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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
Wow. Now I need to read something really light-hearted.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Suicide
The most horrific ending I’ve ever read/will maybe ever read. Page after page of Hardy tormenting his characters.
One of my few DNFs. Life is too short to read a very irritating writing style, annoying characters, and a plot that crawls at a snail's pace.
This book is tragic. When you grow up without loving parents, with a history of broken marriage, surrounded by people talking about how terrible marriage is and how destined you are to a bad one, it is difficult to build a solid marriage. This is not the fault of the institution of marriage, though. It is the fault here of poverty, limitations on women, and a church with a pharisaical attitude about women and marriage. We also see clearly here how easy it was and is for people with a variety of ill intentions to take advantage of decent people. This was Hardy's last novel, as he was so frustrated by the reaction to the book; I can understand both sides of that, as I think the view of marriage he presents here is as narrow as the view he was arguing against.
I felt for these characters and was engaged in their stories, even as they made frustratingly stupid decisions. It was a slow read, but in a good way for me. I didn't mind spending time in this world with these people. I don't know that marriage has changed as much since this time as or characters expected, but opportunities for women and for the poor have in many cases expanded. I think today, Jude would have been able to go to college, and Sue would have been able to support herself and stay single, at least for long enough to avoid Philottson. Philottson and Arabella would not, however, find it difficult to make their same bad decisions and live their same miserable lives.
I enjoyed this book, and I'm glad I read it, but it is not a Hardy novel that I will likely reread.
I felt for these characters and was engaged in their stories, even as they made frustratingly stupid decisions. It was a slow read, but in a good way for me. I didn't mind spending time in this world with these people. I don't know that marriage has changed as much since this time as or characters expected, but opportunities for women and for the poor have in many cases expanded. I think today, Jude would have been able to go to college, and Sue would have been able to support herself and stay single, at least for long enough to avoid Philottson. Philottson and Arabella would not, however, find it difficult to make their same bad decisions and live their same miserable lives.
I enjoyed this book, and I'm glad I read it, but it is not a Hardy novel that I will likely reread.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow, Thomas Hardy, I thought you were alright after Tess of the d'Ubervilles. A little depressing, perhaps, but not too badly written. However, Jude the Obscure is just...can I get my six hours back, please? Sue and Arabella are quite possibly the two worst females in the whole field of literature. They are pushy, flighty, and utterly selfish. Instead of pitying Jude, however, I just want to kick his butt for always being pushed around by them.
My problem in this wasn't with the writing or the depressing attitude, but in the characters themselves. I simply cannot stand reading about purely selfish people who think they're blameless and actually the victim, much like I can't stand interacting with these people in real life.
My problem in this wasn't with the writing or the depressing attitude, but in the characters themselves. I simply cannot stand reading about purely selfish people who think they're blameless and actually the victim, much like I can't stand interacting with these people in real life.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In short: bleak, tragic, a downpour without cessation, blended with a critical eye on wealth/class and education, religion/marriage and societal perception/reception.
I appreciated this more as a historical looking glass than a novel, an insightful resource into past conventions, and the conflict of morality against propriety.
I cared little for the overall story, though the whole point seems to yearn for the reader's affection. I barely connected to any of the characters nor longed for them to achieve their goals.
Yes, the demise of the children was shocking and, as a subject, upsetting, but I felt they were very much a secondary focus, with minimal emotion lent to them as characters anyway. At the risk of sounding cold, the tragedy didn't spark any warmth towards Jude and Sue, which (save for some human fault on my part) I'd have to put down to Hardy's handling of it.
I have Tess of the D'urbevilles (another Thomas Hardy novel) on my reading list; after Jude, she has moved down the priority pecking order.
I appreciated this more as a historical looking glass than a novel, an insightful resource into past conventions, and the conflict of morality against propriety.
I cared little for the overall story, though the whole point seems to yearn for the reader's affection. I barely connected to any of the characters nor longed for them to achieve their goals.
Yes, the demise of the children was shocking and, as a subject, upsetting, but I felt they were very much a secondary focus, with minimal emotion lent to them as characters anyway. At the risk of sounding cold, the tragedy didn't spark any warmth towards Jude and Sue, which (save for some human fault on my part) I'd have to put down to Hardy's handling of it.
I have Tess of the D'urbevilles (another Thomas Hardy novel) on my reading list; after Jude, she has moved down the priority pecking order.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated