Thomas Hardy

Far from the Madding Crowd (Penguin Popular Classics)

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for all southerners, 2007-01-29
Most of my contempories fall roughly into 2 categories - northeners or southerners, and almost without exception I find the northerners prefer Bronte and the rest of us love Hardy. I am a big fan of Hardy - I grew up in "Wessex" and the description of the landscape is evocative of my home. (I know many find long descriptive passages dull, but stick with it and you will not be disappointed) Whilst I prefer "Tess" (tragic endings being my thing), this novel is so good I named my son "Gabriel" after Gabriel Oak. The characters are full of depth (something lacking in Dickins) and it provides a good snapshot of the time. It's a beautiful read.

"Tess of the D'Urbervilles" (York Notes Advanced)

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My first Thomas Hardy - result! I'm a convert, 2008-11-17
Back in September on my blog I confessed that I had never read any Thomas Hardy. As this admission coincided with the recent BBC adaptation I chose Tess of the D'Urbervilles to read. I only watched the first two episodes on TV though, and can honestly say I didn't know the second half of the story at all.

Although the book is verbose and overlong, I couldn't deny it five stars because it made me cry a little, not once, but twice! The big theme is social injustice, with the pastoral idyll ever present in the Wessex background. Tess herself is innocence and vulnerability personified, (a friend of mine said she has 'victim' written all over her).

Without spending too long on the story's details, Tess's once-noble family is now impoverished and they have to work hard for a living. Tess meets and is unwillingly deflowered by a bad but rich 'cousin' Alec, then meets a good man, Angel and is allowed to be happy for a while - the scene where Angel carries the farm-girls across the ford was lovely. But it doesn't last and Angel rejects her when she tells him her shameful secret on their wedding night - I was reading this in bed with tears rolling down my cheeks. Angel leaves her to go to the Americas and Tess, too proud to ask his family for help, goes back to toiling on farms, where Alec finds her again and pursues her with a vengeance, leading to such a sad ending upon Angel's return that I cried again, not believing that it could end this way.

The Wessex countryside was beguiling, and the influence of the industrial revolution is just beginning to make some inroads with the railways in the distant towns, and inventions like the steam-powered threshing machine. For families such as the D'Urbeyfields, life is hard and mobility is limited; but when Tess throws away the opportunity of moving up the ladder by making Alec marry her, she reinforces the class divide from her side too.

Result! I'm definitely a Hardy convert.

Jude the Obscure (Wordsworth Classics)

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Not for the faint hearted!, 2004-10-22
This is a dreary and depressing novel.......and as such is one of Hardy's finest! Widely renowned, this was Hardy's last novel in his long and rich days of writing. Worth reading perhaps just for that!

Though, let me warn you, this is not to be entered into lightly. It is real reading. The plots are intricate and beautifully proportioned, the characters are stark and individual, and the ending leaves you feeling short of breath and in need of a glass of whiskey.

Hardy has managed to create a deluge of characters that are so incompatible you know that life cannot go on happily for long. Jude the weak and Arabella, Jude the tragic and Sue - it proves to be a stimulating though saddening life story as Hardy follows Jude around his fantasy of Southern England, centring on the towers of Christminster (Oxford).

Under the Greenwood Tree (Wordsworth Classics)

"A dance to the music of time", 2003-06-15
The painter Poussin's famous title might stand as a rubric for this lovely book. Hardy views his cast of rustics through the prism of music: the old church stringed instruments choir is to be replaced with the spanking new organ. There is the added romantic interest of young musician Dick Dewy and the female organist, Fancy Day, who is controversially going to play the large mechanical new organ.

This is a story of established customs breaking down through the interloper: a new vicar in town. Structurally divided into Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn, it follows the natural rhythms of the earth and of society. Hardy revels in his descriptive powers.

Filled with nostalgia and that increasingly fashionable concept - "Englishness", and seasoned with wisdom and wit, this is truly fabulous - a mini-masterpice in a similar bag to, say, Mrs. Gaskell's "Cranford".

"Under the Greenwood Tree" was deservedly Hardy's own favourite among his novels.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman (Penguin Classics)

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Frustrating, even infuriating sometimes but ultimately compelling, 2007-10-01
Another of those classics that is a must read.

A story of a young country girl whose life is doomed because of a crime committed against her.

The author is obviously quite taken with the locale in which the story is set and uses rich descriptions to paint an almost tangible picture in the reader's imagination.
It's well written although I did found myself wanting to scream a number of times at the apparent naivety that Tess still displays even after the fact. And by the end of the book I was left feeling quite emotionally drained by the amount of bad luck that befalls this poor girl in her short & tragic life.

It is a book that has to be read though, the language isn't as tough as in Wuthering Heights say, so it's easy to understand; a lot happens obviously so it goes along at a fair pace and the supporting characters are intersting and quite well developed.

All in all, good stuff!

Far from the Madding Crowd (Penguin Classics)

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Gabriel Oak, 2009-01-15
Gabriel Oak's name is not a coincidence: he's Bathsheba's Archangel protector and he's as resistant and persistent in his love as oak wood.

Far from the Madding Crowd (Wordsworth Classics)

Far from the Madding Crowd, 2009-04-04
Product purchased for study and examination purposes. Ideal for requirements and inexpensive to boot.

Tess of the D'urbervilles (Penguin Popular Classics)

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Simply Wonderful, 2007-01-30
This has to be one of the best books I've ever read. A tragic tale of Tess Durbeyfield, a young woman of pure spirit wronged by society and forced to live in shame, even though she was the victim of a crime (rape). The story ebbed and flowed like a long running soap opera until its tragic end. The author's use of prose was lyrical and magical. I wished I had marked my favorites to quote now. Maybe next time I read this.

Highly highly recommended.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Wordsworth Classics)

My first Thomas Hardy - result! I'm a convert, 2008-11-17
Back in September on my blog I confessed that I had never read any Thomas Hardy. As this admission coincided with the recent BBC adaptation I chose Tess of the D'Urbervilles to read. I only watched the first two episodes on TV though, and can honestly say I didn't know the second half of the story at all.

Although the book is verbose and overlong, I couldn't deny it five stars because it made me cry a little, not once, but twice! The big theme is social injustice, with the pastoral idyll ever present in the Wessex background. Tess herself is innocence and vulnerability personified, (a friend of mine said she has 'victim' written all over her).

Without spending too long on the story's details, Tess's once-noble family is now impoverished and they have to work hard for a living. Tess meets and is unwillingly deflowered by a bad but rich 'cousin' Alec, then meets a good man, Angel and is allowed to be happy for a while - the scene where Angel carries the farm-girls across the ford was lovely. But it doesn't last and Angel rejects her when she tells him her shameful secret on their wedding night - I was reading this in bed with tears rolling down my cheeks. Angel leaves her to go to the Americas and Tess, too proud to ask his family for help, goes back to toiling on farms, where Alec finds her again and pursues her with a vengeance, leading to such a sad ending upon Angel's return that I cried again, not believing that it could end this way.

The Wessex countryside was beguiling, and the influence of the industrial revolution is just beginning to make some inroads with the railways in the distant towns, and inventions like the steam-powered threshing machine. For families such as the D'Urbeyfields, life is hard and mobility is limited; but when Tess throws away the opportunity of moving up the ladder by making Alec marry her, she reinforces the class divide from her side too.

Result! I'm definitely a Hardy convert.

The Mayor of Casterbridge (Penguin Popular Classics)

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To review or not to reveiw, 2005-07-20
It is unfotunate that Hardy must be judged by reviewers brought up on the pulp fiction of our age - but this is an open forum so ...
I have spent many a shecal and more hours to find an avenue in literature that re-creates a scene and allows any willing to spend time to visit it. I implore you to sit and really work at what Hardy is "telling" here - the re-creation is there for all to see, I can invisage Casterbridge and its inhabitants in my mind with no trouble - the train, bus, room around disappears to be replaced by a different reality - Wessex style.
I cannot lower myself to comment on the story as such - Hardy writes from experience, he potrays a story enveloped in the time it was written in such a descriptive and rich way the storyline hardly matters.
Wake and feel the furmity! This is a tale of the times, as much as a novel.
Authors of today please note the simplicity and yet great complexity required for a "classic" as this truly is.
Great overcomes good and this has stood the test of time - name me any modern day novelist that has quite the characteristic graft Hardy had, real life sucks and then you read Hardy.