3.49k reviews for:

Tessa d'Urberville: Historia kobiety czystej

Róża Czekańska-Heymanowa, Thomas Hardy

3.68 AVERAGE

pitythechild's review against another edition

3.0

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this is such a miserable book 😕 tesssss…

anntherese's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Murder

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence

iiiigolden's review against another edition

4.0

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Honestly, for being a classic, it was really good. Usually when I read a classic, it's hard to follow along, but I was in it every step of the way. Near the end of the book, I was anxious to finish because I wanted to know who she'd end up with! And I was BEYOND surprised at what happened! Great book, definitely a re-read!

dinosaboardserenity's review against another edition

5.0

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I am so happy that, despite this being a "classic" I hadn't known about the ending. I loved this story. I loved the twists and the characters.

megpharp's review against another edition

4.0

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While I didn’t appreciate having to read at least fifty pages of intro and history of the text before starting Tess, it was worth it because it made the reading, and listening, that much more interesting because of how different editions of Tess of the D’Urbervilles actually have different scenes/pieces of scenes that leave different connotations. Fascinating.

I know why I liked this when I was assigned it in high school, and once again I have chosen the wrong side of the live triangle. Is Alec horrible? Absolutely. And depending on the edition he is either a seducer-borderline-grapist or outright grapist. Yet, like Tess, and perhaps even more so, I would have been taken in. He would have 100% seduced me and I would have accepted it. Also Angel really ticked me off when he blamed her for her own

alliincali's review against another edition

3.25

challenging slow-paced

borbala_17's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I thought I would never finish this.
The writing itself is beautiful, but the story is torture. Took me four years to get myself to finish it.

hibiscus's review against another edition

3.0

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Criticism of Victorian era morales such as hypocrisy & pietism

nandiii's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 10%

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Ran out of time had to return it.

fantine525's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective sad

Plot or Character Driven: Character

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  Who would’ve expected, that a man born in the XIX century would understand women’s oppressed position in society and have more empathy towards them, than some people living today? I genuinely think, that that one man, who gave this book a one star review on Goodreads and stated it was because Tess was dumb for not running away, should loose his rights. I wouldn’t want to live in a country, where such a victimblamer has a vote in the elections. That man wrote an entire „letter” to Tess, where he kept on asking her why didn’t she do anything, as if a poor woman in Victorian England could do anything more, than to move to a town a few miles away. 
    This book definitely took me by surprise by how compassionate and understanding it was for women, especially since it was written by a man. And how beautifully it was written! It made me so sad and so angry all at once and then, as a tiny compensation, presented me with such a soul-crushingly gorgeous sentence.
   I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this is probably the only instance, where i agree with a death sentence, not because Tess did anything wrong, but because forcing her to live after all this would be inhumanly cruel.