Two on a Tower

Rating:
Summary: Just another reason why Thomas Hardy is such a perfectionist
Review: Beautifully written, Thomas Hardy goes all out to make the reader see, hear, and smell every scene in this book. From begining to end, you never know what's going to happen next, and just when you think the story is calming down, Hardy throws a swerve your way. Great surprises, not predictable at all.

Hardy perhaps one of the better describers of setting of his time, shows once again, why books were so highly read back in his age.

Thomas once again delivered another great book of sadness, happiness, pregnancy and marriage. Although the story is mostly sad, it is still a great book, especially for those who have read previous Hardy books. A great read.

Rating:
Summary: She's 33, not 105
Review: I am a huge Thomas Hardy fan, and I was not disappointed with this book. At first all the technical astronomical information was slow, but the love story started and that was forgotten. My only complaint about Two on a Tower is the ending. It seems very rushed - everything comes crashing together in about 10 pages. It wasn't realistic for Viviette to age so much and no longer be beautiful 4 years later, considering she was only 33 at the end of the story. Sir Constantine was possessive, jealous and terrifying but she still kept her health and beauty after suffering with him. The bishop was full of himself - how is that worse? A few years with him and all of a sudden she's an old woman with a heart condition? Swithin comes back and says he'll marry her, she's overcome with joy and BOOM! She dies in his arms. I also find it strange that neither Swithin or Viviette acknowledged that the boy was his. Didn't people in the village realize who he looked like, since people were already suspicious of the lovers? What will happen next, Swithin takes his son in and marries Tabitha Lark? A very good, sad, complicated romance.

Rating:
Summary: Second String, But Interesting
Review: Lady Viviette Constantine agrees to convert an old tower on her estate into an observatory for the young attractive astronomer Swithin St Cleeve. Lady Constantine's husband has long deserted her for the delights of big game hunting in Africa. Love blossoms between Lady Constantine and St Cleeve, but there are problems: not least she is older than him and of a different social class. Can those differences be overcome?

"Two on a Tower" is one of Hardy's minor and shorter novels, and it's not an evenly-constructed piece. Apparently it was written in a rush when the author was distracted by domestic and professional issues, and it shows, espacially in the middle section which is really Hardy on autopilot.

Yet the subject matter and Hardy's direct approach to it, examining social taboos and conventions and the nature of sexual attraction head on, are still of interest. The end is distinctly rushed, but still there's enough in this novel to make it worth the read.

G Rodgers

Rating:
Summary: The story gets sadder the more I think about it
Review: The story of a lonely woman caught between love and propriety, self-sacrifice and self-interest, "Two on a Tower" is one of the saddest novels I've read. I kept hoping for a description of a blissful-but-brief interlude for Viviette, but it never materialized. Instead, unhappiness dogged her to the novel's cruel end. Yes, cruel. The final event in the book was an unnecessary stroke. Also, while I usually accept a character's actions, I cannot believe that Viviette NEVER anticipated becoming pregnant. The possibility certainly haunted ME from the moment her secret marriage took place. For all of it's sadness, however, the story is engaging and provides a criticism of the unforgiving social conventions of Hardy's time.

Rating:
Summary: The story gets sadder the more I think about it
Review: The story of a lonely woman caught between love and propriety, self-sacrifice and self-interest, "Two on a Tower" is one of the saddest novels I've read. I kept hoping for a description of a blissful-but-brief interlude for Viviette, but it never materialized. Instead, unhappiness dogged her to the novel's cruel end. Yes, cruel. The final event in the book was an unnecessary stroke. Also, while I usually accept a character's actions, I cannot believe that Viviette NEVER anticipated becoming pregnant. The possibility certainly haunted ME from the moment her secret marriage took place. For all of it's sadness, however, the story is engaging and provides a criticism of the unforgiving social conventions of Hardy's time.

Rating:
Summary: Two on a Tower
Review: Two on a Tower was the 11th Thomas Hardy's 14 novels that I have read. Hardy can be depended upon to paint a vivid picture of the characters' environment, and their relationships to it, but this time with a twist: One of the two characters being an astronomer, most of the environmental descriptions are of the heavens, and are wonderfully appropriate for the characters' actions and 'aspects'.
Hardy had a gift of creating characters who are fascinating in their personalities and actions, and together with the environmental descriptions, reading his novels is just one step away from watching a really good movie of the story.
Of all Hardy's varied characters, I felt the most sympathy for the two on the tower. Viviette has a great need for love and is selfless in giving it. Swithin, a somewhat naive and literate scientist, is at the same time a tender and faithful lover. Of all Hardy's stories, I hoped that this one would somehow have that "happy ending", and I suffered uncounted times for both characters.
I highly recommend this book for emotional involvement, though it may tear you apart to read it!
I would also recommend another of Hardy's lesser known novels The Woodlanders, which I understand was his own favorite story, and remains mine also.

Rating:
Summary: Two on a Tower
Review: Two on a Tower was the 11th Thomas Hardy's 14 novels that I have read. Hardy can be depended upon to paint a vivid picture of the characters' environment, and their relationships to it, but this time with a twist: One of the two characters being an astronomer, most of the environmental descriptions are of the heavens, and are wonderfully appropriate for the characters' actions and 'aspects'.
Hardy had a gift of creating characters who are fascinating in their personalities and actions, and together with the environmental descriptions, reading his novels is just one step away from watching a really good movie of the story.
Of all Hardy's varied characters, I felt the most sympathy for the two on the tower. Viviette has a great need for love and is selfless in giving it. Swithin, a somewhat naive and literate scientist, is at the same time a tender and faithful lover. Of all Hardy's stories, I hoped that this one would somehow have that "happy ending", and I suffered uncounted times for both characters.
I highly recommend this book for emotional involvement, though it may tear you apart to read it!
I would also recommend another of Hardy's lesser known novels The Woodlanders, which I understand was his own favorite story, and remains mine also.