-
Jude The Obscure
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $21.68
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Mayor of Casterbridge
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Pamela Garelick
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rooted in an actual case of wife-selling in early nineteenth-century England, the story builds into an awesome Sophoclean drama of guilt and revenge, in which the strong, willful Henchard rises to a position of wealth and power, only to achieve a most bitter downfall. Proud, obsessed, ultimately committed to his own destruction, Henchard is, as Albert Guerard has said, "Hardy's Lord Jim...his only tragic hero and one of the greatest tragic heroes in all fiction."
-
-
Fabulous
- By Biggar Thomas on 01-06-05
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Far From the Madding Crowd
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Neville Jason
- Length: 3 hrs and 58 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a remote corner of early Victorian England, where traditional practices remain untouched by time, Bathsheba Everdene stands out as a beacon of feminine independence and self-reliance. However, when confronted with three suitors, among them the dashing Sergeant Troy, she shows a reckless capriciousness which threatens the stability of the whole community.
-
-
Well worth listening to
- By Mark on 04-28-04
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Return of the Native
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of Thomas Hardy's classic statements about modern love, courtship, and marriage, The Return of the Native is set in the pastoral village of Egdon Heath. The fiery Eustacia Vye, wishing only for passionate love, believes that her escape from Egdon lies in her marriage to Clym Yeobright, the returning "native", home from Paris and discontented with his work there.
-
-
How Sweet the Sound
- By KP on 04-10-13
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Woodlanders
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Woodlanders is vintage Hardy. The story revolves around the young woman Grace Melbury, who returns to the leafy world of Little Hintock and soon finds herself at the center of a number of tragic events. In penetrating, incisive, and beautiful prose, Hardy tells a moving tale of unrequited love as fate and the constraints of society thwart the happiness of our heroine. The leafy world of Blackmoor Vale and the hamlet of Little Hintock are all lovingly described by Hardy, who named The Woodlanders as the favorite of all his novels.
-
-
A Masterpiece of writing and narration!
- By Kathi on 05-17-14
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Far from the Madding Crowd
- Penguin Classics
- By: Thomas Hardy, Rosemarie Morgan
- Narrated by: Olivia Vinall
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community.
-
-
Marvelous! Hear it again and again. Best narrator on Audible!
- By andrea mccombs on 01-01-22
By: Thomas Hardy, and others
-
Two on a Tower
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Michael Kitchen
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two on a Tower is Hardy's ninth novel and contains perhaps his most complete use of the theme of love across the class and age divide, to beautifully depict Hardy's reverence for science and astronomy. The unhappily married Lady Constantine breaks all the rules of social etiquette when she falls in love with young Swithin St. Cleeve, an astronomer and her social inferior. Despite their differences that society deems unacceptable, together, from an astronomical observatory, the lovers 'sweep the heavens'.
-
-
Old fashined love story
- By Kisha on 09-01-09
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Mayor of Casterbridge
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Pamela Garelick
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rooted in an actual case of wife-selling in early nineteenth-century England, the story builds into an awesome Sophoclean drama of guilt and revenge, in which the strong, willful Henchard rises to a position of wealth and power, only to achieve a most bitter downfall. Proud, obsessed, ultimately committed to his own destruction, Henchard is, as Albert Guerard has said, "Hardy's Lord Jim...his only tragic hero and one of the greatest tragic heroes in all fiction."
-
-
Fabulous
- By Biggar Thomas on 01-06-05
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Far From the Madding Crowd
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Neville Jason
- Length: 3 hrs and 58 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a remote corner of early Victorian England, where traditional practices remain untouched by time, Bathsheba Everdene stands out as a beacon of feminine independence and self-reliance. However, when confronted with three suitors, among them the dashing Sergeant Troy, she shows a reckless capriciousness which threatens the stability of the whole community.
-
-
Well worth listening to
- By Mark on 04-28-04
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Return of the Native
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of Thomas Hardy's classic statements about modern love, courtship, and marriage, The Return of the Native is set in the pastoral village of Egdon Heath. The fiery Eustacia Vye, wishing only for passionate love, believes that her escape from Egdon lies in her marriage to Clym Yeobright, the returning "native", home from Paris and discontented with his work there.
-
-
How Sweet the Sound
- By KP on 04-10-13
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Woodlanders
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Woodlanders is vintage Hardy. The story revolves around the young woman Grace Melbury, who returns to the leafy world of Little Hintock and soon finds herself at the center of a number of tragic events. In penetrating, incisive, and beautiful prose, Hardy tells a moving tale of unrequited love as fate and the constraints of society thwart the happiness of our heroine. The leafy world of Blackmoor Vale and the hamlet of Little Hintock are all lovingly described by Hardy, who named The Woodlanders as the favorite of all his novels.
-
-
A Masterpiece of writing and narration!
- By Kathi on 05-17-14
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Far from the Madding Crowd
- Penguin Classics
- By: Thomas Hardy, Rosemarie Morgan
- Narrated by: Olivia Vinall
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community.
-
-
Marvelous! Hear it again and again. Best narrator on Audible!
- By andrea mccombs on 01-01-22
By: Thomas Hardy, and others
-
Two on a Tower
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Michael Kitchen
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two on a Tower is Hardy's ninth novel and contains perhaps his most complete use of the theme of love across the class and age divide, to beautifully depict Hardy's reverence for science and astronomy. The unhappily married Lady Constantine breaks all the rules of social etiquette when she falls in love with young Swithin St. Cleeve, an astronomer and her social inferior. Despite their differences that society deems unacceptable, together, from an astronomical observatory, the lovers 'sweep the heavens'.
-
-
Old fashined love story
- By Kisha on 09-01-09
By: Thomas Hardy
-
A Pair of Blue Eyes
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Peter Wickham
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written in 1873 it was autobiographical and the heroine Elfride Swancourt is based on Hardy's first wife Emma Gifford. The novel tells the tail of a the love triangle between a young woman, Elfride Swancourt, and her two suitors from very different backgrounds.
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Mill on the Floss
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Sara Kestelman
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maggie Tulliver has two lovers: Philip Wakem, son of her father's enemy; and Stephen Guest, already promised to her cousin; but the love she wants most in the world is that of her brother Tom. Maggie's struggle against her passionate and sensual nature leads her to a deeper understanding and to eventual tragedy.
-
-
Sara Kestelman
- By Cliente de Amazon on 11-15-19
By: George Eliot
-
Under the Greenwood Tree
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story delicately balances the concerns of the Mellstock parish choir with a romance between Dick Dewy, a member of the choir, and Fancy Day, the village schoolmistress. While the choir battles for its survival against the new vicar's mechanical church organ, personal conflicts arise over the anachronistic customs of tradition.
-
-
A Lighter Hardy
- By Cariola on 01-02-12
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Wessex Tales
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Neville Jason
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wessex Tales, a collection of short stories including "The Three Strangers", "The Withered Arm", and "The Distracted Preacher", deals with a number of timeless themes seen so often in Hardy’s work: marriage, class, revenge, and disappointed love. Many of the tales have a supernatural tinge, and all are set around Hardy’s much loved homeland.
-
-
A Sampler
- By Tad Davis on 06-08-14
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Vanity Fair
- By: William Makepeace Thackeray
- Narrated by: Jane Lapotaire
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vanity Fair, with its rich cast of characters, takes place on the snakes-and-ladders board of life. Amelia Sedley, daughter of a wealthy merchant, has a loving mother to supervise her courtship. Becky Sharp, an orphan, has to use her wit, charm, and resourcefulness to escape from her destiny as a governess. This she does ruthlessly, musing: "I think I could become a good woman, if I had 5000 pounds a year."
-
-
I know the problem
- By Joy on 02-02-12
-
Mrs. Dalloway
- By: Virginia Woolf
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is a June day in London in 1923, and the lovely Clarissa Dalloway is having a party. Whom will she see? Her friend Peter, back from India, who has never really stopped loving her? What about Sally, with whom Clarissa had her life’s happiest moment? Meanwhile, the shell-shocked Septimus Smith is struggling with his life on the same London day.
-
-
One Tough Read Perfectly Delivered
- By Chris on 06-11-12
By: Virginia Woolf
-
Middlemarch
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 31 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Middlemarch is a recognized masterpiece that explores the complex social world of 19th century England. It is concerned with the lives of several ordinary people, albeit ones with high social standing. The novel explores the very fabric of Victorian society in the 1800s, showing how various human passions, heroism, egotism, love, and lust, interrelate within this society.
-
-
Engrossing, non-stuffy entertainment!
- By Jennifer on 06-21-06
By: George Eliot
-
The Portrait of a Lady
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Elizabeth McGovern
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Portrait of a Lady tells the compelling and ultimately tragic tale of a beautiful young American woman's encounter with European sophistication. Set principally in England and Italy, we follow Isabel Archer's fortunes as a variety of admirers vie for her hand. Her choices will be crucial, and she is not wanting for advice, whether from the generous-spirited Ralph Touchett or the charming but rootless Madame Merle....
-
-
The Abridgment Worked
- By E Wagner on 05-09-15
By: Henry James
-
A Christmas Carol: A Signature Performance by Tim Curry
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: Tim Curry
- Length: 3 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Signature Performance: Tim Curry rescues Charles Dickens from the jaws of Disney with his one-of-a-kind performance of the treasured classic. Our listeners loved this version so much that it inspired our whole line of Signature Classics.
-
-
Wonderful!!!
- By Alia on 12-11-09
By: Charles Dickens
-
Jane Eyre
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Thandiwe Newton
- Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following Jane from her childhood as an orphan in Northern England through her experience as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Gothic classic is an early exploration of women's independence in the mid-19th century and the pervasive societal challenges women had to endure. At Thornfield, Jane meets the complex and mysterious Mr. Rochester, with whom she shares a complicated relationship that ultimately forces her to reconcile the conflicting passions of romantic love and religious piety.
-
-
Thandie Newton is INCREDIBLE!
- By Andrea Frazee on 10-31-16
By: Charlotte Brontë
-
The Magic Mountain
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 37 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hans Castorp is, on the face of it, an ordinary man in his early 20s, on course to start a career in ship engineering in his home town of Hamburg, when he decides to travel to the Berghof Santatorium in Davos. The year is 1912 and an oblivious world is on the brink of war. Castorp’s friend Joachim Ziemssen is taking the cure and a three-week visit seems a perfect break before work begins. But when Castorp arrives he is surprised to find an established community of patients, and little by little, he gets drawn into the closeted life and the individual personalities of the residents.
-
-
worth the wait
- By L. Kerr on 06-01-20
By: Thomas Mann
-
Hard Times
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spare, no-nonsense Gradgrind household, Tom and Louisa are raised according to their father's unyielding guiding philosophy: facts - nothing but facts. But while a ban on imagination is mere policy for the Gradgrind children, lack of whimsy is a necessary survival skill in Coketown, the grimy and grim working-class burg devoted to nothing but the relentless advance of industry...
-
-
Good Samaritan was indeed a bad economist
- By Darwin8u on 03-04-13
By: Charles Dickens
Publisher's Summary
Exclusively from Audible
Eager to escape the confines of his lower-class upbringing, Jude Fawley dreams of pursuing higher education, graduating from university and becoming a scholar. Slowly, we witness the resistance Jude is met with and, in keeping with Hardy's other works, the consequences of having dared to defy a society with long-held traditions.
Thomas Hardy's last novel, Jude the Obscure, offers scathing commentary and insight into 19th century England. Widely considered Hardy's boldest and most avant-garde work, it was first published in serialised form, sending weekly shockwaves of outrage to its Victorian audiences. Despite being an able and driven young man, Jude's potential is squandered and his aspirations quashed when he relents and becomes a stonemason. Grounded by an unhappy marriage and a lack of opportunity, Jude's only escape comes in the form of his beloved cousin, Sue Bridehead. An unconventional yet extraordinary heroine, Sue becomes Jude's only chance at happiness, but in a society so unwilling to accept change, their love becomes their undoing.
One of the most influential and prolific novelists and poets of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Thomas Hardy followed the naturalist movement and was greatly inspired by the works of Charles Dickens and William Wordsworth. In turn, his work enthused the likes of Robert Frost, W.H. Auden and Philip Larkin.
Narrator Biography
Stephen Thorne is a classically-trained radio, film, stage and television actor. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and has toured with The Old Vic Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. His voice experience is extensive and he is credited with over 2000 radio broadcasts and 300 unabridged audiobooks. These include works by James Henry, Dick King-Smith, Arthur Conan-Doyle and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Stephen famously voiced the character of Aslan in the 1979 adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. His unique narration style has won him various awards in both the UK and the USA, including a Talkies Award and several Golden Earphones Awards from Audiofile Magazine.
Stephen is no stranger to the screen and his television roles include Z-Cars, Death of an Expert Witness, David Copperfield, Crossroads, Last of the Summer Wine and Doctor Who. He also appeared in the 1984 film, Runaway and the 1985 film, Lollipop Dragon: The Great Christmas Race.
What listeners say about Jude The Obscure
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Tad Davis
- 02-16-10
Staggering
I first read this book about 40 years ago, and coming back to it now, with Stephen Thorne's wonderful narration, I feel the same sense of overwhelming tragedy. The climax of the book is shattering.
Jude is a country laborer with a dream, and with patience and determination to match. He teaches himself Greek and Latin while supporting himself as a stonemason, and he hopes to become a fellow at the University. But one thing after another happens, and his opportunities become more and more constricted. Personal drama takes center stage. He falls in love with his cousin Sue, a relationship doomed not only by his own prior entanglements but by Sue's own indecisiveness and apparent horror at physical expressions of love. (There's something damaged about Sue that Hardy never tries to explain: it just is.)
Stephen Thorne is a terrific reader: all characters distinctively voiced in a variety of accents, with the brooding narrator hovering over all. Enthralling throughout: but be forewarned that it ends badly for pretty much everybody you care about.
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Natalie Bartels
- 12-23-16
A truly complex and lovely tragedy
If you could sum up Jude The Obscure in three words, what would they be?
Lovely tragic novel
What was one of the most memorable moments of Jude The Obscure?
Jude's foolish drunken scenes.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No, it would have been too rich
Any additional comments?
My first Hardy novel. Brilliant. Tragic. When I finished it, I had an overwhelming feeling of having participated in something so aesthetically rich and complex. Learned a a lot about myself by exploring these characters. Would recommend.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- Deb Dake
- 03-17-09
It kept me engaged...
I thought the narrator was good as far as creating the environment but his portrayal of the female characters is weak and kept slightly pulling me out of the story. Not enough, however, to bring me to quitting it all together. I don't regret the time spent on the book.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Julia
- 09-20-09
Thomas Hardy would never have wanted this narrator
I love this book, and have loved it since I was a teenager dreaming of how Jude and I would have been soulmates, but this narrator is the worst! His deadpan, inflectionless reading of this heartrending text is unlistenable-too. I had to stop. Poor Jude, he was sounding as exciting as last year's weather report. Oh my, what a lost opportunity to bring a fantastic novel to life!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- J.B.
- 04-22-22
The Deepest of Undeserved Tragedies
Jude wants to be a man of literacy, he wants to be a cleric, he wants to be a good lover, he wants, he wants, he wants, and he should be, should be, should be, but nothing breaks in Jude’s Favor. Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy and read by Stephen Thorne, is a study of tragic failures by the turn of the 20th Century education system, the church, and the institution of marriage. This is Jude’s story, the deepest of underserved heartbreaks. All Hardy books are laden with heroes and heroines whose obtuse decision-making leaves them adrift with loss. The peculiarities of humankind, and how we are hurt by the peculiarities of other humankind. This book is no exception to Hardy’s style. Perhaps it is just the most despondent of his novels.
Jude gets trapped into a forlorn marriage while falling in love with a cousin, who foolishly passes Jude up for an older loveless man, and they struggle, to live with their mistakes. Finally, they ignore social norms and co-habitat in an effort to resolve their love but achievement in love never arrives, but for a fleeting moment and then disaster. A tortured disaster. The tale is painful but capturing. One may wonder, how with all its pain, it has remained in literature an alluring read? Because Hardy always instructs in how not to live your life. Read Hardy in hopes of not making the mistakes his characters make.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 04-24-21
Read a review first
I had not heard about the book before listening. The subject matter is harsh and it upset me. I did learn about a difficult time in history.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- KAtl
- 03-05-20
Want to feel better about your own life? Read this!
Wow so incredibly sad but in a very meaningful and moving way. A story that was beyond its time. Hardy portrays the struggles of his female characters so well. Enjoyed the narrator although would’ve liked him to differentiate the characters and especially female ones more. Would still highly recommend.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lewis Teeter
- 08-17-19
Not Hardy's Best
As a lover of classical literature I found Jude the Obscure a bit tiresome. There wasn't a sympathetic character to root for in the entire story and I found myself regularly checking how much time I had left before the book was finished. If you've never read Hardy I recommend you try Return of the Native.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chrissie
- 04-27-14
Jude cannot pick women!
Just as the book description clarifies, through this book Hardy criticizes the three institutions - marriage, religion and education - during Victorian times. Although I agree with his criticism, he exaggerates; he finds example that go beyond a fair analysis. Some of the characters are good and some evil, as in all novels, but Hardy goes beyond this and throws in characters that are mentally instable. Their behavior cannot be seen as a just criticism of the inflexible morals, rules and beliefs. A better criticism would have been achieved through more stable characters.
I have nothing against depressing books, but this is excessively depressing and frustrating beyond words since the characters cannot make up their mind. Talk about vacillation! It was tiring to see how they make a decision and then changed their minds, not once, but over and over again. Yes, such rigid institutions can force people into craziness, but not to the extent portrayed here. These people would not even be happy in less restrictive times, and thus Hardy's message loses impact.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Stephen Thorne. I was not pleased with the women's voices, and you could not tell who was speaking. The tone was disagreeable, but so were the characters.
I liked Jude, but felt such pity for him. It is hard to see a man so crushed by life, and his choice of women could not have been worse.
I might try another book by Hardy.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Genni Milesi
- 02-08-16
Irritating in places
Would you try another book written by Thomas Hardy or narrated by Stephen Thorne?
I would try any book written by Thomas Hardy.
What did you like best about this story?
A great classic.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
As for the narrator, Stephen Thorne, his voice is very agreeable. Unfortunately, Thorne thinks it necessary to render the women's lines in a painfully querulous falsetto. The result strips the dialogue of credibility and drama. As someone put it on Twitter, it sounds as if the characters are being mocked, and/or infantilized. Pity. I recently listened to a great performance by Annette Bening, who never altered her voice when playing male characters, leaving the writing shine through.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
I was pulled out of the story during most dialogues. Listening was particularly irritating when the narrator was supposed to convey a woman's strong emotion. But a few male characterizations suffered as well. Each time a character other than the protagonist speaks, Thorne has to send it up.
Any additional comments?
It seems to me that the narrator should resist the temptation to make a theatrical performance of a reading.
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Roly
- 04-28-20
Powerful themes amongst pathos and regret
Jude the Obscure is a roller coaster of intensity but doesn’t flow as well as Hardy’s other novels, and there are moments when contrived events seem to propel the plot.
Hardy describes a conflicted society in a story of individual pathos and regret; challenging the church, moral issues of relationships, sex and academic opportunity of the time.
One has great sympathy for the lead protagonists, Jude and Sue; innocents battered, and victims of a repressive and perverse society. I unsuccessfully willed Jude on, frustrated by his naïveté; Sue is complex, presents unexpected revelations but is finally worn down.
There is a quaintness ... when Sue and Jude have their first discussion after many months of friendship...Sue says that “she has remained as she began”...(that she is still a virgin) ... how euphemistic is that ! ? ... and partly exemplifies the hypocrisy of the time ....attitudes toward sexuality, marriage and oppression of women.
I’m no longer surprised by anti-semitic references in Victorian novels... are these justified as accurate reflections of the day, or Hardy’s gratuitous and thoughtless inclusions .... !
There is high feeling and emotion; the novel builds and matures and the final chapters stupendous. Not the strongest of Hardy’s, but one needs to discover this and experience his work through; certainly the social comment is key.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Barbara
- 04-26-15
Hardy at his best and darkest
Thomas hardy reminds us how far he was ahead of his time with this stunning, sad, story on the perils of love and marriage.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kris T.
- 05-03-18
Wonderful Novel / Mixed Performance
Performer's interpretation of the female voices is distracting and irritating, which is rather unfortunate as it detracts from the narrative.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- David
- 02-15-22
Difficult at best.
Well read but goodness me what a tragic story. Almost gave up on it. Try Mayor of Casterbridge or far from the Madding Crowd first.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- hayley keating
- 10-30-21
So frustrating!!
I love Thomas Hardy but had never read Jude The Obscure. Oh my!!
It’s typical Hardy. Delicious writing. But spoilt for me because I just couldn’t care for any of the characters. ( maybe that’s the point).
I knew from the outset that trouble was afoot and it just didn’t let up! Lost track of how many times I muttered “ oh for crying out loud, just marry him for Gods sake!”
Have to say that Sue is THE most frustrating woman ever. I often felt like throwing my phone out the window in despair!
I’m pretty sure I could not have finished it- the story really does drag on with little progress made - were it not for the EXCELLENT narration. It really added atmosphere and the necessary feeling of impending sadness and doom. His accents were brilliant and I was able to distinguish who was talking. A first class performance.
If you love Hardy give it a go- but not if you’re in need of cheering up. Oh and accompany each sitting with chocolate and a bottle of wine! Youill need it!!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Seayeaitch
- 11-14-20
Superb, probably Hardys best.
This, I understand was the last novel from Thomas Hardy, the story cannot be faulted , Hardy was the master observer of human relationship with a wide understanding and tremendous skill in weaving the reasoning into his story: Stephen Thorne does an excellent job in his narration.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Esther Yeadon
- 10-10-20
Worth the time
I love Thomas Hardy’s book, so relevant even now. So worth listening too, I listen on long car journeys !
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Loving it
- 06-23-22
Intensely boring story
I skipped the last 6 hours after struggling for hour after hour with listening to a relentlessly drawn out description and repetition of Sue's merciless control of Jude.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 06-03-22
Brilliant and tragic
Thorne is a superb narrator. I can see why this novel was so controversial when it was released. Characters’ views on marriage, their struggle against circumstance, societal convention, and the backdrop of a harsh and indifferent world. A great book; a great writer.