I loved revisiting Egdon Heath, especially while reading during the long autumnal evenings of October. In The Return of the Native, Hardy is off doing what Hardy does best: bitter romances unfolding in a richly portrayed (but often coldly indifferent) natural setting. As usual, he explores disastrous marriage choices and how our impulsive romantic delusions can destroy not only our own lives, but also our familial relationships and the lives of others around us! WOO HOO

Though Eustacia Vye certainly makes for a memorably tragic heroine, I must admit that in my opinion the show is stolen by Diggory Venn (The Reddleman? More like the Meddleman, am I right ladies?!)-- one of my all-time favourite Hardy characters. His narrative of persistence in the face of rejection is slightly creepy but majorly inspirational. Some people handle romantic rejection in a #basic way (tears, ice cream, Internet stalking) and some people handle it in an #iconic way (dying yourself red from head to toe, lurking in the woods, becoming a mythical figure, thwarting your adversary in morally-questionable-but-undeniably-epic ways). So even though this is an undeniably sad novel, Diggory Venn brought me a lot of joy so I’d say it all balances out in the end.

(Also quick shout out to my second fave, true-tragic-hero Christian Cantle!) ( )

This was an audiobook that I had to return to the library, then two years later took it back out and listened to the whole thing in a single month. ( )

Hardy isn’t the most easily accessible of Victorian authors. However, once through the first chapter or so, most of his novels move along at a pretty good pace.That said, this isn’t a favorite. There are five major characters, plus the landscape, whose lives intertwine in various ways. Clym and Thomasin are tooted in the heath and comfortable with what lives they can have. Eustacia and Damon are unhappy and uncomfortable with the place, especially Eustacia. Naturally the wrong people pair off and a lot of trouble ensues.
And that would be fine, except that the misfortunes and missteps here are mostly a result of either miscommunication, or delayed communication. So much so that it seems almost farcical: Clym cannot catch a break of any kind, and becomes more and more mired in misery.
I’m a fan of Hardy’s work, but this may be my least favorite novel of his. Too bad, too, because it is beautifully written (except for far too many literary references), and brings the heath to life. ( )

Book 94
The Return of the Native.
Thomas Hardy.
I remember sitting with my mouth wide open, I could not believe the ending. You know when you turn the book over saying "is that it?" Can it really finish line that? And you are searching at the back for more text...9.5/10
Just persuaded Peter to watch the film.. wonder if I will be disappointed? 1994 Catherine Zeta Jones. Anybody seen it? ( )

Couldn't put it down! ( )

This is being read as part of the local Hardy reading group.

This is the first book that I've been able to read with some level of ease - the others' I have struggled at one level or another.

It is a story of mixed connections, lost (and re-found) loves, disappointments and misunderstandings. Very few lives are not altered in some way. Eustacia Vye wishes to escape the desolation and isolation of Egdon Heath, and believes that Clym, returning from Paris, will be the ticket to her escape. However, his dislike of Paris - the main cause of his return - plus a subsequent illness, ensures that Eustacia is further chained to the Heath, her chances of escape ruined.


Clym's cousin, Thomasin, becomes married Wildeve, despite his previous and unresolved dalliance with Eusticia. No one really ever settles, and it all ends in disaster. The heath is another character in this book, presenting an isolating force in the book and enforcing a loneliness on the likes of Eusticia by living so far from her nearest neighbours. Had she - had anyone - lived closer to each other, would things have happened differently?
( )

This classic of British literature was great, despite everyone in it being a hot mess, each in their own way. I loved the tension between love vs. possession and nature vs. society, and Hardy's descriptions of the heath were very evocative, if occasionally over-long. Eustacia is a piece of work, Clym is a boring milquetoast, Wildeve is a d-bag, and Thomasin would benefit from some 21st century ideas of agency. Yes, I'm being a bit flip and reductive, but I truly did enjoy listening to this, especially as read by Alan Rickman. It was my first Hardy but I don't think it will be my last. ( )

Hardy at his best. First tier in storytelling, character development, and use of language and description. It is like being served a feast to listen to Hardy entone over the features of the heath. The wet young beeches were undergoing amputations, bruises, cripplings, and harsh lacertations, from which the wasting sap would bleed for many a day to come, and which would leave scars visible till the day of their burning. Each stem was wrenched at the root, where it moved like a bone in its socket, and at every onset of the gale convulsive sounds came from the branches, as if pain were felt" So real and bleak and unforgiving a place, yet so full of love and loveliness and longing.

Was there ever a more heartbreaking woman than Eustacia Vye? I feel so deeply for her angst at being misplaced in Egdon and pity her dreams and desires of another world (which most likely does not exist in the way that she believes it does). She makes a poor bargain, and she makes it over and over again. She always takes the wrong course and is so thoroughly misunderstood by everyone, with the possible exception of Damon.

Was there ever a man more inept than Clym Yeobright? While he dawdles over who should make the first move, who is owed forgiveness most, and what is the best action to take, he lets every opportunity to stem disaster slide through his fingers. He is so sadly on that path of good intentions that leads to a sure hell, that he makes you scream in your head, "do something".

Was there ever a man harder to fathom than Damon Wildeve? He is neither good enough to love nor evil enough to hate. In the end, he is the catalyst that sets all the sadness in motion and makes it inevitable that no one can be truly happy who falls within his sphere. He seems incapable of any real love until his choice seals his fate.

So much misunderstanding and misadventure is overwhelming, as if it were God playing with Job or perhaps just winking at the way the humans stumble into one avoidable quagmire after another. The sense of doom hangs over everything, even the joyful wedding parties, in such a typically Hardy fashion. One cannot help wondering if happiness is even possible in this environ or if the heath itself does not eschew human delights and loves.

Living in a time when so few options were open to women, Hardy is a master of capturing the sadness and despair that can accompany them in their lot. Eustacia fights against this norm, and finds herself more trapped than most. Thomasin might find herself in the same situation but for a kinder fate guiding her steps (and the interferences of Diggory Venn). That a woman can be too easily ruined is obvious; that she is at the mercy of the morality of men leaves her in constant danger. She has, in fact, very little control over her own fate.

I loved this novel. Like [b:Jude the Obscure|50798|Jude the Obscure|Thomas Hardy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389403264s/50798.jpg|41342119] and [b:The Mayor of Casterbridge|56759|The Mayor of Casterbridge|Thomas Hardy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388276915s/56759.jpg|2390173], this left me heart torn and feeling very vulnerable and human. I kept wanting to warn the characters, especially Clym, to be more aware of the possible consequences of their choices, to hurry or to slow down, to make one small change and save themselves and all around them. But, of course, none of Hardy's characters ever listen to me. ( )

Ezt a könyvet azóta el akarom olvasni, amióta a Rozshegyezőben... neeeem... szóval a Zabban a fogó-ban... vagyis a Rozszabálóban... a fene... tehát a The Catcher in the Rye -ban Holden hivatkozott Eustacia Vye-re, de mivel Hardyval amúgy nem zökkenőmentes a kapcsolatom, ezért eddig toltam magam előtt. Ám most eljött az idő.

A Hazatérés egy szerelmi négyszög története, ami idővel ötszöggé válik. Hardy tisztes távolságból közelít a téma felé: előbb lefesti nekünk a hangával borított, lápos Egdon Heath tájait, aztán bemutat nekünk pár mulatozó helybélit, akik erős tájszólásban vázlatolják az olvasónak, milyen sztori is fog mindjárt következni – csak ezután csapunk bele a lecsóba. (Ez a hosszas felvezetés amúgy már jelzi, hogy a könyv főszereplője legalább annyira a délkelet-angliai vidék és lakói, mint azok, akik a cselekményt bonyolítják. És meg kell hagyni, Hardy művéhez valóban sokat hozzátesz a fenyér erőteljes ábrázolása.) Az van, hogy Tamsin* kisasszony és Wildeve, a fogadós menyegzőre készül, de a férfi szíve legalább annyira dobog Eustaciáért, akit a bennszülöttek úgy általában véve boszorkánynak tartanak. Aztán itt van még Venn, a szimpatikus ürge, aki piros festékkel házal, és maga is nagyon szereti Tamsint, de elég komoly hátránnyal indul: ugyanis a munkája miatt vörös mindene. És hát ki menne szívesen hozzá egy vörös emberhez? Ebben a mai átpolitizált világban? Ez idáig a négyszög. Aztán megérkezik a messzi Párizsból Tamsin kisasszony unokabátyja, Clym, akiben Eustacia meglátja a nagyvilági fickót, aki kimenti majd a semmi sivár világából, úgyhogy ejti miatta Wildeve-t – elég lassan esik le neki, hogy Clym igazából hazatért, a szó bibliai értelmében, és esze ágában sincs visszamenni a nagyvilágba. Íme, az „egymás-mellett-elbeszélés” tankönyvi esete.

Hardy prózája súlyos, helyenként költői, helyenként viszont igen nehézkes szöveg, párbeszédeiben pedig érdekesen keveredik a sorsszerűség a kötelességtudással, és a szív szava a racionalitással. (Ahogy felteszem, a való életben is.) A fő- és mellékszereplők ábrázolása az, ami egyértelmű erényként említenék: emlékezetes alakok ők, de közülük is kiemelkedik Eustacia Vye alakja, akiben Hardy kiválóan ábrázolja a sorsával elégedetlen, nagyot álmodó nőt, aki bármit, de tényleg bármit megtenne azért, hogy kiszabaduljon az unalmas lankák közül. Tagadhatatlan, érezni némi lelki rokonságot Eustacia és Holden között – ugyanaz az elvágyódás, a „többre-hivatottság” jellemzi őket. Bár szerepe szerint Eustacia a regény bajkeverője, így igényt tarthatna a negatív főszereplő címkéjére, de Hardynak sikerül úgy bemutatnia őt, mint akiért szorítani lehet – lebírhatatlan vágyaival vívott titáni küzdelme miatt mindenképpen pályázhat az olvasó szimpátiájára, vagy ha nem is a szimpátiájára, de legalább a szánalmára. Ha egy dolgot kéne említenem, ami miatt érdemes volt elolvasni ezt a regényt, akkor őt említeném. (De amúgy több dolog miatt érdemes.)

* Igazából Thomasin, de ezek a csávók így elharapják a szavakat. ( )

The Agnes Miller Parker wood engraved illustrations are stunning.

Alan Rickman, I love you, but this book is just maintaining my interest.

This was a fun read. It was part soap opera, part humor, part literary brilliance. The characters were interesting, and the descriptions of setting were superb. I enjoyed it thoroughly and recommend it highly. ( )

Eustacia Vye is a terrific character, and ever scene she's in makes for good reading. I would give this book five stars if the entire book had been her story, but Hardy seems to wobble with her death, leaving it ambiguous if she killed herself or perished in an accident. I wouldn't have preferred a suicide to conclude her story, but if that's how her tale had to end, I wish Hardy had just made it plain. Then, after Eustacia is gone, the book staggers on a few more chapter to tell what happens to the rest of the characters, but by that point the momentum is gone. Still worth reading, just not as good as his other novels. ( )

My very first Hardy. I've always had this impression of Hardy but I've never had an actual OCCASION to actually read him!

Naturally, I have been mortified at my neglect. So many people have been required to read his works and yet I have gracelessly skipped on by. For shame!

So what do I think of this Master of the English Novel?


OMG he writes such TORRID SOAP OPERAS!

I mean, let me be clear here: his writing from the very first passages was GORGEOUS, flowing, evocative, and darkly humorous. And that's just the description of the fictional town. I LOVED IT.

And then we were introduced to the people.

Young people, all of them. Stupid young people. With not a lick of sense, amazing passions, blinded perceptions, wild imaginations, and almost guaranteed spots on any daytime tv serial designed to spark emotion but not even two brain cells.

For all that, I loved the characterizations and the build-up before the first of the marriages... and then things took a dark turn. Things went from Wuthering Heights DRAMA to Wuthering Heights tragic. Ish. I mean, nothing gets THAT tragic. Or drenched in pathos.

But this does come close. :)

Oh, woe! Woe! Woe! Whoah.

Recommend? Well, let me put it this way. I would knock on every door and pound on any window if I read a writer with this much talent putting his skills to a much worthier topic than the stupidities and tragedies of kids with their heads firmly ensconced in their backsides. To imagine this as a fantasy title would have me jittering with enough pent-up excitement to power a city block for a week.

But alas. Alak. This is just a torrid soap opera.

A good one, mind you, and it even ends on a solid moral foundation for the edification of the gentle reader too scared to be scandalized by a whiff of IMMORALITY. But then, we must make some adjustments for the time in which this was written.

It really is a classic of wonderful WRITING. Too bad about the ideas. Alas. :) ( )

This was a good book. I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the places and people. I know sometimes that the descriptions can go over the top and make the story boring, but this was just the right amount. The version of the book that I got was the audio book narrated by Alan Rickman (which was the reason I picked it up). Great story made all the better by Alan Rickman's voice. :) ( )

Hardy is synonymous with 19th century English country landscapes, and never more so than in Return of the Native. Set on the mythical Egdon Heath, this novel is the next best thing to a time machine, so evocative are his descriptions of these bygone Wessex rural scenes. One doesn't just read a Hardy novel - it's a completely immersive virtual reality experience, and for this reason he remains up there as one of my favourite novelists of all time.

Although perhaps not so well known as Hardy's greats such as The Mayor of Casterbridge, this is still a very fine novel. In typical Hardy fashion there is heartbreak and tragedy in spades, yet it is the rural landscape that almost becomes the main protagonist. The descriptions are incredibly vivid, yet their conveyance is so deftly subtle that it adds an additional dimension and depth to the story rather than getting in the way of it.

Whilst many novels of that era excel at transplanting you as a fly on the wall to the centre of English social history, I can't think of a better way to experience English natural history than through the experience of a Hardy novel. By the end of Return of the Native the heath was as familiar to me as the countryside on my own doorstep. No, on second thoughts, it was significantly more familiar. Our green space has changed in so many ways since that time, but whilst some of the flora and fauna has changed forever (for instance, adders are much rarer in number now in the English countryside than they would have been back then), it is our interaction with it which has changed most acutely. In Hardy's time the average rural dweller had little option but to traverse their local countryside by foot, often travelling many miles in a day to run an errand or visit a neighbour. Imagine, therefore, how much more familiar and in touch with the earth you become when you are literally walking through it's rural midst every day. And that is precisely the experience that Hardy brings with this novel. You feel 19th century England.

This was Hardy book number six for me, and thinking I'd already peaked with his best work I was absolutely delighted to be proved wrong with this novel.

4 stars - a wonderful sojourn in rural Victorian England. ( )

For me, Thomas Hardy was quite probably one of the very best classic authors out there. His writing is extremely good, and still very accessible to readers now, even those not familiar with the prose and speech patterns of the time.
Those who are familiar with his novels, know that he excelled at emotional, character-driven stories, and The Return of the Native is no exception to that.

While I very much enjoy reading Hardy, his novels take on an extra dimension when performed by talented actors. The 2003 version of The Mayor of Casterbridge is one of my all-time favourite films, for example. Ciaran Hinds breaks my heart every time, and each and every time I watch it, I forget I've seen it before, forget I've read the book, and get so wrapped up in the emotional turmoil I honestly don't know what's coming next until it happens.
While I haven't yet seen The Return of the Native performed for film or tv, I did just have the absolute pleasure of listening to the audio version by the late, great Alan Rickman...

Do yourself a favour; if you listen to any audio version of this book, make it Rickman's. ( )

I loved the descriptions in this book. The writing was vivid and clear and quite descriptive. My only problem is that I read up a little info on the book and found out how it ends prematurely. It's really annoying that I did that, but I don't know if the descriptions are good enough to draw me to the end that I already know about.

Maybe I'll revisit this later. ( )

In this overdrawn and repetitive novel, Hardy offers up deceitful, tiresome Eustacia Vye in a comedy of errors fraught
with Thomasin generally being a drag. Reading about artificially tensed gambling is always trying.

Mrs. Yeobright, mother of dawdling Clym and aunt to Thomasin, is the bright light, once a reader tires of the inexplicable
devotion of riddleman Venn to Thomasin.

As always, Thomas Hardy's nature descriptions soar. ( )

[Return of the Native] by Thomas Hardy was the story of Clym, a native to the heath of Edgeron who became educated in Paris but has returned to the heath, for reasons we never do find out. This is my 4th Hardy read and imho is not nearly as well written or as interesting as the others (i.e. [Far from the Madding Crowd], [Tess of D'Urbervilles], [The Mayor of Castorbridge]). Much time is spent on the description of nature and the seasons on the Heath---almost puts me in mind of Dickens and to sleep! The plot reads like a soap opera or a play from Shakespeare: love lost by folly. I vaguely see some of the themes that Hardy is attempting to portray: family, tradition/custom, pride, and fate vs. free will. I just don't feel it's done as well as in the aforementioned novels. If you haven't read Hardy, and I suggest you do, don't start with this one! ( )

I picked this title up for free at the public library and it has held me in its dense, furzy 19th century rural English grasp since then. Fortunately, I had already read all of my Caldecott candidates. The Newbery possibilities languished, however (although I had already read the 2 honor books).

I cannot explain the hold of Hardy's work, but hold it does...more later.

I picked this title up for free at the public library and it has held me in its dense, furzy 19th century rural English grasp since then. Fortunately, I had already read all of my Caldecott candidates. The Newbery possibilities languished, however (although I had already read the 2 honor books).

I cannot explain the hold of Hardy's work, but hold it does...more later.

I hope I am not exaggerating when I say that this is a wonderful story. The most interesting character is the reddleman whose name is Diggory Venn. He is a mysterious and unmistakeable figure who appears at every turning point in the book. His trade is selling the dark red substance that is applied to sheep to distinguish them and he tours with his caravan the tangled web that is Egdon Heath. He becomes a mythical and symbolic figure through his red hue, the red substance covering his clothes and body. Sometimes he seems to be the devil, at others he is omniscient and a power for good. His repeated appearance signals action. Some other characters are unforgettable - the passionate Eustacia Vye with her raven hair, her impulsiveness and her knack of making the wrong decisions in love and poor Clym Yeobright, entrepreneur turned homely furze cutter, the native returned, who somehow comes to terms with the misery and despair that inflict him. There are unexpected incidents: gambling for the 50 guineas, the adder bite, the lost glove, the mummers dance, witchcraft and the drowning in the weir. To reread is to see new things and to understand so much more. ( )

I like the overall story of “The Return of the Native” but would’ve liked it more if not for the slow pace that occasionally leads to utter tedium.

Hardy was one of those authors capable of genius, yet at the same time he’d digress and waffle to the point of irritation. ( )

"Best natures commit bad faults sometimes, don't they-I think they do."

Eustacia Vye. One of my favorite characters in literature. Bored, isolated, misunderstood, accused of witchcraft, longing for a different life. Eustacia rebels against the confines of the heath where she lives but ends up marrying a man determined to stay and live on the heath. Throughout she was driven by impulsive actions that sent the story into a spiral of inevitable sadness (it is Thomas Hardy after all).

This was, technically, my second reading of the Return of the Native. Eustacia Vye has intrigued me since my early teens. I don’t think I was really ready for Thomas Hardy the first time I read this. I was still reading fairly juvenile books but I was determined I was going to read the classics and randomly picked the Return of the Native off the shelves at the library. I was bolstered in my attempts by a teacher seeing my copy of the book and being very impressed that I was reading Thomas Hardy. But, honestly, most of it went over my head and I just wasn’t able to appreciate Hardy the way I can now. It was years before I picked up another Thomas Hardy and even more years beyond that before I decided to read The Return of the Native again. I am so glad I did.
Before re-reading I could remember only a few of the characters and the very bones of the plot. I remembered the reddleman and Mrs. Yeobright (and I remembered not liking her, an opinion that sifted a bit with this re-read). I remembered that Eustacia’s husband began to lose his sight, something that haunted me for years after. What if I were to start losing my eyesight from too much reading? Was that even really possible?
Mostly, I remembered Eustacia. Flaws and all. Her name alone fascinated me. Eustacia Vye-the best name in fiction.
I’ve grown to really appreciate Thomas Hardy and so far, Return of the Native is a decided favorite. The character development, the description of the heath, the unfolding of the plot all amount to superb storytelling. ( )