Nancy R.’s Reviews > Far from the Madding Crowd > Status Update

Since you are reading this for the second time, it appears that I should read it for the first time. I have no idea why I have never dived into this classic!

I've just figured out that I may not have finished it the first time through, and why. Near the beginning a young dog, an apprentice sheepherder, is shot for having herded overzealously. (I hope this isn't a spoiler; it probably is of no importance to the plot ). When I read this, I had to stop reading, and was transported back to having read it the first time many years ago. I may not have gotten any further then, and may not pick it up again now. I wonder at myself for soldiering through the grimmest nonfiction and being shaken to incapacitation by this "Bambi's mother" moment. I don't think I've read anything else by Hardy; could this be why? Note to self: brush up on adulting skills.

Nancy..........you are my kind of person. I cannot stand anything about the death or mistreatment of animals. I have had pets all my life, both cats and dogs, and they are like children. I can't even go to zoos. Yet, like you, I can read many histories of wars and seldom blink. What does that mean?