NeoLibrarium

First, I always thought it was D’Ubervilles…which shows how your memory can fool you since I first read this when I was about 13. Secondly, since I was 13 there were a lot of things I missed in the book - little remarks by characters or comments from the narrator that add to the story.
For example, the idea that nobody really ostracized or looked down on Tess after she came back home - rather, it was in her own mind. Tess kept herself ashamed and afraid of the rest of the world. Nobody had condemned her for being taken advantage of by a rich and rather despicable man when all she was trying to do was help her family survive.
Also, I learned that I don’t hate Tess’ mother as much as I did when I read it through the first time. She is rather flighty and immature (and vain), but she does genuinely care about her children - it just isn’t apparent under all those layers of frivolity in her personality.
Lastly, I forgot that a book can be tragic without making me so sad and depressed that I don’t want to read it anymore. Tess of the D’Urbervilles is tragic, but in a rather beautiful way, which is something I don’t say often because to me the terms don’t go together.
Plus, it’s a classic. It’s worth the read.