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orlafaherty's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
r0sem4rie's review against another edition
3.0
”But where was Tess’s guardian angle?” is one of the saddest quotes I’ve ever read.
A tragically beautiful book. Thomas Hardy’s prose is so poetic and so effective in its critique of Victorian society and their stupid double standards and criminalisation and rejection of “impure women”. Tess deserved so much more.
“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.”
”The only exercise that Tess took at this time was after dark; and it was then, when out in the woods, that she seemed least solitary.”
A tragically beautiful book. Thomas Hardy’s prose is so poetic and so effective in its critique of Victorian society and their stupid double standards and criminalisation and rejection of “impure women”. Tess deserved so much more.
“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.”
”The only exercise that Tess took at this time was after dark; and it was then, when out in the woods, that she seemed least solitary.”
eatingfiction's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jacket7227's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.0
emeraldgarnet's review against another edition
3.0
Hardy gives a good balance of action, speech and description.
Especially towards the end of the novel the plot felt contrived with too many 'helpful' coincidences. These coincidences unfortunately took away some of the impact of the novel's infamous ending for me.
The novel is mostly free from discriminatory language (with 'gispy's crock' in chapter 16 being a notable exception) but it still accurately reflects the prejudices of the time.
Nonetheless, Tess of the d'Urbervilles stands up well against time and shows a world now long gone that was already disappearing when Hardy wrote the novel.
Especially towards the end of the novel the plot felt contrived with too many 'helpful' coincidences. These coincidences unfortunately took away some of the impact of the novel's infamous ending for me.
The novel is mostly free from discriminatory language (with 'gispy's crock' in chapter 16 being a notable exception) but it still accurately reflects the prejudices of the time.
Nonetheless, Tess of the d'Urbervilles stands up well against time and shows a world now long gone that was already disappearing when Hardy wrote the novel.
novellenovels's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
grvhppr's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
howtoreadmore's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
andreea27's review against another edition
5.0
"How very lovable her face was to him. Yet there was nothing ethereal about it; all was real vitality, real warmth, real incarnation. And it was in her mouth that this culminated. Eyes almost as deep and speaking he had seen before, and cheeks perhaps as fair; brows as arched, a chin and throat almost as shapely; her mouth he had seen nothing to equal on the face of the earth. To a young man with the least fire in him that little upward lift in the middle of her red top lip was distracting, infatuating, maddening. He had never before seen a woman’s lips and teeth which forced upon his mind with such persistent iteration the old Elizabethan simile of roses filled with snow.
Perfect, he, as a lover, might have called them off-hand. But no — they were not perfect. And it was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity."
Perfect, he, as a lover, might have called them off-hand. But no — they were not perfect. And it was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity."
nealagrace's review against another edition
3.0
The ending made it better, but this book is just so depressing.