One of the most powerful books I've ever read. I found the impact shattering. The tragedies of men's and women's struggles against the social system are portrayed as hopeless and seemingly eternal. ( )

A real thinking book. Not as infamous as I thought. But I can understand why for the era in which it came out why it was so shocking. ( )

I understand that this book was very controversial in its time, but that original sense of outrage just doesn't translate well to this day and age. Parts of this book I really liked - when Jude was young and discovering his love of learning, when he was a little older and developing complicated plans to further his education, and even his courtship of Arabella - but a lot of it, usually involving Sue and her wishy washy-ness, and her inability to make a decision, made me want to throw it against the wall.

I read this because of Hardy's status as an author, and because I genuinely enjoyed The Mayor of Casterbridge, but I don't think it's one I'll be holding on to as a permanent part of my library. ( )

Nice to see the young Kate Winslet and her fine style of acting ( )

Midway through this, I called my boyfriend, who has an English lit degree, and asked, "Um, besides all the spouse-swapping, is anything actually going to happen in this book?" He laughed and said, "Trust me. Something's going to happen."

Something did.

I finished the book at 3:00 a.m. and couldn't sleep all night. I staggered down to breakfast and sat in the cafeteria with such a traumatized expression that several friends asked me what had happened. Thomas Hardy happened, that's what. Little Father Time happened. ( )