Things that Annoy Me in "Tess"

Everything about Alec is annoying to me, as well.

Haha -

By the way, it only gets much much much worse with the biblical references. Honestly, Hardy must have the Book of Psalms memorized for the number of footnotes referring to a could be reference. It is a little annoying.

You think the fifty pages of saying no over and over is tedious, wait until you get to the part where she has an internal struggle to determine whether or not she's going to tell him about Alec. On and on and on.

I'm really enjoying this book, even though I can see it taking a dark turn as I near the halfway point. However, there are a couple of elements that I find distracting:

1) The obvious use of Biblical metaphors. When Angel returns from his parent's house and finds Tess waking up from her nap, the author likens the redness of the inside of her mouth to that of a snake. What? I think we've seen enough Discovery Channel to know that snakes don't have red mouths. Thanks for the "Adam and Eve" reference, though - the 18,000 other mentions of her being like Mary Magdalen didn't clue me in to the fact that she is supposed to be tempting.

2) The length of time that Angel courts Tess, and the number of times she says no. I think this could have been cut in half. If she really were interested in saying no, she would have told him about the baby early on and done away with him; the fact that she doesn't proves that she wants to marry him and keep it a secret. Instead, there are 50 pages of this repetitive romp.