Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Classic Fiction)

Rating:
Summary: Mum's the word, says Victorian novelist.
Review: A question that often appears in agony aunt columns relates to the age old dilemma of telling, or not telling, your spouse about an affair with another. Hardy comes down firmly on the side of keeping it quiet. Tess, with excellent intentions, but misguidedly, spills the beans and comes to a sticky end. As her mother says, she is a 'little fool', though a very disingenuous one, to be sure. But there is much more to this book than that.

I first read this book about 40 years ago and have revisited it a few times. It is an immensely powerful, brilliantly written, witty, devastating critique of Victorian morality, religion, and sexual hypocrisy that even today is immensely moving.

If Hardy has a weakness, it is in the plotting of his novels, and you have to admit that perhaps there are one too many coincidences, but this is a small quibble.

This is one of the greatest of all novels. To me it is right up there with Anna Karenina, so I have to give it five stars.

Rating:
Summary: WARNING - Don't read the Introduction first!
Review: My 1 star rating is due to the fact that Oxford University Press gives away the plot twists and even the shocker ending in the second paragraph of their Introduction. Most of the fun of reading any novel is trying to find out what will happen next. Oxford spoils this by giving it away at the start (what were they thinking?!!!). If you pick up this edition, just skip the Intro, or read it AFTER the book. Otherwise, Hardy's novel is a great story with insight into noble character. Hardy gets 5 stars, Oxford U Press gets 1.

Rating:
Summary: Sad, ambiguous, troubling, and beautiful.
Review: My review is based on the Oxford Classics Edition.

Thomas Hardy seems to have been interested mostly in sad, unhappy characters who lead troubled, disappointing lives, struggle against fate, and lose. There is beauty in artistically represented sadness, though, and notably so if we are only spectators. I am not giving away the ending by writing that "Tess" is a sad novel. I think most people who choose to read this book do so because they know it is a sad story, or they have read Hardy before. In my case, I had to read it for school, and what truly surprised me is the ambiguity that Hardy so masterfully portrays in order to make his heroine more of a real person instead of a mere character. By the book's end we really do not know whether Tess was raped or seduced by Alec; whether he took advantage of a sleeping girl and forced himself upon her, or she allowed it in a moment of weakness, tired after a strenous day and grateful to him for "saving" her from the other workers. However it happened, Tess's life is radically changed after the fact and this event will have grave consequences for her and Alec.

The ambiguity is troubling with the entrance of Angel, the hypocrite who falls in love with Tess because she looks angelic, virginal, and beautiful as a child, but rejects her when she tells him that she is not a virgin (therefore not a child) anymore. Her other qualities are there, but Angel equates purity with virginity --something many people still do when it refers to women-- so he can construct a perfect excuse for his terrible behaviour towards the woman he has said he loved. In spite of the forebodings that Hardy drops before Chapter 35, this particular chapter, at the beginning of Phase the Fifth, is very powerful and almost surprising in its intensity. The level of troubling ambiguity goes up several notches at the end of the novel, when it appears that Angel may indeed get his "little girl" as a replacement for the one he just lost.

"Tess" is a sad and beautiful story. There is much more to write about this novel, but I have decided to concentrate on what Hardy seems to have intended when he wrote so beautifully about so sad a theme, but in such an ambiguous way. He calls Tess "A Pure Woman," and she is that. But as only a truly great writer would, he does not present her as an outright victim: there are plenty of opportunities for Tess to escape Alec before they have sex, and plenty of opportunities for her to deal in a different way with the cruel hand that fate has dealt her. She does not escape Alec, and she chooses Angel (rotten luck with men). There are tragic flaws in Tess, and that is what makes her human while making "Tess" into a true tragedy. Hardy knows this. His prose is elegant and, at times, it reads more like poetry, going from good to beautiful.

This edition of the novel is helpful, but it could be better. I prefer foot-notes rather than end-notes. If they have to be end-notes, they should have numbers. The Introduction by Simon Gatrell is original, although I do not agree with its main premises: that there are two Thomas Hardys at work in "Tess," and that "A Pure Woman" refers not to purity, but to "essential, wholly" woman. This is valid as an opinion but unsupported by evidence. I recommend "Tess of the d'Urbervilles." If you have never read Hardy, read this. If you have read him, you know what to expect.

Rating:
Summary: This book stays with you.
Review: This book is tragic and wonderfully written. Hardy uses words to create a scene for you that creates the visual for you completely. I think that the sadest thing for me was to realize people did live like this, life really was that hard. As a 21st century woman I was outraged at the way that Tess was treated by men and by society. Who is the true bad guy, Alec or Angel? When we read it with our societies mores we perceive it one way, but if we were ken to the morals of that society how would we see it? Are they really dastards, or are they all just victims. I am not a scholar, I liked the story for being a good story.

After reading the book I rented the A&E movie. As I watched it, I realized how well the book translated into video, because I had already seen the exact same scenery in my mind. The only thing that surprised me was the bleakness of the trunip farm and Tesses horrible conditions. I couldn't imagine anything that awful.

There are a lot of words, similar to DH Lawrence, but I wouldn't get rid of a one of them. If you come to this book as a great story and not as a classic novel, you will hold Tess to your heart and never forget her tragedies.

Rating:
Summary: Grim, but beautiful
Review: This is possibly the saddest novel I have ever read. I have been thinking about it ever since I finished it. Few novels have evoked so much emotion in me. Tess makes me feel sad, frustrated, and angry.
Tess of the Durbervilles is the story of Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of poor, alcoholic parents who learn that they are of a noble bloodline and send Tess off to work for her noble "cousin" Alec Durberville. While there, Alec rapes Tess and she has his illegitimate baby. This event ruins Tess's life. She is no longer pure, and virginal, and therefore brings shame upon her true love Angel Clare when her past is revealed.
It is hard to believe, in this day and age, that Tess is shamed and ostracized because she was the victim of a horrible crime. Hardy's novel is a powerful statement on the questionable morality of Victorian society. Tess, who is a heroic, brave, caring, selfless woman, is not worthy of Angel because she is somehow impure due to the rape. Angel, who has lived with a woman out of wedlock and is clearly not a virgin himself, feels justified in punishing Tess when he learns of her past.
The writing is beautiful, but the story tragic. It will stay with you a long time.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites!
Review: Truly an excellently written book. From the very beginning, Tess comes alive. Her parents are witless drunks with two many children, and Tess must care for them. When news comes to her idiot of a father that once the Durbeyfields were the D'Ubervilles, a family with a famous past, money and land, her life takes some terrible turns.

One of the best things about this book is that it is not happy-go-lucky. When terrible things happen to her, Tess has no where to go. If you want to see what life for women was like, you can easily find out through Tess.

The end is very unexpected, and absolutely perfect, and very satisfying as well. I didn't need to know what happened next, I wasn't dying to read a sequel, I was content.

For you people who love happy books, that have happy endings, middles, everything- read something by Jane Austen. If you are into reality, check this book out.

Rating:
Summary: Early feminist work - wonderful!
Review: What a wonderful piece of literature, and quite a liberal (read: feminist) story for the time period it comes from! Not only are the characters well-drawn and utterly flawed (just like real humans) but the main plot reads as timeless.

The heroine (Tess) takes most of her life as it is thrown at her. When she finally decides to take some small measure of control of her fate, it is her very womanhood - and the lack of choice accompanying it - that is slapped back in her face.

A great love story in many respects, in the end the true love here is Tess' love of herself (and the reader's love for her), and her unwillingness to be a victim her entire life.

Thankfully, you'll find no happy endings in this book. What you will find is a story written by an early feminist, and characters that will stay with you forever.