Download Jude the Obscure djvu

I gave the book itself 4 stars and others have reviewed it based only on the story so I won't go into that. I just want to review the Kindle version I bought. There were strange breaks in the text which sometimes made it difficult to keep up with who was saying what and there was a large part missing from part 4 chapter 4. I have a paperback version so, luckily I was able to read the missing part. Maybe there are more missing parts that are less noticeable. The only illustrations I saw were occasional small decorative squares, like illuminations. I was able to read this Kindle version but I was not happy with it and thought others should know to avoid it.

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy lived up to its name and all its glory. In fact, circa 1895, when Hardy’s novel was published, he received such ridicule and criticism for the ideas and characters he presented that he ultimately decided to stop writing fiction. These controversial ideas included feminist characters and intense criticisms of marriage and accepted family roles. Much like his characters, Hardy was dismissed from society and seen as an outcast after Jude the Obscure was brought to the public eye. However, in modern times, this novel is an exciting, extremely involved story of a boy who becomes distracted from his true passions by transient, unreliable characters.
The topics Hardy explores throughout the novel are more appropriate for astute audiences, as he explores sexuality, marriage, and death in unexpected ways. Jude’s tale will have you arguing with the characters as if you could impact the series of events. Never has an author drawn me so close as to empathize so greatly with a character I have minimal similarities to. Although his ideas can be far-fetched and outwardly outrageous, Hardy finds a way to speak to the depths of our emotions and change the way we choose to view those around us and how they impact our lives.

Obviously Jude the Obscure is a classic and everyone should read it some time.
However this version is not the best although not for the reason the previous reviewer described. I do not know if it has been updated since the time of that review but currently, there is no problem with the arrangement of the text on-screen.
Unfortunately, Jude the Obscure had many revisions during Thomas Hardy's life and it is unclear which of the editions this copy represents. Additionally Jude is full of obscure (get it?) literary and cultural references that would have been far more decipherable by an 1890s British reader, but that are--sadly--lost on me and most without annotation, of which this version has none.
Finally, like most free Kindle editions (and far too many of the full-priced ones), there are no chapter breaks programmed into the text, so it is not possible to flip through the text to find something you have already read. I also have the paperback Oxford World's Classics edition and I don't think I will be able to discard it as a result of getting this version. Still: free is free.

This is a difficult book to review, as it’s not usually considered Hardy’s most popular, most significant, or most highly regarded. Yet it rates a “five” because, as a significant author, Hardy does one thing well: He illustrates the challenge of the desire of the human race to break free from old ideas and traditions, and to define and live out new, more satisfying and productive ways of living. He would say that the individual person should have the freedom to decide one’s destiny, not the rules defined by society or religion. In a sense, Hardy would be at home, a kindred spirit, in the discussions of the meaning of life carried out in a variety of complex ways by Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky, Sartre, or Camus.

“Specifically in the novel” (says Cliff’s Notes), “Hardy depicts characters who raise questions about such things as religious beliefs, social classes, the conventions of marriage, and elite educational institutions and who feel in the absence of the old certainties that the universe may be governed by a mysterious, possibly malign power.”

We who live in the 21st century face this constantly. An ongoing debate continues between liberal and conservative views of religion. Liberal Christians, for instance, have no difficulty accepting both scientific discovery and thought, while conservative ones conduct a constant battle against new concepts. Some will even insist on a narrow, literal view of Biblical Creation, instead of accepting the ongoing new discoveries of astro-science. Political contests abound in which those of progressive, liberal views, compete against candidates of conservative, even regressive views. Every new election in almost any country is an example of this tension. Keep the old way, or throw it out. Adopt a new way, or reject it. The recent U.S. election is the most visible illustration of this. Politicians will characterize their opponents as evil, even the devil incarnate, whether true or not, while offering themselves as the new savior, the new knight in shining armor who will ride in on a white horse and make everything right again (Translate, “Make America Great Again”).

Jude the Obscure is an excellent example (even the best example) of the author’s “gloom and deterministic” philosophy of life. Optimism never appears on the scene, while tragedy dominates the narrative. The negative gets worse and worse as all sorts of situations block Jude’s desire for happiness.

The book is really a post-modern, 21st century novel in the disguise of one written in a Victorian environment. Hardy’s treatment of marriage is quite akin to our contemporary context. In this regard, he was well ahead of his time. Further, he did not hesitate to depict the tragic, the horrific. The scene for example, of the deaths of Little Father Time and the younger children (Sue, who lived with Jude unmarried, expecting their third child, found Little Father Time had hanged the two babies and himself, after which Sue collapses and gives premature birth to a dead baby), were certainly shocking to Hardy’s contemporaries of the 1890's. However, they could fit in quite well with the novels, screenplays, and television dramas of today.

So the five star rating comes from the unique parallel that Jude the Obscure has with the second decade of the 21st century. To put it another way, Hardy is a secular prophet in his own right.

I wish Amazon had common reviews for books with multiple editions (with some way to make edition-specific comments) -because there are a zillion editions of this classic. I got really caught up in this book even though I had read it a long time ago in college. It explores still relevant issues of social norms, the meaning of marriage, and unrealized dreams. It didn't matter to me that the plot was far-fetched at times - it was an entertaining read and thought provoking as well. It is the tragic story of Jude a poor boy with dreams of being a university educated man. The dream is waylaid by women, and I don't want to give anymore away. Read it!