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Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32904.Tess_of_the_Durbervilles?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Tess of the Durbervilles" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1168403861m/32904.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32904.Tess_of_the_Durbervilles?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Tess of the Durbervilles</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15905.Thomas_Hardy">Thomas Hardy</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/113841?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> This is mostly just a note for me-- I wrote it as I finished the book, and it definitely gives away the ending, but I wanted to post it here because I decided this would be a good place for me to keep track of my thoughts. <br/>-------------------------- <br/> I just finished reading Tess of the D'urbervilles, and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. Maybe disappointed is not the right word... but it's more than just bummed about the sad parts of the plot. Of course, I am sad about the way the story ended, with Tess killing Alec (her rapist/sugardaddy/pseudo husband) and then her getting executed. It's a pretty depressing end... <br/>But there was such a shift, and maybe that was the point. The beauty and love and excitement and novelty of the young lovers Tess and Angel at the dairy is so palpable, so real, but then the utter extinguishing of any hope, joy, optimism at the end... It's shocking, that much more troubling. <br/> <br/>The story throughout has certain themes of fatalism and transcendentalism (I think-- with the talk of Tess at times experiencing things not as flesh but as a spirit), but what troubled me was the approach to God. So pessimistic. I think I should have seen where the story was going when Tess and Angel started to discuss the inexistance of God. To me, that moment seems as much a foreshadowing of the despair to come as the poor horse Prince getting run through. I'm trying to make sense of this haunting story in terms of my religious beliefs. I can see now, I can start to reconcile my adoration of this book with its resistance to the faith I hold so dear. I can learn from this book that when God is forgotten or ignored or denied, there is despair. I often have wondered how people without hope in divinity face trouble, and I think Tess and Angel illustrate it well. There is little hope for the two on a grand scale, only in each other do they find grounds for optimism. <br/> <br/>What a troubling, haunting tale. I hate that Tess ended up a murderer and died, but I really hate her deterioration. I hate how the beautiful young woman, fresh and full of love and hope becomes so... cold and hard to like. Certainly she is pitiable at the end of the novel, but hardly likable. The passion between her and Angel is real, and I like that, but ... I don't know. It's been marred, wasted. I hate the portrayal of Alec as the "reformed" born-again Christian who then turned back to his old ways.... Interesting though, how religion is respected, not in the sense that it is true, but in the ways that it can promote good morals or behavior. It bothers me. <br/> <br/>I know that I always want a happy ending, and I guess part of the reason that I'm disappointed is because this book seemed to promise one. Usually dark books are dark throughout. This one was so cheery and full of the hope of youth and then slowly was drained of life, sot hat by the time I finished the book, I felt like I was burying it. I will say that I like it. It may even be one of my most favorite recent reads. But I am disappointed. It's much like romeo and juliet. Tragedy is so much more tragic when the potential for happiness was close and then missed. <br/> <br/>Overall, a good book. A good read. Compelling, thought-provoking, tender. It makes me thankful for my faith. It makes me acknowledge the blessing that hope is. <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/9605?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>