Far From the Madding Crowd

By: Thomas Hardy

Narrated by: Jill Masters

Thomas Hardy brings us an England that once existed but no more. It is rural, traditional, pastoral - a society of mannered conduct that flows like a deep river where powerful currents eddy and swirl. In this powerful novel of love and disillusion, Hardy's heroine is torn between the three men in her life. Passionate but capricious, her romantic involvements have fascinated generations of readers.

It was as a poet that Hardy wished to be remembered, but today critics regard his novels as an even more memorable contribution to English literature for their psychological insight, their instinctive delineation of English character, and their profound presentation of great tragedy.

Public Domain (P)1984 Jimcin Recordings

Not quite Madding Enough..

Conflicted on this one. Initially I thought -- Thomas Hardy absolutely does not like women. Then I thought -- this writer isn't simply a misogynist, he's a misanthrope. Then I thought, he's a romantic. Then I thought...it's probably a good sign that I'm thinking so much. The book is an odd mix of melodrama, character study, and study of morality. Certainly provocative, yet at the end perhaps a bit too much infliction of morality to be comfortable. Ending is flawed, too tidy and happy for what came before. Some wonderful character moments but just as many...questionable such moments. Worth a listen, a bit disconcerting to hear the opener "Children's audible" as this is not a book any child I know would enjoy!

Enjoyable

Well, to try out audiobooks I ended up with this one and Frederick Davidson's War and Peace. Granted it's hardly a fair comparison, but I recommend War and Peace. Note I gave this work four stars though, and not without reason.

I don't feel I'm experienced enough with these things to critique the narrator, but I can say I took no issue with her; indeed, her part was aptly undertaken.

Now, I chose this, a book I'd never heard of, despite the long list of books I'm "getting around to" because Thomas Hardy wrote it. I enjoyed his style through a (normal sense) reading of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and several other authors later I am enjoying it for a third time with (audiobook) Jude the Obscure. If it were not for Hardy's endearment, I very much doubt I'd have considered this book at all, because it does smack of the soap opera, though of course my comparison is once again unfair, being anachronistic.

But in that frame, where Jude the Obscure is notedly darker than Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Far From the Madding Crowd is notedly lighter; this made for both a morbid disappointment and a pleasant surprise. The pleasant feeling overrode the morbid, for my perspective, so three point five stars for the rest of the audiobook and another half-star for the surprise.

Eh

Recording isn't good. Audio volume changes throughout and even is muffled at several points.
Story is interesting, but abridged version might flow better. Lots of extra details that made the plot drag.

Slipping Free From the Rules

This is the second time this week I came across a Jill Masters narrated story, the first was Eve's Ransom and was flawless. She has a perfect voice for conveying the nuances and complex patterns of Thomas Hardy and indeed the authors of this period. In order to tell the story, one has to know the story. It is obvious, the performer does her homework.

Let me see. Up and coming farmer, Gabriel Oak, meets poor girl: a smart, educated, pretty girl Bathsheba Everdine . As to her feelings, I don't know but she did run after him in order to be asked to marry him after her aunt had sent him away. She didn't want to miss it. However, in Darcyesque fashion, he managed to agree with her that he thought it an imprudent match for him as he should be marring a woman with money. Bathsheba refused and soon moved away. Due to a disaster, Gabriel lost his farm; everything. In the meantime an uncle died leaving Bathsheba wealthy; the problem is reversed. When they meet again, she has been pondering the problem; let us admit it, she likes him. Still, the social rules and conventions forbid him to speak, forbid the match. The how the rules were overcome is the story. Around this basic love story, Hardy seamlessly shoehorns in many other stories of fellow residents. This is my umpteenth reading since college. I love those quirky characters.

We can turn our noses up at the rules and conventions of this period and think they were hopeless backward. However, today the sons and daughters of rich doctors, lawyers, governors or presidents don't marry plumbers, beauticians, janitors or laborers. They wouldn't be welcomed at the country club if they did. So don't sneer. Hardy wrote about 1900 but also 2009 and our rules. At least their rules recognized our basic animal nature while we pretend we are exempt from our animal selves.

Far from the madding crowd

This is an amazing book. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a great and powerful love story. Awesome.

Far From the Madding Crowd-Broken Chapters

I liked Jill Masters reading, it was neither riveting nor awful.
My complaint was of the overall recording.
They recorded it so that it would break in mid sentence... fading away to be picked up on the next disc. What? - They couldn't find the end of the chapter or cut it just right to fit on the allotted number of discs? The last disc has less than 10 minutes recording on it. That's wasted space, so the editor is at fault.
Basically, it's like listening to an 8-track tape... breaks mid-song to go to the next track. Annoying. They got rid of 8-tracks for a reason. This is 2008 and technology is there so you don't have to break mid-sentence when you can easily come to the end of the paragraph, or even break the disc's time so that whole chapters are together. It's called pacing, people!

Poor recording quality

I enjoyed the story. I selected this version because it has a female narrator. Unfortunately, the recording quality was quite poor. The volume fluctuated as did the tone of the recording. It was a distraction. Great story--poor recording.

Wonderful story, beautiful narration.

I saw the Julie Christie movie many years ago, and was interested in reading the book it was about.

Thomas Hardy writes with such understanding of man and woman's foibles and mores. The story revolves around a beautiful woman, Bathsheba Everdene and the 3 men who love her.

It's a heartbreaking story and will have you in tears several times.

Jill Master's narration is clear and concise. She sounds like Audrey Hepburn. The only problem I had with her speech is sometimes it is too bland.

This story is well worth the 15 plus hours you will put into it.

What can I say?

Wonderful. The narrator was exceptional. I felt I was an observer there in the community. I didn't want the tale to end.

Still current!

The story of a woman's will in a man's world. She learns that not all choices at 20 are those one would make at 40