Take a photo of a barcode or cover
lottymp 's review for:
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy
Captivating, powerful, moving and beyond tragic. These are the four adjectives I use to describe this amazing novel. It is in so many ways a brilliant read, full of life lessons and critiques, it is without a doubt one of my favourite classics.
IMG_2212.GIF
The characters are so well developed and SO real, I could feel what they were feeling and found bits and pieces of myself in each one of them, and I was so emotionally invested in this story that I could not for the life of me stop reading. ^^. And now to go into the depths of each charcater...
Tess. Oh dear sweet innocent Tess. I felt so connected to her, felt like she was that familiar stranger you see on the street, reading about her was like saying hello to a long forgotten friend. She is SO strong, I am in awe of her and how she managed to go through her life without ever letting it corrupt her and bring her down. She is just a 16 year old finding her place in a world full of rules and where women are but bodies of meat and blood that needed to look pretty. Her journey through life shows just how important a motherly figure is to a girl, because if Tess's mother had warned her of the lust of men she would have never had fallen for Alec's tricks and lures. But then again, we wouldn't have a story without the ineptitude of Joanne. Her story also shows just how women were portrayed and seen in that era, how women were viewed only as bodies that needed to look pretty and serve. Her story, tragic as it may be, also shows just how strong she is, even when everybody critised, judged and mocked her for her misfortunes (even her true love) she kept on, and did everything she could to keep her family safe and well. And even her passion, which was seen as something bad, is something to learn from too. She is a role model is so many ways, and yes, she did fall prey to the lust of men but she was just 16 and she had not yet learned how to live and engage others in her world. The only thing that I find disappointing in her is that at the end she is always with a man, she is with Alec because he deceives her and then afterwards, even after all she has been through, she goes back to Angel...
Alec... oh baby oh baby
img_2218
I am very conflicted about his character. I HATE him for what he did to poor unsuspecting Tess but I still find myself thinking that he is somehow misunderstood. He did rape her, and that from my point of view is unforgivable, you can move on but rape is not just violating another persons body, it is also violating their innocence, their souls. And that leaves a scar that will never heal. But then again, even after all he did, for a moment, however brief it may have been, he had tried to repent, he wanted to make good on his evil doings. He tried to make it up to Tess, helped her family, offered her money, ... so just in those few moments, he somewhat became human to me. We all make mistakes (Nothing as big as this I hope) and the important thing is to make things better again. And something I feel I have to admit, I do love a bad guy, so he made the perfect human, fragile, imperfect villain. I also think that Alec represents all of those men who view women as objects, as mere entertainment and a way to satisfy their lust. Because when he realised how wrong the things he did were, he tried to better himself and became (SPOILER!!!) a priest of sorts, and in those times if you were a man and sinned, you could always repent and do whatever you wanted whilst women were not given that luxury. We were held responsible for men's sins and our own... and even though it hurts me to say this, it still happens nowadays. When women wear short skirts or a very revealing top men start saying that "we are asking for it", that we are "whores", when in reality we are dressing with the same sort of liberty that they are allowed to dress with. And just because one may dress in a certain way and act in a certain way, it NEVER gives you the right to force yourself on others. It's just not right.
Angel, I don't know what to say about him. Honest. I love him. And I hate him. He is perfect in almost every sense, he is kind, loving and gentle. Everything that Alec is not. And yet when he discovers of Tess's misfortunes he becomes the same judgemental pig that the rest of men in this book are. At the beginning I was as in love with him as Tess was, I found him charismatic, intellectual and so gentle and perfect. And it is because of this that I was so disappointed in him, he had the potential to do so much good for Tess, and so much good in general. Yet he blames her great and terrible misfortune on her and leaves her stranded for more than a year.
IMG_2214.GIF
In Tess's place, it would have taken a lot for me to forgive him for leaving me just after he promised that we would always be together.
As I have said before, this book was by far one of the best classic tragedies I have ever read and therefore I give it a 5/5 ✨.
Ill probably write a second part of this review when I calm down a bit and read it again.
IMG_2212.GIF
The characters are so well developed and SO real, I could feel what they were feeling and found bits and pieces of myself in each one of them, and I was so emotionally invested in this story that I could not for the life of me stop reading. ^^. And now to go into the depths of each charcater...
Tess. Oh dear sweet innocent Tess. I felt so connected to her, felt like she was that familiar stranger you see on the street, reading about her was like saying hello to a long forgotten friend. She is SO strong, I am in awe of her and how she managed to go through her life without ever letting it corrupt her and bring her down. She is just a 16 year old finding her place in a world full of rules and where women are but bodies of meat and blood that needed to look pretty. Her journey through life shows just how important a motherly figure is to a girl, because if Tess's mother had warned her of the lust of men she would have never had fallen for Alec's tricks and lures. But then again, we wouldn't have a story without the ineptitude of Joanne. Her story also shows just how women were portrayed and seen in that era, how women were viewed only as bodies that needed to look pretty and serve. Her story, tragic as it may be, also shows just how strong she is, even when everybody critised, judged and mocked her for her misfortunes (even her true love) she kept on, and did everything she could to keep her family safe and well. And even her passion, which was seen as something bad, is something to learn from too. She is a role model is so many ways, and yes, she did fall prey to the lust of men but she was just 16 and she had not yet learned how to live and engage others in her world. The only thing that I find disappointing in her is that at the end she is always with a man, she is with Alec because he deceives her and then afterwards, even after all she has been through, she goes back to Angel...
Alec... oh baby oh baby
img_2218
I am very conflicted about his character. I HATE him for what he did to poor unsuspecting Tess but I still find myself thinking that he is somehow misunderstood. He did rape her, and that from my point of view is unforgivable, you can move on but rape is not just violating another persons body, it is also violating their innocence, their souls. And that leaves a scar that will never heal. But then again, even after all he did, for a moment, however brief it may have been, he had tried to repent, he wanted to make good on his evil doings. He tried to make it up to Tess, helped her family, offered her money, ... so just in those few moments, he somewhat became human to me. We all make mistakes (Nothing as big as this I hope) and the important thing is to make things better again. And something I feel I have to admit, I do love a bad guy, so he made the perfect human, fragile, imperfect villain. I also think that Alec represents all of those men who view women as objects, as mere entertainment and a way to satisfy their lust. Because when he realised how wrong the things he did were, he tried to better himself and became (SPOILER!!!) a priest of sorts, and in those times if you were a man and sinned, you could always repent and do whatever you wanted whilst women were not given that luxury. We were held responsible for men's sins and our own... and even though it hurts me to say this, it still happens nowadays. When women wear short skirts or a very revealing top men start saying that "we are asking for it", that we are "whores", when in reality we are dressing with the same sort of liberty that they are allowed to dress with. And just because one may dress in a certain way and act in a certain way, it NEVER gives you the right to force yourself on others. It's just not right.
Angel, I don't know what to say about him. Honest. I love him. And I hate him. He is perfect in almost every sense, he is kind, loving and gentle. Everything that Alec is not. And yet when he discovers of Tess's misfortunes he becomes the same judgemental pig that the rest of men in this book are. At the beginning I was as in love with him as Tess was, I found him charismatic, intellectual and so gentle and perfect. And it is because of this that I was so disappointed in him, he had the potential to do so much good for Tess, and so much good in general. Yet he blames her great and terrible misfortune on her and leaves her stranded for more than a year.
IMG_2214.GIF
In Tess's place, it would have taken a lot for me to forgive him for leaving me just after he promised that we would always be together.
As I have said before, this book was by far one of the best classic tragedies I have ever read and therefore I give it a 5/5 ✨.
Ill probably write a second part of this review when I calm down a bit and read it again.