Bella 26/11/2012
Breathtaking. Thomas Hardy is able to create an entire atmosphere of love, family issues, intrigues and fate. The book happens in the 19th century in the city of Casterbridge, which is carefully described. By the end you get the full portrait of this alive place, in all its particularities. The mayor of Casterbridge, called Henchard, lives a very disturbed life. Some misfortunes happen that can only be explained by unlucky. The hand of fate is very strong throughout the story. When things are somehow woriking out for this miserable unchancy character everything twistes around and the context changes entirely. The conflict between old and new is very strong during the book. As England was going through a period of urbanization, the doubts about which way to follow were constant. Often people questioned the way things were going and found it hard to keep up with technolody. But Hardy was able to represent and create this situation in a unique form. And this point of view which represents uncertainty should be taken in consideration today. Maybe we've gotten so used to the technological world that we've forgotten to criticize it as a way of looking for improvements. This book gives us the possibility to return to a crossroad in human history - and that's the amazing power of literature.