Name: Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Rating: 3.765384615384615 (195 reviews)
ISBN: 9781853260056

Thomas Hardy

The story of a simple country girl whose family's pretentions lead to her destruction

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Brilliant but traumatic. Can’t help but hurt for Tess

Ben Mayhew

Hardy was ahead of his time while writing this. He believed in reform but only knew tragedy-- though that he wrote a thought-provoking, tragedy about a girl whose fate only depended on the actions of men around her. This is truly a remarkable novel that has stood and will continue to stand the test of time. 

Abigail Marie

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Gillian Rose

The general storyline was pretty heartbreaking. I felt awful for Tess the entire time but to be fair, every character kind of acted stupid. Angel Clare was a hypocrite and really disappointed me :(

After an accident, Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of impoverished peasants, decides to call on the aristocratic d’Urbervilles, as she believes that she is also descended from their ancient Norman lineage and that they can rescue her family from indigence. Unfortunately she is taken under the wing of the immoral libertine scion Alec d’Urberville, who seduces and scorns her. While she attempts to rebuild her life, she falls in love with the virtuous farmer Angel Clare and must find a way to defeat the demons of her past. Controversial when it was first published for challenging Victorian morals, Tess of the d’Urbervilles has become Thomas Hardy’s most popular novel, catching the imaginations of generations of readers with its high drama, endearing heroine and powerful evocations of the southern English countryside.

Tess of the d'Ubervilles

really struggled to get through it initially but the second half made up for the slow start. Alec and Angel are both garbage men and Tess deserved a million times better than what she got. Wouldn’t choose to read again but I’m very happy to have persevered with it and finish it

Maria Davis 

A Pure Woman (Works of Thomas Hardy in Prose and Verse, Vol 1)

Eloise

** spoiler alert **
           I liked ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ very much. It depicts quite beautifully life on a farm in Victorian England and asks questions on love and morals and on how society judges people unfairly. I liked Tess very much. I found Alec d’Urberville quite interesting – he seems to be a villain in the beginning, but in the latter part of the story he seems to have reformed and is genuinely concerned for Tess. In the end he is again portrayed as a villain. I was in two minds about Angel Clare – in the initial part of the story, till he gets married to Tess, he comes through as a modern, liberal man, who is ready to stand up for his ideas, even if they are at odds with the world. But when he abandons Tess, I felt that he was quite weak and didn’t stand up, especially when she had trusted him enough to tell him all her secrets. His vacillations continue for the rest of the story and he never regained my affection as a reader. Hardy had really flirted with danger and had annoyed the moral police of his era. There is a scene in the initial part of the book, where Tess is walking back with her fellow farmworkers after spending an evening of festivities in another village, and she gets into argument with another milkmaid, who after getting annoyed strips herself and stands there trying to upset Tess. Hardy, of course, couches it in vague language, describing the maid as a Praxitelean sculpture. Reading ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ made me think about the other three nineteenth century classics which are stories about the ‘fallen’ woman – ‘Madame Bovary’ by Gustave Flaubert, ‘Anna Karenina’ by Leo Tolstoy and ‘Effi Briest’ by Theodor Fontane. One way in which it is definitely different from the rest is that the others all talk about women and families which are rich and well-to-do, while Tess is from a poor family. This and the fact that most of the story happens in a farm probably sets apart ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ from the rest.

one of my favorite books. have more thoughts. placeholder review.

If the message of this book how little women's consent mattered in 18th century England then it succeeded in communicating that

Selin

14 yaşındayken bu kitabın 100-150 sayfalık özet versiyonlarından birini (Oxford Bookworms) okumuş ve sevmiştim. Yıllar sonra tam metni okumaya niyetlendim ve nefret ettim. :) Bu durum geçen zamanla ilgili olabilir ama 600 sayfalık bir metni 100 sayfaya indirirken hikâyenin ve karakterlerin sinir bozucu taraflarını yok etmeyi seçmiş olmaları da ihtimal dahilinde. 

Karakterler sığ ve sinir bozucu. Yazar, birkaç yerde döneme dair önemli bir şeyler söylemeye yaklaşıyor ama her defasında son anda vazgeçip aynı konular etrafında dönen gereksiz diyaloglara ya da sıkıcı ilişkiler hakkındaki detaylara geri dönüyor. Sevdiğim kitapları tekrar okumak genelde çok hoşuma gider ama bu kez olmadı.

Jason Porterfield

The story went pretty much where I expected, which is fine. I loved the deeply descriptive, meditative nature of Hardy's prose. It's like watching a Terrence Malick film. You already know where you're going, so why not take a look around you on the way there?

Thomas Gilbert

Beautiful new edition with cover from David DeanFaber Childrens Classics have accessible font sizes for easier reading. Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of a poor villager, learns she may be descendant from the rich d'Urberville family. She fails to claim kinship and is taken advantage of by the libertine Alec d'Urberville. She then meets the son of a local reverend, Angel Clare, who she begins to fall in love with, but tragedy follows Tess as she continues to run from her past. Will she get her chance at love or will her past doom her future?

sarah 🤠

yeah. tess lived up to every one of my lofty expectations. hardy's writing might be my favorite ever. weeks later, i still feel like i'm punched in the stomach when i think about this book. i don't think i'll ever recover

Judy Hudgins

The book my high school term paper was based on.

Cat Nunez 

Escribí un gigantesco testamento y se borró y no tengo ganas de escribirlo de nuevo así que cuando tenga inspiración lo haré

Tess of the Durbervilles

Grace

Hardy’s novel has my heart, body, and soul. This was truly a roller-coaster wave of a book for me. So many emotions: rage, disgust, joy, adoration, frustration, sorrow, and absolute compassion — for our intelligent, passionate, and beautiful protagonist, Tess Durbeyfield. I believe I have not quite come across a character as tragic as she.

‘Tess’ is set in 19th-century England and follows Tess Durbeyfield, whose impoverished rural family lays claim to the fortune of the noble D’Urbervilles. This attempt at kinship proves disastrous as her life, upon meeting her ‘cousin’ Alec, soon leads to ruin. Enter Angel Clare, a freethinking apprentice farmer. Will his presence in Tess’ life set off a chain reaction of anguish and misfortune or that of healing and happiness?

Thomas Hardy’s 1891 masterpiece is a fine novel that challenges the rigid morals, norms, and customs of Victorian England. Tess is a fierce campaigner of human decency and quiet dignity. As you witness her plight you are there for her every step of the way, hoping she will succeed and flourish. Hopelessly and often, I reflected on how her life was so determined and affected by the actions of those who wronged her. 

This might be the kind of book where, as you finish it, you stare into the abyss that is your bedroom ceiling and contemplate the haunting narrative. With this being my first Thomas Hardy story I’m hopeful for more. I can finally cross Hardy off of my list of writers to read! For years I hardly thought I would be so taken and impacted by his beautiful prose, and yet this time round I was.

Ana Jankovic

I cannot express my emotions about this book well enough, I can only say that it is one of the best ones I've ever read.
I read many classics and truly thought I was in love some, but only now do I realize what loving a book (or author) really means and feels like.
I won't give away any spoilers, I only wish to finish this 'review' (this outpouring of emotion rather) with a quote from this so dearly beloved, tragic story -

 

 Nature does not often say “See!” to her poor creature at a time when seeing can lead to happy doing; or reply “Here!” to a body’s cry of “Where?” till the hide-and-seek has become an irksome, outworn game. 



"How would it have been if we had pitched on a sound one?

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

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