Mayor of Casterbridge

[Liz]

This is a book which, though hard, is very interesting. It tells the story of Michael Henchard's rise and downfall. It has an amazing storyline and is much like a modern-day soap. I studied this book at school, and if I had known it would be so interesting, I would've read it without being told to! Warning: it is a challenging read!

[Pensive]

I read it and liked it very much.

[downing]

I also read ,,The Mayor of Casterbridge'' and I consider it's very beautiful. Dramatic, it tells Michael Henchard's life full of suffering. Which do you think is the idea of the book. The hero was had a very bad life at the beginning.Then, he becomes an important man to the the town of casterbrigde, and, to the sunset of his life, he returns to his previous life. What do you think?

[Vedrana]

Did anyone else notice the startling resemblance Hardy's novel has with Les Miserables by Victor Hugo? I just thought it was very interesting when I read it, and certain details just seemed to convince me that they had a lot in common. I really enjoyed it, and I also saw a BBC adaptation of the novel as well, which was fairly well adapted. On the whole, a good book.

[Pensive]

downing, I think that "fate" played a very important role in the life of Michael Henchard although I hated him when he sold his wife. This novel reminds me of a saying: As flies to the wanton boys, are we to the Gods? They kill us for their sports.

[Charles Darnay]

Did anyone else notice the startling resemblance Hardy's novel has with Les Miserables by Victor Hugo? I just thought it was very interesting when I read it, and certain details just seemed to convince me that they had a lot in common. I really enjoyed it, and I also saw a BBC adaptation of the novel as well, which was fairly well adapted. On the whole, a good book.

Actually, yes, I did notice that there are similarities between the two novels.

[whyhello]

Hardy was a man who thought that higher beings were always "having a hand" in the affairs of mankind. He has written a poem about this. Relating this to Mayor of Casterbridge, Henchard has a hard time because almost everything goes wrong for him.

[soumyakans]

An abridged version of "The Mayor of Casterbridge" was prescribed for me in my English lessons in school. As a teenager, i had lost myself in the story - got enraged at Henchard's adamant attitude to his wife Susan, fallen for the smart Donald Farfrae, sympathized with Elizabeth Jane and hated Lucetta Templeman - i remember answering one of the questions in the exam on the "Skimmity Ride" - that it was a befitting punishment to Lucetta for having snatched Farfrae from Elizabeth Jane. However, i shed loads of tears when our teacher went us through the last days of Henchard and his will following his death.
i'm an avid fan of Thomas Hardy and have read almost all of his works on fiction. All his characters are simple people woven by the wires of fate. The description of the English country side and the appeal of his rustic heroes and heroines is the highlight of his stories.