3.46k reviews for:

Tessa d'Urberville: Historia kobiety czystej

Róża Czekańska-Heymanowa, Thomas Hardy

3.67 AVERAGE

yeng_a's review against another edition

4.0

dark sad medium-paced

kikiwroro's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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

lswanson's review against another edition

4.0

emotional reflective relaxing 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

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If only Tess wasn’t a D’Urberville

shmaggie23's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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The number of places my jaw dropped and I went WTF because modern sensibilities would have rendered the plot of this book impossible was a lot, but also the wavering feelings of some of the characters is SHOCKING

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape

readingrambles's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional 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: Yes

turnerjo's review against another edition

3.0

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Beautifully written sentimental nonsense. I acknowledge that it's aware of its own sentimentality - the Coquette is referenced, albeit obliquely - and I also appreciated Tess' surprise behavior at the end. However, the middle portion should be called Angel Clare, as Tess becomes a secondary character. Or, even closer to the mark, it could be called Chaucer's "Clerk's Tale," with Angel as the monstrous Walter and Tess the grotesquely robotic Griselda. It's also improbable. Characters keep turning up by chance as if there are only 10 humans in all of Wessex. The prose is superb but the story is not.

alanawithdog's review against another edition

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Beautifully written, but not in the mood for a tragedy. Creepy stalkery dude trying to marry her and feel like the story is downhill from here. 

domi21213's review against another edition

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This novel felt like a series of unfortunate events (specifically the reptile room). Hardy was able to create a wonderful sense of hope for Tess, that then came crashing down, painfully. Hardy did a wonderful job of presenting the double standard that women have previously faced and I loved Tess’s character. However, I really struggled with the language of the novel and as I got close to the end

I couldn’t deal with Alec coming back into her life.

This book is incredibly heavy. 

ivanfigueiras's review against another edition

5.0

dark reflective sad slow-paced

suzieq10's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated