Jude the Obscure
#1025 of 2,654 all-time
Jude the Obscure
Thomas Hardy
7 people recommended it in 4 threads, 2010–2024.
What people on Hacker News said
The way Hardy 'smuggles' Jude's viewpoint into the narrative is so ridiculously well crafted, a pleasure to read.
You can sense his fury at the society he was depicting. You might not want to read either of these, particularly "Tess", if you're prone to depression.
Its littered with literary goto statements, referencing every imaginable literary text. Its really pretty cool, Its hard to follow along with, and harder to catch all of the references but the norton edition fills half of each page with footnotes.
Jude the Obscure, the cover tells you the ending is shocking, and the cover is right!
It was a very controversial book in its day because of its portrayal of marriage. I found it pretty bleak and yes shocking.
When I finished that book in college I literally couldn’t get out of bed for two days. I have never been so devastated by a work of fiction.
Where it comes up
- Ask HN: Best books read in 2022? 2022 · 4 recommendations
- Ask HN: What are your favorite classic books? 2024 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Books you read in 2016? 2016 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009? 2010 · 1 recommendation