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3.46k reviews for:
Tessa d'Urberville: Historia kobiety czystej
Róża Czekańska-Heymanowa, Thomas Hardy
3.67 AVERAGE
3.46k reviews for:
Tessa d'Urberville: Historia kobiety czystej
Róża Czekańska-Heymanowa, Thomas Hardy
3.67 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ok I didn’t actually finish this entire book. It was SO SAD!!! I’d been warned that Thomas Hardy is dark, but DANG. This was heart-wrenching! I looked up the end of the plot because I couldn’t bear to read it (something I never do). There were happy moments and things that made me laugh, but the overall plot was just so sad. But, a good take on how life may have been for women back in the day. Tess did the best she could with the choices available to her, which were not many.
I had heard many great things about this novel, but I was still a little nervous because I hadn't heard great things about Jude the Obscure and novels from the Victorian era are always hit-or-miss for me; however, this novel is incredible and a new favorite of mine. The story is original and heart-wrenching and the prose is magnificent. This is very rare for Victorian novels for me, but I could hardly put this book down. You will fall in love with Tess, and Hardy's storytelling will absolutely destroy you in the best way possible. This is a story that will stick with you forever. I highly recommend this novel.
Hardy's sad story of Tess, trying to overcome- to be good and find love, only to be destined for other things.. Is a great read.
Brilliantly evoking the Victorian countryside, as the rural way of life known for centuries is threatened by new machinery.
Tess the tragic heroine, is from a poor family with aspirations to cash in on their old family name.Tess is sent to a distant relative, whose son seduces the young maiden and begins her tragic downfall. Hardy shows the inequalities in the rural milieu, as Dickens showed in the urban milieu, here the inequalities are concerned with gender, what is acceptable for a man and not for a woman.
Tess the tragic heroine, is from a poor family with aspirations to cash in on their old family name.Tess is sent to a distant relative, whose son seduces the young maiden and begins her tragic downfall. Hardy shows the inequalities in the rural milieu, as Dickens showed in the urban milieu, here the inequalities are concerned with gender, what is acceptable for a man and not for a woman.
emotional
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
I will never escape the feeling I had reading Hardy describing Tess' inner heartbreak and turmoil. It is astounding and hope-inspiring to see a man who can peer so empathetically and truthfully into the female experience. No other classic has so gripped me.
Hmm.
That ending sort of came out of nowhere. Tess is super passive throughout the entire book and then suddenly she murders Alec. Honestly, he didn't deserve that. Sure, he was a creep, and he raped her in the beginning and effectively stalked her until she gave in to him to save her family, but...I don't know, he didn't really deserve to die, did he? Also, she could have just went with Angel, she didn't have to randomly murder D'uberville...
Maybe I sympathize with Alec simply because Angel was also a huge dick. It's hard to say which one of the two was worse. Sure, Angel never raped her or manipulated her, but... he was super cruel in leaving her. Gah, frustrating. I mean, you know he is going to react badly when she tells him her "secret", but Jesus, he really overreacted.
Tess was incredibly frustrating, but she definitely felt like a product of her time. Can't really fault her for that, but all this nonsense about "belonging" to Angel and refusing to tell him her "secret" even though it really wasn't her fault at all... hard to relate to Tess when she acts so demurely and self-deprecating buuuuuut yeah, 1800s.
I only read this book so I could get some context for that Ice Nine Kills song, "Tess-Timony" lol. The song focuses a lot more on the whole "revenge" aspect, but I definitely didn't feel like that was a major drive in this book. Tess never seemed like she wanted revenge necessarily... until the end. Man, I really would have liked to have seen that murder scene instead of only seeing the aftermath. Poor Alec... I really shouldn't sympathize with him but I honestly can't help it... maybe I'm a monster....
Other things randomly bugged me about this book, too. Like Tess's sister's random appearance at the end (despite her never being mentioned in the first 80% of the book) and the disappearance of her brother. And the fact that we never get to see ANY of the good scenes. Namely the murder scene, but also the rape scene (or even just the lead up to it...) or the birth of her child. Seriously, the author spent so much time describing the random farm work but completely skipped over all the exciting stuff.
So, 3 stars. I liked it. You know it is going to end badly but you can't help but root for the characters' happiness anyway.
And, I can appreciate that Ice Nine Kills song SO much more now <3
That ending sort of came out of nowhere. Tess is super passive throughout the entire book and then suddenly she murders Alec. Honestly, he didn't deserve that. Sure, he was a creep, and he raped her in the beginning and effectively stalked her until she gave in to him to save her family, but...I don't know, he didn't really deserve to die, did he? Also, she could have just went with Angel, she didn't have to randomly murder D'uberville...
Maybe I sympathize with Alec simply because Angel was also a huge dick. It's hard to say which one of the two was worse. Sure, Angel never raped her or manipulated her, but... he was super cruel in leaving her. Gah, frustrating. I mean, you know he is going to react badly when she tells him her "secret", but Jesus, he really overreacted.
Tess was incredibly frustrating, but she definitely felt like a product of her time. Can't really fault her for that, but all this nonsense about "belonging" to Angel and refusing to tell him her "secret" even though it really wasn't her fault at all... hard to relate to Tess when she acts so demurely and self-deprecating buuuuuut yeah, 1800s.
I only read this book so I could get some context for that Ice Nine Kills song, "Tess-Timony" lol. The song focuses a lot more on the whole "revenge" aspect, but I definitely didn't feel like that was a major drive in this book. Tess never seemed like she wanted revenge necessarily... until the end. Man, I really would have liked to have seen that murder scene instead of only seeing the aftermath. Poor Alec... I really shouldn't sympathize with him but I honestly can't help it... maybe I'm a monster....
Other things randomly bugged me about this book, too. Like Tess's sister's random appearance at the end (despite her never being mentioned in the first 80% of the book) and the disappearance of her brother. And the fact that we never get to see ANY of the good scenes. Namely the murder scene, but also the rape scene (or even just the lead up to it...) or the birth of her child. Seriously, the author spent so much time describing the random farm work but completely skipped over all the exciting stuff.
So, 3 stars. I liked it. You know it is going to end badly but you can't help but root for the characters' happiness anyway.
And, I can appreciate that Ice Nine Kills song SO much more now <3
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-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
This goes up there with “the Scarlet Letter” as one of my two least favorite “classics”, and it drives me nuts as I actually enjoyed the first hundred pages or so! I think the problem (for me) is that both novels were incredibly wordy, you knew where they were going, and they hit you over the head with their points again and again. What results doesn’t feel like natural story or characterization then, and there’s little unpredictability- once again, the whole point and plot is pretty basic and obvious, and so instead of a natural tension of “what will happen next!?” you instead already largely know what’s coming and just have to get through 50 overwritten pages to get there. Like the increased wordage acts as a stand-in for actual tension, and for me, it doesn’t work that way. It’s just painfully delaying a reveal that shoulda been quicker made. I know Angel will regret his decision, I know Alec will continue being scum and society will continue sucking- these ideas couldn’t be made clearer, and yet Hardy expands on them further with every mention. Like, no, just jump ahead to the end because that’s the only real mystery remaining. Society bad, women unfairly treated, that much is very clear in the first hundred pages- and yet we repeat it for another 400 pages again before getting to what would have been a great climax should it have come in a timely manner. Speaking of not coming in a timely manner, it also feels cheap just removing Angel to Brazil and then not having him heard from/return until the story’s proper time- that’s what I mean when I say the plot doesn’t feel natural, it feels contrived towards drawing out the most dramatic story it can muster. And it’s just painful to read from a modern perspective as a result. Which- I give it two stars, because I really have no idea how eye-opening it may or may not have been in its day, but for me it just feels like stuff you should already know, and the story itself isn’t fun. There are better ways of understanding this culture and time, in short, and there are far better stories exploring the issue. Not a huge Jane Eyre fan, but I liked that more than this. And I have no objection to long drawn out novels- loved Crime and Punishment because it felt real and I’d had no clue where it would go, whereas with this you know from the back cover, the first hundred pages, whatever- it’s that simple a plot drawn out over far too many pages. So- pass. Unless you have an incredible passion for artfully worded sentences used to delay the reveal of very basic info- pass. Study Victorian England a better way and read a more enjoyable book in your free time, finishing the last 150 pages was like yanking my own teeth out.