Reviews - Tessa d'Urberville: Historia kobiety czystej

This book is not only a testament to Hardy’s mastery of the English language but also to the depravity of the AQA English literature course. I hated every minute of this book, unfortunately it is well crafted.

notanotherone's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lamv98's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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

aka_neri's review against another edition

1.0

1.5 - I wanted to DNF it at ~50%, then I pushed for the next 30%. The writing didn't work for me and even though women were not treated like people, still... Tess's choices didn't make the read easy... Then I read the ending and.... I wish I dnf it at 50% as I wanted.

mmaria_999's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

amleparker's review against another edition

4.0

So, I had written this incredibly long review (close to 3000 words) for this book and then decided that I should just scrap it all and keep it readable and concise.

Tess of the D’Urbervilles, what can I say to give it justice. If you don’t know the story and want it to remain unknown, don’t open the spoiler section.

This book was awful to read. This is not a happy story. I was so upset by it that I had to put it down three separate times and give it a day or two before I picked it up again. There are strong themes of social and gender inequality that make me ache for poor Tess.

Hardy’s writing style is long winded and overly descriptive but the story was good and satisfying in many ways.

Spoiler

SPOILERS !

I’ve heard there is some discussion about whether or not she was seduced instead of raped, as we THANKFULLY do not witness the act, but that’s a load of victim blaming rubbish. When we arrive in the next scene Tess is apathetic and despondent, she is wrecked by the extreme violation of her person, by the loss of her innocence, shattered by what has happened. This is not just a simple regret from a foolish affair, this is a woman destroyed, and if you think otherwise – I’m afraid you’re wrong.

Tess self-sacrifical and self-obliterating nature was devastating to watch as she spiralled further and further down into misery.
I wanted to physically harm Alec, on several occasions. I wanted to shake Joan for suggesting that Tess should marry the man who had raped her.
I groaned in frustration when Angel was upset at Tess for not being the perfect fantasy woman he had idealised in his head – When he had been doing much worse himself. I was annoyed over how Tess worshipped Angel and deferred to him for her every opinion.
I beamed with pride when I saw how she ached inside knowing her morals had not taken the downfall as her body had. - The entire idea of a woman’s worth being equalled to the state of her hymen is so revolting and upsetting I can not even begin.

So yes, it was a difficult read, but in hindsight I really enjoyed the emotional roller-coaster.