Jude the Obscure in 100 books to read before you die

Nov 20, 2013 Lisa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: bbc-100, classics, favorites, victorian, guardian-1000

Reading Thomas Hardy's prose is like eating a tub of icrecream.
Each bite is deliciously complex, you savor it while wanting more. You try to read as quickly as possible to see what happens; yet as slowly as possible to prevent it from ending. And when you are done, you wish you had another.

The content however is in perfect juxtaposition to the melodic prose. Hardy focuses on emotional strife, difficult social circumstances, complex characters and societal prejudices.

Jude Fawley is raised by his ...more

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Jan 03, 2018 Nicole rated it liked it

Shelves: audible, england, 1001-list-books, 2017, 2018

As is expected with Hardy, this was utterly depressing. Beautifully written but painfully sad. And Sue goes to the top of my obnoxious character list.

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Nov 14, 2013 Kaysha rated it really liked it

Shelves: bbc-booklist-challenge

Hardy sure knows how to depress his readers. Poor Jude just couldn't catch a break. Every time something started going right for him, everything else fell apart. As much as I just wanted to slap him for all his stupid decisions, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Being a child raised by an unloving aunt, to being tricked into marriage with the town flirt, and then falling in love with his super flakey cousin, Jude was just destined for a life of misery and failure. ...more

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Jan 11, 2012 Gayathri rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Hardy at his best. This is easily his best work (followed by Tess). Yes, it's a tragedy too, but quite unlike the naively simplistic and fatalistic story of The Mayor of Casterbridge. Jude employs tragic elements in a much more refined and mature manner than any of Hardy's other books. ...more

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