Tess of the D’Urbervilles in 100 books to read before you die

Aug 13, 2022 Laura (Reading is a Doing Word) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: hardy, classics-trad-and-modern, books-i-own, 2022-read

I knew Tess was a well-beloved novel by so many, so I was intrigued to delve in and begin to understand what people loved so much. I was not disappointed!

This novel made me rage and despair - all the emotions were felt! I wanted to bolster Tess in her troubles, reassure her she was good and strong and worthy. I wanted to shake her parents, I wanted to give Angel Clare a good slap and I wanted everything that was due him to be meted out upon Alec.

Hardy does an outstanding job of holding society t I knew Tess was a well-beloved novel by so many, so I was intrigued to delve in and begin to understand what people loved so much. I was not disappointed!

This novel made me rage and despair - all the emotions were felt! I wanted to bolster Tess in her troubles, reassure her she was good and strong and worthy. I wanted to shake her parents, I wanted to give Angel Clare a good slap and I wanted everything that was due him to be meted out upon Alec.

Hardy does an outstanding job of holding society to account. He examines the double standards women of the time were held to and the hypocrisy surrounding them. He examines religion and forgiveness, love and devotion, friendship and hardship and so many other aspects of life experienced by Tess and her peers.

As words fail me I’ll highlight some of my favourite quotes.

“She was no longer the milkmaid, but a visionary essence of woman - a whole sex condensed into one typical form.”

“The best is not to remember that your nature and your past doings have been just like thousands’ and thousands’, and that your coming life and doings’ll be like thousands’ and thousands’.”

“The mill still worked on, food being a perennial necessity; the abbey had perished, creeds being transient. One continually sees the ministration of the temporary outlasting the ministration of the eternal.”

“Tess paid the penalty of walking about with happiness superadded to beauty on her countenance by being much stared at as she moved amid them on his arm.”

“ ‘There are very few women's lives that are not - tremulous.’ Tess replied, pausing over the new word as if it impressed her. #There’s more in those three than you think.’”

“...how much less was the difference between the good and wise women of one social stratum and the good and wise women of another social stratum, than between the good and bad, the wise and the foolish, of the same stratum or class.”

“ Perhaps, as with many men, their opportunities of observation were not so good as their opportunities of expression.”
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Apr 13, 2016 Elisabeth Stones rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Oh my goodness, it is finally DONE, this interminable book, whose plot could easily fit into a volume half its size. This book which, like a bad rom-com, derives its bulk mostly from the titular character being actively passive, or not speaking directly to anyone about anything.

The most interesting thing in this book -- and I did truly enjoy these bits -- was the perspective on how the industrial revolution was impacting the Victorian countryside. Far, far more interesting than the flashes of Vi Oh my goodness, it is finally DONE, this interminable book, whose plot could easily fit into a volume half its size. This book which, like a bad rom-com, derives its bulk mostly from the titular character being actively passive, or not speaking directly to anyone about anything.

The most interesting thing in this book -- and I did truly enjoy these bits -- was the perspective on how the industrial revolution was impacting the Victorian countryside. Far, far more interesting than the flashes of Victorian morality in conflict with enlightenment thinking were the accounts of farm machinery (the butter churn at the dairy, the mechanical thresher) and how these labour-saving devices were met with mixed feelings by the workers, and led to increased expectations from the employers. Also of interest was the commentary on the system of hired workers and their housing arrangements. It's this information that I will take away from the novel and appreciate.

As for Tess, whom I initially liked (as we are meant to), I lost patience with her very quickly, as she spends huge amounts of the novel deflecting any kind of direct communication. And Angel Clare's "opened" mind is not as divorced from the morality of his youth as he might think, while he sees his own pre-marital consensual, multi-day sexual experience as forgivable, and Tess's one-time nonconsensual encounter as beyond the pale. Oddly Angel's more closed-minded parents that are the first to show real pity on Tess when they learn she was raped. Not, of course, that anyone speaks of it in those terms. The closest intimation that Tess may not have been responsible for Alec's actions (!?) is when Angel admits that she was "more sinned against than sinning," which is still not enough to keep him from recoiling from her.

I fully understand that Angel's hypocrisy and Tess's reticence are both part of the point of the novel and its illustration of Victorian sensibilities wreaking havoc on well-intentioned folks, but reading it for hour after hour, the book carrying on well after it had made its point, is a slog I'd not recommend to others. ...more

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Nov 14, 2013 Kaysha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bbc-booklist-challenge

This depressing, bleak, tragic novel had me under a spell. I did not want to put it down. This is the first Hardy book I've read, and I fell in love with his writing. I don't think there is a single sentence that in this book that didn't belong. You know, you read books, and find yourself skimming the boring stuff to get to the meat and potatoes. Not with this book. This is definitely one of my favorites!

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