Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Penguin Popular Classics)

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It's a hit!

Maybe it's just because I've already read enough Hardy, but for some reason the nihilism of this one didn't get under my skin as happened with Jude... (show more)

Maybe it's just because I've already read enough Hardy, but for some reason the nihilism of this one didn't get under my skin as happened with Jude the Obscure (my first Hardy) or Return of the Native. In fact, it was so clear from the beginning that Tess was going to get the shitty end of the stick—and even probably die—that I didn't really empathize with her through all the twists and turns of the plot the way I would with, say, a George Eliot novel, where things are TRULY as random as life, with no predictable endings (see Adam Bede). That having been said, there are some lovely flourishes here, such as the eroticized descriptions of the dairy business, which will very much stick with me, and—a detail I did NOT see coming—the tryst and arrest at Stonehenge. Actually, I think Tess Durbeyfield was officially the last person to experience a post-coital arrest by the police actually ON the premises of Stonehenge until the hippie movement sixty years later. And who says Hardy didn't anticipate modernism? (show less)

 

 

by Facebook-användare

No, it's a flop!

Like most late 19th century Romantic Brit Lit, the writing is for the most part absolutely stunning and visual (especially when dealing with nature... (show more)

Like most late 19th century Romantic Brit Lit, the writing is for the most part absolutely stunning and visual (especially when dealing with nature imagery), but the characters are such idiotic, self-sabotaging, self-pitying masochists that it's really impossible to enjoy. While I rather liked Tess at first (the VERY beginning), finding her in a solid place of self-worth, independence and intellectual curiousity/openmindedness, with the arrival of Angel - and even slightly before then in her blind apathy towards Alec's treatment of her - she quickly desintegrated into a moping hero-worshipper with no sense of individual identity... and even worse, she refused to do anything about it, though I can't blame her when it comes to Angel, since he's quite obviously self-absorbed, highfalutin, and shallow as a kid's pool. It doesn't help that the plot was in some parts nonexistant and in the remainder absolutely ridiculous. (The ending!! WHAT?!?!) At least the quality of writing helped to boost its worth a bit in my eyes (unlike certain other classic Brit novels I could mention... Great Expectations or Wuthering Heights, anyone?). All in all, it was one of the more infuriating books I've read in a while. (show less)

 

 

by Hope Coleman

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  I picked this up from the local library on a whim and was not disappointed - I don't think I have read anything written so beautifully - Hardy is truly a poet as well as a novelist. There is plenty to think about in it too, and the storyline keeps you involved all the way to the end.

  Just reading the review from Hope I think the criticisms are rather unfair, as if Tess should be the archetypal 21st Century sassy independent girl about town. This misses out that she is living in a very diff... (show more)

  I picked this up from the local library on a whim and was not disappointed - I don't think I have read anything written so beautifully - Hardy is truly a poet as well as a novelist. There is plenty to think about in it too, and the storyline keeps you involved all the way to the end.

  Just reading the review from Hope I think the criticisms are rather unfair, as if Tess should be the archetypal 21st Century sassy independent girl about town. This misses out that she is living in a very different world, rural, mostly poor and relatively undeveloped - indeed what is remarkable about her is how she stands out from her local crowd in her outlook and moral sense. I thought of her as remarkably modern in the way she looked at the wider world, as an independent spirit. As for her devotion to Angel despite what we consider to be his rather ridiculous running away from her, as a man I think that is rather wonderful - no one is perfect, and the interest in him is that he is a good guy trying and to a large extent failing to break away from the stultifying habits of his family and social class.

  Also, she wouldn't be the last spirited and independent girl to have had to bend and sacrifice her will in order to keep a roof over her own and her family's heads.

  Overall, I think it is a wonderful book. (show less)

   

   

  by Ben Cobley on Jun 04, 2009 at 08:19AM

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  A fairytale romance this is not. I first came in contact with Hardy's Tess when I saw Masterpiece Theatre's rendition of the story. It compelled me to read the classic novel. After reading I feel overwhelmed. There are so many roads I could take in describing this piece. Tess's life was not an easy one. She comes from a destitute family where her father is a drunk loser and her mother overlooks his faults. She is forced into a life of horror by her parents in my view. Instead of being a man ... (show more)

  A fairytale romance this is not. I first came in contact with Hardy's Tess when I saw Masterpiece Theatre's rendition of the story. It compelled me to read the classic novel. After reading I feel overwhelmed. There are so many roads I could take in describing this piece. Tess's life was not an easy one. She comes from a destitute family where her father is a drunk loser and her mother overlooks his faults. She is forced into a life of horror by her parents in my view. Instead of being a man and taking responsibility for his family and their predicament, her father sends her to her first doom: being raped and left with a dead baby. Tess depressed from the recent past and being looked down upon by the local community moves away to work at a dairy. It brings her the happiness she has desperately been longing for. She comes into contact with a man of her past, Angel Clare, rightly named for he does become her saving, protective angel for a time. They develop a love for one another and eventually get married. Tess still tortured by her past reveals her misfortune to her new husband, who can't take the news and leaves her. Tess's troubles continue to spiral out of control. Her Devil, Alec D'Urberville, returns to make her life more hell. In desperation for her family, she agrees to be with the Devil for her family to be taken care of. Meanwhile Angel has repented of his treatment of his dear Tessy and comes back in hopes of finding her, being a different man himself, almost a skeleton after an illness caught in South America. Tess with nowhere else to turn in her mind murders the Devil of her pain. She and her Angel go on the run in hopes of finally being able to be together in happiness. The truth catches up to them, Tess is caught and pays for her crime. Tragic is the word that sums up this novel. The twisted Biblical philosophies of the characters make me grit my teeth. If truth and forgiveness, Christian characteristics, had just been used by all involved so much of this tragedy of Tess would have been avoided. But then we wouldn't have Hardy's incredible novel to look into our own lives' faults to correct. On another note, it would have been incredibly interesting to read Hardy's first attempt at publication before the editors stripped it to printable. Though the reader is still staring into a descriptive painting where one can feel the surroundings and emotions of the characters. (show less)

   

   

  by Raeha Butler on Dec 31, 2009 at 12:14AM

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