Tess of the d'Urbervilles

By: Thomas Hardy

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Young Tess Durbeyfield attempts to restore her family's fortunes by claiming their connection with the aristocratic d'Urbervilles. But Alec d'Urberville is a rich wastrel who seduces her and makes her life miserable.

When Tess meets Angel Clare, she is offered true love and happiness, but her past catches up with her, and she faces an agonizing moral choice.

Thomas Hardy's indictment of society's double standards, and his depiction of Tess as "a pure woman", caused controversy in his day and has held the imagination of readers ever since. Hardy thought it his finest novel and Tess the most deeply felt character he ever created.

Public Domain (P)2008 Tantor

perfect narrator

Would you consider the audio edition of Tess of the d'Urbervilles to be better than the print version?

yes

What other book might you compare Tess of the d'Urbervilles to and why?

Mayor of Casterbridge and jude the Obscure, same sns of the inexorable destiny

What does Simon Vance bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Th mood, the voices, he was amazing

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

The hazards of pride

Any additional comments?

All Hardy books should be read by Simon Vance

Amazing performance of a profound work of art

Can't say enough about how good Simon Vance 's narration was. What a tour through the accents of England!

And if you haven't read Tess before, be prepared for an incredible journey through hope, desire, sorrow, error, pride, weakness of character and strength of will.

The plot is a work of art, the resolution perfect. Just remember that one doesn't read Hardy to feel happy.

Thank goodness I didn't live then!

If you could sum up Tess of the d'Urbervilles in three words, what would they be?

atmospheric, foreboding, emotional

Who was your favorite character and why?

It had to be Tess even though I wished she could have fought more for the things she wanted. She was a pure soul and a hard worker at the same time.

Have you listened to any of Simon Vance’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Simon Vance is always good. Here he rendered dialect excellently and even made the descriptions of rural life interesting

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was so relieved that I don't have to spend the winter digging up turnips in the rain and snow, and that women have more choices and control over their lives today.

Any additional comments?

I am a fan of 19th century fiction such as Dickens, George Eliot and others, so it was interesting to compare this. For someone not familiar with the era, they might find this slow going.

Fascinating, demoralizing, beautiful, disturbing

"She was ashamed of herself for her gloom of the night, based on nothing more tangible than a sense of condemnation under an arbitrary law of society which had no foundation in Nature."
Thomas Hardy. "Tess of the d'Urbervilles, a Pure Woman"

Wow.

How did I get to be so old without having read this book before. I thought I knew the story, but must have conflated it with others. I imagined a girl who tried to pass for a member of Victorian high society and whose shame was that of being discovered for what she was. Little did I realize the role that the sexual act would play in the story, and that Tess never tried to be something she wasn't, or at least she strove to be exactly what society dictated she be.

The descriptions of rural life in late Victorian England are beautifully written. The most powerful images and scenes for me are when Tess is working on the threshing machine. Hardy juxtaposes the beauty of nature with the repulsiveness of the man-made, exposing the fear we should have of the latter as it displaces the former. Having some idea of Tess's eventual fate, or at least assuming her fate based on the requirements of the day, I was terrified that Tess would either accidentally or purposefully throw herself into the machine. When the farmer came to tell her that her hair was falling down, I took that as a warning that it would be caught in the mechanism, using a source of her beauty as a means of her death. I thought Hardy was using the ugliness of the machine as a metaphor for changes in the morals of the country and the dangers of modernization.

Regardless of my preconceived notions, I was in no way prepared for the final scenes of the book. Without spoiling it by specifics, I have to say that the drama of this reading is hardly rivaled by modern-day works.

As for the narration of this recorded book: meh. In fact, it is a testament to the power of the story that it rose above the narration by Simon Vance. He read Tess as timid and frail instead of giving her voice a quiet strength and dignity. I enjoyed his reading of "Dune" but remember that it had a similar problem to "Tess": Vance just doesn't do women's voices well.

Engrossing

Wonderful, tragic story, poetically told. Describes a different era vis-a-vis relationships between women and men, mobility and communications.

Great reading....terrible story

Would you be willing to try another book from Thomas Hardy? Why or why not?

I have read Far From the Madding Crowd and I found it more enjoyable.

Any additional comments?

I find that with books set in theis era it is easier to "read" with an audiobook. I like to read the book while listening and it really helps my comprehension. I highly recommend this tactic.

A literary masterpiece

This is a truly great novel. Listening to it many years after first reading it, I'm even more impressed by it now. The story is powerful, the characters interesting and believable. And the portrayal of rural life during depressed times is quite brilliant. The narration is very good. It seemed to me that at times the rural accents of the characters were a bit unstable, shifting between Wessex, something close to Welsh, and sometimes something close to Irish. But this didn't detract unduly from the listening.

Amazing narator

This is such a beautiful and dramatic story. Mr Vance does great honor to Thomas Hardy's work.

Heartbreaking

What a pure and kind soul! Loved Tess and despised everyone who wronged her so terribly. Even her own family treated her selfishly and used her to their advantage. She gave herself abundantly to her loved ones and endured unimaginable privation, loss, pain, degradation with stoicism. I especially hated Angel; he didn't redeem himself in my eyes. Alec, at least, took Tess in and helped her family.

As I listened to the scenes of Tess's sufferings (and there were many of them!), my throat would tighten up and eyes would fill up with tears.

Hardy describes nature in such lush tones; one can almost see vividly and smell the nature! Made me even more to go see the English countryside.

It's Not Dickens, but....

Any additional comments?

I truly stumbled across this novel, and had remembered it from my youth, but never read it. Hardy is not Dickens, but he very effectively, and painfully points our how position of birth has poisoned human judgement for ages. Maybe the very best thing to come from the American Revolution was the concept of merit and achievement trumping heritage as a way of being judged in this life.Tess suffered mightily trying to be and appear what she was not.