Did you finish reading the book?

[withdrawn]

I read this 45 years ago and images still come back to me. It is a great book. But I agree with Angie. It is diificult to read through because it so graphically realizes the inevitability of Tess's life. She is an innocent who can't seem to get off the road to destruction and Hardy does it extremely well. There are points that I felt that I didn't want to go on reading. A very good book.

[Anne]

Yes I did because I have made a promise that I will read everything on my Kindle. I never have more than 5-6 unread and when I get down to 1 or 2 I buy some more.
It was difficult though. The text is so much more dense than more modern works and I haven't read anything like this for pleasure, only when at school so I found it tough going. And I agree - so sad. A beautiful book.

[Hannah]

i love hardy books , mayor of casterbridge is my favourite but i am sorry i cant stand this book , i love the writing and i love the way he describes the world he creates but i spent the whole book wanting to slap tess, and dont even get me started on angel clare ... what a git !!

i am not sure it is all to do with the period constraints as a lot of his oter characters are much more strong willed than tess ,

[HJ]

Angie wrote: "Did you finish reading the book?, why or why not?

I am reading it right now and as I am advancing I am losing heart to continue. I want to know if someone has felt the same I feel right now. If yo..."

I had to read it for A level English. While some of the descriptive writing is superb (I remember a scene set in an orchard in the early morning? - I think!) I absolutely hated this book and would have left it unfinished had I the option. It left me with a loathing for Thomas Hardy - not helped by the film of Far From the Madding Crowd, in which Julie Christie is magnificent but the characters and the plot exemplify all that I disliked about Tess of the D'U.

I don't want to spoil it for you, but I could have shaken Tess and Angel more than once, separately and together.

That said, I was alone in my class in disliking it (and loving Persuasion, one of the other set books, which I already adored). Make of that what you will!

[Robert]

I love reading the comments where readers want to punch characters or shake them senseless. To involve your audience so thoroughly is the greatest reward for a writer.

[Jeffrey]

I struggled to finish this - my first and LAST Hardy book. I concede Hardy's greatness as an author but there lies a fault inside of me that yearns for at least a happy or hopeful ending. Good grief, at least in the misery that is Wuthering Heights just about the only two people that didn't die off end up together with a modicum of hope. The tragedy of Tess was disturbing and left my unhappy at the conclusion and I can't stand to read some 400+ pages and end up depressed.

[Katy]

Finish it. Its really good. One of my faves.

[John Anthony]

I loved this book, Tess and Hardy. It is my favourite Hardy to date and perhaps my book of the year?

[Jaya]

This was my first of Thomas Hardy's.Great book I liked it so much that I finished it reading in just 4days .

[Anne]

I found it a more difficult and therefore slower read, yes. I think the text is more dense and there are more adjectives and fewer active verbs than in more modern writing so the pace of the prose is less. There is also more introspection and the plot itself is slower.

Having said that, it was good to finish it. I really enjoyed Hardy when I was at school, much more than Dickens, and didn't find the stories a slog at all, but this was one I hadn't read, and am out of practice at reading this kind of prose.

I have a rule since Christmas, if it's on my Kindle I will finish it. Good, bad, don't like it, do like it - I will read them all. I hope its a good discipline that will translate back to traditional books because I find them too easy to abandon. Don't give up - you will be rewarded one way or another, even if it is only a better insight into your own reading habits and technique.

[Jeffrey]

I think you should finish it and get the full emotional effect from the author. I finished Tess and will never read another Hardy book. That is my mere opinion and I'll not delve into spoilers. Hardy's greatness is unquestioned. His scene of Tess self-baptizing her dying infant son with her siblings as witnesses was one of the most overpowering emotional masterpieces I have ever read. Yes, please finish it.

[Deeptanshu]

This was certainly a very moving book but I must admit that I did skip a couple of chapters here and there though I did finish it.
It is a bit slow at times and I could still easily follow the story.

[Veronica]

I did finish it and loved it. Sad ending though.

[Malini]

You must finish! You will be "rewarded" with the end. It is an incredible story- although, admittedly, a bit slow in some parts.

[Jan]

Hardy is one of my all-time favorite authors, and has been for forty years. I'd be hard pressed to say which of his books is my favorite, but this is right up there.

[Lauren]

I had to read it for A Level English Literature, but I only got up to Phase four/ five. The problem was that I would try and read in quiet areas like the library or my room and I would read up to a certain point before I'd feel my eyes start to droop (I need a little bit of noise around me). I even tried reading it on the bus but even with the noise, the movement of the bus (and the time of day) meant that again my eyes began to droop.

[Denise]

Angie wrote: "Did you finish reading the book?, why or why not?

I am reading it right now and as I am advancing I am losing heart to continue. I want to know if someone has felt the same I feel right now. If yo..."

I read it in high school, but not for school a long time ago. I did finish it, thought I don't recall a particular reason. Happily ever after it not Hardy's thing--I think I can say that much without spoiling the ending for you.

But it is worth finishing, just to see how vain, foolish and stupid Hardy saw people.

[Shanea]

I read this twice years ago for school, and did not want to read it again. Not that I am stating that it is a bad book, it is well written and I understand that many people enjoy Hardy, but it is not to my preference and thus not worth a re-read.