Book Review #738 - Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

Tess is an innocent young girl until the day she goes to visit her rich 'relatives', the D'Urbervilles, in hope that they might help her alleviate her own family's poverty. Her encounter with her manipulative cousin, Alec, leads her onto a path that is beset with suffering and betrayal. When she falls in love with another man, Angel Clare, Tess sees a potential escape from her past, but only if she can tell him her shameful secret...

 

 

My Rating: 5/5

 

 

I knew absolutely nothing about this book prior to reading it other than it was included in my copy of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. 

The book is split into 7 sections and so my goal was to read a section a day as I usually get overwhelmed reading classics but I ended up finishing it within 2 days. 

From the first page Thomas Hardy's writing style immediately sucked me into the book. I found he has a very descriptive style but does it in such a way that does not disturb the pacing of the story.

I absolutely loved Tess and the things she went through in the book had me on a rollercoaster of emotions.

The main thing that intrigued me with this book was the timing of every little event throughout that sent Tess continually on a fateful path of misery.

There were 2 main guys in Tess' life and this book is the ultimate example of a decent love triangle. Both of these guys are pivotal in the paths Tess takes. Both of them had more negative attributes that positive.

Alec d'Urberville first encounters Tess when she is young and naive and takes advantage of that. We meet him again later in the novel and discover he has not changed. He is opportunistic in a very sinister and depraving way.

Angel Clare at first appears to be the hero that Tess needs but he ultimately is just a spineless, immature young man who should have treated Tess better.

It might be because I have a 21st century way of thinking and obviously have no idea of the customs of the 19th century but the way society treated Tess throughout the novel was shameful especially as she is the victim.

The main theme of the book is Tess' loyalty and sense of duty towards her family. I found her family (her parents) were completely unworthy of her loyalty given the way they treated her throughout (even before "the thing" happened). 

The only negative comment I can make about this book is that Hardy is vague (purposely I believe) on 2 occasions at pivotal moments in the book so much that I had to look up on sparknotes to figure out what had occurred. Although this could potentially just be because I am not a big reader of classics and so the 19th century language can be quite enigmatic at times for me.

This was my very first Thomas Hardy book, but it certainly will not be my last.