A review by sjgrodsky
مفارقات الحياة by Thomas Hardy, توماس هاردي

5.0

A nice place to start with Hardy, since the stories are all quick reads and feature his trademark theme of love frustrated by class considerations. Most poignant (IMHO) is the first story, "An Imaginative Woman". It's a tribute to Hardy's skill that you know 90 percent of the resolution after the first few paragraphs, yet you keep turning the pages, hoping desperately for something different. Spoiler alert: you know 90 percent, but there's a 10 percent surprise in the last paragraph.