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Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man, by Claire Tomalin
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What Members Thought
Claire Tomalin's biography of Thomas Hardy, the novelist and poet, deserves its excellent reviews. While she discusses his novels in the context of when they were written, it's Tomalin's wide use of quotes from many poems that gives the book its sparkle.
Born in 1840, Hardy had a lower middle-class childhood as the son of a builder in his beloved Dorset. He was a good student and an avid reader who was trained to be an architect, mainly involved in church restoration. He achieved his dream of bec ...more
Born in 1840, Hardy had a lower middle-class childhood as the son of a builder in his beloved Dorset. He was a good student and an avid reader who was trained to be an architect, mainly involved in church restoration. He achieved his dream of bec ...more
I very much enjoyed Claire Tomalin's biography of Thomas Hardy. She did a solid job describing the times and circumstances surrounding Hardy's life. The first two thirds of the book made me both curious and interested about Hardy as a developing author as well as his many novels. It was interesting to learn about his ancestry, early life and difficulties in terms of becoming a writer. The landscape and surroundings are wonderfully depicted as well as his romance and marriage to Emma Hardy.
Be wa ...more
So satisfying. Well done.
My review: https://www.greatbookstudy.com/2020/0...
Happy Birthday, Mr. Hardy.
6.2.20
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My review: https://www.greatbookstudy.com/2020/0...
Happy Birthday, Mr. Hardy.
6.2.20
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Claire Tomalin's biography of Thomas Hardy is simply superb! I believe that I enjoyed the book even more because I recently read (or re-read) all of his major novels, many of his short stories, and much of his poetry. It was simply delightful to be able to immediately relate to the points she made. It was also fascinating to see how much of Hardy's own personal life, as well as that of his Dorset family and friends, influenced his fiction and poetry.
As Tomalin points out and discusses in some de ...more
As Tomalin points out and discusses in some de ...more
Thomas Hardy commented that what keep him writing was the simple daily habit of picking up his pen. He is recorded as saying "I never let a day go without using a pen. Just holding it sets me off." These words must be true of Claire Tomalin, author of Thomas Hardy The Time-Torn Man as well. Tomalin is one of the most productive and successful of biographers. In this biography she chronicles the life, times, loves and words of Hardy's life, and manages to do so with perception, energy and appropr
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A good biography, and beautifully written as always with Tomalin, though I didn't really learn much that was new after reading other Hardy biographies in the past.
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This was my third reading of this book, which I (obviously) find fascinating. Tomalin is an excellent writer, and I'll be reading more of her work. My favorite passage, on Hardy's much-younger second wife (before their marriage): "She seems to have divided her time between Dublin and London from 1906 to 1910. ... In both cities she made the hearts of old men beat faster."
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Thorough research and analysis.
Dec 14, 2014
Daniela Sorgente
marked it as to-read
Dec 19, 2015
Sara
marked it as non-fiction-tbr
Mar 28, 2017
Terri
marked it as audiobooks
Dec 18, 2020
Eileen
marked it as to-read
Feb 20, 2023
Cosmic Arcata
marked it as to-read
