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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have a lot of feelings about this novel. To Lawrence’s credit, it’s one of the most vivid and harsh accounts of cruelty I’ve ever read. It’s a genealogy of the irrational chain of feelings and decisions that make people hurt one another, and it puts these moments of pain under a fluorescent light:
“You haven’t told me why [our relationship is] no good.”
“Because I don’t want to go on—and I don’t want to marry.”
“How many times have you offered to marry me, and I wouldn’t?”
“I know; but I want us to break off” (296).
God damn it Paul. God damn you, you asshole! I could see this moment coming, due to Lawrence’s favoritism toward Miriam. And yet anticipation never makes these moments of hurt any easier, just like in real life.
But the inevitability Lawrence cultivates is also what makes reading him so frustrating. I just wish he would stop narrating for just one paragraph and show the characters doing things. And I don’t mean I wish there was more action. I mean there was no mystery; no reason to care about characters when they come neatly packaged with detailed Freudian profiles. The whole novel began to feel like it was filled with character outlines that serve as a sketch for a novel (non-existent, thank god) that is three times as long. Here’s a pretty telling example:
“So, secretly ashamed because he was in such a mess, because his own hold on life was so unsure, because nobody held him, feeling unsubstantial, shadowy, as if he did not count for much in this concrete world, he drew himself together smaller and smaller. He did not want to die; he would not give in. But he was not afraid of death. If nobody would help, he would go on alone” (408).
There you go: big emotional secrets spelled out like they’re directions on a box of macaroni-and-cheese. I don’t mean that there’s no feeling. I really felt a lot throughout reading this novel (see first sentence of this review). I just wish the feelings had more breathing room. By the end of the novel, I was tired of trying to fit all of the torment together like a puzzle.
I’m guessing, however, for better or worse, that I’ll feel a lot different about the novel in a second reading. Right now I’m compelled toward biographical criticism, which is odd for me. I want to accuse him of using the novel as a workbook to master his own torment and his relationship with ambivalence. But I don’t know anything about his life, so that’s kind of silly of me. So until I randomly end up on his Wikipedia page one day, I’m taking a big old D.H. T.O.
“You haven’t told me why [our relationship is] no good.”
“Because I don’t want to go on—and I don’t want to marry.”
“How many times have you offered to marry me, and I wouldn’t?”
“I know; but I want us to break off” (296).
God damn it Paul. God damn you, you asshole! I could see this moment coming, due to Lawrence’s favoritism toward Miriam. And yet anticipation never makes these moments of hurt any easier, just like in real life.
But the inevitability Lawrence cultivates is also what makes reading him so frustrating. I just wish he would stop narrating for just one paragraph and show the characters doing things. And I don’t mean I wish there was more action. I mean there was no mystery; no reason to care about characters when they come neatly packaged with detailed Freudian profiles. The whole novel began to feel like it was filled with character outlines that serve as a sketch for a novel (non-existent, thank god) that is three times as long. Here’s a pretty telling example:
“So, secretly ashamed because he was in such a mess, because his own hold on life was so unsure, because nobody held him, feeling unsubstantial, shadowy, as if he did not count for much in this concrete world, he drew himself together smaller and smaller. He did not want to die; he would not give in. But he was not afraid of death. If nobody would help, he would go on alone” (408).
There you go: big emotional secrets spelled out like they’re directions on a box of macaroni-and-cheese. I don’t mean that there’s no feeling. I really felt a lot throughout reading this novel (see first sentence of this review). I just wish the feelings had more breathing room. By the end of the novel, I was tired of trying to fit all of the torment together like a puzzle.
I’m guessing, however, for better or worse, that I’ll feel a lot different about the novel in a second reading. Right now I’m compelled toward biographical criticism, which is odd for me. I want to accuse him of using the novel as a workbook to master his own torment and his relationship with ambivalence. But I don’t know anything about his life, so that’s kind of silly of me. So until I randomly end up on his Wikipedia page one day, I’m taking a big old D.H. T.O.
Absolutely loved it. Made me realise why I love to read classics .
This books reveals much about the role of religion and myth in society. Morel like a mushroom…
It was definitely a good long read, I'm not sure how to feel.
Paul Morel..ugh he irritates me, most of my annotations in this book are me mocking him, I think he's a good example of Mama's boy type of men tho.
I felt bad for Miriam throughout the whole book, Paul is always taking her for granted.
I guess Paul will never know what love truly is.
Paul Morel..ugh he irritates me, most of my annotations in this book are me mocking him, I think he's a good example of Mama's boy type of men tho.
I felt bad for Miriam throughout the whole book, Paul is always taking her for granted.
I guess Paul will never know what love truly is.
readable and interesting but slightly unbearable. i admire its frankness in depicting indecision and uselessness, but it’s not fun to read. doesn’t so much have a plot, as is a series of episodes, of which the opening is perhaps the best. a drag in its depiction of women. lacks the quality of language and description which so awed me in lady chatterleys lover. which isn’t to say it’s badly written.
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes