Far from the Madding Crowd
- 424
- Pages
- about 8 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Far from the Madding Crowd” is a rural love story with real tragedy in it, yet it has humour too and an ending some readers find satisfying. An independent young woman is courted by three men, and Hardy keeps the question of how it will turn out taut until the close. The villagers supply the comedy. Readers who found Hardy depressing elsewhere may be surprised by how much lightness this novel allows.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Far from the Madding Crowd is the fourth published novel by English author Thomas Hardy; and his first major literary success. It was published on 23 November 1874. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.5 across 226 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 61% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Classics average of 7.7. That is how 7.6 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.4 | 20 | 9% |
| Hardcover | 7.5 | 206 | 91% |
Frequently asked
How long is Far from the Madding Crowd?
It has 424 pages — longer than 82% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Classics — and a score of 7.6, the closest to this book.
