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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
This was a very nice, thorough biography of Hardy. It made me want to go back and reread some of his books and poetry now that I know a bit more about his influences and the parts of his life that inspired his writing. It took me a long time to read this book--I only had 30-minute snatches of time here and there. I'd recommend reading it if you have more time to devote to it--I didn't like reading it in such a piecemeal fashion.
I picked up Hardy's biography at a used book store, prior to which I hadn't entertained a moment's thought about his life beyond his books. As such, I came to Tomalin's book with little knowledge and no preconceived images or impressions, but after having read the back cover and flipped through the book a bit, I decided to give it a go. I enjoy Tomalin's style and story-telling ability, but I had hoped to like the book more than I did. Hardy simply did not have a particularly interesting life, apparently, beyond his writing, and even the best of writers can only do so much with limited material.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Engagingly written biography covering Hardy's long life and giving context to the changing world around him. The works are examined in some detail so beware spoilers on the novels if you haven't read all of them and don't want to know key plot points.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I'm one of those freaks who likes the novels better than the poetry. I like him better when he is crapping on Victorian hypocrisy, classism and gender strait jackets then when he is delightfully delineating a country scene. It is also that I like the younger Hardy. When he gets old and starts churning out the poems he is quite comfortable and rich and the Prince even visits him forgetting being "clubbable" ... the "Lady" he married is another mad woman literally in the attic and he just isn't that sympathetic anymore. I enjoyed reading this book but it kind of took Hardy down a notch for me. Not that I dislike the poems. I can get into rhymes about a snow covered tree as much as the next guy. Just don't forget there would have been no "Winter Words" without "Jude."
Emma Hardy is an interesting character here, and Tomalin is not unsympathetic. She frames the book with TH's love poems to Emma, and strives to remind us that TH cared for her somehow even when he wasn't caring for her really and she was pretty much hating on him. By contrast the other TH love interests including the second wife all seem like gold diggers. I guess there just is more documentation ... letters, diaries, etc... of the late, famous, stuffy TH so we get to glimpse dinner parties with Laurence of Arabia and the gang, but it's the child of country tradesmen and servants who interests me.
I wouldn't recommend this unless you are a hardcore fan, which I think I am.
Emma Hardy is an interesting character here, and Tomalin is not unsympathetic. She frames the book with TH's love poems to Emma, and strives to remind us that TH cared for her somehow even when he wasn't caring for her really and she was pretty much hating on him. By contrast the other TH love interests including the second wife all seem like gold diggers. I guess there just is more documentation ... letters, diaries, etc... of the late, famous, stuffy TH so we get to glimpse dinner parties with Laurence of Arabia and the gang, but it's the child of country tradesmen and servants who interests me.
I wouldn't recommend this unless you are a hardcore fan, which I think I am.
Although parts of this book could be fairly dull, for the most part, I really enjoyed it. T.H.’s life in itself was extremely interesting, and this book will be particularly interesting for fans of his writing. The biography paints him in a good light, and looks at what may have inspired him to create such formidable characters such as Tess, Jude and Bathesba. The fairly intense background knowledge you gain from this book will further your understanding of Hardy’s texts as well, so it is worth a read purely for that sake. As a writer Tomalin handles the details of T.H.’s life with care and her style is very effective at achieving the portraying Hardy for the complex character that he was. At times things can get confusing, as so many different people are introduced, I did feel the need to re-read a few pages to understand exactly who the author was referring to- this happened quite often, but I suppose there’s not much to be done about this. The narrative isn’t necessarily chronological, but this doesn’t matter, and in fact I think Tomalin’s approach is quite effective compared to the other (relatively few) biographies/ autobiographies that I have read.
Definitely a must read for real Hardy fans- although there are spoilers for most of his novels in this book- feel free to skip over these parts.
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Definitely a must read for real Hardy fans- although there are spoilers for most of his novels in this book- feel free to skip over these parts.
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