The Mayor of Casterbridge (Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels) Paperback – November 18, 2004

I don't know why it has taken me so long to decide to read this book, it is very easy to read and a very good story. I saw the TV mini-series years ago with Alan Bates in the leading role and all the way through the book I imagined Alan Bates as Michael Henchard. It was Alan Bates speaking Michael's lines. That did not put me off in the least since I was always a fan of Alan Bates and he was very well cast in the part.The story, as most people probably know, starts off about a drunkard who sells his wife and daughter at a country fair to a sailor for five guineas. He then, when sobered up, becomes full of remorse and vows in the nearest church never to touch a drop of alcohol for as long as he has been alive, (21yrs). He keeps his promise, works hard and makes good in the town of Casterbridge, becoming a very rich merchant, land owner and mayor. Of course as time goes by his past catches up with him and a large part of the story is about his subsequent downfall. We see this so often in politics today, how many mayors do we know or have heard of, who have ended up in jail? The difference, refreshingly, is that Michael Henchard in that day and age is truly wretched for his misdeeds, and one can't help but feel sympathy for him in the end. His last will and testimony says everything:-Michael Henchard's Will.That Elizabeth Jane Farfrae be not told of my death,or made to grieve on account of me.& that I be not bury'd in consecrated ground.& that no sexton be asked to toll the bell.& that nobody is wished to see my dead body.& that no murners walk behind me at my funeral.& that no flours be planted on my grave.& that no man remember me.To this I put my nameMichael Henchard.This is a good book to take on vacation with you. It is not depressing, (although his Will sounds depressing). Michael Henchard is a spirited unusual character that Thomas Hardy develops to the full. Even though he has done bad things one cheers him on at times and feels that he more than pays his dues for his transgressions.A very good story.

Having just finished reading Thomas Hardy's Tess of the de'Ubervilles I just had to read another of his books.I found this one and enjoyed it just as much if not more so.I'm sort of on a run of reading classic books. Once you get used to the period of time and the style of writing ~ in old english, of sorts ~ one needs to continue this type. You get so much more out of a book that way.While this book may have been written in the 1800's I must say that the events taking place, the people and their responses doesn't seem to have changed one iota to the way society behaves today. This is a charming story of rags to riches to rags again. A story of humility, starting over, of pride, of desolation and back to humility again. It does have a bit of subtle romance, which keeps the story flowing.Both of the Thomas Hardy's books (Tess of the de'Ubervilles) and this one are wonderful stories and well worth reading.Interestingly it wasn't after I finished reading them that I discovered that these books were considered Young Adult reading. I guess someone rated it this way because it's a pure, non-smuttly book so ubiquitious of today's media.I don't care about the rating I just appreciated Thomas Hardy's contribution of literature.

I am reviewing the Trillium Classics version on Kindle. The Trillium Classics people succeeded perfectly at formatting this classic novel for Kindle, so 5 stars for that.Now my review of the novel itself -We expect good novels to begin - within the first few hundred words or so - with an indication that the author (a) understands people, or (b) understands interesting things about how the world works, or (c) is supremely talented with describing a world she does not understand which is full of people whom she does not understand, but nevertheless = she remembers, if only barely, that she is being paid to describe a world that supplies our poor author with sufficient material to fuel the weird sad talent God gave her.Hardy is a good poet, but does he understand people?This novel does a good job, in the background, explaining abnormal people with little love in their hearts. to whom Hardy constantly condescends in his descriptions - you would have to go to some of Shakespeare's creepiest contemporaries to find a story with more nastiness in it - and in the foreground, most of the main characters are the usual mix of selfishness and lust and greed that Hardy apparently rejoiced in describing, with two or three characters being described by him as being, sometimes or most of the time, above all that.People go on and on about how good Shakespeare was but the poor man spent much of his professional life describing, with a lack of philosophical vigor, the villainous instincts of losers, which is a shame, can you imagine how much better Shakespeare would have been if he were less like Hardy?Well this novel is a classic novel, full of wonderfully apt descriptions of things we know (psychological attributes of our fellow humans, with, to a certain degree, accurate and interesting descriptions of trees and fields and rivers - but just to a certain degree, although Hardy was a poet, he was not really someone who loved Creation, and it shows....), and not badly put together with respect to plot and with respect to Hardy's general ideas of how to characterize people. So five stars for that.

This book was very enjoyable. It is written in old English and found at first very difficult to read, but found it so interesting. I learnt about the book from Jeopardy. The question about a man who auctioned off his wife. And of course the answer was The Mayor Of Casterbridge. I went searching for the book and found it so interesting to the point where I didn't want to put it down.

Dos romances de Thomas Hardy que eu havia lido, lembro muito bem da pobreza e do caráter trágico de suas personagens, mas não lembrava de tantas reviravoltas como tem em The Mayor of Casterbridge. O ponto de partida já é intrigante: um jovem sem qualquer dinheiro vende a mulher e a filha bebê, e, anos mais tarde, quando se tornou bem sucedido e prefeito, elas reaparecem. Isso não é nenhum spoiler, pois é a sinopse básica e cobre os dois primeiros capítulos do livro. As 300 páginas seguintes são uma montanha russa de emoções e surpresas.Há duas questões bastante claras na narrativa: o peso da liberdade, e o duplo. Michael Henchard pode escolher o que quiser, mas deverá lidar com as consequências desse direito de escolher (inclusive a errar), e é isso que assombra o seu presente e, eventualmente, o destruirá. Terry Eagleton compara o livro a uma tragédia grega, e aponta que “o prefeito se torna vítima de suas próprias ações”. A narrativa organiza em torno da duplicidade: são duas partes (praticamente com o mesmo número de páginas) dois personagens parecidos: Henchard e Farfrae (que é um empregado seu no começo, mas entram em choque), as outras figuras centrais também terão duplos, mas é muito spoiler dizer o que é.Mas o tema que ronda o tempo todo o romance tem a ver com a mercantilização da vida: tudo está a um passo de se tornar uma mercadoria – tanto que a mulher e a filha do protagonista são vendidas nas primeiras páginas. É o dinheiro – ganhar e perder – que organiza a dinâmica entre as personagens, e determina suas ações. É um mundo no qual o preço da colheita determinará o destino de diversas pessoas, não apenas do proprietário. Hardy constrói um universo duro, muitas vezes cruel, mas nada diferente da realidade.

I have always loved this book, but to read it now is an even greater pleasure than in years past...Hardy's characters brim with real life....his town life is colourful bustle, and his coincidences a great lesson....a lovely book

I loved the first chapter of this book, which sees a husband, in a rummy haze, sell his wife at a village fair to a sailor. Immediately, this chapter raises the concern with which Hardy was undoubtedly occupied throughout his writing: women's lot in the world. Many of Hardy's female characters' lives are shaped by their relationships with men: from the eponymous Tess of the D'Urbervilles to Sue Bridehead (a telling name) in Jude the Obscure, it is clear that Hardy was sympathetic towards women's socially-dictated limitations. I am only a few chapters into the book so far, but I have found it quite engaging -- more so than Hardy's extremely rural The Woodlanders, anyway (which I recently attempted to re-read). I am very interested to see where this novel goes.As for the novel's physical copy: it's gorgeous. The colours are bold, the cover is canvas, rather than leather, and the pages are thick. There is a long introduction which provides interesting context and analysis of Hardy's writing, and also a helpful appendix. I was surprised to see that the novel has the odd drawing, which was a welcome surprise.

Arrived in excellent condition.