Sara’s review of The Return of the Native > Likes and Comments

Another wonderful and heartfelt review, Sara.

Candi wrote: "Another wonderful and heartfelt review, Sara."

Thank you so much, Candi. Easier to write a review when you unequivocally love the work.

Just read this and liked it, Sara.
Your review is spot on!
Cheers from CB

Excellent review. I'm due for more Hardy and that paragraph you quoted points me to this book. Excellent writer.

Book2Dragon wrote: "Excellent review. I'm due for more Hardy and that paragraph you quoted points me to this book. Excellent writer."

Hi there, Book2Dragon, I do hope you like it.
Yes, it's good to get a Hardy fix now and again. I'll take a look at compare books and see which others we both enjoyed!
Cheers from CB

Colin wrote: "Just read this and liked it, Sara.
Your review is spot on!
Cheers from CB"

Thank you so much, Colin. It is such a marvelous book and a wonderful example of what makes Hardy so unique. He is a huge favorite with me, and always gives me characters I can never forget.

Book2Dragon wrote: "Excellent review. I'm due for more Hardy and that paragraph you quoted points me to this book. Excellent writer."

You cannot go wrong with this one, Book2Dragon. Hope you enjoy it!

I agree, this one is a jewel, if only for its atmosphere and wonderful cast of characters, each with their own foibles. Hardy, more than any novelist I know, understood that each of us are victims of our own nature, the decisions we are prone to make, and that we therefore cannot escape our fate.

Jim wrote: "I agree, this one is a jewel, if only for its atmosphere and wonderful cast of characters, each with their own foibles. Hardy, more than any novelist I know, understood that each of us are victims ..."

Excellent description of Hardy. I fell in love with his work when I was very young and have read most of his books numerous times. Most people find him to be a pessimist, and I'm sure a case can be made for that, but I find him to be a realist. He seems to me to be warning us that decisions matter and that life is hard...and in his time this was particularly true.

Wow, Sara, you pretty much expressed what I feel about this novel. I've been trying to write a review of the book, my first review after reading it three times. Do you mind if I just plagiarize what you said?
Basically I agree with what you said on these three essential components:

1. The beautiful flowing descriptive language, the characterization of Egdon Heath, the almost claustrophobic setting entirely within the Heath - all these factors make this the novel that best shows the essence of Hardy's Wessex. Tess's varying settings (family home, Alec's estate, dairy farm, Wellbridge Manor, the barren farm, the seaside resort, Stonehedge) gives it an expansive feel that, along with its strong characterization and dramatic events, make it the best overall Hardy to assign, I feel that the narrowness of this novel's scope and Hardy's insightful portrayal of it make this, if not the best novel, at least one of the top two or three Hardy novels for Hardy afficianodos to appreciatge.
2 Eustacia Vye - my favorite Hardy heroine and probably the most misunderstood one, perhaps even by Hardy himself, who seems to consider Clym the central charcter. No, that is Eustacia, as I think that Clym's importance rests entirely on his relation to Eustacia; that it his 'ineptness' is what leads Eaustacia to take the steps that lead to the very Hardyish ending.
3. Clym - the alleged central character so accurately described as 'inept' as it is his 'dawdling' that results in the end.

Actually, I may have enough here to use my own words. But I still may plagiarize a bit ;)