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Title: reads well, despite an unsympathetic lead
Review: Hardy mixes the comical here with the sorrowful so you're at once, entertained and saddened by the events; the largest event which brings on the sale of one man's wife and child to another; a moment which both liberates and destroys the main character through-out the story. Competition and jealousy figure prominently in the time line, which covers many years in the lives of a few sad people. You could say Michael Henchard was doomed from the 1st chapter. He certainly is haunted by his past to the point of no escape. And in fact, it's his past (as well as everyone who was part of it) that fuels the inevitable heartbreak to come. Casterbridge as a central location isn't quite as powerfully stark as Edgon Heath from... Native but the landscape does affect the players in similar ways. A wicked sense of folly usually dominates every novel Hardy has written.
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