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jennicajackson's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
jemin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
poor tessy (but the ending was a bit too far) - i think it was very good and interesting but i just didnt really like it, and it was very long and not life-changing
rich71's review against another edition
5.0
Hardy's well-known book focuses primarily on Tess, a young woman preyed upon by a man who leaves her pregnant and without a husband. This event casts her upon the sea of society's judgements. Although she attempts to flee her past, it follows her throughout her life and leaves her at the mercy of the horrible double-standard of western society.
While this is definitely a tragedy, Hardy's insights into society's hypocrisy and religious judgement informs the reader as much today as it should have during his day. This book was scandalous in its time and was burned and banned by the very types of people he scorned and profiled in his book. This was my first foray into Hardy's work and he has ascended to the level of Dickens and Hugo in my mind. I look forward to his other masterpieces.
While this is definitely a tragedy, Hardy's insights into society's hypocrisy and religious judgement informs the reader as much today as it should have during his day. This book was scandalous in its time and was burned and banned by the very types of people he scorned and profiled in his book. This was my first foray into Hardy's work and he has ascended to the level of Dickens and Hugo in my mind. I look forward to his other masterpieces.
louiza_read2live's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful; Disturbing; thought-provoking; deeply heartfelt; deeply heartbreaking. This is an emotionally heavy book to get through, but worth it all the way. A caustic social commentary that rips your heart out. Hardy calls out the social and religious hypocrisy of his time as he pours a world of suffering upon his heroine, Tess. I think another theme we can infer through Tess' character development is that the effects of abuse do not end when the victim is out of that abusive environment. We see the effects of the original trauma in the character's learned helplessness as Tess continues unconsciously to allow herself in situations where she gets retraumatized again and again by the abusive men she encounters. It would be easy to judge Tess unless we see the whole picture of her life and early home experiences.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles is exceptionally well written, albeit emotionally too difficult to handle at once. It is an important book that says truths that need to be said, but it is heavy and needs time to be absorbed without affecting one's mood, or at least my mood. I consider it a must-read classic.
There is something about Hardy's writing that makes the reader feel every emotion and every physical movement--So connected with the characters one becomes, as if the reader is right there watching the injustices unfold and feels helpless to help. I wanted to cry (I did!) I wanted to scream (I couldn't). What an amazing book!!! This was my first book by Hardy, and it will certainly won't be the last after I take some time to piece my heart back together.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles is exceptionally well written, albeit emotionally too difficult to handle at once. It is an important book that says truths that need to be said, but it is heavy and needs time to be absorbed without affecting one's mood, or at least my mood. I consider it a must-read classic.
There is something about Hardy's writing that makes the reader feel every emotion and every physical movement--So connected with the characters one becomes, as if the reader is right there watching the injustices unfold and feels helpless to help. I wanted to cry (I did!) I wanted to scream (I couldn't). What an amazing book!!! This was my first book by Hardy, and it will certainly won't be the last after I take some time to piece my heart back together.
lrb0135's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Throughout the novel, my stomach was doing flips waiting for the other shoe to drop on Tess. I didn't know the specifics, but I knew it wasn't going to be good for her. I found myself pleased with her actions in the end.
Hardy's treatment of women based on Tess is a mixed bag-- the women in the novel who aren't Tess are all basket cases, or in Mrs. Clare's case, an extension of her husband. I understand the time in which Tess was written may have warranted it, but in the first act, the narrator tries so hard to get us to sympathize with Tess that I'm not sure who Hardy was trying to convince. Us or himself?
Much of the language surrounding Tess and her actions made it seem like Tess was a passive actor in her own life with very little agency or independent thought. The book is a progressive for its time, but I wouldn't go in expecting a flattering portrait of women. Even Hardy's narrator's progressivism is a specimen of its time.
With that, I'm stoked that Tess got hers in toward the end before she peaced out. Worth the read.
Hardy's treatment of women based on Tess is a mixed bag-- the women in the novel who aren't Tess are all basket cases, or in Mrs. Clare's case, an extension of her husband. I understand the time in which Tess was written may have warranted it, but in the first act, the narrator tries so hard to get us to sympathize with Tess that I'm not sure who Hardy was trying to convince. Us or himself?
Much of the language surrounding Tess and her actions made it seem like Tess was a passive actor in her own life with very little agency or independent thought. The book is a progressive for its time, but I wouldn't go in expecting a flattering portrait of women. Even Hardy's narrator's progressivism is a specimen of its time.
With that, I'm stoked that Tess got hers in toward the end before she peaced out. Worth the read.
guardianofthebooks's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
This book filled me with so much rage and grief that I have to admire Hardy.
alisa_finch's review against another edition
5.0
This is not an easy read. Not because of the language or subtext, but because of what happens to Tess, a girl 'in love with her own ruin'. And to say I enjoyed this book would be wrong - I am not a sadist. But I loved Tess, as if she were my own child. I feel as if I raised her, because no one else was there to do so, and watching her character blossom in the face of such adversity filled me with so much admiration. I suppose that is what makes the penultimate chapter so powerful: "I am ready".
This novel truly sheds a painfully bright light into the mind-set of Victorian England - a rejection of romanticism if I ever saw one:
- Her beauty becomes her liability rather than an asset.
- The oppressive hand of Victorian society - she is not free to follow her heart without the guilt of a past that she played no part in and tradition that she must adhere to
- Everything you want is right in front of you, and it’s the subjugation of society that blinds you to it or forbids you from it
- History and medieval legend, Pagan and Christian references are consistently interwoven.
- The only way the dream can become real is through death, which itself makes the dream impossible
- Extremely dense and multidimensional, it is almost a Shakespearian blend of bleak anti-romantic vision and genuine tragedy
Tess has been a breath of fresh air in my literary choices lately. It is such a tragic, heartbreaking story, because tragedy isn't caused by her: it was simply just her fate.
Quotes:
- ‘And it was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity.’
- ‘The pair were, in truth, but the ashes of their former fires.’
- 'With these natures, corporeal presence is something less appealing than corporeal absence; the latter creating an ideal presence that conveniently drops the defects of the real.’
- ‘In considering what Tess was not, he overlooked what she was, and forgot that the defective can be more than the entire.’
- ‘The greater the sinner, the greater the saint’
This novel truly sheds a painfully bright light into the mind-set of Victorian England - a rejection of romanticism if I ever saw one:
- Her beauty becomes her liability rather than an asset.
- The oppressive hand of Victorian society - she is not free to follow her heart without the guilt of a past that she played no part in and tradition that she must adhere to
- Everything you want is right in front of you, and it’s the subjugation of society that blinds you to it or forbids you from it
- History and medieval legend, Pagan and Christian references are consistently interwoven.
- The only way the dream can become real is through death, which itself makes the dream impossible
- Extremely dense and multidimensional, it is almost a Shakespearian blend of bleak anti-romantic vision and genuine tragedy
Tess has been a breath of fresh air in my literary choices lately. It is such a tragic, heartbreaking story, because tragedy isn't caused by her: it was simply just her fate.
Quotes:
- ‘And it was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity.’
- ‘The pair were, in truth, but the ashes of their former fires.’
- 'With these natures, corporeal presence is something less appealing than corporeal absence; the latter creating an ideal presence that conveniently drops the defects of the real.’
- ‘In considering what Tess was not, he overlooked what she was, and forgot that the defective can be more than the entire.’
- ‘The greater the sinner, the greater the saint’
beachbuddy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75