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Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 1413 Images: 0 Location: Hampton, Ga Highscores:14 Thanks: 171 Thanked: 228 times in 169 posts
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The Return of the Native
I'm nearing the end of my current book and about to start a new one. If you want to read with me here is my selection. If no one wants to then I'll pick one on my own.
Camille - Dumas Odyssey - Homer Deerslayer - Cooper Civil War - Lucan Womans Life - Maupassant Warden - Trollope Hard Times - Dickens East of Eden - Steinbeck Darling - Chekhov Theban Plays - Sophocles Education of Henry Adams Return of the Native - Hardy Ordeal of Richard Feverel - Meredith Joseph Andrews - Fielding Candide - Voltaire Heart of Darkness - Conrad Fathers and Sons - Turgenev Oliver Twist - Dickens Prometheus Bound - Aeschylus Liberation of Jerusalem - Tasso Decameron - Boccaccio Leviathan - Hobbes Dubliners - Joyce D'ubervilles - Hardy Rob Roy - Scott Princess Casamassina - James Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas
Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 2003 Location: New Jersey Highscores:84 Thanks: 277 Thanked: 246 times in 200 posts
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Re: Read with meee
I'll pick up a copy tomorrow, this weekend sounds good, looking forward to it. Why don't you start a thread, "Return of the Native" after you read a chapter or two.
BTW, I've been told my avatar is a painting of Ophelia, can't remember the artist.
_________________ I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth. --William Faulkner
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 1413 Images: 0 Location: Hampton, Ga Highscores:14 Thanks: 171 Thanked: 228 times in 169 posts
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Re: Read with meee
Angela,
I'm going to be reading Return of the Native with Suzanne. I really can only read one fiction and one non-fiction at a time. I'd be happy to read Heart of Darkness with you next!
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Re: Read with meee
Neh, I'm a lone reader. I usually read too fast for anyone to keep up with me. When I'm reading, that is. I need to get crackin' on one of these books that are waiting around for me to read them...
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 1413 Images: 0 Location: Hampton, Ga Highscores:14 Thanks: 171 Thanked: 228 times in 169 posts
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The Return of the Native
I'm chapter 2 of the third book and I really can't see why or how Hardy is a bad writer of women. Maybe because I'm a male but he seems to describe a woman more in depth than he describes his male characters. He spends more time on them. No there aren't any highly intelligent or super powerful women in this novel. Yes, to him they are creatures more of craft, emotion, and social calculation. As a male, I enjoy reading his descriptions of women because it feels like insight into how they operate. No two female characters are the same but each one fits a certain personality stereotype nicely as do the male characters. Maybe there is too much craft and not enough pure romance for a female reader perhaps? Maybe there is no real love in the story? Maybe there isn't enough suffering at the hands of unrequited love and not enough pining or daydreaming or female virtuosity and justice? I dunno. I've been paying special attention to his writing of the female characters ever since his deficiency was pointed out. I just don't see it.
Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 2003 Location: New Jersey Highscores:84 Thanks: 277 Thanked: 246 times in 200 posts
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Re: The Return of the Native
Hardy's discriptive writing style has a creepy, haunted feel to it, which I have to say I am enjoying. I feel like I am right there in Egdon Heath. Hardy is a craftsman of the english language, and a very good story teller. The character of Eustacia has me captivated, and I am looking forward to reading more about her.
President Camacho wrote:
No two female characters are the same but each one fits a certain personality stereotype nicely as do the male characters.
I can see this. Eustacia fits the stereotype of the bad girl, the temptress. She is a witchey type of character, and when you place her in the setting that Hardy has masterfully created, there is a gothic feel to it. Thomasin, on the other hand is the sweet, naive virginal type. The reddleman is the strongest male character so far, but I have yet to encounter Clym.
_________________ I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth. --William Faulkner
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 1413 Images: 0 Location: Hampton, Ga Highscores:14 Thanks: 171 Thanked: 228 times in 169 posts
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Re: The Return of the Native
I'm on the last book. I don't see how Hardy is going to wrap this all up in the pages that remain. The story for me hasn't really gone too far. I've passed what should have been a pivotal point in the story and it fell flat.
Hardy traded one interesting and virtuous character, the reddleman, for an uninteresting but still virtuous one - Clym. In my opinion the story would probably have been more interesting if it centered around the reddleman rather than Clym. Clym's fall from diamonds to furze has its tragedy centered squarely on the shoulders of a superficial woman. It's impossible to feel real sympathy for Clym. I can empathize and I appreciate his hard work but he's actively making his situation what it is. His character flaws are his optimism and the risk he takes to realize his dreams. He's sure that everyone will eventually see things his way. That fortune will continue to smile on him. That life is more than fair if you throw some attention its way.
In the meantime he picks the wrong wife. He shouldn't have any wife if he expects to gamble his future but he picks the one girl that wants to do the exact opposite that he wants to. These two are a poor match.
There's just not enough intrigue to make Eustacia's character interesting. She's shallow and superficial and it ends there. She doesn't make Clym's life a living hell and she doesn't cheat. She's not wicked enough for this story.
Thomasin is out of the picture. Wildeve renews his love of Eustacia. And there are some other goings on but the story really doesn't turn. It feels like a true story of some unfortunate lad that once had promise and is now tied to the heath. Something that no one quite cares to remember - just not tragic enough. A hard luck story.
Where's the emotion? I have to wait until you get to where I'm at to discuss the rest but the fight scene between Eustacia and Clym is really weird and left me feeling like either I or Hardy doesn't know too much about relationships or fighting amongst couples. It was just strange.
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