Book 1 of 2025: Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

@bookishswiftiesclub challenge for January was to read a classic, so I took the opportunity to reread one of my favorites! Tess is a novel of hypocrisy and double standards. I learned that the book’s subtitle when published on 1891, A Pure Woman, infuriated critics and it was condemned as immoral and pessimistic. And I personally love rejecting purity culture and strict Victorian views of gender roles! In her search for respectability, Tess’s fortunes fluctuate wildly, and the story assumes the proportions of a Greek tragedy as Tess is ultimately only able to take agency over her own life through violence. The novel  explores Tess's relationships with two very different men and her struggle against the social mores and hypocrisy of the Victorian age. The mood of the novel is quite bleak throughout, exemplifying the oppression of poverty and gender roles of the age. The also novel serves as a critique of the strict modesty standards of the Victorian era and sexual double standards that have horrific implications for women but leave men blameless (as portrayed by Tess and Alec). I’ll always love Tess, and the resounding sentiment that her story always leaves me with—women deserve better.