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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
very well written but what a roller coaster of emotions. Hardy does a great job at making the reader feel angry, conflicted, pity, & understanding towards his characters & the situations (except Angel, fuck him)
im pretty good at foreshadowing what will happen in a book but never would i have guessed this mess.
& fuck angel
im pretty good at foreshadowing what will happen in a book but never would i have guessed this mess.
& fuck angel
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-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
Eyyyy what the fuck I absolutely hated that.
What a deplorable piece of fiction. There were absolutely no real characters there, and I swear to God, Thomas Hardy has never met an actual human, especially a human woman. For a feminist book, this book spread a lot of sexist messages. The plot was forced, the characters were either plot devices that had no mind of their own or just really horrible people, and it had a lot of tropes of older writing that I hate (like long passages that are overly detailed but for no absolute reason; I don't mind long passages, but when they literally can be taken out without any change, then there's a problem.)
Anyone who thinks this book is empowering didn't properly read it or otherwise can't properly interpret the sexist tropes it implies, the worst of which having to do with that goddamned ending- the only real thing that Tess can do as a character other than work and cry, is killing Alec towards the end. Which would've been empowering, if she wasn't mostly doing it for Angel's sake. Sure, she said she owed it to Alec because of his raping of her, but like... she no way would've done it if it also wasn't for Angel. Everything in her life revolves around Angel. She isn't a person, she is just whatever the men in her life define her as. And then she ASKS ANGEL'S FORGIVENESS for what sins SHE COMMITTED.
To it's credit, it does blame Angel for the bad things he does, but he gets no consequences for it other than Tess dying, which really is more of her consequence, and he doesn't really have to beg for forgiveness from her because even though she said that she wouldn't forgive him, of course she did. Heck, she even KILLED for him. And of course, the ending is "tragic" but really I don't feel a thing for these characters.
Also are we not gonna talk about how every female character is in love with Angel to the point of killing themselves? What riveting feminist literature, all the women are either stupid/simple (like Tess's mother) or they're head over heels obsessed with boys.
What a deplorable piece of fiction. There were absolutely no real characters there, and I swear to God, Thomas Hardy has never met an actual human, especially a human woman. For a feminist book, this book spread a lot of sexist messages. The plot was forced, the characters were either plot devices that had no mind of their own or just really horrible people, and it had a lot of tropes of older writing that I hate (like long passages that are overly detailed but for no absolute reason; I don't mind long passages, but when they literally can be taken out without any change, then there's a problem.)
Anyone who thinks this book is empowering didn't properly read it or otherwise can't properly interpret the sexist tropes it implies, the worst of which having to do with that goddamned ending- the only real thing that Tess can do as a character other than work and cry, is killing Alec towards the end. Which would've been empowering, if she wasn't mostly doing it for Angel's sake. Sure, she said she owed it to Alec because of his raping of her, but like... she no way would've done it if it also wasn't for Angel. Everything in her life revolves around Angel. She isn't a person, she is just whatever the men in her life define her as. And then she ASKS ANGEL'S FORGIVENESS for what sins SHE COMMITTED.
To it's credit, it does blame Angel for the bad things he does, but he gets no consequences for it other than Tess dying, which really is more of her consequence, and he doesn't really have to beg for forgiveness from her because even though she said that she wouldn't forgive him, of course she did. Heck, she even KILLED for him. And of course, the ending is "tragic" but really I don't feel a thing for these characters.
Also are we not gonna talk about how every female character is in love with Angel to the point of killing themselves? What riveting feminist literature, all the women are either stupid/simple (like Tess's mother) or they're head over heels obsessed with boys.
The one thing that is guaranteed to kill a book for me is apathy. If a book makes me angry – well, sometimes I keep reading just to enjoy the sense of outrage. But when I open up a book, read a chapter and think "I don't care", then I wonder what the hell I'm doing sticking with the book.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles induced that feeling in me. It wasn't a "bad book", it didn't offend my sensibilities as a reader. The chapters were short and concise. But I'd pick up the book, not really bothered about the characters or plot, read a chapter and just... not care. I would look at the book and see that I'd pick up that book to read a chapter or two a day, just to get a little further along and feel slightly terrified at the amount of time that it'd take me to work through the book just because I didn't give a toss about it.
And look, I know a little about the impact of Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I know it's a significant book, not just for being a classic but for the way it tries to illuminate the double standards of its time, that it tries to address and show some of the injustices done to women. I know all that – I appreciate and applaud it. But it didn't make Tess into a book that I have to finish reading and have to enjoy as Serious and Important Literature. It didn't make Tess into something that I cared about.
And thus I put down this book, put it into the pile of books I have to donate and pick up a new read that will hopefully engage me a bit more – make me care.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles induced that feeling in me. It wasn't a "bad book", it didn't offend my sensibilities as a reader. The chapters were short and concise. But I'd pick up the book, not really bothered about the characters or plot, read a chapter and just... not care. I would look at the book and see that I'd pick up that book to read a chapter or two a day, just to get a little further along and feel slightly terrified at the amount of time that it'd take me to work through the book just because I didn't give a toss about it.
And look, I know a little about the impact of Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I know it's a significant book, not just for being a classic but for the way it tries to illuminate the double standards of its time, that it tries to address and show some of the injustices done to women. I know all that – I appreciate and applaud it. But it didn't make Tess into a book that I have to finish reading and have to enjoy as Serious and Important Literature. It didn't make Tess into something that I cared about.
And thus I put down this book, put it into the pile of books I have to donate and pick up a new read that will hopefully engage me a bit more – make me care.
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
sad
medium-paced
Just a bit too rapey for me
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape
The Stonehenge scene is so silly it's like when a rom com ends on the Empire State Building
dark
sad
medium-paced