Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Tess of the D'Urbervilles

It's been said by most reviewers but this book was heartbreaking. Not only because of the plight that Tess goes through but because nearly 200 years later women across the globe are still facing the same unfairness.

Although I see this book mainly as an exploration of how women's actions are policed and judged, it still touches on other subjects such as poverty, industrialisation, and rural Britain's changing face in the 19th century. And as always, it includes Hardy's lush descriptions of landscapes, settings, and weather that he is unmatched for.

Not a happy classic, but an important one nonetheless.

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angelbabe_cj's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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inkandpage's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

It’s hard to review a book such as this that is so defined by social constructs of the day which are so vastly different from our world view today both culturally and societally. At first glance, this novel seems to be blaming a victim for all the misdeeds that befall her throughout the story. While I still hold that view to some degree and question some of the events of the story, such as the past abuser returning to the victim years later, using social status and money to manipulate her into needing his provisions for her and her family and a husband who abandons her and shames her for a crime she did not commit (and was a victim of!)...I can at the very least have a tad bit of understanding of the author’s intent behind this book from some information I found on spark note’s website. While it doesn’t undo the wrongs done to this character throughout the story, it perhaps sheds some light as to the reasoning behind the way the story was written.

Sharing in case anyone else is interested (following is an excerpt from sparknotes.com and not my personal writing):

Soon after Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891) was published, its sales assured Hardy’s financial future. But the novel also aroused a substantial amount of controversy. In Tess of the d’Urbervilles and other novels, Hardy demonstrates his deep sense of moral sympathy for England’s lower classes, particularly for rural women. He became famous for his compassionate, often controversial portrayal of young women victimized by the self-righteous rigidity of English social morality. Perhaps his most famous depiction of such a young woman is in Tess of the d’Urbervilles. This novel and the one that followed it, Jude the Obscure (1895), engendered widespread public scandal with their comparatively frank look at the sexual hypocrisy of English society.

Source: https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/tess/context/

While this doesn’t make the wrongdoings of the story any easier to accept, it provides a bit of insight and understanding as to why the events of the story take place like they do. Perhaps the author is trying to elevate the consideration and understanding of the elite of the day in society by creating empathy for the common folk, particularly for women, who were much less thought of in the late 1800s when the book was originally published.

Still not my all time favorite story but glad I at least got to find out what the story was all about 🤷🏻‍♀️

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pauls's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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hannahr's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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bleadenreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

I have been daunted by Thomas Hardy's novels for as long as I can remember. Powerful works of Victorian literature that I knew to be incredibly sad, tragic and emotional seemed beyond me. However - as I grow older I am increasingly drawn to similar styles of literature, so I decided to give Tess of the D'Urbervilles a chance.

I am so glad that I did.

I switched between reading my hard copy and listening to the audiobook narrated by Anne Marie Duff (it was an exquisite narration), which was a fully absorbing reading experience. The audiobook leading me to appreciate the more lyrical, agricultural passages that I would have subconsciously skimmed over reading it myself.

The naivety, courage, resilience and vulnerability of Tess as she repeatedly faced injustice was extremely moving to read in Hardy's emotional and lyrical prose. A 'pure woman' wronged by the men in her life, from the predatory Alec D'Urberville, her hopeless father and the principled Angel Clare - as shown in the famous quote:

'Why didn't you tell me there was danger in men-folk? Why didn't you warn me?'

As well as the wonderful emotional journey of the novel - Hardy also uses the novel to criticise the Victorian sexual hypocrisy through frequent allusions to the Adam & Eve. I also enjoyed the way in which Hardy criticised pedigree, status and social class through the Durbeyfield/D'Urberville storyline.

Hardy also writes an ode to the English countryside as the ruthlessness of modern agriculture directly impacts the synchrony of nature and society with the threat of modern machinery to their ways of life. Many of the descriptions and situations of the novel focus on the way that the characters and society are being separated from a more ancient lifestyle, “the ache of modernity” that Hardy felt as a loss of innocence.

There is so much more I could say about this beautiful novel but I have run out of space. I loved it

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