An amazing novel! Hardy is a genius, and Tess a fabulous heroine. The ending is moving. It's interesting to see a novel without a heroic male. ( )

**** "Happiness is but a mere episode in the general drama of pain." ~Thomas Hardy

A fitting quote to sum up the entire existence of Tess Durbeyfield, the beautifully tragic heroine of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Tess reminded me of that sister or friend in your life that you cannot help but love because of her absolute goodness of character, yet at the same time cannot help but become exasperated by due to her constant poor judgment and lack of common sense. She i...more "Happiness is but a mere episode in the general drama of pain." ~Thomas Hardy

A fitting quote to sum up the entire existence of Tess Durbeyfield, the beautifully tragic heroine of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Tess reminded me of that sister or friend in your life that you cannot help but love because of her absolute goodness of character, yet at the same time cannot help but become exasperated by due to her constant poor judgment and lack of common sense. She is the embodiment of all that is good and right, but her lack of backbone and ability to think for or stand up for herself is often maddening to the point of distraction. Devotion is an admirable quality in any human being, but at what point does such a trait cross the line to becoming blind obedience? This character trait in Tess had me questioning throughout the entire book whether the pivotal moment of the story...the point at which Tess loses her innocence...was, in fact, a case of rape or just another moment in Tess's life in which she allowed someone to coerce her into her actions.

On the whole, I was captivated by Hardy's beautifully tragic story, despite the fact that I found all 3 of the main characters to be unbelievably exasperating and frustrating to me. The writing was beautiful, and in many ways I found the author's use of purposeful ambiguity in regards to the "main event" to be a masterful move in creating his story. His use of character development gives us many clues as to what could have happened, but in the end we're left to decide for ourselves. Regardless, the culmination of events leads to a heartwrenching conclusion that left this reader pondering the age old themes of Forgiveness, Redemption, Judgment, Pride, Devotion, and more... ( )

Profoundly affecting. ( )

Never has a story gripped me more and made me fiercely proud to be a woman of our modern era. For a book that Hardy meant to create a conversation about the treatment and view of women, I would say he succeeded...even today. You fall in love with Tess, you feel for her pain, and you cheer her on in the hopes of some happiness. Tess, the book, is horribly tragic, but makes its point about the subjugation of women and the double standard placed on women of the Victorian era. ( )

One of his most famous books, Thomas Hardy tells the story of class and sex prejudice. Not my favorite book of his. ( )