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sailorpunk's review
It's not only a boring read. It's a full blown white colonialist fantasy with a touch of sexism.
mx_malaprop's review against another edition
1.0
If ever one day you give D.H. Lawrence’s The Rainbow a try out of curiosity, and it makes rainbows come out of your eyes and sends you on a five-month-long tear of just devouring his writing, not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything, I have some advice for you. If that ever happens to you, I heartily recommend giving The Plumed Serpent a miss, no matter how intent you are on reading everything he wrote. Let the happy memories of the transcendence you experienced reading The Rainbow and Women in Love and Sons and Lovers and, heck, even The Trespasser and The Lost Girl remain intact and untainted by this racist and sexist cesspool of a novel that's unsatisfying from a literary perspective as well because of its implausible narrative and cop-out ending. It's too bad, because it has the breathtaking descriptions of landscapes and the engrossing snapshots of characters' psyches that are typical of Lawrence.
If you must read at least some of it, put it down after chapter 22 when Kate affirms her identity as being the name she was born with and not the names that men have foisted upon her throughout her life, and then make up your own ending. You'll do a better job than Lawrence did. You'd do a better job if you threw a piece of broccoli at a typewriter.
As for the racism, hoo boy. Pages and pages of the patronizing white protagonist’s inner monologue of reductive and dehumanizing "observations" on the "nature" of indigenous Mexicans. That alone wearisomely* bogged down the novel long before it turned into an anti-woman screed propping up the subjugation of women and the sublimation of their identities.
I know that reading Lawrence and being disappointed by sexism and gender essentialism is like looking into a bag labelled Dead Dove: Do Not Eat (though he did give us Ursula "I'm a bolter" Brangwen, whom I adore), but he really outdid himself here. And the extent to which he did is confusing because it contradicts the idea you see again and again in his writing about how couples should exist in a "star-equilibrium," with each person being a separate, individual entity.
The GR blurb for Quetzalcoatl, an earlier version of TPS, calls it "one of Lawrence's most feminist works," which boggles my mind, considering the published version is by far the most sexist of his novels.
...But all told, it still didn't make me as mad as E.M. Forster's Howards End!
*If Lawrence gets to add "-ly" to words that aren't usually adverbified, then I reserve the right to do the same.
If you must read at least some of it, put it down after chapter 22 when Kate affirms her identity as being the name she was born with and not the names that men have foisted upon her throughout her life, and then make up your own ending. You'll do a better job than Lawrence did. You'd do a better job if you threw a piece of broccoli at a typewriter.
As for the racism, hoo boy. Pages and pages of the patronizing white protagonist’s inner monologue of reductive and dehumanizing "observations" on the "nature" of indigenous Mexicans. That alone wearisomely* bogged down the novel long before it turned into an anti-woman screed propping up the subjugation of women and the sublimation of their identities.
I know that reading Lawrence and being disappointed by sexism and gender essentialism is like looking into a bag labelled Dead Dove: Do Not Eat (though he did give us Ursula "I'm a bolter" Brangwen, whom I adore), but he really outdid himself here. And the extent to which he did is confusing because it contradicts the idea you see again and again in his writing about how couples should exist in a "star-equilibrium," with each person being a separate, individual entity.
The GR blurb for Quetzalcoatl, an earlier version of TPS, calls it "one of Lawrence's most feminist works," which boggles my mind, considering the published version is by far the most sexist of his novels.
...But all told, it still didn't make me as mad as E.M. Forster's Howards End!
*If Lawrence gets to add "-ly" to words that aren't usually adverbified, then I reserve the right to do the same.
millese2's review
2.0
I’m so conflicted. The story is atrocious. It’s vapid. It’s boring. But, oh DH Lawrence, your prose is fantastic and your descriptions of the landscapes and people are amazing.
Unfortunately, the slow moving plot and general boredom are not alone in making this a really difficult book to finish. Lawrence sounds like someone who subscribed to one of those Dictionary-Word-a-Day email lists, only for random Spanish words he heard while visiting Mexico. How many times can you say “Serape” in one paragraph? The dialogue is forced and unnatural. The songs and prayers of Quetzalcoatl read like utter hot garbage. The general fever dream delusion of replacing the Catholic Church (in Mexico of all places) with a cult of ancient and mysterious resurrected cosmic gods is really hard to fathom and seems extremely forced on Lawrence’s part, like he had an idea and just jammed it through regardless of the end result.
Honestly, unless you’re just trying to complete all of Lawrence’s works, like I am, just skip this one.
Unfortunately, the slow moving plot and general boredom are not alone in making this a really difficult book to finish. Lawrence sounds like someone who subscribed to one of those Dictionary-Word-a-Day email lists, only for random Spanish words he heard while visiting Mexico. How many times can you say “Serape” in one paragraph? The dialogue is forced and unnatural. The songs and prayers of Quetzalcoatl read like utter hot garbage. The general fever dream delusion of replacing the Catholic Church (in Mexico of all places) with a cult of ancient and mysterious resurrected cosmic gods is really hard to fathom and seems extremely forced on Lawrence’s part, like he had an idea and just jammed it through regardless of the end result.
Honestly, unless you’re just trying to complete all of Lawrence’s works, like I am, just skip this one.
vkellermann89's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
bob625's review against another edition
3.0
In The Plumed Serpent, Lawrence lays out dually arrogant and fascinating reflections on religion, culture and sexuality to bake in the hot Central American sun, some heating to sublime perfection, others becoming dryly overcooked in their repetition. The first half of this novel is for the most part an overwritten, unstimulating slog, and the second half is just as overwritten, but much more captivating as the depictions of ancient Aztec religion come alive. At times a challenging read, but I'm glad I read it.
sumatranelectricchair's review against another edition
I think this is a work of genius but I wouldn’t have felt this way if I hadn’t discussed this extensively in class with one of the best professors I’ve ever had
blindferret's review
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
i couldn’t help but react. I had my hand on my face all the time I was reading, it’s very nerve wracking - I don’t think it’s really finished
lnatal's review
3.0
My rating: 3,5 stars
Free download available at eBooks@Adelaide.
Quotations:
She felt again, as the felt before, that Mexico lay in her destiny almost as a doom. Something so heavy, so oppressive, like the folds of some huge serpent that seemed as if it could hardly raise itself.
"There is no such thing as liberty,The greatest liberators are usually slaves of an idea. The freest people are slaves to convention and public opinion, and more still, slaves to the industrial machine. There is no such thing as liberty. You only change one sort of domination for another. All we can do is to choose our master."
Free download available at eBooks@Adelaide.
Quotations:
She felt again, as the felt before, that Mexico lay in her destiny almost as a doom. Something so heavy, so oppressive, like the folds of some huge serpent that seemed as if it could hardly raise itself.
"There is no such thing as liberty,The greatest liberators are usually slaves of an idea. The freest people are slaves to convention and public opinion, and more still, slaves to the industrial machine. There is no such thing as liberty. You only change one sort of domination for another. All we can do is to choose our master."
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