Which of the following Thomas Hardy novels would YOU recommend and why?

Question

Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Jude the Obscure
The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Return of the Native

I need to choose one and....its HARD!!!
This is for a high school eng. class... and I will eventually need to write an essay about it.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I would choose either Tess or Mayor. Why? Because they're not Jude. I HATE Jude the Obscure. It is the worst book ever. The other two are tolerable. Not great (as far as something you'd read for fun) but not horrible. I liked Tess better than Mayor of Casterbridge. I think there is plenty you could write about. I certainly found enough to write about it in college. There are scholarly books of essays written about Tess like there are most of his books. So you shouldn't have a problem there.

Answer 2

I have read and loved all of Hardy's books, but I recommend you read "The Mayor of Casterbridge". Yes, as a young woman in high school you can relate to Tess, but I think "The Mayor of Casterbridge" has a lot of really good material in it for essay writing--a lot of food for thought, you might say. In a way, I think it's one of his most interesting books, because it plays with the whole coincidence/fate question.

Hope you like whichever one you choose!

Answer 3

You will probably relate most closely to TESS but be prepared to for a very slow development - Hardy was a victorian word painter. You might enjoy some of his poetry more.