From the Bookshelf of Never too Late to Read Classics…

Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Thomas Hardy

Start date: July 1, 2018

Finish date: July 31, 2018

Discussion: Lesser Know/Wilderness Classics

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of -2 topics — 2,731 comments total

Lesser Know/Wilderness Classics

* 2025 Must Read Lesser Known Classics: Scheduled Reads
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 72 posts · 193 views

last updated Sep 06, 2025 07:14AM

Wilderness Classics: Buddy Reads
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 73 posts · 109 views

last updated Sep 14, 2025 07:17PM

showing 10 of 10 topics view all »

Other topics mentioning this book

2018 July Tess of the D'Ubervilles
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 41 posts · 43 views

last updated Jul 31, 2018 02:59PM

2018 July: Willem Elsschot's Kaas (Cheese)
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 29 posts · 34 views

last updated Aug 01, 2018 12:29PM

2020 September: Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 54 posts · 41 views

last updated Sep 19, 2020 09:41AM

2022 January: Thomas Hardy
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 120 posts · 121 views

last updated Aug 17, 2023 11:03AM

This topic has been closed to new comments.

* 2022: 700,000 Page Challenge
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 1853 posts · 824 views

last updated Jan 03, 2023 09:27AM

2023 Jan: A Memorable Protagonist
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 51 posts · 91 views

last updated Jan 23, 2023 02:31AM

Latest Addition to your Library
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 880 posts · 489 views

last updated Jul 12, 2025 11:32AM

* 2023: 800,000 Page Challenge
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 1368 posts · 600 views

last updated Jan 01, 2024 07:50AM

2023 Rafael's Bookshelf Bingo Challenge
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 67 posts · 81 views

last updated Dec 16, 2023 04:04AM

Name a Classic that contains the word Harvest or Moon in the title
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 3570 posts · 377 views

last updated Sep 15, 2025 06:07PM

What Members Thought

Jun 05, 2018 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, 1001-books, vic-lit, read-in-2020

UPDATE *** I reread this in January 2020, and loved it even more. I think I picked up on the details more this time.

******

Thomas Hardy writes beautiful, clever, vivid sentences that describe scenery so well that I feel I have traveled to the place. He writes characters who are rich and real, completely flawed and often completely wronged. It is obvious to me that he became friends with his characters. That they shared tea, conversed was and got to know each other well. In this book, he even gave ...more

17 likes · Like · see review

Sep 14, 2014 Jim Townsend rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was a slow-moving novel about "a pure woman", Thomas Hardy's (1840-1928) original subtitle for "Tess of the D'Urbervilles". While Tess did a lot during her short life, there was a lot of detailed description of the land, more than action, which I found a little tedious. It was easy to like Tess, a simple English country girl; but not so easy to like the men in the novel. They seemed cruel to their women. Altogether a good novel, and perhaps Hardy's best known, it is worth reading, but prepa ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Dec 30, 2011 Lisa rated it it was amazing

I absolutely loved this book from beginning to end and am sorry it took me 46 years to get around to reading it. Reminds me a bit of Romeo and Juliet in that Tess and Angel seem to be somewhat star-crossed lovers. The larger problem was that Angel could not see the error of his ways until it was too late. My heart broke for Tess. Yes, I did just say that. I am sad for her in a very real way. Thomas Hardy made Tess and Angel both very real; it was easy to feel empathy, anger, hope, fear, etc. for ...more

Like · see review