Rating: 
Summary: This book ruined my life
Review: A widely challenged novel, Thomas Hardy's _Jude the Obscure_ encompasses issues and sides of humanity from a different angle; his issues discussed you will rarely see in 19th century literature. Yes, Dickens often did challenge poverty and social injustice, but Hardy goes so far as to scorn Christianity and gender roles. As I read through this horribly depressing tale, I was stunned by Hardy's ideas. This man was very much ahead of his time, as his morals and thoughts are still often disregarded in society today.Jude Fawley, a poor boy with humble beginnings and a vehement love of learning, has ambitions and dreams which only prove unattainable. (Instead of leading to eventual success in his novel, Hardy shows painfully well true difficulties and unrealities.) Jude struggles to fit into society, and acquires a wild relationship with his cousin. Though she is also a display of the often times frivilous and jealous nature of women, she defies many gender roles, and Jude tries to make her see as he does. Certain events turn this story unusually morbid, and Jude certainly ends his life as an obscure and unimportant man ... a depressing reminder that this is the fate which awaits us. One of my favorite characters of all time, Jude Fawley won my admiration for being the man who would not mold to society. His actions were noble, his ideas bold, his thoughts different, but because he could not submit, his life was tragic. Eventually he fell into obscurity, to merely an unknown name, meaning nothing to society on the whole. Consider the time period in which this was written, and you will be amazed by the dark and catastrophic events, the sexual nature, and the downplay of Christianity. Thomas Hardy has distinguished himself by understanding society rather than hiding the truth. Much like Jude, Hardy could not fit into the norm, yet took no shame in writing this book. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Hardy's Masterpiece: Questioned
Review: Hardy wrote Jude the Obscure at the height of his career. Does the book reflect his mastery? Or does it fall short of his capability? At the time of its publication, Jude (like Tess) received critical admonition from the public: The blatant sexuality and the unfulfilled/unheroic main character won over fanatics and made enemies of literary elites. I picked up this book out of boredom, believing I'd put it down after a few pages. I enjoyed Tess from High School, but Jude for leisure? I was wrong: Hardy's poetic melancholy and rythmic cadence drew me in yet again. I was mesmerized by Jude, Arabella, and Sue. Though their conversations seem forced and some of their characterics unnatural, I felt sympathy for their deterioration and sadness. And in my feeling this, Hardy has accomplished a great poetic influence. I really believe that Hardy could have written a greater Jude the Obscure if he was unhindered by the public. Though his true passion lay in poetry, he had much potential in prose. Too bad this was his last novel...
Rating: 
Summary: The most depressing book I have ever read BUT.......
Review: Having said that, I think reading Jude the Obscure was a worthwhile experience.
It concerns the young man Jude, stonemason by trade, who dreams of a university education. His hopes and dreams are high at the beginning of the novel. But a series of events ensures that life does not have happiness in store for him. His academic aspirations are thwarted, he marries a vain girl in a moment of lust, and watches his real love - Sue - marry another. When he finally gives everything up, job security, social respect, his ambitions, to live with Sue "in sin", there is a brief, uncertain ray of happiness on them before tragedy stikes again. The emotions I went through while reading Jude's journey and ultimate disappointment in life were intense. I felt despair, sadness, shock, and was ultimately left feeling quite bitter about his plight. BUT, I enjoy reading books that wrench out your heart and make you feel deep emotion, whether happy or not. Few books do that well in my opinion. That fact that Jude the Obscure did that for me, even though the emotions were negative, was the reason I gave it 5 stars. If you don't like being depressed by what you read, it is probably wise to avoid this one. If, however, you want a truly momentous emotional experience, you should definitely take time to read Jude the Obscure. Just be aware that the feelings it arouses are not pleasant, but it will definitely leave you deeply moved.
Rating:
Summary: Hardy's best novel
Review: In my own personal quest to read as many of the "classics" as possible I picked this one up some years ago after seeing it referred to by many critics and writers as a beacon of excellent prose. I was pulled into Jude's world almost immediately and it took a while to escape it completely when I had finished the book. It's not pessimistic, it's just that Jude lives a tragic life and Hardy expresses it to the fullest. This book started me on a quest that didn't end until I had devoured each of his other novels and a biography of his life. As good as the others were, this one tops them all.
Rating:
Summary: Jude the Obscure reads like a 21st century soap opera.
Review: In my personal opinion, Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, is the most enjoyable, fascinating and memorable book I have ever read. The characters could easily step into the 21st century. The saga of Jude reads like a modern day soap opera but with much more heart. I highly recommend readers to experience this monumental piece of literature by Thomas Hardy. Definitely one of his finest.
Rating:
Summary: Mason, Maid Moot Marriage, Miss Mark
Review: More than most novels I have read, JUDE THE OBSCURE consists of an extraordinary number of reverses of position, changes in thought, and zigzags of principle. With a background of rural England or smaller towns such as Oxford, (called Christchurch here) this dark story describes the tragic lives of two people who dare---far before our time---to consider love and marriage in a different way. Jude Fawley aspires to be a scholar or even a minister of God, but wanders into an unfortunate conventional marriage with Arabella, a barmaid with an eye for the main chance. He becomes a stone mason, but pores over Latin and Greek texts by night. Despite forewarnings of the unhappiness in marriage which runs in his family, he falls for a cousin, Sue Bridehead, an ethereal, philosophically-inclined woman, who loves Jude in return but marries a dry schoolteacher despite that. Later, as Jude's wife has run off to Australia and as Sue regrets her decision, they come together at last, only to go through a series of extraordinary vicissitudes. One cannot help but wonder if Sue is not more than a little mad. Rain, wind, dark church towers, and damp stones fill this story with atmosphere, but the constant changes in direction and convenient appearances of previous characters at propitious moments may prove a little aggravating. Though these can be taken as criticisms on my part, I admired Hardy's last novel as an attempt to do a very difficult thing---to show the lives of two ordinary people who at some moments transcend their ordinariness with sublime courage, only to lose their way and sink back into the sordid murk of daily existence and terrible tragedy. The characters, in the end, achieve nothing, yet they lived, they too reflect the extraordinary variety of the human condition. Jude, the character, reflects on his life, saying, "...it was my poverty and not my will that consented to be beaten. It takes two or three generations to do what I tried to do in one; and my impulses-affections-vices perhaps they should be called-were too strong not to hamper a man without advantages, who should be as cold-blooded as a fish and as selfish as a pig to have a really good chance of being one of this country's worthies." Hardy's condemnation of middle class hypocrisy and the narrowness of "scholars" comes through constantly. Set against the entire array of world literature available, perhaps JUDE THE OBSCURE is not at the top of the scale----Hardy's indecision as to the direction of his plot prevents that---- but it is still a good novel.
Rating:
Summary: Ahead of its time.
Review: One of my favorites - even by today's standards, Hardy's novel is wildly forward-thinking and shockingly real. The character of Sue Bridehead is one of the most complex and intriguing characters in Victorian literature. Torn between tradition and modernity, she cannot reconcile the world she lives in with the one she envisions. She and Jude are alike in that way, and it binds them to each other in a way that is inevitably tragic.
JUDE THE OBSCURE examines what few novels dare to explore, and none as eloquently: the undeniable link between superstition and religion; the absurdity of entering into a marital contract; and the cruely of a society that breaks those that do not fit within its mold. Heart-breaking and narratively unmatched, Hardy's novel is a cautionary tale that, more than 100 years later, shows us how much as a society we have yet to overcome.
Rating:
Summary: Yes!
Review: Simply awesome. Had me pumping my fist in the air and yelling, "Yes!" over and over again. I read this in one marthon session of fist-pumping and yelling.
Rating:
Summary: This book ruined your life? Get serious...
Review: Someone has posted that this book ruined their life. How pathetic. Did Hardy leave you so sad and apathetic that you were incapcitated to live a normal life or are you looking for someone to blame your miserable life on? Either way, it seems that this book has made a lasting impression, which any great book should do. I guess it should have a warning- WARNING TO READER: ONLY FOR THOSE WHO TAKE RESPONSIBILTY FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS. That said, this is a book that people will be reading years and years from now. Hardy was one of those Modernists writers that was on the cusp; hard to label and not easliy confined into a period. Low Modernism? Late Victorianism? Forget the easilt attched titles and labels and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: This book ruined your life? Get serious...
Review: Someone has posted that this book ruined their life. How pathetic. Did Hardy leave you so sad and apathetic that you were incapcitated to live a normal life or are you looking for someone to blame your miserable life on? Either way, it seems that this book has made a lasting impression, which any great book should do. I guess it should have a warning- WARNING TO READER: ONLY FOR THOSE WHO TAKE RESPONSIBILTY FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS. That said, this is a book that people will be reading years and years from now. Hardy was one of those Modernists writers that was on the cusp; hard to label and not easliy confined into a period. Low Modernism? Late Victorianism? Forget the easilt attched titles and labels and enjoy.
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