The Return of the Native

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The Return of the Native, by Thomas Hardy

Happy New Year!  I was planning to start a really big chunkster today, preferably Anna Karenina, but I woke up with a hangover--which is hardly fair, considering my revels last night consisted of fizzy lemonade, Just Dance 4, and card games, and ended before midnight.  I spent half the afternoon on the couch re-reading a murder mystery, and at this moment I have no idea what's for dinner.

I actually finished The Return of the Native before Christmas and it's been sitting here for some time.  Now I can't remember most of what I was going to say.  I'm always trepidatious about reading Hardy, but I really enjoyed this book much more than I expected to.  In fact, I was supposed to be reading it on a schedule of two chapters a day, but I could hardly put it down in the second half and finished early.  I wanted to find out what happened!  It was a very satisfying read too.


Comments

  1. AmyJanuary 1, 2013 at 4:26 PM

    Was it heartbreaking like Tess?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Adriana@ClassicalQuestJanuary 1, 2013 at 4:38 PM

    I enjoyed The Return of the Native more than I expected to as well.
    Looking forward to your thoughts on Anna Karenina. Take care!

    ReplyDelete
  3. JeanJanuary 1, 2013 at 5:19 PM

    Amy, it had tragedy, but to my mind not as awful as Tess. For a heartbreaking Hardy novel, this one treads lightly, I think.

    Thanks Adriana! I'm looking forward to seeing some more posts on Native from you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Quelle BooksJanuary 2, 2013 at 6:55 AM

    I wanted to start reading yesterday too but a hangover-migraine prevented me from picking up anything. I love Hardy and Return of the Native is one of my faves. I have been meaning to revisit it but I want to revisit Jude the Obscure first.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ChinoiseriesJanuary 2, 2013 at 7:28 AM

    Sometimes you can try to be good and a headachy day will still follow... this usually applies to January 1st - in my experience ;-) -

    Happy reading, Anna Karenina is one chunkster that I'm hesitant to tackle!

    ReplyDelete
  6. JeanJanuary 2, 2013 at 10:13 AM

    I haven't gotten to Jude the Obscure yet. Madding Crowd is next on my Hardy list.

    And I too am nervous about AK!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Quelle BooksJanuary 2, 2013 at 12:24 PM

    Far from the Madding Crowd is a nice break if you get overwhelmed by Thomas Hardy and his very sad stories!

    I had fun reading Anna Karenina over a summer. My advice is to take your time with it and not to rush it. I'm glad I did because it made me enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. JeanJanuary 2, 2013 at 4:45 PM

    That's good advice, and I'll take it. Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Amanda RoperJanuary 3, 2013 at 7:44 PM

    I finished just before midnight on December 31st. I loved it and it reminded me of Mill on the Floss.

    ReplyDelete

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