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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
"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."
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Este un clasic și nimic mai mult. Nu este o iubire. Nu este o capodoperă. Nu este o tragedie. Nu este un model.
Treptat privim printre dealurile și văile Wessex-ului, Anglia. Ne luăm pas și umăr la umăr cu o fată de țărani pe nume Tess Durbeyfeeld. Aflăm mai în treacăt că este predecesoara unei lungi familii de cavaleri D`Urberville (din partea tatălui), dar care s-au stins cu o sută de ani în urmă din lipsa unui urmaș pe cale bărbătească. (Motivul romantic, atât de îndrăgit de Schiller, și nu numai, al moștenitorului pierdut).
Odată cu aflarea descendenței pentru Tess începe ,,aventura”. Nu putem să ne continuăm drumul mai departe fără a ne aminti ce înseamnă în Anglia un nume nobil. Anglia, de la înființarea sa, s-a întrevăzut ca mediu apt pentru a susține viață a cunoscuți regi și regine (insulari-repere în marea istorie nespusă). Anglia a fost și este o mare ierarhie delimitată prin strămoși (jocul devine cu atât mai incitant pe cât familia o ai și nu ți-o alegi). Să fii dintr-o familie care-și poate recunoaște strămoșii cu câteva secole în urmă prin zestrea istoriei, te pune alături de divin.
D`Urberville este un astfel de nume, care menține statut, greutate. Însă, din cauza pierderii averii, familia odată puternică se transformă într-un mit al altor timpuri și în forma lor după alungare din Paradisul confortului devin țărani simpli-Durbeyfield (câmp-ul de după sat-ville);
Printr-un zvon se aude că există o altă familie D`Urberville (falsă) care este bogată în alt comitat. Tess este trimisă la acea familie în speranța de a primi întreaga ei familie ajutor. Acolo îl întâlnește pe Alec. El se arată interesat (vădit, mai ales în pasiunea carnală pe care o dezvoltă pentru ea) de Tess (adevărata DUrberville). O convinge să se mute în casa lui pe post de îngrijitoare de găini. Acceptă- cu ezitări, care în final sunt spulberatw de convingerea mamei că ceea ce face este bine.
După patru zile, aproape de pădurea The Chase Alec o forțează pe Tess Durbeyfield. Ea mai rămâne două săptămâni la casa lui Alec, după care pleacă, nevrând să mai aibă altceva de-a face cu el.
Tess ne este arătată după o scuturare de frunze, o zăpadă și o înmugurire de boboci, la treiăratul grâului dându-i lapte unui copilaș de o săptămână și un pic. În următoarea seară, copilul moare. Mama are grija botezului înainte de înmormântarea sugarului, nou numit Pain(foarte dramatic, de asemena destul de crunt, în a transforma copilul într-o simbolistică a morții femininului-văzut ca eternul virgin).
După patru-trei ani Tess pleacă la o lăptărie să lucreze. Îl întâlnește (chiar, reîntâlnește) pe Angel Clare. Se îndrăgostesc. Se căsătoresc, din nou Tess ezită și se frământă pentru că Angel Clare nu știe despre Alec. Află în luna de miere. Se despart opt luni de zile. El pleacă în Brazilia.
Pe ea soarta o readuce în mrejele lui Alec. Nemaiputând, într-un final, duce tot greul familiei în spate (mai ales cu un tată mort și o mamă bolnavă). Tess acceptă propunerea de căsătorie făcută de Alec.
Angel Clare se întoarce. O găsește. Vorbe sunt schimbate. Despărțire. Alec e omorât de preaiubita soție. Angel și Tess se regăsesc pentru o scurtă perioadă.
Stonehenge e ultima lor declarație de iubire. Tess trebuie să plătească.
Treptat privim printre dealurile și văile Wessex-ului, Anglia. Ne luăm pas și umăr la umăr cu o fată de țărani pe nume Tess Durbeyfeeld. Aflăm mai în treacăt că este predecesoara unei lungi familii de cavaleri D`Urberville (din partea tatălui), dar care s-au stins cu o sută de ani în urmă din lipsa unui urmaș pe cale bărbătească. (Motivul romantic, atât de îndrăgit de Schiller, și nu numai, al moștenitorului pierdut).
Odată cu aflarea descendenței pentru Tess începe ,,aventura”. Nu putem să ne continuăm drumul mai departe fără a ne aminti ce înseamnă în Anglia un nume nobil. Anglia, de la înființarea sa, s-a întrevăzut ca mediu apt pentru a susține viață a cunoscuți regi și regine (insulari-repere în marea istorie nespusă). Anglia a fost și este o mare ierarhie delimitată prin strămoși (jocul devine cu atât mai incitant pe cât familia o ai și nu ți-o alegi). Să fii dintr-o familie care-și poate recunoaște strămoșii cu câteva secole în urmă prin zestrea istoriei, te pune alături de divin.
D`Urberville este un astfel de nume, care menține statut, greutate. Însă, din cauza pierderii averii, familia odată puternică se transformă într-un mit al altor timpuri și în forma lor după alungare din Paradisul confortului devin țărani simpli-Durbeyfield (câmp-ul de după sat-ville);
Printr-un zvon se aude că există o altă familie D`Urberville (falsă) care este bogată în alt comitat. Tess este trimisă la acea familie în speranța de a primi întreaga ei familie ajutor. Acolo îl întâlnește pe Alec. El se arată interesat (vădit, mai ales în pasiunea carnală pe care o dezvoltă pentru ea) de Tess (adevărata DUrberville). O convinge să se mute în casa lui pe post de îngrijitoare de găini. Acceptă- cu ezitări, care în final sunt spulberatw de convingerea mamei că ceea ce face este bine.
După patru zile, aproape de pădurea The Chase Alec o forțează pe Tess Durbeyfield. Ea mai rămâne două săptămâni la casa lui Alec, după care pleacă, nevrând să mai aibă altceva de-a face cu el.
Tess ne este arătată după o scuturare de frunze, o zăpadă și o înmugurire de boboci, la treiăratul grâului dându-i lapte unui copilaș de o săptămână și un pic. În următoarea seară, copilul moare. Mama are grija botezului înainte de înmormântarea sugarului, nou numit Pain(foarte dramatic, de asemena destul de crunt, în a transforma copilul într-o simbolistică a morții femininului-văzut ca eternul virgin).
După patru-trei ani Tess pleacă la o lăptărie să lucreze. Îl întâlnește (chiar, reîntâlnește) pe Angel Clare. Se îndrăgostesc. Se căsătoresc, din nou Tess ezită și se frământă pentru că Angel Clare nu știe despre Alec. Află în luna de miere. Se despart opt luni de zile. El pleacă în Brazilia.
Pe ea soarta o readuce în mrejele lui Alec. Nemaiputând, într-un final, duce tot greul familiei în spate (mai ales cu un tată mort și o mamă bolnavă). Tess acceptă propunerea de căsătorie făcută de Alec.
Angel Clare se întoarce. O găsește. Vorbe sunt schimbate. Despărțire. Alec e omorât de preaiubita soție. Angel și Tess se regăsesc pentru o scurtă perioadă.
Stonehenge e ultima lor declarație de iubire. Tess trebuie să plătească.
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Captivating, powerful, moving and beyond tragic. These are the four adjectives I use to describe this amazing novel. It is in so many ways a brilliant read, full of life lessons and critiques, it is without a doubt one of my favourite classics.
IMG_2212.GIF
The characters are so well developed and SO real, I could feel what they were feeling and found bits and pieces of myself in each one of them, and I was so emotionally invested in this story that I could not for the life of me stop reading. ^^. And now to go into the depths of each charcater...
Tess. Oh dear sweet innocent Tess. I felt so connected to her, felt like she was that familiar stranger you see on the street, reading about her was like saying hello to a long forgotten friend. She is SO strong, I am in awe of her and how she managed to go through her life without ever letting it corrupt her and bring her down. She is just a 16 year old finding her place in a world full of rules and where women are but bodies of meat and blood that needed to look pretty. Her journey through life shows just how important a motherly figure is to a girl, because if Tess's mother had warned her of the lust of men she would have never had fallen for Alec's tricks and lures. But then again, we wouldn't have a story without the ineptitude of Joanne. Her story also shows just how women were portrayed and seen in that era, how women were viewed only as bodies that needed to look pretty and serve. Her story, tragic as it may be, also shows just how strong she is, even when everybody critised, judged and mocked her for her misfortunes (even her true love) she kept on, and did everything she could to keep her family safe and well. And even her passion, which was seen as something bad, is something to learn from too. She is a role model is so many ways, and yes, she did fall prey to the lust of men but she was just 16 and she had not yet learned how to live and engage others in her world. The only thing that I find disappointing in her is that at the end she is always with a man, she is with Alec because he deceives her and then afterwards, even after all she has been through, she goes back to Angel...
Alec... oh baby oh baby
img_2218
I am very conflicted about his character. I HATE him for what he did to poor unsuspecting Tess but I still find myself thinking that he is somehow misunderstood. He did rape her, and that from my point of view is unforgivable, you can move on but rape is not just violating another persons body, it is also violating their innocence, their souls. And that leaves a scar that will never heal. But then again, even after all he did, for a moment, however brief it may have been, he had tried to repent, he wanted to make good on his evil doings. He tried to make it up to Tess, helped her family, offered her money, ... so just in those few moments, he somewhat became human to me. We all make mistakes (Nothing as big as this I hope) and the important thing is to make things better again. And something I feel I have to admit, I do love a bad guy, so he made the perfect human, fragile, imperfect villain. I also think that Alec represents all of those men who view women as objects, as mere entertainment and a way to satisfy their lust. Because when he realised how wrong the things he did were, he tried to better himself and became (SPOILER!!!) a priest of sorts, and in those times if you were a man and sinned, you could always repent and do whatever you wanted whilst women were not given that luxury. We were held responsible for men's sins and our own... and even though it hurts me to say this, it still happens nowadays. When women wear short skirts or a very revealing top men start saying that "we are asking for it", that we are "whores", when in reality we are dressing with the same sort of liberty that they are allowed to dress with. And just because one may dress in a certain way and act in a certain way, it NEVER gives you the right to force yourself on others. It's just not right.
Angel, I don't know what to say about him. Honest. I love him. And I hate him. He is perfect in almost every sense, he is kind, loving and gentle. Everything that Alec is not. And yet when he discovers of Tess's misfortunes he becomes the same judgemental pig that the rest of men in this book are. At the beginning I was as in love with him as Tess was, I found him charismatic, intellectual and so gentle and perfect. And it is because of this that I was so disappointed in him, he had the potential to do so much good for Tess, and so much good in general. Yet he blames her great and terrible misfortune on her and leaves her stranded for more than a year.
IMG_2214.GIF
In Tess's place, it would have taken a lot for me to forgive him for leaving me just after he promised that we would always be together.
As I have said before, this book was by far one of the best classic tragedies I have ever read and therefore I give it a 5/5 ✨.
Ill probably write a second part of this review when I calm down a bit and read it again.
IMG_2212.GIF
The characters are so well developed and SO real, I could feel what they were feeling and found bits and pieces of myself in each one of them, and I was so emotionally invested in this story that I could not for the life of me stop reading. ^^. And now to go into the depths of each charcater...
Tess. Oh dear sweet innocent Tess. I felt so connected to her, felt like she was that familiar stranger you see on the street, reading about her was like saying hello to a long forgotten friend. She is SO strong, I am in awe of her and how she managed to go through her life without ever letting it corrupt her and bring her down. She is just a 16 year old finding her place in a world full of rules and where women are but bodies of meat and blood that needed to look pretty. Her journey through life shows just how important a motherly figure is to a girl, because if Tess's mother had warned her of the lust of men she would have never had fallen for Alec's tricks and lures. But then again, we wouldn't have a story without the ineptitude of Joanne. Her story also shows just how women were portrayed and seen in that era, how women were viewed only as bodies that needed to look pretty and serve. Her story, tragic as it may be, also shows just how strong she is, even when everybody critised, judged and mocked her for her misfortunes (even her true love) she kept on, and did everything she could to keep her family safe and well. And even her passion, which was seen as something bad, is something to learn from too. She is a role model is so many ways, and yes, she did fall prey to the lust of men but she was just 16 and she had not yet learned how to live and engage others in her world. The only thing that I find disappointing in her is that at the end she is always with a man, she is with Alec because he deceives her and then afterwards, even after all she has been through, she goes back to Angel...
Alec... oh baby oh baby
img_2218
I am very conflicted about his character. I HATE him for what he did to poor unsuspecting Tess but I still find myself thinking that he is somehow misunderstood. He did rape her, and that from my point of view is unforgivable, you can move on but rape is not just violating another persons body, it is also violating their innocence, their souls. And that leaves a scar that will never heal. But then again, even after all he did, for a moment, however brief it may have been, he had tried to repent, he wanted to make good on his evil doings. He tried to make it up to Tess, helped her family, offered her money, ... so just in those few moments, he somewhat became human to me. We all make mistakes (Nothing as big as this I hope) and the important thing is to make things better again. And something I feel I have to admit, I do love a bad guy, so he made the perfect human, fragile, imperfect villain. I also think that Alec represents all of those men who view women as objects, as mere entertainment and a way to satisfy their lust. Because when he realised how wrong the things he did were, he tried to better himself and became (SPOILER!!!) a priest of sorts, and in those times if you were a man and sinned, you could always repent and do whatever you wanted whilst women were not given that luxury. We were held responsible for men's sins and our own... and even though it hurts me to say this, it still happens nowadays. When women wear short skirts or a very revealing top men start saying that "we are asking for it", that we are "whores", when in reality we are dressing with the same sort of liberty that they are allowed to dress with. And just because one may dress in a certain way and act in a certain way, it NEVER gives you the right to force yourself on others. It's just not right.
Angel, I don't know what to say about him. Honest. I love him. And I hate him. He is perfect in almost every sense, he is kind, loving and gentle. Everything that Alec is not. And yet when he discovers of Tess's misfortunes he becomes the same judgemental pig that the rest of men in this book are. At the beginning I was as in love with him as Tess was, I found him charismatic, intellectual and so gentle and perfect. And it is because of this that I was so disappointed in him, he had the potential to do so much good for Tess, and so much good in general. Yet he blames her great and terrible misfortune on her and leaves her stranded for more than a year.
IMG_2214.GIF
In Tess's place, it would have taken a lot for me to forgive him for leaving me just after he promised that we would always be together.
As I have said before, this book was by far one of the best classic tragedies I have ever read and therefore I give it a 5/5 ✨.
Ill probably write a second part of this review when I calm down a bit and read it again.
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm putting this one in a pile with Pride and Prejudice, although I don't quite hate this one as much. I remember reading Far From the Madding Crowd and being uninspired, but I don't dare reread it just yet to see if my opinion of Hardy has changed. It's another Victorian novel, what more were you expecting? If nothing, then go for it, it's a favourite of everyone who enjoys this genre, it's just I don't.
More does happen in this one, some very interesting events and ideas are dealt with but analysing it in class helps pick those out. The novel is fantastic to read for English, Hardy was very clever with his intent and devices but I would never sit down and read this for personal pleasure. The feminist tone of the novel is great and I'll probably do well in my exam having this novel to work with, but it's dry at some points and I had to read it in some doses just to get through it.
More does happen in this one, some very interesting events and ideas are dealt with but analysing it in class helps pick those out. The novel is fantastic to read for English, Hardy was very clever with his intent and devices but I would never sit down and read this for personal pleasure. The feminist tone of the novel is great and I'll probably do well in my exam having this novel to work with, but it's dry at some points and I had to read it in some doses just to get through it.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Such a powerful book and absolutely ahead of its time!
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated