Jude the Obscure

Rating:
Summary: Definatley Memorable
Review: This has been one of my very favorite books since I was about thirteen... and every time I read it, I still get the same feeling from it. It's very tragically written, in classic Hardy style, where nothing will ever work out as it should... but despite that, you find yourself hoping that it will, even though the doom of the well-written charachters is inevitable. Jude Fawley is a very well-developed charachter, and you don't forget him any time soon. A good read, for perhaps early highschool and older.

Rating:
Summary: a rather crooked love story of materialized matrimony
Review: This book is about marriage and expectation. It concurred the cruelty of outer world than their heart, like the wall between purity and public status, like the worldliness of education. In my youthfulness, I don't understand the connection of marriage and love, but I did realize the real sin that God gave us for breaking it.

Rating:
Summary: Not an easy read
Review: I didn't enjoy reading this one. I know Hardy isn't the most cheery writer, but this was beyond just depressing -- it was boring. About halfway through, I was tempted to just skip the rest but I trudged on to the bitter end.

This may have been scandalous when it was published, but why couldn't Hardy have done a better job with the ending? The almost Dickensian sequence of hard-to-swallow tragedies was too contrived for my taste. Was Hardy afraid of writing a happy ending for this unconventional pair, or did he want to display the worst-case effects of a rigid social code of behavior? Either way, it all became pretty unbelievable.

From a historical point of view, as a jumping-off point for a discussion of the social constraints and morals of the period, Jude is a success; it certainly seems to have set off some fireworks when it was first published. As casual reading, I can't recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Poor Jude
Review: Poor Jude, literally and figuratively. He is the ultimate trapped man waiting and hoping for redemption that never comes. He wants education, love, and a future for his children. These are all thwarted by both society and individuals. This book is wonderfully sad and depressing, perfect for a rainy weekend ALONE. This is not the book to read in the throes of love and optimism. Hardy's language draws you in and keeps you reading. I threw down the book five times in anger and frustration but HAD TO keep reading to find what happens next, I finished it within two days! The writing evokes the mood of the novel and the people involved so vividly that I could almost smell the pigs, hear the stonemason's tapping and feel the cold fog of Christminister.

Rating:
Summary: Students of Jude, Keep Reading
Review: I am generally of the opinion that a review of a work of art should be an honest expression of one's feelings or thoughts concerning the work in question. ... That said, "Jude the Obscure" is an extremely challenging novel. But, the tragedy of Jude can be appreciated by anyone that possesses the capacity to think rather than the ability to regurgitate sentiments that can be read in any commentary on the novel. I want to encourage every student out there who wishes to read "Jude the Obscure" for what it really is - an enlightening and engrossing story. These are the people who will understand the meaning of the novel.

Rating:
Summary: Depressing in the extreme, but also extremely well written.
Review: As with Tess of the d'Urbervilles, if you like tragic, historic romances, you'll love this book. For that matter, if you like soap operas, you'll probably like this book. Furthermore, it isn't nearly as overly wordy as Tess, or for that matter most 19th Century fiction. Its style is much more concise and direct than most of its contemporaries, although still a bit stilted by modern standards.

But what's more, this book is worthwhile from another standpoint entirely: it is a scathing condemnation of traditional marriage("And so, standing before the aforesaid officiator, the two swore that at every other time of their lives until death took them, they would assuredly believe, feel, and desire precisely as they had believed, felt, and desired during the few preceding weeks. What was as remarkable as the undertaking itself was that nobody seemed at all surprised at what they swore.") and traditional religion, and of ruining one's life by living it to please society and its strictures; and while society has changed much since the days this book was written in (and about), there are those who would argue that those changes were not for the better; that liberalizing attitudes toward divorce, and toward living together without benefit of marriage, have been a seriously bad thing. This book is an excellent look at how it was not always such a good thing for people to be forced into marriages that were clearly not compatible, and forced to stay in them. And while, as I say, times have changed a great deal, there are still far too many people who marry just as precipitously as Jude did Arabella, or Sue did Phillotson, and with no better reasons. It says here that it is a distinct improvement in our society that when people make such a mistake, it can be rectified without totally destroying their lives forever after.

Granted, if you're looking for a worthwhile or positive female character, this is not the book to read; of the two main female characters, one is conniving, mercenary, rude and vulgar, (reminding me a great deal of Moll Flanders, from the DeFoe title of the same name, but without her redeeming charm) while the other is neurotic, selfish, whiny, and inconsistent. If you're looking for a worthwhile female character, "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" is a much better choice. Or better yet, the aforementioned "Moll Flanders". But in general, this book is much better written than "Tess". For one thing, although it is just as much of a tragic romance, if not more so, the characters do not ALWAYS make the wrong choices. They occasionally make good choices, and get a little bit of happiness as a result. This makes for a much better balanced book, and a much more realistic one. But it is definitely not for everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Save us from pompous reviewers
Review: Will Godwin ([e-mail]) from Wisbech, England writes several reviews below: "I, like Mr. Myers, am substantially smarter than the average reviewer (or moronic AP student), and therefore must say that I am one of the few people who can truly appreciate the unique aestheticism of Hardy's transcendental, impressionistic, amorphous, and quasi-sublime genius."

Then goes on, after a paragraph about the novel itself:

"After the completion of this novel, Hardy, as Mr. Myers told us, wrote poetry that suggested a great deal of Shelley's influence for the rest of his life. I am shocked, though, that no reviewer, not even Mr. Myers or a stupid AP student, mentioned that Hardy turned to poetry after the critics and public ridiculed and castigated him for writing JUDE. I seem to be the only reviewer knowledgeable and well-read enough to know that."

PLEASE! The back cover of the Penguin classic edition of the book contains the information of which he speaks, which hardly makes one knowledgeable and well-read!

Mr. Godwin would do well to be substantially more obscure himself!

Rating:
Summary: CONTINUING THE REVIEW OF DANIEL MYERS
Review: I agree with Mr. Myers' observations about this book's merit and his mention of its relation to Percy Shelley. I, like Mr. Myers, am substantially smarter than the average reviewer (or moronic AP student), and therefore must say that I am one of the few people who can truly appreciate the unique aestheticism of Hardy's transcendental, impressionistic, amorphous, and quasi-sublime genius.

Hardy's novel, though a bit melodramatic and self-conscious in comparison to his better works, still stands, as only Mr. Myers and I can adequately recognize (as I said before), as one of the great monuments of western literature. Jude's progression from an empty life with Arabella, to a sort-lived and star-crossed fling with his cousin Sue, to his ultimate separation and isolation is one of the most heartbreaking stories ever. Hardy related more to Tess than any other character, but still feels a relation to Jude's involuntary attraction to suffering.

After the completion of this novel, Hardy, as Mr. Myers told us, wrote poetry that suggested a great deal of Shelley's influence for the rest of his life. I am shocked, though, that no reviewer, not even Mr. Myers or a stupid AP student, mentioned that Hardy turned to poetry after the critics and public ridiculed and castigated him for writing JUDE. I seem to be the only reviewer knowledgeable and well-read enough to know that.

Rating:
Summary: You'll age while reading this...
Review: But oooooh it's good! _Jude_ is really long, and not an easy read (keep your dictionary handy). I'm glad I read it as part of a class. Hardy has plenty of time to craft his characters in this book, and they are crafty indeed. I have never felt such strong emotions towards a literary character. By the time _Jude_ was over, I hated "her" SO MUCH...but you'll have to read it to know who this "her" is. Good luck, and don't get discouraged, it's worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Moves You to Depression
Review: This book will not put cheer in your heart. Few books I have read recently have been so consistently and methodically depressing as "Jude." His utter naivety in being pulled into mistake after mistake and wasting away his life makes you want to shake sense into him. The worst part is that he is not a bad man, he just makes poor decisions. Or perhaps I should say he allows others to make poor decisions for him. He wants to push societal norms on the one hand and conform to them on the other. And he, like most of us, does not have the courage or ambition to break through and achieve his goals. In the end his environment, created by his own folly, drags him down and guarantees his unhappiness. The reason for my ranking of 3-stars is that I didn't find the book compelling or particularly thought provoking. It described a situation I find often in current society. On the plus side Hardy is an excellent writer and the book moves you to emotion.