Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Wordsworth Classics)

...for one US Dollar.Arrrrgh. What a beautifully frustrating and revealing book. And impossibly well crafted. I want to slap all of the principals, and then hug them, and then get everyone a therapist. I can't possibly have anything new to add to Criticism of Thomas Hardy--threats of bodily harm do not in my view qualify--but his ability to pick out the things we experience as tragic, or joyful, or melancholy, or triumphant and then describe those things poignantly is perhaps unsurpassed. It seems he alone has access to some previously-unknown API that precisely resonates on every page. (Dare I recommend Tess to fans of Neal Stephenson?)I laughed, I cried...okay, fine, maybe I didn't laugh.But I was transported.

It was wonderful to return to this classic work of literature that I read during my high school years. The narrator spoke with an English accent which was perfect for this story. The only liberty she took was to make contractions for Thomas Hardy’s two words.Hardy’s depiction of Tess was magnificent to the extent that we, his readers, really knew her complex being far more completely than we would know any living person or persons depicted in contemporary novels.I enjoyed both hearing the Audible plus following the written text of the novel. I have other classic works of literature lined up to read after this incredible work of art.

I've read lots of Thomas Hardy, and somehow left this book for last. I should have read it sooner. Not to give too much away, every woman alive in the western world should read this book to see how much better they have it than their sisters from the nineteenth century. Tess is sorely used by almost every man in the book who encounters her, and she has so little protection from those who should protect her, it's very sad.The language, somewhat difficult for a less educated reader like me, is beautiful. The descriptions of the English countryside makes one long for simpler, more bucolic times. We wouldn't have to keep track of our steps to get our 10,000 every day. In several scenes, characters walk 30 miles in a day, starting before first light (in summer) and arriving at their destination well after dark.At least two characters in the book get just what they deserve--I'll leave it to you to decide if I'm right.I loved the book. It is my favorite of all the TH books I've read.

This is one of the great English novels, probably among the first five in distinction among the novels of the late 19th century. It is certainly Hardy's most accomplished novel. "Tess" is set in Hardy's version of the Wessex region of England, where, for example, the city of Dorchester becomes Casterbridge. This is the story of Tess Durbeyfield. The Durbeyfields used to be known as the d'Urberviiles, centuries before, when they were rich and powerful. As with almost all of Hardy's novels, the evocation of the boggy hill country of southern England is so closely intertwined with nature, that one begins to smell the heady aromas of the countryside. Coincidentally, Roman Polanski's finest film is "Tess", Nastassia Kinski is the perfect Tess, Polanski shows usthe innocence of the girl, how its purity is the reason for her downfall. The scene in which she bites into a strawberry is the ultimate seduction scene for PG audiences.

I have bought several of the Penguin Classics Hardcover series. Each cover is beautifully done and the novels themselves are excellent quality. The bookstores tend to sell these editions for $25.00, so I'm always excited to see them on this site for roughly half the price. As a couple of others have stated, the covers look great on bookshelves. I look forward to buying more from this collection.As for the novel itself, Tess of the D'Urvervilles is one of my favorite novels of all time. Rich, complex, heartbreaking, and beautifully written.

"Tess of the D'Urbervilles" is Thomas Hardy's most famous protagonist and one of literature's most tragic heroines. At first, she reminded me very much of Ibsen's Nora, but as the book came to a close I came to realize that Tess is far more emotionally complex than Nora: much moodier, much prouder, much more romantic, and ultimately much more tragic.The story is pretty well-known to most people. Tess is a young beautiful maiden who has a lazy drunk for a father and a manipulative opportunist as a mother. At a young tender and naive age she is essentially raped by her well-to-do cousin, and it's a stigma that haunts her in the small-minded provincial town where she lives. She soon meets the man of her dreams, a clergyman's romantic son who finds a kindred soul in Tess, and while Tess does her best to maintain her distance eventually she gives way to her passion, and marries Angel Clare. Though she has lost her virginity to another man Tess remains pure and free, and against the warnings of her mother she forces herself to tell her new husband of her past. And because her husband is very young, very proud, and ultimately constricted and contained by the conservative pettiness of the people around him he decides to flee from Tess. And this sets the stage for Tess's ultimate downfall.The themes and plot of this novel have been copied copiously in Western culture, but what makes this novel such a masterpiece is the emotional force and beauty of Tess's characters, and it would be almost impossible for anyone else to replicate the sincere sympathy Hardy has for his most famous heroine. Literary critics can always point to the depth in meaning and symbolism of the novel -- the themes of innocence, spirituality, and romantic passion course wildly throughout the novel -- but it's Tess's sense and pursuit of love, her utter and pure and completion to the man she loves, that will continue to move readers for centuries to come.

I will not elaborate on the content of this magnificent Thomas Hardy work, as other reviewers have dealt with this subject in great depth in other reviews, but will concentrate on the presentation of the book itself.The cover is, in my personal opinion, beautifully presented, as is also the case with 'Far From the Madding Crowd' also a Wordsworth Classics edition, which was purchased at the same time. Both are compact editions and were reasonably priced.These two books represent my personal favourites of Thomas Hardy's works and I have read them many times over the years. They were purchased as gifts for my father-in-law, who at ninety years of age is discovering Thomas Hardy for the first time and enjoying the experience.

When Tess’s family fall on hard times, Tess is forced to go and see family she has never heard of before – the well off D’Ubervilles. On arriving she is met with Alec D’Uberville, the man who will be her downfall. After losing her child to illness, Tess receives employment as a milkmaid, and falls in love with Angel Clare, but will Tess be able to tell him about the dark past that she has so long kept secret? And if the truth is revealed, will Angel Clare still feel the same way?I absolutely loved this book. I’m actually sad that I haven’t read it before. I read if for classes, but so many of my classmates had read it before, and I envied being able to read it without studying it. It’s such a beautiful book with such an immense plot. I kept having to put it down and come back to it, purely so I could give myself time to process what I’d read. Hardy has that ability to describe something in detail, pages covering the same thing, but it’s never repetitious and it’s never boring.Tess of the D’Ubervilles is famous for being scandalous and shocking when it was first published, and I can see why. Though not really shocking to us now, I can imagine the horror at a story of women with a child out of marriage, and the idea of concealing that child from her suitor. Hardy certainly has a lot to say about social conventions and the way women were treated at that time.I think Tess is a really fascinating character, she’s strong willed, stubborn and utterly loyal. She makes lots of mistakes throughout the story – and more often than not she pays the price for them. Her story is an immensely sad one. She is a survivor, continuing on even when her life seems the most hopeless.No matter what I write about Tess of the D’Ubervilles, this review will be woefully understating how wonderful this novel is (but that’s not going to stop me trying!) The language in the novel is beautiful and poetic, and I loved the descriptions of nature. Tess is closely linked to nature throughout the plot – something I found particularly interesting. She is seen as almost part of nature herself, a pure, earthy country girl.It’s a very bleak and depressing story, but it is definitely worth reading. This was my first outing in the novels of Thomas Hardy – although I am told The Mayor of Casterbridge is by far his best novel, I really enjoyed Tess of the D’Ubervilles and all its wonderful comments on society.

I couldn’t bear to finish this book, as from the start you can see that terrible things are going to happen to Tess. I first read this book when I was still at school (so, in my late teens) and remember crying floods of tears over it. This time, from the beginning, you can see what is going to happen and I couldn’t bear it. All in all, I found his descriptions of nature beautiful, his descriptions of bygone agricultural processes fascinating and almost balletic, but couldn’t take Tess’s fate! Hardy may have been portraying the fate of working-class women of that era – and I hope that it aided their cause long-term (Tess was, indeed, a ‘pure woman’ - see the sub-heading), but I couldn’t really bear the negativity, the lack of long-term hope (ie the lack of an eternal hope).

It is a dark novel, but exemplifies the genius of Thomas Hardy. Tess is an incredible woman. Hopefully you do not know her fate of you have never read the book. Hardy's prose is often incandescent. He depicts Wessex with consummate verisimilitude. He also depicts the lives of agricultural workers with absolute realism. It is a harrowing story, but there are also episodes of sublime poetry. Once you begin this book you will only unwillingly lay it down.

It was interesting to read this again, as I last read all the Thomas Hardy novels about forty years ago. The first one for me was a radio adaption of Far From the Madding Crowd and I was blown away by it. I loved the way Hardy describes his Wessex, a region I came to know and love over the years. I found that I still loved his writing style and his description of the countryside and its dwellers is really lovely, especially as I have walked a lot of this countryside and the feel of the landscape is spot-on. Published in 1892 the moral climate is very different to today and poor Tess is treated appallingly but that was how it was then. Looking at it from today's viewpoint I found myself slightly irritated with the characters, Tess should have been more forthright, Alec d'Urberville seemed like a pantomime baddie and Angel Clare was so weak spirited. But that's how we would see this today so it's not really a fair criticism. It's a great and tragic novel, beautifully observed and written, but as a reader you must remember when it was written.

First time I read this I was left confused by the ending and see a second way of reading this.This novel is brutal reality, there is no gloss and through it all Tess never loses the belief that tomorrow would be better. It’s not one of my favourite novels by Hardy but its dark pessimistic view does leave an impression.

In a BBC poll for the nation's best loved novel, Tess came twenty sixth out of a hundred. On the basis of `best loved' this appraisal may be considered fairly won, and an indication that the novel is a rewarding and entertaining read. Originally presented in serial form with the need to hold his readers' attention in a long story while also building up to a climactic ending (and it's certainly climactic) Hardy creates plenty of suspense along the way in a series of seemingly insurmountable misfortunes that threaten to overwhelm his heroine. And she evokes our sympathy as she stoically struggles to surmount them.With so many laudatory reviews here it seems superfluous to add more, save to say that this is one of Hardy's masterpieces; a treasure for readers who like a Victorian novel that unfolds seamlessly, and is replete with humour, pathos, poignancy, and drama, set against atmospheric descriptions of the beautiful Dorset landscape

Not the original text!I’m not an expert but the mention of video games and email in the story makes me think this isn’t the version written in the 1980’s.I had to return it!Amazon customer service was excellent as ever. Thank you

I am studying this book as part of my AS-Level in English Literature and I can honestly say that it is in my top 5 of best books ever. The entire story is amazing and I struggled to put it down at times. As for the product itself, the paperback is of very good standard when you take the price into consideration. For reading enthusiasts I would advise you invest some more money and get a hardback copy as the book does get a little bit tattered over time. However, if you would just like a quick read then this edition is perfect and I would highly recommend it.

Novel is a good yarn but hard to read in the original old English version until you have got used to the different use of words. For example spherical means around. So the whole crowd gathered spherically, means the whole crowd gathered around. I did not realise that there were different versions or that I was downloading original old English text. Kindle should make it clearer what options you have. Later I looked at a version in the local library which was written in perfectly normal English and far easier to read.

I ordered the kindle version of this edition which turned out to be awful. I gave up after reading 30% and downloaded the free version of Tess of the d’Urbervilles that the rest of my book club had downloaded. What a relief it was to finally read a version which was well written and flowed beautifully.This was the first time I’ve had a problem with a kindle version of a book.

I know this book was written in a completely different time, but, good lord - this book was tough going. The story behind it is incredible. I adored the story - I thought it was emotive and enthralling and beautifully set out, but the storyTELLING was horrendous. What could easily have been spelt out with a few words was instead drawn on for pages and pages in a sea of complex and waffling metaphors, descriptions and such - painful. There were many times when I'd been reading for ages, and suddenly came to the conclusion that I had absolutely no idea what I'd just read, thus had to go back and retrace my steps. The descriptions are so warped that half the time you have no idea what exactly is being described, but, hey, it's a good story. And I would recommend it.

I fell in love with Tess when I was young and foolish.This will forever remain one of my favourite books of all time.The theme of red that perpetuates like an omen through the book. The ribbon, the horse, the strawberries, cigarette tip; I found myself searching for it.I re-read every now and again to relive my youth. I think of days where the mist blows early morning from the river and dust floats in the air, insects rise at dusk and innocent milk maids fall in love.

This is an interpretation which does not make sense. It seems to have been done by someone who does not understand English. The sentences have been changed from the original script. It is very poor. I meant to give it no stars but it would not let me change it. It should be withdrawn from sale.

Loved the story and description of the English countryside and the characters. Frustrating at times and I'd stop and scream at the author in my head at times as I thought Tess should have been given a break; for me too much going wrong for her. Gripping story; was hoping for a different ending but I knew it couldn't happen with Hardy. Loved the dialect used; challenged me at times as English isn't my first language.