To wish Tess had just gone with Angel

[WallaceinAnderland]

This is probably a popular and well discussed opinion but it just makes me so sad every time. She didn't have to kill Alec, she was legally married to Angel. She could have just walked away.

Obviously the quiz answers I can't answer always seem hard and the ones I get straight away seem easy, so I'm hardly objective about this, but the lack of knowledge about classic books is pretty shocking to me. I remember seeing that dreadful quiz programme Bridge of Lies once that comes on before Pointless (I lead a very exciting life, obviously!). The team playing were estate agents, a cheery bunch with boundless confidence, but why they had decided to try their hands at a general knowledge quiz show and how they got through the audition process was a mystery, because they appeared to know nothing about anything. They were told the first round would be about books and they all groaned and laughed and said that none of them read books, so this would be hopeless. It was. They had to select the books that were by Agatha Christie. Options included Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, and they still managed to score almost nothing.

Now you're trying to pretend you knew it was a classic novel after posting "This nonsense should be posted in the TV section." Embarrassing

Yep, I reckon a lot of people probably cringed at that post.

I mean, if you're going to get on your high horse and instruct others on where to post, it's probably best not to advertise your own ignorance in the process.

Yes, this is exactly what I thought - I even remember feeling how tragic it was that Tess appeared to have the choice, but didn’t really.

Anyway, she couldn’t go with Angel and live happily ever after - that’s just not an ending Hardy would write 😆

Thankyou for the post Wallace, it’s decades since I read Tess or any other Hardy (but it obviously lodged in my brain because I knew exactly what you meant when I read the thread title!). I’ll be digging out my copy as soon as my exams are over!

It’s made me want to reread it too. Thank you @WallaceinAnderland.

No its not - this isn't vaguebook

Its rude to start a conversation and assume that people know who or what you are talking about.

Same here @WallaceinAnderland 💐

Not rude in the least

And me!

I do agree that it would be polite and nice to put some context to the thread

havibg had it explained - I just wish Thomas hardy had not written anything.

Nobody’s making you read Hardy’s work.

And yet lots of poster are enjoying it - as you can see given your post is on page 5

It's a classic novel, it's reasonable to assume that lots of people will have at least a passing acquaintance with the story. And those that don't can just scroll on to find another thread.

There are quite a lot of threads on here talking about TV programmes etc. Half the time, I have no idea what they're talking about, but I don't find it rude at all. I just move on to the next thread.

Anyway, she couldn’t go with Angel and live happily ever after - that’s just not an ending Hardy would write 😆

He sort of did in Far From the Madding Crowd. That pissed me off. Bathsheba was such a cow, my consolation throughout was "well this is Hardy, she's not going to be happy" and then...!

@Fyreheartthere are frequently topics on AIBU that I don’t understand. I just jog on or follow them till I have picked it up.

Complaining that a discussion isn't accessible and therefore rude smacks of someone with a chip on their shoulder. Should everything be lowered to the lowest common denominator?

If you don't recognise the names in the OP, you can just assume it's about something you haven't read or seen, and click on something else. It's not an obscure, little-known story and enough people recognised it for us to have a conversation.

Yes, I think I’d misunderstood - I didn’t know the subtitle “A Pure Woman” - which I think puts the ending in a different context

Another one for me to reread - although I remember enjoying Far from the Madding Crowd, it was obviously not as powerful as Tess, I don’t really remember the story. Thankyou!

@BIossomtoesi was forced to read them at school unfortunately

I found it probably the most readable Hardy novel I've read (I've not read all of them). For once I wanted disaster to befall the female lead!

I’ve just discovered the Kindle version is free if anyone’s planning to read or reread.

It was the set novel in my state in Australia when I was in 5th Form, now Year 11, so I would have been 16. It was a horrible experience, poorly taught in a Catholic school, so we were all puzzling about how "the angels weren't looking after Tess" (or whatever it was) and then she had the baby. It was many, many decades ago and we were pretty dim. I don't know who thought that was a good idea as a set novel, but it was probably irrelevant as the specific teacher had a gift for sucking the pleasure out of anything. She managed to make Evelyn Waugh's "The Loved One" as dull as ditchwater.

However, I vaguely remember that the ending, as awful as it was, seemed inevitable with the characters of the people involved.

Get a grip. Dozens of us got the reference immediately. People post all the time about 'influencers' and the like and I just scroll past because it's of no interest. I don't post repeatedly telling them they're rude for talking about something I know nothing about. What would be the point of that?

because it's often discussed after the TV adaptation has been aired.

I hold Bathsheba responsible for a lot of the tragedy that happens in Far From The Madding Crowd. She started off capricious, vain and easily led and I don't think she'd changed by the end of the book.

Well you know, threads about real people not book/TV/show characters.

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