Tess of the D’Urbervilles

"Experience is as to intensity, and not as to duration"

An extreme downer, beautifully written.

Most books of the "that was great but I'll never read it again" sub-genre are a slog to get through, but the pacing in this book was perfect. There were ups and downs, with a sense of dread the whole way through. We get caught up in Tess's hopes, even when we have a sneaking suspicion it won't turn out well.

Like all great books, there are a bunch of different ways you can read this. The obvious takeaway -- and one that is executed brilliantly and powerfully -- is the stupidity of rigid adherance to social norms and the arbitrary and cruel gender-divided expectations and standards that punish women. This level of examination alone is enough to keep me thinking about this book for a long time (the way Angel's past is never mentioned again! Insane!). But you can keep peeling back the layers and find themes on industrialization, nature vs society (including natural law vs societal law), rural life vs urban life, and a bunch more. It has some great stuff about loyalty to family -- and the incredible weight that comes along with it. There's so much to dig into with this book and one that probably deserves multiple readings -- if it wasn't so bleak! Many chapters that will make your blood boil or will make you want to rush ahead, hoping good news is coming soon, but knowing it's not -- so a re-read is a tough sell.

A couple nit-picks:
1 -- Some moments were a pretty on the nose. A handful of times an overheard converstation or a topic of discussion would line up perfectly with Tess's current mental dilemma in a way that showed the author's hand more than I'd like.
2 -- Lack of catharsis. This isn't fair, and I know Hardy was right in his choice, but if you've read the book I think you'll know what moment I'm referring to, and why I wanted to see it played out directly.

A side note:
The location of the final scene was incredible and tied together many of the themes I mentioned earlier, but it also reminded me of the scene in North by Northwest on Mt. Rushmore.

Anyway -- read this book!
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Cover designed by me