Ever craved a comprehensive cataloguing of T. Hardy’s novels, ranked from finest to least shiniest? Then in true BuzzFeed tradition, here is a substanEver craved a comprehensive cataloguing of T. Hardy’s novels, ranked from finest to least shiniest? Then in true BuzzFeed tradition, here is a substanceless and unjustified list from my Thomas Hardy readings over the last decade, with zero additional text on each one, because I’ve been contributing to this site unpaid for eleven years, and no one at Goodreads management has ever thanked me for my unwavering loyalty. Anyway, let’s rank.
Thomas Hardy, RANKED
1 — The Woodlanders 2 — The Mayor of Casterbridge 3 — Far From the Madding Crowd 4 — Jude the Obscure* 5 — The Return of the Native 6 — A Pair of Blue Eyes 7 — A Laodicean 8 — Desperate Remedies 9 — Under the Greenwood Tree 10 — Two on a Tower 11 — The Well-Beloved 12 — Tess of the D’Ubervilles** 13 — The Trumpet-Major 14 — The Hand of Ethelberta
* read some time pre-Goodreads between 2003-2008, in need of reappraisal ** read in 2011, in need of reappraisal too...more
I have never been more wrong about a novel than I was about Hopscotch. A baffled first reading took place seven annums past, and a vexed and unfair onI have never been more wrong about a novel than I was about Hopscotch. A baffled first reading took place seven annums past, and a vexed and unfair one-star review lingered on my profile for a half that period until three years ago (the shame!), when I suspected there to be more to Cortázar and issued a partial retraction for the slander. Recent encounters with Cronopios and Famas and A Manual for Manuel showed me that Cortázar was in fact an essential writer of some magical powers, and a cheap encounter with this Harvill edition in a Chipping Norton bookshop (£2.50!) urged me to reappraise this masterpiece. And on the second reading: sheer bliss as I hopped from chapter to chapter. This is a full retraction, and if you will accept my grovelling apology, I would be honoured to receive acceptance into warm impish bosom of the Cortázaristas....more
Revisited. Having long become a frantic pompom-waver for the magnificence of Saunders, it was time to reread this collection a mere fourteen years aftRevisited. Having long become a frantic pompom-waver for the magnificence of Saunders, it was time to reread this collection a mere fourteen years after a dismal first reading. Unsurprisingly, my appreciation for these stories has deepened, no longer impatient at the delightful absurdist tendencies of ‘Sea Oak’ or the charming shagginess of ‘The Barber’s Unhappiness’, and once more beaming with lust for the title piece and the heartbreaking awkwardness of ‘Winky’. My apologies to George for the fourteen years of my humiliating and unworthy two-star rating.
OLD REVIEW:
‘Pastoralia’ (the opening story) shows what Saunders can do. How his prose can be funny and surreal and warm and satirical and touching. Unfortunately, having done this, the other stories in this collection seem like shticky filler. ‘Winky’ was another strong piece, but I found myself snoozing through ‘Sea Oak’ which does a surrealist dance in a ra-ra skirt, and getting annoyed by his rhythms in ‘The Barber’s Unhappiness.’ His repetition, his rambling passages of superfluous detail, how he goes on so long you have forgotten the characters’ names, but that doesn’t matter, as they are barely rendered anyway, and so on . . . cruel and wrong of me? Most likely. My take on Saunders over two years later here....more
This guy changes . . . his mind. In 2010, I described this devastating novel as a “slab of poetic miserablism”, which is accurate apart from the word This guy changes . . . his mind. In 2010, I described this devastating novel as a “slab of poetic miserablism”, which is accurate apart from the word ‘slab’ (139pp), then I went on to describe the structure as “interesting” (is that all, young me?), and dismiss the novel as “banal” and “repetitive”, which is wrong and foolish. Sorrentino’s first novel is a captivating road trip chronicling a failing marriage, and with its inventive state-hopping road-trip-in-hell structure, summons up the heartbreak and frustration and desperation of a couple making a futile attempt to make their marriage work. There are many lonely, pathetic, embittered and spot-on scenes here, narrated in Sorrentino’s detached and razor-sharp prose, and the sparse and beautiful descriptions are among the finest and most sincere in the Gil oeuvre. I experienced heartbreak between the first reading and the second, which also helped. Sometimes, readers have to admit they were callow slobs with their teensy minds closed. For six years, I misled potential readers of this novel with a feeble two-star review, for which I apologise. An essential first novel. ...more
