Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
My rating: 3/5 cats
there will probably be spoilers here. i will possibly rant. if you don’t know what happens in tess, it is better not to read this review, although, frankly, to my way of thinking, hardy has so many superior novels, stories, poems, that you would be better served just avoiding this one and going on to one of the great ones like jude or mayor of casterbridge instead. but there is something sneaking up in me – a bubblingly vague feeling of well-wishing for poor doomed tess, that makes me think i might convince myself of this novel’s adequacy, if not greatness, by the end of the review.
there – that should serve as enough blathering to hide any actual spoilers from the feed.
who knew when i woke up this morning that i would be writing a review of my least favorite thomas hardy novels? no one.
but i find myself thinking of this book a lot, lately. having just come off another retail christmas at the book factory, and having had my readers’ advisory skills put to the test in such a major way once more, i feel like i should say something about this book. because i am so conflicted about it, and every time i am called upon to suggest a “classic” or “a sad book,” i find myself automatically drawn to hardy, and i always say the same thing, “except for tess.”
i never suggest tess.
and it is infuriating because i know for a fact that tess was hardy’s favorite female character. and i love hardy; i trust him. but, lord
WHAT DOES HE SEE IN HER??
tess is loyal, and passionate, but utterly hopeless. she makes all the wrong decisions, but she just keeps barreling along, blithely. well, not blithely. more like trudging along determinedly.
hardy’s whole philosophy, in his books, is that you make a mistake and you never ever stop paying for it. but it is hard(y) to see, in this book, just which mistake is the origin of the misery. if anything, the mistake is not tess’ own, but her father’s, in getting too drunk to drive, putting tess in the position of accidentally killing their horse as she takes the reins. (ooh, a pun!)
this is of course, shades of mayor of casterbridge. drinking causes all sorts of accidents.
is the accident that of overreaching one’s situation in life? can’t be, because the fake d’urberville’s are doing just fine with their purchased title, while the “real” ones are living in poverty.
is the mistake getting raped? probably. not that it’s her fault, obviously, but damn, girl – learn to recognize those wolves. but no – obviously someone in tess’ position is not going to recognize a risk when she sees one. sweet dummy. sweet beloved-by-her-creator dummy.
i can only assume that in this book, that is meant to be the origin. because everything that happens after that is just one more kick in the balls.
a ruined reputation, a dead child, falling for a man named angel freaking clare (i mean, honestly – this should really have been another signal – no man named angel clare is ever going to be open-minded, even if he has his own secrets, hypocritical bastard). ugh, and then the rest of it – oh, god – that damned rug! what a terrible way to communicate sensitive information, tess! that is vintage hardy, though, and that plot development i am totally okay with. in fact, i think it is genius. but then – oh god – redemption for an unsavory character and illness and death and forgiveness TOO LATE and murder and then THE WORST ENDING OF ALL TIME!
seriously? stonehenge? you can’t think of a subtler location than that for your situation? oh, hardy, you failed me there.
and the ending is what ruins the book for me, at the end of the day. because i am going through this bit by bit now, in writing this review, and that is pretty much my biggest gripe.
tess as a character is fine – she wouldn’t be my favorite in all of literature, but she makes sense, as someone in her position. she’s no bathsheba everdene, who is obviously hardy’s most interesting and complicated female character, but she means well, and she is definitely a survivor, but more of the limping variety than the warrior kind.
and the series of misfortunes is also fine. unlikely, and depressing, but fine. nowhere near as perfectly intricate as mayor, with its amaaaazing resolution, but it is tidy and appropriate, all told.
yup. now that i have actually sat down with this, it is simply the presence of stonehenge that so grates upon me. fuck stonehenge and your sacrificial maidens. it clangs, as an ending. it is like someone letting loose a wombat during a funeral. thomas hardy isn’t supposed to be silly, and this ending is unarguably silly.
so, there it is, mes amis – tess redeemed through the power of review-writing.
but no amount of review-writing will ever get me to accept stonehenge.
stupid stonehenge.
