Tess of The d'Urbervilles

I am currently feeling very proud of myself, as this is the first (of hopefully many more to come) work by Thomas Hardy that I have ever read! Talk about depressing for the first taster, though. There is a succession of horrible and dramatic events, some of which include rape, an illegitimate child being born, true love being torn apart and much much more. If you're thinking " I could never ever not in a million years read that book! I would be in floods by the end of it" well, you are not altogether wrong. Yes, you would be in a torrent of tears by the end of it, but it would definitely be worth your while.

The description in this book is outstanding; the rich detail Hardy indulges us in is fantastic. Descriptions of the landscapes, characters and his or the character's observations on the world is astounding-almost like that guilty feeling you get after pinching an extra slice of your sibling's birthday cake...Not that I've ever done that...The immense, amazing and sometimes a little boring descriptions of the fertile landscape could be related back to Tess Durbeyfield and her position in the story, especially as a woman and therefore a vulnerable being. Hardy could either be drawing parallels between the purpose of a woman and the purpose of a landscape, or he could simply be describing what he takes in from looking at a Dorset landscape.

As to Tess herself, I have to say that although I do sympathize and do attempt to empathize with her situations throughout the book, I cannot say that I like her very much at all. I know, I have sinned against the Bible of all classic novels, but I honestly do not think that Tess is a very likable character. If she were living today, we would probably have her referred to a therapist for being a masochist. Truly, the girl seems to love being hurt over and over again by the ones she love. She forgives her rapist, and (spoiler alert) marries him (even though she is already married. That sure sounds like bigamy to me, which I'm sure wasn't legal back then, either) she refuses to tell him to GO AWAY AND STOP BEING A CREEPY STALKER and just lets him carry on stalking her and attempting to gain a way back into her life. She seems (again, I am about to sin) like a bit of a drip, if I'm honest. I could say that for all of the characters, though. Alec d'Urberville is a complete idiot who one wishes she could kill (I shan't spoil it for you) and he refuses to admit that he did any wrong by raping her, and insists that it was her fault for "tempting him"-Hardy's words, not mine. Angel Clare is lovely and I have fallen slightly in love with him. However, I can't forgive him for leaving Tess, drippy as she is. Sorry, I shall stop spoiling and get off the blog. Next, dear followers, I shall be reading, in accordance with what I have just read, a biography of Thomas Hardy, namely The Time-Torn Man, by Claire Tomalin. More updates when that's finished!