Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891)

Hardy is such a talent that though we know any tale of his is likely to be grim, we cannot but help gobbling it up. I have spent years telling myself that I'm not doing exactly this simply because I'm not reading the most dire, namely "Jude the Obscure". I'm simply trailing around the drain as I slowly begin to read of the more unfortunate souls. "They are not Jude!" I strenuously remind myself. Ah, yes. They are, however, giving him a run for his money.

Tess is a character to love, despite all you fear from Hardy in his abuse of her. I was drawn to her and that will, naturally, lead to nothing but dashed hopes. I kept reminding myself loudly "this is Hardy! Don't imagine for a second that this is Laura Ingals Wilder!" Good advice, if it's bothered to be taken.

Reading Hardy and expecting that everything will turn out all right is like watching Winslet and DiCaprio in "Titanic" and expecting that the boat comes to harbor with only very smutty graffiti on its hull. This book is enjoyable nonetheless. Which worries me. Jude cannot be far behind. ( )

I've seen a few adaptions but I finally sat down and read the actual book and it is amazing. I've been reading a bunch of Hardy lately and I am so struck by how well he writes women characters. They have so much agency, even though they are imbeded in the system that was already past in the time Hardy was writing. It was a hard read, knowing that it was just getting worse and worse for Tess no matter what. But of all the men who mess her over, I think I am most angry about her useless father. If he could possibly act like a reasonably responsible adult even a small percentage of the time, the compounding tragedies would have no starting point. What a brilliant book.

This was a slow-moving novel about "a pure woman", Thomas Hardy's (1840-1928) original subtitle for "Tess of the D'Urbervilles". While Tess did a lot during her short life, there was a lot of detailed description of the land, more than action, which I found a little tedious. It was easy to like Tess, a simple English country girl; but not so easy to like the men in the novel. They seemed cruel to their women. Altogether a good novel, and perhaps Hardy's best known, it is worth reading, but prepare to be patient. ( )

Young woman taken advantage of, too common to count as tragedy

I am still sad thinking about the pivotal scene. A pox on double standards! How heartbreakingly did I feel Tess's trust and betrayal! It is for the emotional pitch that Hardy captured and I reached that I gave this book its four stars.

Tess's work ethic and her ability to do backbreaking and monotonous labor is left without much comment but is one of the things that I was left to think about after I finished- what does it mean? Is it penance? Is it a mark of her moral superiority? Heterodoxy? Religion? Or is her stark independence, won through mud and dust, a rallying cry to women everywhere: one must not be beholden to a male provider? Food for thought, for sure.

Travel also plays a significant role in this novel. Tess is often alone, traveling through the dark countryside. Another gesture to finding independence for yourself, especially as a young woman? More food for thought.

Hardy uses a lot of crazy vocabulary words to describe landscapes. Why? What was he thinking? Anyway, I broke out the dictionary a bunch of times and learned insane words for describing arable land. ( )