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eugeniekruijt 's review for:
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy
4,8
One of my new favorite books, the only issue I have is that the last big plot point felt a bit lazy to me, although it does fit with the theme of the story, namely, the development of a pure country girl to a woman who has, to say the least, gotten an intense reality check:
'Almost at a leap Tess thus changed from simple girl to complex woman. Symbols of reflectiveness passed into her face, and a note of tragedy at times into her voice. Her eyes grew larger and more eloquent. She became what would have been called a fine creature; her aspect was fair and arresting; her soul that of a woman whom the turbulent experiences of the last year or two had quite failed to demoralize.'
With beautiful prose such as in the quote above Hardy paints the picture of an English rural, read: "poor", area of England where nobility, Christianity and sexism still were the order of the day (yay...). The fact that the sexual inequality, not only in material ways such as being financially indepent, but more the cultural -intellectual- inequality was not only seen, but also deemed important enough, for a MAN to write such a beautiful, forgiving and empathetic book about, is AMAZING and I give Hardy props and lots of love for it. His understanding of the issue is not perfect, understandably, but the fact he came up with quotes such as these:
'"Why didn’t you tell me there was danger? Why didn’t you warn me? Ladies know what to guard against, because they read novels that tell them of these tricks; but I never had the chance of discovering in that way; and you did not help me!"'
that are highlighting the dangers of naïvety and ignorance, but also illustrating (whether on purpose or not) the responsibility women were supposed to take for their own safety, by knowing the things that were sinful to know about, is just so cool. Loveddd this theme throughout the entire text.
Besides this, the book has an endearing main character, beautiful symbolisms (can we talk about Angel (name, duh) playing the harp and Alec emerging from a cloud of smoke with a pitchfork???), an intriguing, fast-paced plot and just the best little philosophical quotes sprinkled throughout:
'Did you say the stars were worlds, Tess?"
"Yes."
"All like ours?"
"I don't know, but I think so. They sometimes seem to be like the apples on our stubbard-tree. Most of them splendid and sound - a few blighted."
"Which do we live on - a splendid one or a blighted one?"
"A blighted one."'
I just adore her for all her summer, depressing, time-machine, make-me-believe-im-frolicking-through-a-field-200-years-ago vibes
One of my new favorite books, the only issue I have is that the last big plot point felt a bit lazy to me, although it does fit with the theme of the story, namely, the development of a pure country girl to a woman who has, to say the least, gotten an intense reality check:
'Almost at a leap Tess thus changed from simple girl to complex woman. Symbols of reflectiveness passed into her face, and a note of tragedy at times into her voice. Her eyes grew larger and more eloquent. She became what would have been called a fine creature; her aspect was fair and arresting; her soul that of a woman whom the turbulent experiences of the last year or two had quite failed to demoralize.'
With beautiful prose such as in the quote above Hardy paints the picture of an English rural, read: "poor", area of England where nobility, Christianity and sexism still were the order of the day (yay...). The fact that the sexual inequality, not only in material ways such as being financially indepent, but more the cultural -intellectual- inequality was not only seen, but also deemed important enough, for a MAN to write such a beautiful, forgiving and empathetic book about, is AMAZING and I give Hardy props and lots of love for it. His understanding of the issue is not perfect, understandably, but the fact he came up with quotes such as these:
'"Why didn’t you tell me there was danger? Why didn’t you warn me? Ladies know what to guard against, because they read novels that tell them of these tricks; but I never had the chance of discovering in that way; and you did not help me!"'
that are highlighting the dangers of naïvety and ignorance, but also illustrating (whether on purpose or not) the responsibility women were supposed to take for their own safety, by knowing the things that were sinful to know about, is just so cool. Loveddd this theme throughout the entire text.
Besides this, the book has an endearing main character, beautiful symbolisms (can we talk about Angel (name, duh) playing the harp and Alec emerging from a cloud of smoke with a pitchfork???), an intriguing, fast-paced plot and just the best little philosophical quotes sprinkled throughout:
'Did you say the stars were worlds, Tess?"
"Yes."
"All like ours?"
"I don't know, but I think so. They sometimes seem to be like the apples on our stubbard-tree. Most of them splendid and sound - a few blighted."
"Which do we live on - a splendid one or a blighted one?"
"A blighted one."'
I just adore her for all her summer, depressing, time-machine, make-me-believe-im-frolicking-through-a-field-200-years-ago vibes