Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy
Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy
10 Rating(s)
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
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Jude the Obscure

Author: Thomas Hardy

Narrator: Stephen Thorne

Unabridged: 15 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/02/2018

Synopsis

Jude Fawley is a stone mason with a passion for scholarship who longs to study at the nearby university town of Christminster. Then Arabella Donn comes into his life. His longing for her eclipses all else for a time, and they marry but unhappily. Meeting his spirited and intelligent cousin, Sue Bridehead, Jude dares to dream again. But in acknowledging their feelings for one another, Jude and Sue risk becoming social outcasts. In defying conventional morality, their lives become plagued by uncertainty and torment.

About Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), English poet, dramatist, and novelist, was born on the Egdon Heath in Dorset. He studied in Dorchester and apprenticed to an architect before leaving for London, where he began to write. Unable to find a public for his poetry, which idealized the rural life, he turned to the novel and met with success as well as controversy. The strong public reaction against some of his darker themes turned him back to writing verse. Today several of his novels are considered masterpieces of tragedy.

About Stephen Thorne

Stephen Thorne trained at RADA and played several seasons with the Old Vic Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and London. He has worked extensively in radio, with over two thousand broadcasts for the BBC, including Uncle Mort in the Radio 4 comedy series and the part of Treebeard in The Lord of the Rings. His television work includes EastEnders, Boys from the Bush, Death of an Expert Witness, and David Copperfield.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Eric on January 22, 2011

If you like sunshine, unicorns, and lollipops, then you probably won't like this book. If it's raining and you're vaguely manic depressive or if you just want to sit around for a few hours and feel sorry for someone other than yourself - well, Jude's your man. I can't fault Hardy's talents at contro......more

Goodreads review by karen on June 21, 2018

i have just discovered betterbooktitles.com, so i am including this, but it is a total spoiler, so be warned. (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] jude the obscure is one of my favorite books of all time. and reading the biography of him now is making me very antsy to reread this. it used to be part of my "summer reruns" ritual; to......more

Goodreads review by Henry on April 29, 2024

Thomas Hardy ended his brilliant career writing novels with this book, Jude the Obscure because of the adverse reaction in Victorian England , this was thought unseemly immoral not a decent product , you didn't parade such filth to the public but he did, almost fifty years too early yet liking poetr......more

Goodreads review by Fabian on December 09, 2020

Finally read it! This one was so often interrupted and left for dead... & I guess it was better to keep straining the eyes and pausing after glorious upon glorious sentence for better understanding. Yeah- he's one of those authors often times associated with Greatness, & with good reason. "The Return......more

Quotes

“This story of repression, judgment, and true love will appeal to listeners who love the classics…A truly memorable literary experience that demands repeated listens.” Publishers Weekly 

“His style touches sublimity.” T. S. Eliot, praise for the author

“The greatest tragic writer among English novelists.” Virginia Woolf, praise for the author

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