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    Jude The Obscure
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    Jude The Obscure
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    Jude The Obscure
    Ebook784 pages13 hours

    Jude The Obscure

    By Thomas Hardy

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    About this ebook

    Hardy's masterpiece traces a poor stonemason's ill-fated romance with his free-spirited cousin. No Victorian institution is spared — marriage, religion, education — and the outrage following publication led the embittered author to renounce fiction. Modern critics hail this novel as a pioneering work of feminism and socialist thought.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAB Books
    Release dateMay 11, 2018
    ISBN9782291024347
    Author

    Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) is best known for his novels, Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895), which was denounced as morally objectionable. Hardy, disgusted with this reaction, declared he would never write fiction again and devoted the rest of his literary career to poetry.

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    Reviews for Jude The Obscure

    4/5

    1,783 ratings27 reviews

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    • 5/5
      So tragic. Beautifully written.
    • 4/5
      I read this in 2009 and it was my first Hardy. I really liked it. I guess it was his last novel. The main character, Jude, wants to be a scholar. The other character is Sue, his cousin and his love. The novel is concerned with issues of class, education, religion, morality and marriage.
    • 4/5
      Excellent. One of the very best endings I have ever read. Loved it.
    • 5/5
      One of my favourite British Victorian classics. A compelling story on the so-much loved theme of a subject trying his utmost to overcome his humble roots (but failing in the process). Extremely well written and engaging - even for a 21st century mind.
    • 5/5
      My favorite book in the whole world, with the most realistic moral to any book life is rubbish and then it's just going to get much moch worse!
    • 4/5
      I think Hardy was a man ahead of his times in regards to how he approached relationships in this book. I am not referring to the relationship of cousins, rather his outlook on marriage. I also believe he stated what many people probably felt or observed in the time period this book was written. True to his form, he stated it well and honestly if not always happily!
    • 4/5
      This was my second Hardy novel, following The Mayor of Casterbridge, which I believe contains more appealing characters and story lines. Nonetheless, Hardy's writing ability is superb, hence Jude the Obscure flows seamlessly throughout. Kudos also for Hardy's ending, which was superb.Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      I liked this one, but I liked Tess of the d'Urbervilles better.
    • 3/5
      A sad tale lovingly rendered from boyhood to death. All the usual literary devices are there, but it is the moral questions: what is the true right and the true wrong, that stay with you. And it is the character's inability to find that true course and stay with it that is their undoing, by way of passion, greed, fear, or a certain class consciousness. Of course, no one is going to read this who isn't either already a Hardy fan or studying for a lit exam.
    • 5/5
      This picture of an ordinary life in the 19th centuary was extremely contreversial when first published. The story concerns a rural man trying to better himself and become some more than he was born as. Despite his best efforts this leads to tragedy. A totally compelling tale beautifully set with much to say about class - many comparisions can stil be drawn with the present day.
    • 4/5
      Marriage and restrict of social mores. Excellent.
    • 5/5
      A masterpiece of Victorian tragedy, Jude is tortured, miserable and doomed, but this beautiful novel is profoundly moving. The language is utterly gorgeous and Thomas Hardy is a peerless genius. Truly, absolutely, the best book I have ever read. You will cry.
    • 4/5
      Socially advanced novel of marital relationships from 1895.. After the fuss aroused, Hardy never wrote another novel.Read in Samoa June 2003
    • 2/5
      I finished this book on 13 Dec 1964 and after being so impressed by Tess, this book really turned me off. It is a dreary book and very disconcerting.
    • 4/5
      Not just about 1895 social mores. Also applies to now. Sue Bridehead is an advanced woman .and the exploration of class issues is at ground level, as people experience them.
    • 4/5
      Typical Hardy - full of sex (minus the descriptions of course) and some desperate sadness. I like the way he doesn't find it necessary to have everyone living happily ever after by the end of the book.
    • 4/5
      I read this book during my senior year in college, so it's been a "few" years! I do remember being hooked on Thomas Hardy, and not because it was required reading!
    • 5/5
      Hardy, why must you always do this. If you're looking for an optimistic book to keep you happy then you're in the wrong place. The characters in this are so painful, but they make you feel in a way that other writers can't accomplish. This is most definitely a book that stays with you afterward and forces you to wrestle with what is presented.
    • 5/5
      Well, that was depressing.Beautifully written, scathing commentary by the author on religion and marriage in Victorian England... hard to believe Hardy wrote something so forward-thinking in this time period, and easy to see why it was so badly received then. The novel feels unflinchingly honest, brutal, and sad. Poor Sue. Poor Jude. If you like fun stories with happy endings, this is not the book you’re looking for.
    • 4/5
      Like most books written in the period, Jude the Obscure does have several passages that can be difficult to wade through. However, unlike many such classics, Jude is worth the effort. This book is a bitter-sweet love story set in a time filled with conventions and behavioural expectations that could make life very difficult for those who did not conform. I highly recommend this book.
    • 3/5
      Thomas Hardy first gives readers an admirable Jude, his dreams set on becoming a Christminster scholar.Next follows a set of unusual marriages, a horrific tragedy, and the interminable resultant peculiarities of Sue Brideheadand Jude's unswerving love for her which lead the tale into a comedy of errors. Too Strange Indeed."She little thinks I have out-Sued Sue in this - all in the last twelve hours!"
    • 1/5
      Nice to see the young Kate Winslet and her fine style of acting
    • 3/5
      Sort of disappointing, depressing, and pointless, but I could see that it was written well at any rate.
    • 5/5
      One of the most powerful books I've ever read. I found the impact shattering. The tragedies of men's and women's struggles against the social system are portrayed as hopeless and seemingly eternal.
    • 4/5
      A criticism of the institution of marriage, education and religion in England. Unflinching and brutal in places. Enjoyed this much more than expected.
    • 5/5
      I read this out of curiosity during my freshman year in college. When I approached my English 1A professor about doing a paper on it, she -- and I'm not joking here -- said, "Why would you want to write about a dead white male?" Taken aback, I dutifully bowed my pimpled head and submitted a paper on Ernest Gaines's A Gathering of Old Men.

      Not to take anything away from Gaines, who I ended up admiring in his way, but Ms. F? You can suck it.
    • 5/5
      Tragic, heartbreaking. Either the last great novel of the 19th Century, or the first modern novel. I have not read this book in over 30 years, but my heart aches every time I think about it.