Thomas Hardy and Scott Elledge - Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented

Pros: Tess herself

Cons: depressing at times, too many coincidences

The Bottom Line: This book rests on the capable shoulders of Tess. She makes this book worth reading.

Review: "Tess of the D’Urbervilles’’, according to me is one of the best novels ever written in the last 150 years. Set in the village of Marlott and progressing to other parts of Wessex, it deals with the life of a peasant girl named Tess. The...

Pros: Interesting characters, wonderful female heroine, well written and developed plot, intriguing look at fate and destiny

Cons: Occasionally long chapters and overly described locations with often difficult vocabulary used

Review: Thomas Hardy is widely considered to be one of the greatest English authors to ever grace a page, his works continuously dealt with the idea of "tragic fate" and the often stifling confines of Victorian British society. Often considered his...

Pros: Reading this book incites a diverse array of emotions in the reader.

Cons: Hm. . .nope!

The Bottom Line: A wonderful, WONDERFUL classic--you'll become so engrossed in the story that you'll FORGET it is a classic.

Review: Okay, this review has not gone over well with the hoi polloi, so I've done a bit of revising. "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" is an English soap opera of sorts, involving a young girl trying to deal with her complex emotions, coupled with the equally ...

Pros: great story, message

Cons: a lil longer than expected

Review: Tess of the D'urbervilles is a great book. It has all the elements of a good story, interesting plot, believable characters, and Hardy conveys a timeless message about life. Definitely, the story of Tess and Angel really keeps the reader reading!
...

Pros: Great heroine!

Cons: May be a tough vocabulary for younger readers

Review: I am a big fan of Thomas Hardy, and the first book of his I ever read was Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I recently picked it back up and am re-reading it, and am reminded of why I felt this book was so great in the first place.

Tess...

Pros: gripping plot

Cons: shallow characters

The Bottom Line: thomas hardy weaves an imaginative tale but the characters need some developing

Review: Set in 19th century england, amidst rolling Cotswold hills, peasant cottages, fairs full of young maidens, cart horses, dairy farms. To summerise the story, Alec, a suave, womanising man spies Tess for the innocent young country girl that she is. He ...

Pros: The psychological process from the innocence of a child to the most cruel drama.

Cons: Sometimes it seems to be much a moral lesson than a novel.

The Bottom Line: It could have been a soap opera, but it has result in the splendit drama of a woman who can't be herself because of the "others".

Review: I was quite young when I first watched Polanski's film Tess, in Barcelona. For the very first moment I got very much impressed with the plot and with the landscapes, which were quite idillic for a girl living in a spanish town. Many of the images and the...

Pros: learned a few new words, character development, location

Cons: short

Review: I read this not knowing what else to read and was delighted. It's another British story of a poor, mistreated girl who goes through life and loses happiness the second she grasps it.

This story may seem done to many, at first it did to me....

Pros: none that I can think of

Cons: the depressing plot, the depressing characters

Review: This book was depressing. There were no heroes, only jerks who you wanted to slap. The characters consist of a young woman who is taken advantage of her whole life by all the men she meets. These men consist of a rapist/rich scumbag and an...