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turnerjo 's review for:
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy
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.