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rosekk 's review for:
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy
I think it'll take some time for my opinion on this book to solidify.
It certainly has its flaws, among them the fact that we never really know for sure what Tess did wrong. Everything that is explicitly stated about how she got pregnant suggests she was forced (drugged by a man who was shown to be forceful in other ways), but the degree of responsibility and the way she talks later when she goes back to her 'spoiler' ('He has won me back') suggest she consented in some form... So without knowing what really happened it's hard to understand/interpret the reactions of other characters. It doesn't help that according to the introduction, different editions/versions change a lot of those details anyway, so this might not apply to other versions.
Putting the confusing tangle above aside as much as possible (or, rather, just accepting it and going with the flow), I quite liked the book. Tess's character annoyed me sometimes (being willing to accept the guidance of others when it leads her astray, and then incredibly stubborn when any kind of self preservation would make one unbend), but all her actions were in keeping with the plot and story, and made sense in context. I was eager to read on at every stage of her story. Most of all though, I liked the sense that the author was really invested in this character, and the impression the book gives that he went out of his way to understand what her lifestyle would be like.
It certainly has its flaws, among them the fact that we never really know for sure what Tess did wrong. Everything that is explicitly stated about how she got pregnant suggests she was forced (drugged by a man who was shown to be forceful in other ways), but the degree of responsibility and the way she talks later when she goes back to her 'spoiler' ('He has won me back') suggest she consented in some form... So without knowing what really happened it's hard to understand/interpret the reactions of other characters. It doesn't help that according to the introduction, different editions/versions change a lot of those details anyway, so this might not apply to other versions.
Putting the confusing tangle above aside as much as possible (or, rather, just accepting it and going with the flow), I quite liked the book. Tess's character annoyed me sometimes (being willing to accept the guidance of others when it leads her astray, and then incredibly stubborn when any kind of self preservation would make one unbend), but all her actions were in keeping with the plot and story, and made sense in context. I was eager to read on at every stage of her story. Most of all though, I liked the sense that the author was really invested in this character, and the impression the book gives that he went out of his way to understand what her lifestyle would be like.