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Both Jude the Obscure and The Idiot are incredibly depressing, not that that should discount them, but...just so you know. :p I haven't read East of Eden so I can't speak of that one but between the two depressing ones, I think The Idiot is the better novel.
My teacher rated The Idiot above even Karamazov. I don't know if he was right but it is one hell of a great book in its own right. Between Dostoevsky, Hardy and the American fellow (I failed to read both The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men beyond first ten pages), I would not even think about a comparison. The Russian is a God, my God, One True God, while other two mere mortals.
I would probably vote for "Jude", but understand that was his last published novel and many thought it was problematic. One either loves it or hates it. I happen to like it very much, but it's quite a leap from his other novels in my own opinion. I agree with you, Read-Headed; mostly likely, I would recommend "Mayor of Casterbridge" next. I have read nearly all of Hardy's work. If you liked the other two you mentioned, mal4mac, I can assure you, you would love this novel. After this one, I would venture onward to "Jude". All of Hardy's novels are masterpieces, in my opinion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Red-Headed
I started reading the copy of Jude I owned about a year ago. I was really enjoying it and going through swiftly when I spilled water on it and completely destroyed a number of pages, I was probably about 2/3's of the way through when this happened and like I alluded to above really engrossed to a degree that I hadn't experienced with my reading time for at least six months. Any way, I live in the heart of the middle of no where (aka costal Maine) and only get to a bookstore a couple of times a month at most. By the time I'd purchased another copy I realized that I'd pretty much forgotten every nuance and as of yet have not started reading it from the beginning. As for the question posed I'm only familiar with Jude but I've read a small amount of Dostoevsky (Crime & Punishment, Notes From The Underground) and an even smaller amount of Steinbeck (Of Mice & Men at least fifteen years ago as a freshman in high school) and for what it's worth the amount of Jude The Obscure that I did read was more enjoyable than the works I've read by the other two in question.
All of those books are wonderful and I really don't think it makes a huge difference what order you read them, because you will love every one.
Nevertheless.... I voted for "Jude".