Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 A very fine novel May 29, 2008
I had to read this one at university, ten years ago, and it was my first taste of Hardy. I found it quite difficult to get though at first, mainly due to those long Hardy sentences, but undoubtedly it is a very fine novel, full of haunting and powerful images. I love, in particular, the way that Egdon Heath becomes almost a living, breathing entity.
The description of the Native's mother walking on the Heath in the scorching sun is one of the best pieces of writing I have read in the English language, and has stayed with me, as other vivid images from the book have done - even if I can't remember exactly how they fit in with the rets of the novel.
 Let it grow on you, and you'll never forget the characters and setting May 17, 2008
It took me a while to love this book. It was a set text for my A-levels, which is never the best way to meet a book, and the first chapter was not exactly encouraging. Hardy's language, which is filled with allusions to classical mythology, takes some getting used to. And the first chapter is entirely about a heath. Egdon Heath, and some references to obscure mythology for good measure. Throughout the school year, it grew on me - what melodramatic sixteen year old girl would not identify with melodramatic seventeen-year-old Eustacia Vye? - but it wasn't until I took it out in the sun and just simply read it without it being interrupted by class discussions that suddenly I realised I loved this book!
Rerurn of the Native is the story of two mismatched couples and a mother-in-law. Clym is the returning native, back from selling diamonds in Paris and disillusioned with that world. To Eustacia, who longs for excitement, he represents escape. Thomasin is Clym's cousin, a sweet country girl who has got herself entangled with Damon Wildeve, local rake. Oh, and Eustacia and Wildeve have history. And then there is Diggory Venn, an impoverished 'reddleman' (whose job it is to paint the colours on sheep!) one step outside society, who is Thomasin's staunchest and secret advocate.
I loved - if that's the right word - Eustacia's conflicts with Mrs. Yeobright, Clym's mother. The relationship between these two proud women, and a rather oblivious son, really rings true. The characterisation overall is fantastic, and every character is three-dimensional. We watch them fall out over misunderstandings and conflicts of interest, all the while empathising with each party. Even Wildeve, although you've got to love to hate him too.
I also loved the rural world that Hardy evokes, Egdon Heath, which it seems you can never really leave! It was interesting to read about that lost way of life, skimmity-riding and reddlemen! At times, it seems like the heath is alive and interacting with events and characters. A lot of the most important moments are deeply entrenched in the living nature of the heath. All very pagan, in keeping with the novel's intended purpose as a modern tragedy, in keeping with the traditions of Greek tragedy. The rustic characters are pretty funny too. I always smile when I think of Susan poking Eustacia with a knitting needle in church to see if she's a witch!
the ending is a shame August 18, 2006
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
I studied this for my English AS-level and so obviously approached this novel in a cynical fashion. However, due to the study of the text and language and themes, I realised what a great work of literature this is.
The first chapter is off-putting: Hardy describing in great detail the setting for the story, Egdon Heath. However from there things become more interesting.
It is a tragic story. Eustacia Vye wishes to escape from Egdon Heath, she is an outsider viewed with suspicion by her fellow dwellers and indeed this is shown in the symbolic description of her solitude. She is infatuated with Wildeve who is smarmy and has failed to marry the naive Thomasin Yeobright, a quintessential country girl who is amiable in her nobility.
Enter Clym, who has come from the glamorous Paris. He is a diamond merchant who has become indifferent to the superficiality of his occupation and now wishes to become a teacher here in Egdon, much to his mother Mrs. Yeobright's and Eustacia's disgust.
Mrs. Yeobright is a typical Victorian mother. She is obsessed with status and relies on reputation for her well-being. Hence she is embarrassed at Thomasin's failed marriage. She also dislikes Eustacia especially when Clym and Eustacia become lovers and live together.
But because Eustacia wishes to escape she becomes annoyed with Clym and you wonder if she loves him or loves the opportunity presented by him originally. Clym becomes blind, symbolic perhaps of his blind ambition to teach at Egdon. Eustacia arranges to escape via Wildeve but becomes depressed and one night wanders across the Heath towards the Weir. It is unknown if she commits suicide or simply falls but she drowns in the weir after the failed efforts of Clym and Wildeve, who also drowns.
Hardy originally intended the story to end here and the title of my review suggests a disappointingly happy ending to a tragic story. His publishers told him to write a chapter focussing on Thomasin and Diggory Venn, a reddleman who is constantly rejected by Mrs. Yeobright and Thomasin simply for being of his lower status. They marry and have a child together called Eustacia. It is a happy ending for the two philanthropists but still this does lose some of the tragic theme.
The book then is a great work of tragic literature that has characters that represent the class-conscious, the superficial, the outcasts, the sufferers, the dreamers and the naive lovers.
Wonderful read July 20, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book is one of Hardy's finest; it invokes the landscape better than any of his other novels, particularly Egdon Heath and the people living at, and on its edges. The scenes using the heath are outstanding - the bonfire which is used to "summon" Clem to Eustacia, the games of dice which end up using the light from glow-worms, and the dreadful deadly walk over the heath by Clem's mother in high summer are just tremendous. The novel requires insight and probably doesn't suit adolescents; but for adults, I recommend it.
 Good, but not his best January 17, 2006
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This novel is a highly enjoyable story that evokes a vast scope of emotions, from laughter to fear. As to be expected from Hardy, there are moments of astonding beauty in his writing and in the images he manifests.However, despite its numerous merits, this novel must be considered a failure. This was Hardy's attempt at tragedy, hence the inversed Oedipus complex of Clym and Mrs Yeobright and the pitiful downfall of Eustacia. It does not, however, have the power to evoke within the reader the necessary pity or fear to the secure its place within the category of 'great' novels. There are also moments when Hardy's narrative becomes littered with phrases and terminology that serve little purpose other than to flaunt his auto-didacticism to the educated urban readers of his generation. I am a fan of Hardy and recommend this book to anyone but to be left truly satified from a work of his read Far from the Madding Crowd or Jude the Obscure (don't expect to be satisfied in the conventional sense on finishing this)... or better still, his poetry.
|
