It's a Hard Knock Life.

The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy

Another classic to add to my reviews, and again it's difficult to review something written over a hundred years ago. Nevertheless, I shall say a few words.

I chose to read Thomas Hardy having studied some of his poetry for an A/S Level exam last year - you'll be pleased to know I got an A. If there's one thing I found about Hardy's writing, it's that it is extremely depressing. He obviously disagreed with the popular 'happily-ever-after's and went for something a bit different. However, it definitely does not make his writing bad - if anything, it's bit more interesting (and realistic) to see things not always going right. The Mayor of Casterbridge is the perfect example.

The period of the novel is supposedly the late 1820s, so a lot of the agricultural activity and the vocabulary is native to that time. The storyline is one of deceit, death and mistakes, and if there's one thing to learn from this novel it's, always speak up when you have the chance and never lie! Valuable lessons, but here the characters suffer sometimes to the extreme. Yet, Hardy is clearly a very intelligent writer - he includes elements of mythology, foreign languages and other famous literature, obviously owing to a good Victorian education.

Another clever feature of Hardy's novel is to write speech in such as a way as to emphasise the accent of each character. Farfrae, the Scottish character, says "cannet" rather than "cannot" and "weel" instead of "well" - it is a nice touch to add to the reality and individuality of the characters, who are all well described and consistent in behaviour and attitude throughout the novel. However, there are quite a lot of characters and there is a lot of action, so the characters feel quite distant from the reader - I didn't feel particularly sympathetic or upset or even happy at certain pivotal moments in the story. Yet, this isn't necessarily a negative element of a novel - I believe Hardy uses this particular technique so as not to lead the reader on an emotional rollercoaster. He simply doesn't want to depress them!

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed reading The Mayor of Casterbridge, the first I've read of Hardy's novels. It was exciting because it is not a classic that is raved about, so I didn't already know the storyline or the outcome of each character's strife. Perhaps the only slight downfall is that almost too much happens throughout the text - time seems to move on almost too swiftly, not leaving enough time to take in one event and prepare for the next. However, this novel has encouraged me to read more of Hardy's novels, my next choice being the popular Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Finally, I'd like to leave you with the final words of the book, just to illustrate the general tone of the novel - "happiness [is] but the occassional episode in a general drama of pain."

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of "The Mayor of Casterbridge".