The Return of the Native

Thomas Hardy

I decided to read this book because it is by one of my favorite authors, Thomas Hardy. I have thoroughly enjoyed the other books of his that I have read. I thought I would try another and see how it goes.

This book was very well written. Hardy does a wonderful job with his descriptions. That is one of the reasons I like him. They aren’t too full of words, but describe precisely the scenery or the persons. In this novel I felt that some of the descriptions went on a little too lengthy. But taking into consideration the atmosphere of the book, the long depictions of the scenery add to the moods of the characters in a way that helps one to understand the characters more clearly.

The main character of this book, Eustacia, is a woman of dreamy sentiment. She is selfish in her desire for love and thinks of it only in a romantic ideal. She likes the idea of love and all the passion that comes from a forbidden lust, but once she can take hold of her object she is sorely disappointed and discontent.

Her first love is a man named Wildeve. He seems to make promises to Eustacia but after a time he courts another woman, Thomasin, and ends up marrying her to avoid a scandal. Eustacia quickly forgets her love for Wildeve and is passionately in love with Thomasin’s cousin, Clym. They marry and soon after Eustacia’s ideals are throw away. She becomes discontent and there is much fighting between the two.

Near the end of the story there is a tragedy that ends in the deaths of two of the characters. Another becomes sad and mopes for the rest of the book, but one remarries the man that loved her since childhood.

I must say that I was a little disappointed in this book. The drama between the characters was a little unrealistic. Most of Hardy’s books are on the unrealistic side, but this one seemed even more so. The storyline was a little far stretched as well.

I was pleased with the ending. It ends happily for a few of the characters. I always enjoy when there is a definite ending to a book. Some I’ve read have endings that don’t really tell you where the characters are going. It just ends. This is not the case in The Return of the Native. And that pleased me very much.

I would recommend this book to someone that wants to compare Hardy’s books to one another. But as far as wanting to read only one of Thomas Hardy’s books I would recommend a different one, such as The Mayor of Casterbridge or A Pair of Blue Eyes. Both were very good.