Hello! Today I have a review of The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy for you all. Before you click away, screaming and shrieking in the faces of spoilers - it's OK, you can relax because this is a spoiler free review.
As part of Lucy Powrie's (@lucythereader on Instagram and YouTube ), Classicsathon challenge for the month of August, I challenged myself to read this book and three others. This was one that I was taking forever to read, so I decided August was the best month to read it in for no other reason than I wanted to and I was slightly sick of it sitting on my bedside locker, collecting dust. I finished this book at the start of the month so, without further ado, let's get into the review so this post can also stop gathering dust and finally be uploaded!
Synopsis
Michael Henchard is a twenty-one year old disgruntled and overworked farm hand who believes all his troubles are the cause of his wife, Susan, who is majorly fed up with him, and his little baby daughter, Elisabeth-Jane.
Now, I won't tell you what happens because when I read it I was very surprised, but Michael does something in a drunken state which he then regrets, vowing that he will be a sober man for every year of his life lived thus far (so, 21 years).
The story then picks up again 17 years later when Michael is confronted by two people from his past, and unfortunately for Michael, he has quite an uneasy time of things from this moment onward.
I apologise for this synopsis being so vague, but this book is so filled with secrets and plot twists that you're honestly better off going into it knowing nothing.
Should you read this book?
Yes, absolutely!
Because of the nature of the plot, I think it's a fantastic place to start if you want to read more classics, but are a little intimidated.
They are very different from YA, which is what I predominantly read, in that the pace is much slower and the stories are very much rooted deep into the characters. This, at least, had been the case for me so far as I have only read a handful of classics. But, The Mayor of Casterbridge is a fantastic first read because the plot is so fast-paced and the twists are really so good you actually won't want to put the book down. Just remember to be a little patient with it!
The language also isn't too complex, which can be a bit off-putting in classics because no one wants to read something where they are just confused the whole time. At the end of this post I'm including a list of words I didn't know and their definitions, so if you come across one of them and are like "eh?", you can come back to this blog where they're all in one spot! Handy, no?
The writing is really engaging and it really felt as if the town of Casterbridge was a real place I could visit. It is described beautifully and in such a way that you do honestly understand the layout of the town. Not only is the landscape and setting wonderfully complex, so are the characters, some of which really do make the book what it is.
This is so hard to talk about without spoiling any of you!
One of my favourite settings in the entire book is that of the two bridges described in Chapter 32. It is my favourite piece of description because it is so vivid. Basically, these two bridges are where people go when they feel low or out of spirits, but it tells you a lot about the character of the people depending on which bridge they decide to stand on. I just thought it was really clever and vivid, and it really demonstrates the division between people of high standing and low standing in the town.
As I mentioned, the characters are the life source for this book. It would not be the same story if any of them had been written at all differently.
This may seem like an obvious or ridiculous thing to say, because duh, of course the book would be different if the characters were, but I have read my fair share of YA novels where the oh so special protagonist could have been replaced by a magic mirror and the plot would have remained relatively similar, so little impact did they have on the plot.
I think that is actually one of my pet peeves in books, especially when it comes to female characters, where the plot just happens to them and all their actions are really just reactions. I'm sick of reading about YA characters who suffer at the hands of other people's desires. I mean, surprisingly enough, there are actual teenagers out there who know what they want and actively go after it.
Anyways, that is not the point of this post. What I meant to say before I so rudely lectured you all on my annoyance at some YA characters, was that these characters are very entertaining to read about. Henchard is probably the most complex out of them all, but the more minor characters of Longways, Coney and the rest are very entertaining, also.
So, what do you think? Have you read this book before or are you planning on picking it up any time soon? Let me know in the comments below. I'd love to hear your opinions on the characters. I have a lot of thoughts about them, but they're all full of spoilers!
Words
perspicacity: the quality of having a ready insight into things; shrewdness
lugubrious: looking or sounding sad and dismal
adumbration: 1) represent in outline; indicate faintly, 2) foreshadow (a future event), 3) overshadow
insipidity: lacking flavour; weak or tasteless; lacking vigour or interest
superfluity: an unnecessarily or excessively large amount of something; an unnecessary thing
appertaining: relate to, concern; be appropriate or applicable
apotheosis: the highest point in the development of something, a culmination or climax; the elevation of someone to divine status
phlegmatically: (of a person) having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition
flexuous: full of bends and curves
beguiled: 1) charm or enchant (someone) often in a deceptive way, trick (someone) into doing something; 2) help (time) pass pleasantly
supersession: replacement of a person or thing previously in authority or use
fervid: 1) intensely enthusiastic or passionate, especially to an excessive degree; 2) hot, burning, or glowing
dissipated: (of a person or way of life) overindulging in sensual pleasures; (with reference to a feeling or emotion) disappear or cause to disappear
solicitude: care or concern for someone or something
renunciation: the formal rejection of something, typically a belief, claim or course of action
equanimity: calmness and composure, especially in a difficult situation
calumniated: make false or defamatory statements about
incipient: beginning to happen or develop; (of a person) developing into a specified role
unpropitious: (of a circumstance) not giving or indicating a good chance of success; unfavourable
capricious: given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood and behaviour; changing according to no discernible values, unpredictable
rectitude: morally correct behaviour or thinking; righteousness
concatenation: a series of interconnected things; the action of linking things together in a series, or the condition of being linked in such a way
indigence: a state of extreme poverty; destitution
friable: easily crumbled
contiguity: the state of bordering or being in contact with someone
convivial: friendly, lively, or enjoyable
scrupulosity: careful, thorough, and extremely attentive to details
comminatory: threatening, punitive, vengeful
antecedents: a thing that existed before or logically precedes another; a person's ancestors or family and social background
erroneous: wrong, incorrect
prodigality: spending money or using resources freely and recklessly, wastefully extravagant; having or giving something on a lavish scale
supercilious: behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others
suppliant: a person making a humble or earnest plea to someone in power or authority
tremulousness: shaking or quivering slightly; timid, nervous
congeries: a disorderly collection; a jumble
adroit: clever or skilful
deprecating: express disapproval of
speciously: superficially plausible, but actually wrong; misleading in appearance, especially misleadingly attractive
transubstantiated: change the form or substance of something into something different
idiosyncrasy: a mode of behaviour or way of thought peculiar to an individual; a distinctive or peculiar feature or characteristic of a place or thing
extenuation: (of a factor or situation) acting in mitigation to lessen the seriousness of guilt or an offence
centrifugal: moving or tending to move away from a centre
centripetal: moving or tending to move towards a centre
emolliated: softened
saltatory: of or relating to dancing; proceeding by leaps rather than by gradual transitions
A x
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