It just so happens that: The plot absurdities of Thomas Hardy

Yes Thomas Hardy is absolutely nuts - makes Dickens look like a realist - as we look at the absurdities of his plot structure: Return of the Native - for ex., in which it just so happens that as the young woman Thomasin is returning home to her village where she lives with her elderly aunt, after her intended wedding fell apart through some "technical" paperwork difficulty, she just so happens to run into the man who'd loved her years ago and who has lived in obscurity for the past several years - and she doesn't recognize him - and he gives her a ride in his cart back to her village - where - it just so happens - that, while he's camping out in his cart - he overhears a conversation between two people - who just so happen to be the intended husband of Thomasin and the woman whom he truly loves, Eustacia Vye - and it just so happens that - ... Enough! But you know what?, despite these absurdities of plot there's such rich atmosphere, such vivid characters, and such a high pitch of emotion that we, or at least I, don't care - it's a lot of fun to read and to try to figure out, and despite the lunacy Hardy's a really serious author, perhaps under-appreciated because he was quaint and antique even in his day and much more so today. He is deeply sympathetic to the working class and the agrarian class, he writes openly and frankly about sexuality and illicit passion, and he is constantly exploring the effect of the landscape on emotions, behavior, work, and culture - as noted previously he is the most geographic of all writers. Perhaps he's not for everyone - some would quickly lose patience with the eccentricities of his style and the confinement of his sense of place - but when give in to his style and forgive him his trespasses he's a truly engaging, entertaining writer.