Another wonder of a book!

loved it! Thomas hardy as always - wonderful. never wanted it to end, next book please!

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Thomas Hardy's masterpiece ...

Simon Vance gives an immaculate reading of one of Hardy's most beloved tales, Tess of the d'Urbervilles. It's one of my favourite Hardy books, and tells the story of Teresa Durbeyfield, a sixteen year old girl, whose father learns that they are, in a minuscule and much reduced way the scion of an aristocratic family, of Norman descent. Tess's good looks, and powerful unconscious magnetism draws upon her the advances of the rakish Alec D'Urberville. This dandyish young man of twenty-four descends from a business magnate who purchased the title in order to elevate his standing in the county of Dorset. Tess is naive of men, and accepts Alec's advances in an ancient wood, not in full realisation of how far Alec will go with his passionate desires.

After this, and a few more weeks sojourn at the home of the false relation, she returns home to her parents. Here she bears a child who dies. In those times, it seemed that the woman was blamed in such situations for not being sufficiently resisting. This is a trait that recurs in Tess many times, she rages forth when she needs to recede. and vice versa. After a period of recuperation she decides to escape the gossips and she finds work in a very jolly dairy. Here she meets the atheist Angel Clare, the son of a clerical family, who in her eyes is some second Apollo, the object of desire for all of the younger dairymaids. Angel unsurprisingly singles her out as his preferred, and they marry. One fateful night, Tess confides the whole of her experiences to Clare on their wedding night. Angel is frantic about the shame, and admits that he married an idealised figure, not a real woman with a history. Not only this, but as the story makes clear, Tess fell for Angel at first sight, some years before, whereas he had to rack his brains to remember the encounter. although remember, he does.

Oddly, he shows a very conventional, priggish and ungenerous character at times, no doubt still captive to his religious upbringing on many levels. In contrast, the lewd and worldly Alec shows a deep and unsolicited concern for Tess and her hapless family. It'd take a heart of stone, though, to not 'fall' for Tess but the time the novel concludes, and for Liza-Lou and little Abraham. Hardy does complexity and nuance so well. As expected, the landscape forms more than just a backdrop to human action. It's interesting that the D'urberville lands, when the family was intact, abutted onto the monotonous and gloomy heath that is the real main characacter of 'The Return of the Native'. by the same author. The Abyss resides in Dorset!

Simon Vance's narration is excellent, as good as Peter Firth's. I'd hate to have to chose between the two. I read this version via the Plus Catalogue, but I shall be buying it with my next credit. After reading, I looked up the narrator, and happily he looks almost exactly as I'd pictured him. This book is a wonderful experience, and I recommend it highly.

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Throughly enjoyed

I am now in my seventies and did not read fiction growing up as I am dyslexic. I read for knowledge and my education only.
I am like a child now, loving literature since discovering audio books and would highly recommend Thomas Hardy to any age group.
For myself, who loves the English language, I find Hardy’s stories bring to life so many words that are fading from popular use. I am both enthralled and enlightened and in search of my next book.

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classic

one of the best books ive read in a long time, beautifully written and historically interesting

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Thomas Hardy never fails to please

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Thomas Hardy brings alive the characters in his story. They are some ways very modern and one feels for their trials and tribulations as if they were neigbours. A wonderful and moving tale exceptionally well read.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Tess - a girl of action and decision. She makes choices. However, we are continually frustrated with the choices she makes. She is quite young so we shouldn't be surprised at this. However, part of the great entertainment afforded by this novel is pondering what her alternative choices were and whether those might have resulted in any better an outcome for her.

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

Simon reads the book with sympathy and portays each of the characters with vivacity.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I would quite happily have listened to this book in one sitting. It is an excellent story well read.

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so happy I finally read it

loved it. couldn't wait to come back to it every time. can't believe I waited this long to read it

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the accents and rhythm was disappointing

I wasn't the biggest fan of this story, but I may well have liked it more if the narrator's accents hadn't been so awful and his rhythm so repetative to the point that once I noticed he said everything in the same way I got very irritated. with the addition of none of the characters being particularly likable I aslo struggled to finish this book. However, it was not entirely without merit as a story itself and does highlight the difficulties of the times, particularly for women.

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not Hardy at his best - woeful narration

I love Thomas Hrady, but had never read this book, though I knew the story. I found it lacked the lyricism of his other works, and the characters were not as well-formed - aside from Tess and Angel, the characters are almost caricatures of West Country bumpkins, though that may have been down to the narrator. I didn't feel Tess was as fully-formed a character as some of Hardy's other heroines, and Angel is not sympathetic at all, so hard to feel Tess's love for him. I struggled at times to stay interested, and found myself listening just to try to get it over and done with.

Ultimately, though, it was the narration that spoiled this. Simon Vance puts on such terrible women's voices it is farcical, so it's hard to take Tess seriously. His portrayal of the country folk is too far-fetched and comical. Hardy writes tragic, moving novels, not bawdy comedies. And most unforgivable of all - he cannot do a West Country accent, and his attempt drifts further and further west throughout the book, so Tess in turn becomes Welsh and eventually Irish by the end of the book. Appalling.

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2 people found this helpful