Reviews - Tessa d'Urberville: Historia kobiety czystej

I was in love with Tess by the end of the book and feel sure that Hardy was.

She really had a shitty deal but remained true to herself; a poignant contrast to the stifling conventions and empty moral codes of the late Victorian era in which she lived.

Its message is timeless. Well done Hardy!

carolinecarmen's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

shannon_cp's review against another edition

2.5

dark sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I can see where this book might have been valuable in its time, but I'm not sure it still holds that value.

Tess is "a pure woman faithfully presented" but I don't like the implication that that must entail being largely unwilling to stand up for oneself, lacking confidence, and being willing to serve and/or die for a man who is unwilling to treat one with respect. I wish Tess had been a stronger character; as written, she was extremely frustrating. Certainly her circumstances were challenging but it felt like her response to everything was along the lines of "poor me, I'm so unworthy, I want to die." It sadly made it hard to cheer for her.

On top of that, the prose was frequently exhausting. I saw another review joking that Hardy must have been constantly pulling out a thesaurus to swap in more complicated words, and I'd have to agree. Many of the sentences ended up being so convoluted that it was unclear what they were saying at all.

Content Warnings

yepstrawbs's review against another edition

3.0

emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

p1scesmoon's review against another edition

3.0

sad medium-paced

raguel's review against another edition

3.0

Content warning: rape

This was tragic and so so frustrating. The whole time, I knew things wouldn't end well for Tess, but I kept hoping things would turn out differently. Poor Tess can't catch a fucking break, no matter what she does. She is a victim of circumstance and an unjust society, and is also probably a scapegoat for the gods to just dump all their shit on.

Of course, there's an interesting commentary on puritan victorian England, and the hypocrisy therein. Angel is not a villain for having an affair with an older woman before his marriage, but he villifies Tess for not fighting enough against being raped. Angel is not shunned by society or left destitute, but Tess is. Tess just wants to be happy and have a fulfilling life, but she is stopped at nearly every turn by the ruling class, strict and unattainable moral ideals, and even industrialization itself. Indeed, I appreciated the dichotomy between Nature and industrial machines. Tess is surrounded by Nature language and pagan language, while the novel's machines are written as mechanisms that keep mankind from being close to the natural world. The happiest moments of the book for Tess and Angel (when they are briefly reunited) happen when Tess and Angel eschew society altogether and return to nature for several days. Tess says that "there is trouble out there, and inside here, content". Inside the embrace of nature away from the rest of the world, the sins, morals, doubts, and flaws of the characters are forgiven and unimportant.

I also thought it was interesting that even though Tess and Angel, for a brief time, "overcome" the obstacles they face, they are not actually a good couple. Angel idolizes Tess and sees her as a pure, natural, abiding wife, rather than a real person with flaws and needs. Tess is obsessed with Angel to the point of wanting to take her own life to save him the disgrace of a divorce.

Ultimately, this was a book with interesting ideas, but the reading experience itself was a bit of a slog, and I don't think I'll be returning to it. In all honesty, I only read this because I'm trying to work through my physical TBR, and this was a daunting book on the list.