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Summary: Agony of Moral Decisions
Review: This book is about the struggle of having character. As such, it addresses perhaps a timeless question: should we follow our hearts and do what we want or should we follow convention and do what we think is demanded? Although they try desperately, and for a time succeed, Jude and Sue never fully escape the demands of conscious, obligation, and social convention. And it destroys them. Jude and Sue thus personify the agonizing struggle to make moral decisions. If we knew right from wrong, we would choose right every time. But, what makes Jude and Sue's struggles so painful is that they are trying to choose between right and right, or wrong and wrong. Either decision provides as much pain, although in a different way. So what do you do? Hardy doesn't give any easy answers. But, especially today when most of us all the time do exactly what we want, perhaps the question is worth thinking seriously about.
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Summary: Hardy's Last Novel
Review: Supposedly, this book was burned by the Bishop of Wakefield when it was first released, and Hardy's wife was furious at him because people would think it was autobiographical. The response to the book was the final nail in the coffin that caused Hardy to stop writing novels. Jude Hawley is born into a changing world-- a world that's changed enough that a poor boy can dream about a university eduction and a professional future. However, it hadn't changed enough for that dream to yet be realizable. Hawley instead is entrapped into a hasty marriage and sacrifices his dreams of further education. Even after the marriage is dissolved by the wife removing herself to Australia, Jude continues to be haunted for the rest of his life by his early mistake-- dooming himself and his true love to a lifetime of misery. The book is bleak. The characters (Jude and Sue, primarily) can't live with the choices that law and religion demands, but they can't live outside them either and their attempts to do so only drive them down deeper. The central thesis of the book, and the one that was so shocking a the time, was that these moral and legal strictures prevented people from fulfilling their dreams and living happy lives. Jude the Obscure challenges the sanctity of marriage by building a tragedy about people trapped by its convention. An important and challenging book. It continues to be relevant today.
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Summary: The most intimate look into the depths of society's ills
Review: This work is undoubtedly Hardy's best, and quite arguably the greatest piece of fiction I have ever read, or to have ever existed. Instead of beating around the bush and conforming to current literary themes, Hardy explodes into a world of truth, where the poor cannot be revered as intelligent, the lowly agrarian has no chance to truly be in place with the noble scholars, and where a pure and true love can never be completely exposed without the interference of a society that is almost jealous of Jude and Sue's happiness. This story is truly heartbreaking, but it is an honest depiction of what the masses of ignorance can do to two stubbornly liberal souls.
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Summary: Extraordinary
Review: Jude is a brilliant, critical and creative glance at Christian marriage and sexual relationships in England's Victorian age. The reader is slowly drawn into a relationship with the book's tragic hero who fails to achieve his dreams of being a scholar and a lover. The story is truly one of the saddest that I have had the pleasure of reading. Much can be learned from this profound novel.
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Summary: One of the most beautiful books in the world
Review: This was Thomas Hardy's last and most dark (obscure) novels. A true masterpiece! Hardy exells himself in describing every little emotion of Jude and Sue: two outcasts from society, seeking refuge in each others love, but with a grim conclusion. Though, Hardy's extraordinary insight in the souls of his two greatest creations is astonishing, it is the pureness and simpleness of the story that is most striking. This is truly one of the best books I have ever read
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Summary: A masterpiece.
Review: Regardless of what some uneducated or shallow people might say about this novel, it IS a masterpiece. For one, the way Hardy writes is wonderful. He does not give it to you easy, but he gives it to you. To recomed a Dickens novel in place of this is tragic. For one, Dickens was a man of the people and wrote for the people, often changing his endings and tittles to better suit audiences. Hardy obviously does not do this. Jude is clearly a late Victorian Age novel and even though it was not accepted during this time, Hardy's portrayal of 19th century England, the view points of sociey at that time, etc should be read now for not only historical reasons alone, but for the unique way Hardy presents them. Too, this novel is very sad. This is one reason it was not accepted at the time. However, readers should note that due to the publication of this novel, education was made more readily availible to people of lower socioeconomic classes. For me, that, meant that this novel made a diffrence, thus making it even more spectacular. Overall, for all those interested, Jude is by far a classic masterwork and should be read and appreciated by those who can fully grasp its power. More importantly, though, it is a true drama of the mind and of human existance and emotion.
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Summary: A very intriguing story
Review: The story is such that you feel that the tragedies and the emotions he depicts are always possible even if they are to the extremes. Love between Jude and Sue is looked down upon but this story has evolved beautifully on this love. I bet Hardy was criticised in his time although now people get to enjoy this story.
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Summary: Absoulutely Horrible
Review: Being an English AP student, I was given this book to read over the summer. I was hoping for a book with at least something enlightening or interesting in it, but I found this book to be nothing more than useless. Nothing can save this book from being what it is: overdramatic and overpraised. Jude is a pathetic loser, Sue has no control over her emotions, and they are both idiots. I was glad when the children hung themselves, as it was the single most entertaining part of the book. Who the hell names a kid "Father Time" anyway???? A tale of incest and stupidity..... forget it. read this book if you want to punish yourself. This book made me angry and will do so for any reasonable person that picks it up and makes it all the way through.
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Summary: A Fabulous, Fascinating Favorite
Review: I am a huge fan of Victorian literature, specifically Thomas Hardy, and I believe this is by far his most brilliant novel, although not as well known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles or the Mayor of Casterbridge. The story, though tragic, is beautifully told and skillfully developed without all of the useless hype of today's John Grisham and Tom Clancy novels. The thoughts, surroundings, and lives of the characters become the focus of the story rather than intense action or contrived suspense. You are drawn into the characters' lives; Hardy forces you to care for them, cry for them, and mourn for them. This novel is not for the empty-hearted or those looking for a light read. But for those interested in the emotions and lives of people, this book will be a fast favorite, despite its somber tone and tragic story.
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Summary: A breath-taking story...
Review: I'm a big Thomas Hardy fan, and with a B.A. in English I can tell you that this book is truly a classic! Jude is one of the most likable characters in English literature, and Sue is one of the most revolting yet fascinating ones. This one is even better than "Tess of the D'Urbervilles." You must read it.
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