The spin number in The Classics Club Spin was announced yesterday. It’s number … 6
which for me is The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy. The rules of the Spin are that this is the book for me to read by 1 June, 2020.
I’m delighted with this as I’ve been meaning to read it for years and never got round to it.
‘To be loved to madness – such was her great desire’
Eustacia Vye criss-crosses the wild Egdon Heath, eager to experience life to the full in her quest for ‘music, poetry, passion, war’. She marries Clym Yeobright, native of the heath, but his idealism frustrates her romantic ambitions and her discontent draws others into a tangled web of deceit and unhappiness.
Early readers responded to Hardy’s ‘insatiably observant’ descriptions of the heath, a setting that for D. H. Lawrence provided the ‘real stuff of tragedy’. For modern readers, the tension between the mythic setting of the heath and the modernity of the characters challenges our freedom to shape the world as we wish; like Eustacia, we may not always be able to live our dreams. (Amazon)
Did you take part in the Classics Spin? What will you be reading?
BooksPlease 
Well that was a lucky result for you. This is a book that is often underrated but I like better than his more famous Jude The Obscure,
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Jude the Obscure is my favourite of his books that I’ve read so far, so I am looking forward to reading The Return of the Native. 🙂
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Well I’m glad you’re pleased with it, Margaret. There would’ve been no Hardy on my list at all and particularly not at a time like this. Nobody does misery like Hardy!
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I’ve enjoyed Hardy ever since I read The Trumpet Major at school, but I know what you mean about misery – Hardy was a pessimist.
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The Trumpet Major is very atypical Hardy inasmuch as it isn’t particularly miserable. Have you read Jude the Obscure?
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I have read Jude the Obscure, very miserable, but I liked it much and have read it twice.
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It was one of my final year degree texts along with his poetry and I horrified my tutor by telling him that in my opinion, while Hardy was a second rate novelist he was a third rate poet. Oh well, it would be a dull world if we all liked the same things.
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Oh, I hope you’ll enjoy it, Margaret. I think you got a good ‘un there, and I look forward to your thoughts on it.
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Thanks, Margot – I’m looking forward to reading it.
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It is my favourite Hardy. Hope you enjoy it.
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thank you – good to know it’s your favourite.
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I think you’ll really like it, hope so anyway, although he can be a bit depressing I still love his writing.
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Thank you – I love his writing too, particularly his descriptions of the countryside.
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The best Hardy! Love the setting and the characters–rich in theme and beautifully written. Enjoy!
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‘The best Hardy!’ – I’ll have to start reading it asap.
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