The Mayor of Casterbridge

The ending reduced me to tears.

Hardy has such a way of melding the happy & the tragic. A terrific story of an imperfect man.

Quite the difficult read for a non-native english speaker as myself, but a very rewarding one. Gripping story, truculent characters, and a great use of repeating symbols throughout the pages. I felt for Mr Henchard and his impulsive and horrible decision-making skills. First Thomas Hardy work I've read so far, and it won't be the last.

one of the best books i've read in what feels like forever. unpredictable, dramatic, and thrilling!

God almighty, what was Hardy thinking when he wrote this? I have not read up on any of the doubtless hundreds of literary reviews, so let me be blunt and anachronistic: to me Henchard seems an unlucky guy with ADHD and a temper problem who never learns from his faults. Everyone in the book is a flat character. No one really learns anything. Farfrae and Lucette are a weird match - a saint and a devil. The plot is like a 17th century tragedy. Glad this ordeal is over.

I know so many regard this as Hardy's best novel, but not for me. It is not the bleakness, which I rather revel in, but the increasingly strained twists in the plot which rather annoyed me. (His superficial consideration of how Elizabeth-Jane is affected by all the deceit surprised me).

I had to read this book for College. It was more of a wrestling match to read this book. I'm sure it has some great importance somewhere in there, but I am too shallow to pick up on it.