I have a great admiration for this novel. Hardy doesn’t hold back with this one; it’s edgy, it’s dark and it’s merciless. In this allegorical tale, Tess is your loveable scapegoat, the Christ-figure if you will, that evokes our inmost pity. All she innocently desires is to do the right thing, and we martyr her because we won’t compromise our "armoured" regulations. Yes, Hardy goes way over the top here, and some may criticize him as overly romantic, but considering he was working within the confines of Victorian censorship and he didn't have much choice, this novel was ground-breaking for cleverly breaking the rules.

As a feminist, I consider this novel seminal to the movement in the late 19th century, much like I consider Huckleberry Finn seminal to racial awareness of the same period. They may not sound robust enough to our modern ears, but they were amongst the ideas that got the gears turning in the first place. ( )

John Irving is one of my favorite writers. He rates Hardy high on his list. That was enough for me. I have not been disappointed. This is the fourth Hardy novel I've read. I fully understand Irving's praise.

Hardy has created in Tess a girl who the world has not treated kindly. We see in her a simplicity which others take advantage of. Her family sees her beauty and her strength and pushes her into situations she cannot control. While they are impoverished they learn they are descended from a noble family making them ladies and gentleman but still impoverished. They push Tess to seek out those they believe are wealthy relatives. She is immediately taken advantage of and her downward spiral begins. This misadventure leaves her with a child who dies as an infant and Tess exits her small minded community to escape her stain. She finds refuge milking cows. This respite is short lived as the dairy farm has taken on an eccentric gentleman who wishes to learn about dairy farming. He's the iconoclast son as an evangelical pastor who sends his other sons to be educated and trained for the ministry. The handsome, wealthy, iconoclast rails against aristocratic families like the one Tess had hoped to be taken in by. All the dairy maids are in love with Angel Clare, the gentleman who is out of place. But he falls in love with the beautiful Tess. She refuses to marry him saying she's not worthy and he should look to the others who are all in love with him. But he persists. She desperately wants to tell him about her past before the wedding but he puts her off again and again. Once they are married he admits that he had consciously delayed her because he had his own secret which he was afraid to share with her fearing she would not marry him. He owns up to his past indiscretion which she immediately forgives him for saying it's no matter. Then she tells him of her past but he cannot forgive her and immediately decides they must separate. She is heartbroken.

He will seek his fortune in Brazil. She is not to try to contact him. He gives her money to live on and tells her to reach out to his parents who will be able to reach him and to whom she might turn if necessary but he'd rather she didn't. She gives most of the money to her family and seeks to support herself with more and harder farm work. It gets worse and worse. She runs out of money but is reluctant to meet his parents who she expects will disapprove of her lowly station. She writes to him several times but never hears from him. She becomes more and more desperate. Then the bastard who started this tragedy reappears. Now he's a fire breathing preacher. But seeing Tess again he gives all that up and tries to claim her as his. She's having none of it. She runs from him as well. But he persists and tries to prove his good intentions by rescuing her family who have lost their home with the death of Tess's father. Tess writes to Angel with anger but once again, no response. Unbeknownst to Tess, Angel has returned, without riches and in ill-health. He returns to where he knew she grew up but a new family lives there and no one seems to know where they've gone. He finds her living with the bad guy. She tells Angel he's too late and it's time to leave her alone. Needless to say it doesn't end there. Of course there's more. It wouldn't be a Hardy novel without a cliff hanger. You'll just have to read the book for yourself to see how it ends.

Besides the intricate plot there's much more. There's the double standard, she forgives him but he won't forgive her. There's the antiquated social structure favoring birth over achievement. There's the burgeoning technology improving efficient but at great human cost. There's piety without pity. There's socially reinforced self-doubt. We even get Stonehenge and allusions to human sacrifice and pagan rituals. Without Hardy's skills this could have all been lost to cartoonish caricatures. But in Hardy's talented hands he pulls it all together.

The most important film version of the novel is Roman Polanski's Tess starring Nastassja Kinski. It rightfully won many awards especially for beautiful cinematography. Much of the scenes are gorgeous. It also is wonderful depicting the machinery pushing workers to the breaking point. Unfortunately like any adaptation of a long novel some scenes never make it into the movie. Two noteworthy ones are gone. The first is the very early event in the novel where Tess's negligence has resulted in the death of the family's horse, their major source of income. Her guilt over this explains what sets this plot in motion. The second noteworthy omission is the brief phase of the fire-breathing preacher. The movie skips that without much loss, but it leaves out a side of the bad guy which added depth to Hardy's version. More importantly, the movie lacks Tess's inner thoughts. Hardy spent much time developing our insight into her inner life. The book lets us see more of a tortured soul than the movie. In the movie, we're left with Tess being more of a willing participant than the victim of her society. Both the book and the movie are worth your time. Read the book first. ( )

4.5/5 If ever I feel even remotely sorry for myself, I will think of Tess and realize how incredibly lucky I am, especially as a woman not living during Victorian/Edwardian England. A beautifully written, yet hauntingly heart-wrenching story of a pure-of-heart woman who is preyed upon by pretty much every person she encounters, especially the Draculean Alec d'Urberville, Tess, you'll stay within my heart for a long time. ( )

5

Tess of the D'Urbervilles is quite possibly one of the most depressing books I've ever read... I don't know what this says about me... but I absolutely loved it. Hardy's descriptions of nature, love, and melancholy are truly stunning.

I won't lie, I had no idea what this book was about and went into it completely blind; and I think that it's better that you do too. I was heartbroken over all of Tess' numerous tragedies and absolutely dumbfounded with the plot twist that unfolded in the last twenty or so pages. ( )

Just so so so so good. I first read this probably 40 years ago and, honestly, didn't remember one single thing about it other than that I had liked it. Well, it held up very well. It totally took me away to a place in time that, thankfully, I will never experience. I loved Tess so much that I became physically stressed and anxious for her. Life chewed her up and spit her out, but she just kept trying to make the best of it. Angel and Alec were crap and neither were worthy of her. It was all so infuriating at times. But it was worth it. I went to another world and ended up caring deeply about this woman, forgetting about my petty little worries and problems for a time. It's been a while since I've felt that profound a sense of escape from life. Romantic, tragic, beautiful. ( )