Jude the Obscure (Modern Library Classics)

by Thomas Hardy

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4,228	40	516	(3.94)	113

Work details

Book details

Title	Jude the Obscure (Modern Library Classics)
Author	Thomas Hardy
Rating
Tags	novel, british
Collections	Your library
Your review	I've avoided Thomas Hardy for most of my life: first from ignorance, then on the advice of a few friends whose taste I trust. Then I read an inspirational article in the TLS this summer, on the relationship -- both personal and working -- between Hardy and Henry Ibsen, which directed me towards Jude the Obscure. The description I found there led me to hope that the novel's themes (anticlericism, the emerging modern person, etc) would be right up my alley. So I took the dive. I wish I hadn't. The themes I was looking for are present in this novel, but Hardy's breathless, exuberant style was hard to handle. The first half of the book wasn't great, but I knew the good stuff -- Jude's relationship with Sue and their struggle with the external world -- was yet to come. It came, and kept coming until the book's final pages, but Hardy's overbearing style (especially the dialog) made the final 200 pages, which should have been deeply tragic, a chore to read. I truly wanted this novel to be good, even great, but unfortunately that was not the case. Sorry, Hardy: I've had enough of you, and won't try again, unless I have no choice.
Other authors*
Publication	Modern Library (2001), Edition: 2001 Moder, Paperback
Publication date	2001
ISBN	0375757414 / 9780375757419
LC classification 1	PZ3.H222Ju20
Dewey 1	823.8
Subjects	Adultery › Fiction Children › Death › Fiction Didactic fiction Fiction in English Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928. Jude the obscure Illegitimate children › Fiction Love stories Stonemasons › Fiction Unmarried couples › Fiction Wessex (England) › Fiction
Primary language eng	English
Secondary language	(blank)
Original language
Date acquired	2006-09-05
Date started	2006-09-18
Date finished	2006-10-02
Summary 1	Jude the Obscure (Modern Library Classics) by Thomas Hardy (2001)
Comments
BCID	XXX-
Number of copies	1
Citation	MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian, Wikipedia citation
Data source	Amazon.com

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