Take a photo of a barcode or cover
anomandrewrake 's review for:
Jude the Obscure
by Thomas Hardy
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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
This is maybe the saddest book I've ever read.
I have great respect for Thomas Hardy. The other book of his I've read is Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and like that one, this book is effectively a challenge to the social mores of his day. (So much so that, after the two books, the outcry drove him to write poetry instead of novels for the rest of his career.)
Jude the Obscure is sad from top to bottom. It's aboutaspirations that are never realized and naivete that is steadily crushed. It's also about societal pressure and ostracism. It's also about the harm that parents can do children without even realizing it.
As much as title character and his struggles compel me, Sue Bridehead compels me more. It would be somewhat bold in 2024 to write a story about a woman pressured into marriage despite a (euphemized, in this novel) considerable aversion to physical intimacy. It's at least 10 times as bold for a book from the 19th century.
This book isn't for everyone even today. It's cynical toward the Victorian idea of marriage in a way that even some modern readers would find uncomfortable. It asks whether self-sacrifice is always a good, and it questions whether real marriage and legal marriage are the same thing. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this book, especially with how depressing it was. But I know I'll be thinking about it for a long time.
I have great respect for Thomas Hardy. The other book of his I've read is Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and like that one, this book is effectively a challenge to the social mores of his day. (So much so that, after the two books, the outcry drove him to write poetry instead of novels for the rest of his career.)
Jude the Obscure is sad from top to bottom. It's about
As much as title character and his struggles compel me, Sue Bridehead compels me more. It would be somewhat bold in 2024 to write a story about a woman pressured into marriage despite a (euphemized, in this novel) considerable aversion to physical intimacy. It's at least 10 times as bold for a book from the 19th century.
This book isn't for everyone even today. It's cynical toward the Victorian idea of marriage in a way that even some modern readers would find uncomfortable. It asks whether self-sacrifice is always a good, and it questions whether real marriage and legal marriage are the same thing. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this book, especially with how depressing it was. But I know I'll be thinking about it for a long time.