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Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Thomas Hardy

3.81 · Rating details · 243,924 ratings · 8,952 reviews

The chance discovery by a young peasant woman that she is a descendant of the noble family of d'Urbervilles is to change the course of her life. Tess Durbeyfield leaves home on the first of her fateful journeys, and meets the ruthless Alec d'Urberville. Thomas Hardy's impassioned story tells of hope and disappointment, rejection and enduring love. ...more

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Oct 08, 2009 Stephen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

HEADLINE: A bad guy who is fabulously talented in bed and a good guy who fumbles sex can complicate life for a girl.

I ought to have my head examined for undertaking a review of Tess of the d'Ubervilles, the next to the last of Thomas Hardy's novels. My purpose in considering the idea was that I might perhaps persuade one other person to read this novel who might not otherwise. I am all about service to my fellow man. However, there are strange aspects of this novel that when discussed in remove ...more

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May 04, 2013 Nataliya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-reads

Tess of the d'Urbervilles is not a feel-good book, which sharply sets it apart from the other 19th century novels about young women (think Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre, for instance).

No, it's sad and depressing to the point where it almost makes me angry. Because poor Tess, prone to making choices that are invariably the worst for her, just cannot catch a break. Because it's like she has majorly pissed off some higher power(s) that be and they are taking revenge, giving her the most rotten Tess of the d'Urbervilles is not a feel-good book, which sharply sets it apart from the other 19th century novels about young women (think Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre, for instance).

No, it's sad and depressing to the point where it almost makes me angry. Because poor Tess, prone to making choices that are invariably the worst for her, just cannot catch a break. Because it's like she has majorly pissed off some higher power(s) that be and they are taking revenge, giving her the most rotten luck. Because Tess seems to have resigned herself to a future with few silver linings, having learned to view herself through the cruel prism of social conventions. Because it lacks any happiness and warm fuzzies that would make you want to reread this book while curled up on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate on a cold rainy day¹.

¹ This lack of any feel-good warm fuzzies and Hardy's relentless destruction of anything that can make Tess' life tolerable (and, of course, combined with the fact that this book apparently is on the required reading list for many high-schoolers - and we all know how intolerable the books we have been coerced to read as teens can appear) may be at least partially responsible for why so many of my GR friends dislike it - the same people who apparently have enjoyed other 19th century novels about young women.

And yet I liked it. Maybe because I read it without anyone's coercion, without being forced to see the symbolism or make analyses of the themes and all that bullshit that high school students have to put up with during the endless hours of English classes.

"Never in her life – she could swear it from the bottom of her soul – had she ever intended to do wrong; yet these hard judgments had come. Whatever her sins, they were not sins of intention, but of inadvertence, and why should she have been punished so persistently."

Because, all symbolism aside (blah-blah, Tess = Nature destroyed by civilization and all that), Hardy seems to be doing a pretty good job showing the stupidity of rigid morals applied to women in Victorian England - the morals and attitudes that made women inferior and subservient to men. Because quite a few things are wrong when a rapist offering to marry his victim is considered a good resolution to the 'situation' as he must be her 'real' husband because he was the first to claim her vagina with his penis, regardless of whether she wanted him then or wants him now. Because something is wrong when a woman becomes 'damaged goods' in the eyes of the society because of someone else's action - actually, when, regardless of the action, her worth is based on the state of intactness of her hymen¹.

¹ That attitude did not die with Victorian era, of course. It is still perpetuated and fed to the young members of the society. Think, for instance, of all the young adult heroines that are 'pure' by the virtue of their virginity while there always (or almost always) appears to be an evil side character - a 'slut' who dares to be sexually experienced. Guess who is invariably preferred by all the romantic interests? That's right. 'Sluts' are put in their place pretty quickly. Ugh.

Hardy does a great job portraying unhealthy relationships in this book without attempting to convince the reader that those are actually normal. I will not go into details about the unhealthiness of Tess' relationship with her rapist - that's self-evident. But her doomed relationship with Angel Clare is also painted as unhealthy and dangerous - and not alluringly dangerous, like many books are prone to depict such situations. Tess' feelings for him are blinding and obsessive - and the danger of those are clearly shown, as she is ready to lose herself in him and even die for his sake. Angel's feelings are treated equally harshly as instead of respecting and admiring Tess for the person she is he idolizes what he *thinks* she is, he creates an idea of her being who he wants her to be and in that remains completely blind to who she actually is. Hardy's portrayal of that ill-fated relationship definitely does not glamorize the unhealthy aspects of it, and I applaud him for it.

I did enjoy reading a book about a 19th century young woman who does not belong to the privileged class, and whose ideas of poverty are not simply living in a smaller cottage and not being able to attend fancy balls. I liked the idea of a woman who is capable of work and does not shy away from it; I loved how much Hardy tried to emphasize that the stereotypes of peasants as faceless mass of idiots were not true, and how he stayed away from glamorizing money and pedigree. Tess' supposed noble descent brings her nothing but pain, after all.

"She might have seen that what had bowed her head so profoundly - the thought of the world's concern at her situation - was founded on illusion. She was not an existence, an experience, a passion, a structure of sensations, to anybody but herself. To all humankind besides, Tess was only a passing thought."

Overall I enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure I will ever reread it, knowing now the turn the events in Tess' life take. For my pleasure reads I will stick with the happily-ever-after of Lizzy Bennet, thank you very much. But meanwhile I'll be appreciating that Hardy had the perseverance to write a non-feel-good story of bad things happening to good people, with lessons we can learn from it even now.

3.75 stars - rounding up to 4. ...more

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Apr 08, 2007 karen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: littry-fiction

there will probably be spoilers here. i will possibly rant. if you don't know what happens in tess, it is better not to read this review, although, frankly, to my way of thinking, hardy has so many superior novels, stories, poems, that you would be better served just avoiding this one and going on to one of the great ones like jude or mayor of casterbridge instead. but there is something sneaking up in me - a bubblingly vague feeling of well-wishing for poor doomed tess, that makes me think i mi ...more

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Mar 22, 2016 Sean Barrs rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1-star-reads, classics, love-and-romance

Dear, Tess of the D’Urbervilles

I’m writing you this letter because you pissed me off. I’m angry, Tess. I’ve got a lot to say to you, and I want you to hear it. I will warn you though; I’m not holding anything back. We’re going to talk about everything, everything that happens in your life from beginning to end.

How could you be so silly? How could you be so hapless and so helpless? Why do you seem to be an ill-fated walking disaster of doom trodden woe? Why, oh why, did you never learn anything? Dear, Tess of the D’Urbervilles

I’m writing you this letter because you pissed me off. I’m angry, Tess. I’ve got a lot to say to you, and I want you to hear it. I will warn you though; I’m not holding anything back. We’re going to talk about everything, everything that happens in your life from beginning to end.

How could you be so silly? How could you be so hapless and so helpless? Why do you seem to be an ill-fated walking disaster of doom trodden woe? Why, oh why, did you never learn anything?

Tess you’re an absolute idiot. It’s okay. I understand. You were young and inexperienced in the beginning. But why were you still by the end? Your only act of courage was nothing but pure stupidity. It could only end one way after that. How could you not see Alec’s wolfish nature in the beginning? The man forced fed you fruit; he made you part your lips whilst he shoved his all too suggestive strawberry in your mouth. How could you not see the nature of such an imposing act?

Read over it Tess. See it from my point of view:

"They are already here." D'Urberville began gathering specimens of the fruit for her, handing them back to her as he stooped; and, presently, selecting a specially fine product of the "British Queen" variety, he stood up and held it by the stem to her mouth.

"No--no!" she said quickly, putting her fingers between his hand and her lips. "I would rather take it in my own hand."

"Nonsense!" he insisted; and in a slight distress she parted her lips and took it in.

How could you not see his motives? I understand that your mother didn’t teach you anything. Your parents threw you into the world and let you bare their burdens of responsibility. I understand that was a large task. But, still, how can you not see that this man was sniffing round you and only after one thing? Why didn’t you run? Why didn’t you get as far away as possible form such an insincere degenerate cur as Alec D’Urberville? After that, Tess, I just couldn’t believe in your character. I cannot believe that someone could possibly be as stupid as you Tess. I’m sorry Tess, but you were just badly written.

You just seemed a little bit too fatalistic. It’s like you’d given up on life before you’d even experienced it. You just went from disaster to disaster without realising that most men of your time were pigs. You didn’t learn anything; it’s like you were born with a pre-ordained destiny to take shit from everybody and then die. You just trudged through muck, and then went looking for more afterwards. If you’re characterisation is emblematic of Victorian womanhood, then every Victorian woman has been terrible insulted. I understand that the problems you faced were real. You came across real injustice, Tess. There’s no denying that. What Alec did to you was pure evil. What Angel did you was nothing short of neglect. One rule for men and another for women, eh Tess. You really experienced misogyny and injustice. I know, and I feel sorry for you, but Tess you were just so unbelievably weak.

Why did you go running back to Angel after what he did to you? He clearly didn't love you. Why did you wait for him for so long and just accept the negligence that he subjected you to. How could you let yourself down like that? You should have gone on your own and become your own woman; you should have become empowered rather than crawling back to the bastards that mistreated you. Your actions made no sense. Your emotions and love changed with the wind. I blame your creator Tess; I don’t think he knew quite what he wanted when he wrote you. He made a character who was a survivor with a will to keep trudging through life’s shit, but she kept going back to that shit again, and again. Rather than make you hopeless, he should have had you learn from the evils of the world, and become a woman who knew how to deal with it.

Then there’s the ending of your story, Tess. Why Stonehenge? Why did you run there of all places. Why not go to the train station? Why did you let yourself be led along by that prat Angel Clare one more time? Ahh…Tess, why did you waste your life? The men you met were assholes; your family were assholes too, so why didn’t you just get away from it all? Your most tragic mistake Tess, and your doom, was not realising what was inside you. Tess, only if you realised, only if the man who wrote you realised, that women don’t need to rely on men; then the whole tragedy would have been avoided. And I wouldn’t be writing this letter to a fictional corpse.

Yours sincerely,

A very dissatisfied reader. ...more

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Sep 12, 2007 Maria rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

I hated this passionately, which is perhaps unfair, as the book is really quite admirable for tackling the subject of double standards applied to male and female sexual behaviour. But this is one of the most depressing, pointless novels I’ve ever read in my life. I have loathed this book for ten years and I will not stop.

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Aug 31, 2007 Cori rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: lovers of classic literature

From my blog:

This book was fantastic. It was bleak and heartbreaking, but fantastic. I'm not sure I've ever been so sad for a main character before. But wow, Hardy can write. I'm going to outline the plot, including the ending, so please note that there are SPOILERS AHEAD.

Tess Durbeyfield, a poor girl, finds out she's actually the descendant of the once-mighty D'Urbervilles. She goes in search of work at her relatives' home, and meets Alec D'Urberville (no actual relation -- he stole the name), From my blog:

This book was fantastic. It was bleak and heartbreaking, but fantastic. I'm not sure I've ever been so sad for a main character before. But wow, Hardy can write. I'm going to outline the plot, including the ending, so please note that there are SPOILERS AHEAD.

Tess Durbeyfield, a poor girl, finds out she's actually the descendant of the once-mighty D'Urbervilles. She goes in search of work at her relatives' home, and meets Alec D'Urberville (no actual relation -- he stole the name), who seduces her and rapes her in the forest. Bastard. Tess leaves the D'Urberville estate to be with her family again, and winds up pregnant. The baby is born but quickly succumbs to death.

Tess, who thinks her rape and death of her child are her own fault, moves away to work at a dairy. There, she meets Angel Clare (a kind man from a good family) and the two fall in love. Tess refuses his requests for an engagement, saying she's not worth him and her past would make him not love her. He pleads with her and tells her it's not the case. Finally, she agrees and the two are wed. That night, they tell each other their deepest, darkest secrets. Angel admits to two drunken nights of debauchery, which Tess forgives him for, and Tess tells him the story about Alec and the child. Angel decides Tess's sins are too great and leaves to Brazil to clear his head. Bastard.

Tess then embarks upon a long journey of trying to pay penance for her sins by doing difficult manual labor. Her letters to Angel go unanswered, but she still blames herself. When she finally hits rock bottom, she goes to appeal to Angel's family for money, although her pride never lets her go through with her plan. On her way home, she meets a street preacher, who is none other than a reformed Alec D'Urberville, although it's pretty apparent that his faith is transparent. Bastard.

Tess tells him that she had had a child and it died, and Alec proceeds to follow her around and asks her to marry him repeatedly, saying he's her true husband because he raped her they had consumated their love. Finally, she gives in because she hasn't heard from Angel (bastard) and her family is in dire straits and is living in a graveyard. Alec supports her and her family.

Angel finally realizes that Tess was not responsible for her sins and decides to come back for her, only to learn she's living with Alec. Tess is so distraught knowing that Angel finally came back for her (she never stopped loving him and blaming herself), that she kills Alec (go Tess!) and she and Angel go on the lam. Tess is finally apprehended at Stonehenge, and is soon put to death.

Yeah. Seriously. That's one depressing story. As a woman who lives in 2007, I had a hard time feeling for Tess when I just wanted to scream, "it's not your fault he raped you! Men (at least in this book) are bastards! You're worth more than them!" But of course this didn't occur to Tess in 1891. It was all her fault and she was paying for her sins. The book was so bleak when it was bleak, and so lovely the few times it was lovely. Hardy's writing was very evocative, and the subject matter was apparently scandalous in his day. His descriptions of England were amazing, too. I listened to the audio book, read by Davina Porter, and it was wonderful. She's a phenomenal reader -- one of the best so far.

My Rating: 9 out of 10 for being so tragically bleak yet so fantastically written. Also, the mini-series starring Justine Waddell is uh-ma-zing, so if you don't feel like reading the book (although I highly recommend it) you can watch the movie instead. ...more

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Oct 07, 2010 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, british, literature, novels, adult, historical, romance, 19th-century, fiction, 1001-book

(808 From 1001 Books) - Tess of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy

Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It initially appeared in a censored and serialized version, published by the British illustrated newspaper The Graphic in 1891 and in book form in 1892. Though now considered a major nineteenth-century English novel and possibly Hardy's fictional masterpiece.

Tess is the oldest child of John and Joan Durbeyfield, uneducated peasants. However, Joh ...more

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Jul 09, 2019 Amit Mishra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The novel subtitles 'A pure woman faithfully presented', the novel expresses Hardy's rejection of the conventional heroine of the Victorian novel. He provoked the cntroversies in that period.
However, coming to the novel it is slightly different than the usual Hardy's fiction. The novel is from the perspective of a girl and how she comes out of poverty-ridden life. ...more

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May 12, 2013 Henry Avila rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This novel is really about timing, it effects us all, meet someone at the wrong time or go north instead of south, your life can end badly. Ordinary events, can change our destiny. Timing is everything... Tess Durbeyfield is born into a poor, rural, southern English family of eight, in the village of Marlott, Wessex. A lazy father, John, with a taste for the bottle, and a mother, Joan, who would rather sing the latest songs, than do the necessary chores, at home. But she grows up a very attracti This novel is really about timing, it effects us all, meet someone at the wrong time or go north instead of south, your life can end badly. Ordinary events, can change our destiny. Timing is everything... Tess Durbeyfield is born into a poor, rural, southern English family of eight, in the village of Marlott, Wessex. A lazy father, John, with a taste for the bottle, and a mother, Joan, who would rather sing the latest songs, than do the necessary chores, at home. But she grows up a very attractive woman and everyone notices, especially young men. Informed by a minister, Parson Tringham, an antiquarian, that he, Mr. John Durbeyfield, real name is the ancient one of D'urbervilles, a honored wealthy family, of the past. They originated with a Norman knight, of that name, who came over with William the Conqueror, but now have lost all their lands and mansions, just another destitute family, in the late, Victorian age. John proudly boasts about it, at the local watering hole, getting drunk and his wife Joan, has to fetch him, which she is delighted to do. The only fun she has, outside the cottage. Tess being the eldest child, helps out her mother with the work of taking care of her brothers and sisters. Her mother finds out, that there is a very rich family of D'urbervilles, not far away, and urges her daughter to make a friendly visit. Hesitating, but finally decides to obey and go. Arriving, after a long walk, Tess discoverers that the relatives are not. Having changed their names from Stokes, for the prestige! But meeting Alec D'urbervilles, the only son of a blind widow, he calls her cousin, in a mocking way. A lecherous man of 23, Tess is only 16. Offered a job taking care of the eccentric old lady's pet birds, she can't refuse, her family needs the money. Alec is always chasing her, the innocent girl lasts four months there, Tess comes back home, no longer a girl. After a few unpleasant years passed in the village, and with her father ill, she gets a job as a milk maid to support the family, at a distant farm, besides, Tess hears whispers. Becoming great friends with three other young women, Izz, Retty, and Marian, fellow workers there and roommates. All fall madly in love with a handsome , clergyman's son, Angel Clare. Who strangely wants to become a farmer not a minister in the Church of England, like his two older brothers. Which greatly disappoints his orthodox father, and keeps him from receiving an university education. Learning at the dairy, but he has only eyes for the lovely Tess. Angel keeps on asking her to marry him. And the uneasy woman, has a secret she would not want to disclose. And Mr. Clare, comes from a stable, middle class, family. Does Tess, tell him and risk losing the man she loves... Thomas Hardy's most famous and best novel, I think, but not for the very faint-heart, when the pathos, flow. ...more

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May 21, 2020 Lisa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: thomas-hardy, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die

So I finished Tess of the d'Urbervilles, my first encounter with Thomas Hardy. But will it ever leave me?

The Justice of Society has done its duty on a young woman and The Injustice of Life is safely secured for the predators of the next generation. A Dark Angel is left alone on the stage, holding in his hand a new and even more vulnerable victim, and the reader is scarred to the bone.

I loved Tess so much!

How could I not love her, even though I angrily tried to persuade her at every step to let ...more

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Apr 06, 2015 Helle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: victorian, classics, book-club-library, books-i-own, telegraph-top-100-books, english, 1001-books

I finally read this classic for a book club recently, my own copy of the novel having languished on my shelves for too many years. I realized, after the book club meeting, that I had probably expected it to be a discussion-cum-appreciation session, Tess being after all a cornerstone in English literature. Not a bit of it.

Woman who suggested it: Well, as you know I love the classics, and I think this is a great book. I’ve read it many times.

Me (sitting next to her): I really liked it, too, and w ...more

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Nov 01, 2019 Dave Schaafsma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-19th-century, best-books-ever

“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.”

Tess of the D’Urbervilles is the 1896 masterpiece by Thomas Hardy of Tess Durbeyville, her family bloodline long fallen from aristocratic heights. The central themes are critiques of class and blood distinctions and ...more

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Oct 07, 2015 Lizzy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-years-ago, classics-literay-fiction, stars-3, england-britain

I need to start by venting all the despair I felt reading Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D`Ubervilles. This tale is certainly not Pride or Prejudice or even Jane Eyre where the heroines have the prospect or the hope of happiness. What could a woman of Tess’s time and situation hope for? Contentment? But not even that was in store for our poor heroine. Tess sweet, loving nature is invariably abused by men, specifically the two central male characters of Alec D'Urberville and Angel Clare. The road tha I need to start by venting all the despair I felt reading Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D`Ubervilles. This tale is certainly not Pride or Prejudice or even Jane Eyre where the heroines have the prospect or the hope of happiness. What could a woman of Tess’s time and situation hope for? Contentment? But not even that was in store for our poor heroine. Tess sweet, loving nature is invariably abused by men, specifically the two central male characters of Alec D'Urberville and Angel Clare. The road that these two men lead her down becomes increasingly more terrible and depressing. But what makes it worst is that Tess herself felt she deserved her fate.

Yes, I found the story compelling but too sad and disheartening, and if it were not for Thomas Hardy superb writing, I would find myself not enjoying it at all. Yes, it almost makes me feel angry with Hardy, for Tess seems to make decisions that regularly could not be the worst choice. She seems never to catch a break. So, our heroine resigns herself to a bleak future at best, having learned to consider herself through the brutal prism of social convention.

Never in her life – she could swear it from the bottom of her soul – had she ever intended to do wrong, yet these hard judgments had come. Whatever her sins, they were not sins of intention, but of inadvertence, and why should she have been punished so persistently.
What insensibility the rigid morals that applied to women in Victorian England. Hardy demonstrates it superbly, even if by doing it he made me weep. But that was the reality of the times. Morals and attitudes shaped women as inferior and subservient to men. Aren't there traces of those views even nowadays? In fact, there was no escape for Tess. And Hardy goes beyond, portraying majestically the peril unhealthy relationships hold. He does not need to idolize anything; all is there plain to see.

She might have seen that what had bowed her head so profoundly - the thought of the world's concern at her situation - was founded on illusion. She was not an existence, an experience, a passion, a structure of sensations, to anybody but herself. To all humankind besides, Tess was only a passing thought.
May Hardy have gone too far? I question myself. Tess carries her sufferings and guilt through her entire life, but I found myself wanting for a reprieve. Hardy hits you over and over again with Tess's misery that reading his story; I sometimes wanted to abandon her.

Wuthering Heights is full of darkness, but at least the mystery, atmosphere and stronger than life characters appealed more to me. While for Tess there is only disillusionment, adversity and despair; and I found myself wanting a reprieve. Hardy hits you over and over again with such misery that reading it sometimes I was urged to forget her. That did not happen when I was reading Wuthering Heights. What I feel is that there are shades of darkness, and I prefer Emily Brontë’s gloom.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book. However, I certainly will not revisit it, knowing ultimately of Tess’s cruel destiny. For my pleasure reads, I will stick with the happily-ever-after of Lizzy Bennet, or the brooding of Heathcliff that seems stronger than death. But meanwhile, I have to appreciate Hardy’s talent and perseverance in writing such a bleak story, for it is a reality that dreadful things happen to nice people.
...more

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Mar 01, 2015 Helene Jeppesen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Apart from Hardy’s unnecessarily long and wordy descriptions, this is a really beautiful book that teaches some universal truths and depicts human flaws. I’m really glad I gave this one a reread <3

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Feb 21, 2015 Matthew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: revenge, 2020, historical-fiction, classic, required-reading-high-school, favorites, read-more-than-once

4 to 4.5 stars

This was a reread of a required reading book from high school. Usually I am rereading required reading because I did not like the book back then and I want to see if I like it now. But, in this case, I really liked this one when I read it in high school and I really liked it now, too!

There is just something about Hardy that I enjoy. In the past couple of years I read Far From The Madding Crowd and loved it as well. The feel of the writing is not much different from other books I ha ...more

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Oct 03, 2013 Duane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: guardian-1000, reviewed-books, english-calssics, rated-books

This review contains spoilers.

Young Tess Durbyfield, one of the sweetest, most likable, yet tragic, characters in literature. "A pure woman faithfully presented", as Hardy calls her in the sub-title of the book. She is sent out from her family home by her mother and father to the great family of the D'Ubervilles to claim her share of the family fortune. But her pure, innocent mind is no match for the roguish Alec D'Uberville, and their meeting sets Tess on a path that will eventually lead to her ...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Rowena rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: banned-book-challenges, favorites, classics, favourite-authors, bookclub-reads

If I'd only known how much I would enjoy this book, I wouldn't have let it sit on my shelf for 5 long years!

I adore classics but it is hard for me to read a lot of them without feeling some indignation of the injustices dealt to women. Hardy presents us with Tess, a young woman who really doesn't have much control over her life. She is forced to sacrifice herself time and again for her family, including her child-like parents. Poor Tess. My heart really ached for her. Having to go through all s ...more

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Jan 20, 2010 Joel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Joel by: Donna

Shelves: kindle, read-while-in-a-foreign-land, dailylit, classics, 2010, 52-in-2010, 30-day-book-challenge

There's this Lars von Trier movie called Dancer in the Dark, starring Björk of all people. She plays a poor factory worker in rural America. She's going blind (which is not great when you work around heavy machinery), but she needs to save up enough money to pay for an eye operation for her son. To escape her misery, she imagines elaborate musical sequences in her mind. She's also kind of an idiot.

Now, what Lars is going for here could be called misogyny or satire or sociopathy, but in short: he There's this Lars von Trier movie called Dancer in the Dark, starring Björk of all people. She plays a poor factory worker in rural America. She's going blind (which is not great when you work around heavy machinery), but she needs to save up enough money to pay for an eye operation for her son. To escape her misery, she imagines elaborate musical sequences in her mind. She's also kind of an idiot.

Now, what Lars is going for here could be called misogyny or satire or sociopathy, but in short: he really loves torturing characters like poor Björk. So many awful things happen to her, and they are so awful, but also... they are frustratingly melodramatic and contrived. Björk's cop landlord finds out she has a lot of cash. He needs money, but when she refuses to let him borrow it, citing her beatific little son, he tries to steal it and somehow, the impossibilities of the scene continue to pile up and Björk winds up murdering him (oh, there are going to be spoilers here, by the way), not only shooting him several times, but also bashing his head in with a safety deposit box, and runs off and gives the cash to the blindness clinic before she is arrested.

So Björk is tried for murder and theft of the cash that was actually hers, and there are all these extenuating circumstances that she could use to prove her (general) innocence. But for any number of dumb reasons, she cannot. She cannot even explain where the money went (or for some reason, that she is almost blind) because that will result in the cash being seized, and her son will never get his vague operation. Oh also she promised the guy she killed that she wouldn't tell about his stealing, and she won't, even though he is dead and he screwed her over pretty bad in the process. Even when a friend figures everything out and brings in a lawyer to get her off, she refuses because of her son, resigned to her fate.

So anyway, she is convicted, and sentenced to death, and has one last fantasy song sequence as she is walking to the gallows, and just when it reaches its operatic climax (after some awful keening when they attempt to put the hood over her head), they pull the lever and her neck snaps. That's the end of the movie.

Everyone I know who has seen it has the same story: by the end, they were rolled into a ball on the couch, quivering and lowing quietly in grief. Though a really excellent movie in many ways, with a devastating lead performance, watching it is a brutal experience, simply because it is so relentlessly dogmatic in its bleakness, its melodrama, its dim view of humanity, and its commitment to punishing the leading lady.

I am pretty sure Lars von Trier read a lot of Thomas Hardy when he was growing up. He definitely read Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

Facebook 30 Day Book Challenge Day 4: Book that makes you cry. ...more

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Oct 26, 2016 Jason Koivu rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Damn it, Tess! Stand up for yourself! Ugh.... Is there anything more infuriating than seeing dudes get away with being two-faced assholes towards women and the women accepting it as a matter of course?

Certainly Thomas Hardy was writing of a time and place that not only condoned the privilege of condescending white male superiority, it perpetuated it by both sexes accepting it as the standard of the day. More like double standard of the day. What's good for the gander is NOT okay for the goose to ...more

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Jan 07, 2014 Apatt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fave-classics

“I felt a little like a man reading a very grim book. A Thomas Hardy novel, say. You know how it’s going to end, but instead of spoiling things, that somehow increases your fascination. It’s like watching a kid run his electric train faster and faster and waiting for it to derail on one of the curves.”

Stephen King, 11/22/63

When I was reading King’s 11/22/63 I noted down this line because I was planning to read Tess of the d'Urbervilles soon and from its reputation and the two other Thomas Hardy “I felt a little like a man reading a very grim book. A Thomas Hardy novel, say. You know how it’s going to end, but instead of spoiling things, that somehow increases your fascination. It’s like watching a kid run his electric train faster and faster and waiting for it to derail on one of the curves.”

Stephen King, 11/22/63

When I was reading King’s 11/22/63 I noted down this line because I was planning to read Tess of the d'Urbervilles soon and from its reputation and the two other Thomas Hardy novels that I read I expected that it will probably make me at least a little melancholy, if not downright miserable. Why read it then? Just as books by Neal Stephenson is a workout for the mind I think that Hardy’s books are a good workout for the emotion (or what we on the interweb call the feels these days).

The initial plot trajectory from the moment Tess meets the obvious degenerate (and proud of it) Alec d'Urberville with his fancy ~~sports car~~ dog-cart and strawberries is predictable.

— Nastassja Kinski As Tess (1979 adaptation) —
It is clearly telegraphed by the author and you just know it is not going to well for poor Tess. After being turned into “damaged goods,” she puts up a brave face and soldiers on with her life, taking a minimum wage job as a milkmaid. As luck (or misfortune) would have it she meets Angel Clare a nice young man who relentlessly courted her and she falls in love with to devastating effect.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles is a character study and also a social commentary of the time of Hardy’s writing. The characterization of the main protagonists is quite complex. Tess herself starts off a naturally beautiful naïve girl who Hardy puts through the wringer and emerges no less beautiful in spite of spiritual damage. The only truly indomitable thing about her seems to be her beauty. She makes a one poor decision after another and the goodness of her heart is eventually her undoing as misadventures are heaped upon her by the author (shakes fist at Hardy).

As for Angel Clare, the romantic lead of this tale of woe, although he evidently a good man he is in some ways worse than Alec d'Urberville. The devastation he wrought upon Tess on the basis of his self-righteous conception of morality makes him entirely unsympathetic. While Alec is basically just a garden variety womanizer Angel is what Monty Python once described as a “silly bunt” (if that makes no sense you may want to google it).

Gemma Arterton As Tess (2009 adaptation), again with the strawberry!

So as expected it all ends in tears, this novel is no less miserable than the mirthless Jude the Obscure (if you want to read a relatively happy Hardy you may want to check out Far from the Madding Crowd). Thomas Hardy’s writing flows as beautifully as ever but if he was still alive today I probably wouldn’t want to invite him to a birthday party. I have The Return of the Native in my TBR though. Like Tess, I must be a sucker for punishment.

Anyway, highly recommended; read this and you may never laugh again (LOL!).

_________________________________
Note:
I read the audiobook version of this book, beautifully narrated by Davina Porter, got it really cheap from Amazon at $0.99! ...more

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May 16, 2010 Rakhi Dalal rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: hardy, favorites, classics

Thomas Hardy doesn’t need any introduction by me. An eminent writer from the nineteenth century, his work is an evidence of the social recounts, which added a more humanitarian perspective to the cause and whose other advocates included the writers like George Eliot, Thackeray and Dickens. Hardy was much aware of the sad state of farm workers, especially women during those times. The dilemma faced by women, who were the victims of seduction, appalled Hardy and he was aghast at lack of concern to ...more

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Jan 01, 2008 J rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I could have been perfectly happy with Alec. Then Angel broke my heart. I had trouble making out the words through my white-hot indignant anger. Then I cried and cried and the type ran and all those painful words pooled down at the bottom of the page before running out onto my lap. I've never told anyone these things. Should I have? Does anyone care? ...more

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Sep 26, 2009 notgettingenough rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: pre20th-century

Not long ago I had a parting with my mother which was unexpectedly emotional. We both hastily pulled back from that, not being given to such displays with each other, but a few days later my mother wrote to say she was suddenly overwhelmed with the sense that there are more partings than meetings in life, if that were philosophically possible.

A mathematician, I fancy, would say this is a perfectly simple situation. If there is a parting, there must have been a meeting, just as for every ending a

Not long ago I had a parting with my mother which was unexpectedly emotional. We both hastily pulled back from that, not being given to such displays with each other, but a few days later my mother wrote to say she was suddenly overwhelmed with the sense that there are more partings than meetings in life, if that were philosophically possible.

A mathematician, I fancy, would say this is a perfectly simple situation. If there is a parting, there must have been a meeting, just as for every ending a beginning. And yet this is simply not true, which is why science is so limited in what it can explain to us. In fact, the more one begins to consider the matter of meetings and partings the more complicated it all becomes.

My father died a couple of months ago. Was that his parting from me, as my mother moved him from one position from another to make his unconscious state more comfortable for him, only to see him stop breathing for ever? Or was it a few days prior when I arrived in Adelaide and he squeezed my hand, his last conscious gesture? Was that a greeting or a parting? A few years ago I had two of my closest friends die, suddenly, without warning, doing domestic chores one minute, dead moments later. Where is the parting? An innocuous affair on both occasions. Breakfast with one the day before, ‘see you on Friday, Maree’. Coffee with the other, ‘Til the weekend, Paul’. These are not partings.

And, if it comes to that, which meeting matches a parting? In the case of my relationship with my father, is his death to be counterpoised by my birth? My father most gingerly picking up this tiny thing who is appalled by the flat hairy chest she finds with the entirely inadequate nipple. ‘Whah. WHAHHHHHHH. Give me back to the one with the big breasts, get me outta here.’ Most likely complete relief on the part of both of us. Does this occasion in any way match up to our final parting?

Do we intuitively feel like the partings outweigh the meetings because in the end sadness overwhelms joy? But is this really true? Do not tiny moments of happiness have the capacity to overrun and totally banish the sadness that led up to them? Maybe some tiny twist in logic of which a mathematician might totally disapprove lets us see not meetings and partings, but partings and meetings, sadness leading to joy, not joy to sadness.

I’d forgotten until I just watched it, that Tess is a story of meetings and partings. In a life of cruel partings, and meetings which are always tainted so that joy is melancholic and not to be trusted, when Tess takes the final decisive step that permits her no more than a few days of the exquisite all-encompassing happiness which was so rightfully hers, but which she could only take through an act that ensured her happiness would be the briefest of things, still, do we not have a sense that those few sweet days are what she takes with her, that they negate every shitty dreadful thing that has happened to her before then?

rest is here:

http://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpres... ...more

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May 30, 2013 Jr Bacdayan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

It pains me to say that whenever I hear about Tess of the d'Urbervilles, I automatically associate it with Fifty Shades of Grey. Oh, that this masterpiece be besmirched in my mind by that rubbish is a travesty! Thus, I resolutely set upon disconnecting the thread by finally reading this book. And what a journey this has taken me in. I've heard from a lot of people, that Tess is one of Mr. Hardy's more inferior works. This being my first Hardy experience. Honestly, if you call this is inferior, t ...more

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Apr 26, 2012 Arah-Lynda rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: i-said

I am quite conflicted by this read.

On the one hand, Hardy’s style is flawless, beautiful as he describes the country side, the dairy, drawing out the vivid landscapes of this story. His delicious bits delight the senses with heart stopping sensitivity. And then there is his Tess our protagonist….poor Tess

is so downtrodden, her journey so bleak, hello Holden Caulfield this is PUT UPON. Still Tess is strong and holds close, her own little sparks, nuggets of hope, she tucks them way back, protectiv ...more

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Jul 09, 2019 Merphy Napier rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, classics, contemperary

4.5

I get that this book has a lot of mixed reviews and I totally see why. But I loved it. I was so attached to Tess and on the edge of my seat to see what would happen to her. And that ending... wow. I just loved it

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Jun 29, 2020 Amelie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I am studying this book as part of my A level for English literature and it is one of my favourite classics I have read. Tess Durbeyfield is from a working-class family, the opposite of Alec d'Urberville. Tess is offered a job on the d'Urberville estate which she accepts as she blames herself for an accident involving the family's horse, their only income. Alec seduces Tess and takes advantage of her in the woods one night, Tess had to return to her family home to give birth to his child, who di ...more

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Nov 02, 2019 Michelle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Ugh Tess! I'm no expert on classics but I've read enough to say with some confidence that Tess must be the unluckiest woman in classic literature.

Ugh Tess! She literally does go from one nightmare to the next and it didnt even frustrate me that she took everything on the chin as I just felt life had worn her down so much she was exhausted.

Ugh Tess! I actually feared this book was going to put me into a reading slump as while the story line is actually quite good it does drag on in true classic ...more

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Feb 27, 2007 Melissa added it · review of another edition

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.
--------------------------
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 en 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.
--------------------------
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...
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.

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.

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.

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.

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. ...more

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Apr 27, 2017 Charlotte May rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, sisters, historical-fiction

Poor Tess! Her life is literally shit - I don't know how she makes it through all that she does.
Props to Thomas Hardy for creating a novel with such tragedy and pain throughout - its a far cry from the high classes of Jane Austen.
I don't mind tragic or dark books - in fact i enjoy those more than novels that attempt to make everything sunshine and roses, and in doing so Hardy comments on the madness of social conventions and morals during Victorian England.
Tess Durbeyfield is born into a poor fa Poor Tess! Her life is literally shit - I don't know how she makes it through all that she does.
Props to Thomas Hardy for creating a novel with such tragedy and pain throughout - its a far cry from the high classes of Jane Austen.
I don't mind tragic or dark books - in fact i enjoy those more than novels that attempt to make everything sunshine and roses, and in doing so Hardy comments on the madness of social conventions and morals during Victorian England.
Tess Durbeyfield is born into a poor family, early on in her life she is sent away to 'the land of their ancestors' to hopefully marry a wealthy gentleman. Instead what she finds is a rude and presumptuous man - Alec D'Urberville whose constant attempts to woo her lead her to run back home but not before he (view spoiler)
After being booted out of her home for being unable to accept D'Urberville's hand in marriage. She heads off to a dairy farm to find work and gets on well enough. That is until she meets Angel Clare, who like every man it seems becomes infatuated with Tess. Tess however doesn't feel worthy of him and constantly rebukes him. Eventually her restraint wears down and they marry, though shortly after she can bear her secret no longer and tells Angel of her past.
Her supposedly all loving husband cannot possibly cope with (view spoiler) That he runs off to Brazil.
Tess is alone once again, shortly after the death of her father she is forced to support her mother and siblings, sucking her back into the path of D'Urberville.
Ultimately this is a tragedy - and if you like happy endings this one isn't for you. Tess suffers hardship after hardship by these two men. Hardy portrays them in a way that almost mocks Angel Clare for his Victorian morals and behaviours - a view that would have been very controversial during Hardy's time.
If you like classics that are a bit different from the norm - and aren't scared away by the unfairness and injustice of it all - then definitely give Tess a go! ...more

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which Hardy novel should I read first?	10	371	3 hours, 56 min ago
Was Tess raped or was she seduced?	199	2305	4 hours, 1 min ago
Is Angel Clare the real villian of Tess of the D'Urbervilles?	22	592	4 hours, 14 min ago
Ladies & Literature: * Official 2019 Fall Classics Book Discussion: Tess of the D'Urbervilles	8	15	Oct 24, 2020 08:43AM
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About Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy

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Thomas Hardy, OM, was an English author of the naturalist movement, although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural. He regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels mainly for financial gain. The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex, delineates cha ...more