Desperate Remedies: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Good insight into a young Thomas Hardy
Review: Hardy is a wonder. This book made me hold my breath. It has the lyrical beauty of poems, and yet the characters are very real people...with compelling stories to tell.

Yes, Hardy is long dead, but I hope that every reader will allow themselves the chance to be put under his spell.

After reading this, I looked at my whole world a little differently, and was reminded of the fragility of the human heart.

Rating:
Summary: lyrical
Review: Hardy is a wonder. This book made me hold my breath. It has the lyrical beauty of poems, and yet the characters are very real people...with compelling stories to tell.

Yes, Hardy is long dead, but I hope that every reader will allow themselves the chance to be put under his spell.

After reading this, I looked at my whole world a little differently, and was reminded of the fragility of the human heart.

Rating:
Summary: Not your typical Hardy, which is almost a good thing
Review: I think any Literature course covering Thomas Hardy should include a prescription for Prozac along with the syllabus. Hardy's novels are generally brilliant, beautiful, and throughly depressing. Then you come to come to Hardy's first published novel "Desperate Remedies". Definitely "Hardy-Lite" this novel is a sensational, melodramatic story which is very different from the bulk of Hardy's more recognized prose.

the story centers around young Cytherea Graye, who becomes a servant to Miss Auclyffe, a woman with a troubled past. There, she encounters Aeneas Manston, the incredibly handsome and charming steward of Miss Auclyffe, and also a man with a dark secret. He falls hopelessly in love with the beautiful girl and sets out to win her. But alas, Cytherea is already in love with the kind Edward Springrove. Who will ultimately win her? What is the mysterious connection between the steward Manston and Miss Auclyffe? When will people learn not to set fires next to their thatched houses??

I really enjoyed this novel, though at times the melodrama was so thick it was humorous. It reminded me of "Jane Eyre" in many ways, though I felt it was more entertaining than that supposedly great english novel. A lot of twists and turns, very well-written, and an ending very different from your usual Hardy downers. Classic literature? Maybe not, but a fun read and a glimpse of England's greatest novelist before he had mastered his craft.

Rating:
Summary: Good insight into a young Thomas Hardy
Review: This novel provides insights into the young Thomas Hardy, and portends the great things to come. The plot is flawed and probably influenced by his early need to "go commercial", with a quick unveiling of scandal at the end.

The characters are not as well defined, and the writing not as pithy as in his later prose and poetry, and his literary allusions fall somewhat out of context.

Yet it is a good effort for a young architect in his early thirties who has many great novels to come!