would have been able to resist. Couple this with the sense of danger. That heightens things. I think I am a sensible woman, but I think even I might be swept up the way she did. My first instinct is to be upright and react as such,but honestly speaking, looks and actions can do a lot to make someone make foolish decisions.

That's a very honest admission. When I was young, a handsome lass or a very intelligent one of acceptable appearance could have done anything she wanted with me, if I'd been smart enough to recognize she was making up to me.@@Youknowwhoyounopoo