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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The novel can be quite illuminating on the illogic of particular social mores and taboos, but descends too far into melodrama. Hardy's narrative techniques can become transparent with time: the surprise re-appearances of Jude's first wife Arabella are often established with an overdone sense of mystery (so that, from the "introductory" description of an anonymised character, we can almost always glean it is Arabella returned once more). Equally, such plot points as the death of Sue's and Jude's children and the remarriage of Jude to Arabella after Sue's remarriage to Phillotson are fairly easy to foresee.; although, such twists in the narrative are not so much a means to an end as they are a way of dramatizing the turmoil engendered by the marriage institution.
In my eyes, the obviousness of the plot's direction did not diminish the quality of the book; I found myself underlining copious amounts of text for Hardy's superb ability to project the political onto the personal (and vice versa). The characters are complicated and represent recognisable beliefs, frustrations, and experiences which all tie in to a well-unified and enlightening study of marriage.
In my eyes, the obviousness of the plot's direction did not diminish the quality of the book; I found myself underlining copious amounts of text for Hardy's superb ability to project the political onto the personal (and vice versa). The characters are complicated and represent recognisable beliefs, frustrations, and experiences which all tie in to a well-unified and enlightening study of marriage.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
Jude the Obscure is one of the most tragic love stories I've yet to be told, and its tragicness comes as heterodox as the love between poor Jude Fawley and Sue Bridehead. The two are built to not fit into society, Jude being a sensitive and smart boy not built for the trials of hard labor, and Sue being a woman determined to learn her way out of common Christian moral and the social mores of the Victorian persuasion. Already, the two have their destiny sealed, for their very fiber is a rejection of their surroundings, and Jude and Sue repeatedly note that their ideas come fifty years too soon. This statement is apt, and in a way, fatalistic. The tragedy comes not in the failure of their emotions, which always remain, but in the overbearing society that pushed against them for too long and too hard. A society that took every chance it could to reject, befoul, constrain, and imprison the two who dared live against its code. And it should be understand this is not a tragedy left in the Victorian age, but still all too present in the lives of the dreamers who tried and failed. So then, Thomas Hardy paints a bleak picture, and a picture that remains mournfully accurate.
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:
Complicated
happily ever after has left the chat
this book was seriously amazing. if you happen to love classics or be an existentialist like me, read it! i will never be as eloquent as half of the other reviews, let alone hardy himself, but i could not have enjoyed this more. well, enjoyed is maybe a strong word. appreciated. but seriously, if you're a seasonal depression girlie, wait till summertime please.
~no spoilers!~
first up, it's pretty depressing. like really depressing. like i usually read a book in 2-7 days and this took me almost 3 weeks because i had to stop and take 24 hour breathers. i know, i know, its hardy- what did i expect? but still, the warning stands.
secondly, whoever said classics was boring clearly only read the assigned hamlet in 9th grade and couldn't rub enough brain cells together to read anything after that outside of their latest instagram caption because this was so funny. in this entire book we saw:
i want to immediately read it all over again because this is so insightful and i feel like i didn't do it justice in understanding it by only reading it once. do with that what you will ❤
this book was seriously amazing. if you happen to love classics or be an existentialist like me, read it! i will never be as eloquent as half of the other reviews, let alone hardy himself, but i could not have enjoyed this more. well, enjoyed is maybe a strong word. appreciated. but seriously, if you're a seasonal depression girlie, wait till summertime please.
~no spoilers!~
first up, it's pretty depressing. like really depressing. like i usually read a book in 2-7 days and this took me almost 3 weeks because i had to stop and take 24 hour breathers. i know, i know, its hardy- what did i expect? but still, the warning stands.
secondly, whoever said classics was boring clearly only read the assigned hamlet in 9th grade and couldn't rub enough brain cells together to read anything after that outside of their latest instagram caption because this was so funny. in this entire book we saw:
1. arabella throwing a pig's penis at jude
2. arabella having a chicken's egg in her bra because of the feminine need to mother something
3. "it is a place full of fetishists and ghost-seers!"
i want to immediately read it all over again because this is so insightful and i feel like i didn't do it justice in understanding it by only reading it once. do with that what you will ❤
...pois...definitivamente o séc. XIX não é para mim....mas reconheço o mérito do Thomas Hardy.
Just The Obscure is not just a novel but a complex and detailed study of its characters. Once again, I found myself being impressed at Hardy's genius in fleshing out each character's idiosyncrasies. Hardy's women are generally more forward thinking in their times, which most likely led to the controversy surrounding his novels (not just the plotlines). However, like D. H. Lawrence, I found Sue Bridehead's character puzzling and at times, frustrating.
challenging
dark
sad
slow-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
I found this novel very interesting - it is the story of Jude, his marriage (by accident) and his trials and tribulations in trying to make something of himself.
challenging
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced