Then his plans are sidetracked one day when he is literally hit in the face (with pig offal, no less) by a sultry temptress known as Arabella. As he grows up, he begins training as a stonemason, while still improving himself by studying late into the night. Nevertheless, Jude works hard, gets hold of some Greek and Latin grammar books, and does his best to study on his own. He lives with his great aunt who is full of dire predictions about the Fawleys, and how they should never marry, that they are essentially cursed. As a poor boy with no resources, and being of a lower class, this is practically impossible.
Young Jude Fawley, a bright but poor pupil, is sad to see him go and vows to someday go to Christminster himself to study. Phillotson is packing up and leaving a small village in Wessex to continue studying at Christminster, a large university town (based on Oxford). It is possibly one of the most depressing books I have ever read. Jude has four main characters who are all miserable, and terrible things happen to them. And let me tell you, Hardy deserves the reputation of my first impressions. However, if I read along with Michael, it would take nearly a year to finish Jude, so I've read ahead. He goes off on tangents and does terrible accents for some of the characters, and I find it delightful. I hadn't planned on reading a third Hardy novel this year (I read Under the Greenwood Tree and A Pair of Blue Eyes practically back-to-back) but recently comedian Michael Ian Black started a podcast called Obscure in which he reads one chapter of Hardy aloud per week, interspersed with his comments.
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