Thursday, March 12, 2015

It finally came (three months late)...

Thomas Hardy's A Pair of Blue Eyes was supposed to be my last classic of 2014, but due to a series of library mishaps, it took a little longer to get a copy than I planned. And then, when a copy finally did come, I wasn't sure I still wanted to read it. Fortunately, once I started, the plight of Hardy's main character, Elfride Swancourt, kept me reading to the end (even though, in typical Hardy fashion, this novel does not have a happily-ever-after ending).

Inexperienced and unworldly, Elfride Swancourt is the one with eyes as "blue as autumn distance...a misty and shady blue that had no beginning or surface, and was looked into rather than at." The daughter of a vicar, she meets Stephen Smith, an architect's apprentice, when he comes to survey their church; the two quickly fall in love, but Stephen's parents are too low in station for Elfride's father to consent to their marriage. So, they elope to London instead. Only Elfride backs out at the last moment and returns home, undiscovered and unmarried. But that one moment of youthful haste and indiscretion comes back to haunt her later in life.
"I did not see all the consequences," she said.
This seems to be a theme of Hardy's. Tess of the D'urbervilles and Jude the Obscure did not "see all the consequences" either. And unhappiness followed. It makes me glad I live in a world where forgiveness and redemption and second chances are possible, and not in a Hardy novel, where they're not. I have to say that while this particular novel will never be my favorite, I always appreciate Hardy's style of writing and how he never fails to expand my vocabulary with words like penetralia, tergiversation, and couchant. As for his characters, I think I had the most sympathy for Stephen Smith, and some for Elfride as well, that young lady whom children looked upon "as an unusually nice large specimen of their own tribe than as a grown-up elder"; but I'm afraid I couldn't drum up any sympathy for Elfride's other suitor, Henry Knight. I didn't really like him at all. So, that's my last classic of 2014 finally completed. I think the next Thomas Hardy novel I read will be either Far From the Madding Crowd or The Woodlanders. But that might not be for awhile. So, until then...

Happy Reading!

6 comments:

  1. I'm glad your copy finally came! I read this a few years ago and remember enjoying it, though I would agree that it's not one of Hardy's best books. I loved Far From the Madding Crowd but haven't read The Woodlanders yet.

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    1. I think Far From the Madding Crowd will be my next Hardy novel; it's such a great title...and everyone seems to like it.

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  2. I haven't read Hardy before, though I plan on reading Tess & Far From the Madding Crowd. I do love one of his poems, Neutral Tones. He doesn't seem to write very happy stuff, though, does he? Nice review.

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    1. Thanks. I found Hardy a little hard the first time I read him, but I just really like his writing now. I think The Well-Beloved might be my favorite, but I also really liked Tess and Jude the Obscure. (And no, his books are not happy ones.)

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  3. After reading Tess and Mayor of Casterbridge a few years ago, I had to give Hardy a rest. But I feel like I'm due to pick him up again, perhaps Madding Crowd? I love the title, too. His books remind me of Dostoyevsky's books, bleak but compelling. The settings, stories and characters are all so well written it's hard to stay away for long.

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    1. Bleak but compelling is a good description of Hardy's novels. I like him, but I can't read him continuously; for me, Hardy needs to come in small doses. But once I read one of his books, I have to say, I don't ever forget it. I guess that's the compelling part of his stories. :)

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