I seriously dislike this book. I've only read half, but the phonebook would be a more viable alternative. I can't tell you how many times I've started reading and after 2 pages start falling asleep. But then again, just to give you a background, i watched Sense and Sensibility with my mother the other day, and was laughing the whole time. We were making fun of their "mamaaas" and stupid British formalities.They can't say i love you... oh heavens no! instead they say, "i hold you in high esteem". dear chocolate, i hold you in high esteem.
So i can claim i read the whole book, i looked up the summary on wikipedia. And i hold the ending in low esteem. It seems to me Hardy fell in love with the British landscape and Tess, the protagonist, and spent too much time describing her luscious red lips, he forgot about the plot. This book could have been written in 50 pages but no. It goes on for 300 some odd pages. Every other word must be looked up in a dictionary.
But, this book got really high rating on Amazon* and while i was in the airport, a girl came up to me gushing how much she loved the book. So maybe i'm the weird one. My teacher tells me i'm heartless.
Well, i think me and my cold heart shall stick to my satires and sci fi's and generally books with plots but until then... tootaloo!
*NOTE
i reread some of the reviews on Amazon and i see i am not alone in the Tess Hate Group. Here are some quotes from reviewers:
"I don't know how this book became a classic...was it classic for its ability to put somebody to sleep...or how about sending someone into a depression or fits of anger because Tess is a moron?"
"To my mind, the only likeable character is Alec D'Urberville. Although he is supposed to be the "villain", I find him rather funny and much less annoying than Tess and Angel." SO TRUE!!
"we are told a hundred times that Tess' eye colour is somewhere between blue, violet, grey and black -- seriously, can you picture that ? "
"If anyone in authority is reading this, PLEASE take this piece of junk OFF the sylabus...PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!"
"I dare not even think of how many times I probably came close to being committed to an asylum..."
"I think Thomas Hardy invented himself a woman who would act like his cocker spaniel; no matter how much he beat the crap out of that 'faithfull friend' the poor dog would always come crawling back and lick his boots, which is pretty much how Tess acts throughout the book"
"Hardy's the kind of writer who is analogous to a storyteller that likes the sound of his voice; just because he can say something, he does."
"I would not recommend this book to anyone who would look to escape from Depression."
"I recommend this book as kindling for a fire."
"I have possibly never been so glad to finish a book"
and lastly "kill me please"
