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mayoroffailure 's review for:
Lady Chatterley's Lover
by D. H. Lawrence
I hardly ever read romance novels, primarily because more often than not I’m disappointed at the quality of the writing when it comes to how the relationship is developed. This book, however, was recommended to me by a friend of mine who had to read it as part of his English degree, in many of our conversations about literature he would circle back to it and eventually I knew it was going to be a book that I had to read. I did not, however, expect to get as much out of this novel as I did.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a novel that, like the best literature, operates on two levels, the primary story follows a woman who begins an extramarital affair in post-world-war-one England. However, Mr. Lawrence uses the story to hold broader thematic examinations about men and women, the fall of the aristocracy, and the blending of social class. Interest and focus on using a story to examine ideas is what makes a novel great, and it’s these deeper-lying aspects of Mr. Lawrence’s tale that elevate the novel from an average story of forbidden love to a classic worth reading.
What is a man? What is a woman? What is the meaning of sex? All of these are preeminent discussions in the narrative of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and each character in the story has an entirely different take on each question. There are no duplicate opinions in the story when it comes to these discussions, and Mr. Lawrence doesn’t single any particular take on the topic as being accurate, he simply allows his characters to voice their opinion and for the reader to think about it. This was one of the highlights of the book for me as many of the arguments being made in the book were not things that I had thought about previously, and it’s made for both interesting discussion and thought long after closing the back cover of the novel.
There is also an interesting thematic element in the breakdown of the English aristocracy and local royalty and the blending of social classes. Lady Chatterley is married to a man of the upper class who was badly injured in World War One, an injury that would cost him the functionality of the lower half of his body, and in this broken state he serves to function as a symbol of the declining influence of the ruling class. The ruling class has ceased to be able to take care of the lower classes, the lower classes must now begin to take care of the ruling class, and in so doing, they begin to realize that they are just as powerful as the people who used to be seen as better than them. This fact is emphasized by the way in which Clifford Chatterley reverts to a childlike state in which he can no longer take care of himself, or expect his wife to take care of him. He, like the English elite, turns away from the people and spends his days reading and pontificating about the future, wholly uninterested in continuing their line or helping the townsfolk in which their manor is supposed to preside over.
His wife’s paramour is a man of a much lower class, but despite that fact, Lady Chatterley finds herself far more attracted to him than to her husband. This relationship has thematic implications in regards to the breakdown of the social order as Lady Chatterley no longer needs to be in relationships within her own class, she can be free to enter into relationships with whomever she wants. Her paramour’s ability to speak the English of both commoner and elite further represents the ways in which the barriers of class are beginning to break down. It’s clear, especially by the description of the manor in which Lady Chatterley is housed, that the romanticized vision of royalty and elite status within society have vanished, replaced by something wretched, something that Lady Chatterley desperately wants to escape from.
The novel is also incredibly readable, Mr. Lawrence’s prose isn’t overwrought or filled with esoteric words, it’s a book that could be published today without much change needing to be made in regards to its writing. There are a few words that are spelled a little differently from how we spell them now, connection is spelled with an x for example, and there are moments where characters speak in the local dialect of English that are difficult to understand but overall the text is very friendly to those who don’t find their way out of contemporary fiction very often.
There’s little to dislike in the book, although I will say that the way the relationship between Lady Chatterley and George Mellor’s begins was a little odd. I’ve read reviews where people say that Mellor’s raped Lady Chatterley, and while I don’t agree with that particular diagnosis, I will say that it was a bit strange how it was handled. Connie is essentially watching him work when he decides to bring her into the cabin and sleeps with her, her catatonic state has more to do with her disillusionment than a lack of consent but I will admit that the scene gave me pause upon reading it the first time. It does also take Mr. Lawrence a long time to get around to beginning the affair between Lady Chatterley and Mellors, and while I understand the narrative purpose behind why the delay is present, I just don’t think it had to take up as much time as it did.
I also found myself wrestling with the ending of the story, there is something in it that feels very unfulfilled and incomplete. It’s a difficult subject to broach without spoiling the last third of the novel but I found myself having a hard time understanding what Mr. Lawrence was trying to convey through the way he ends the story. There are multiple interpretations that I have come across but I don’t think I’ve found the answer yet, and it could easily be a personal issue or a misunderstanding of Mellors as a character, but it certainly left me wanting more upon finishing the book.
Other than those few things I can’t highlight any other particular narrative issues with the novel. It’s an incredibly well-written story that has a lot of interesting themes on its mind, beyond even those that I’ve discussed. There are also themes surrounding industrialization, communism, and intellectualism, but to discuss each theme fully would take this review well beyond the number of letters Goodreads allows me. Just know that what the reader is getting out of Lady Chatterley’s Lover is not just a story of sex and romance between a man and woman, it’s a snapshot of, not only what England was like at the time but what England would become. In the modern-day, the traditional class barrier is gone and royalty is looked upon with respect but not the reverence and power that it once was. An American is a part of the royal family now, one of the princes married a woman who was very much middle class, the old world was completely blown up and shown to be incompatible with modern-day society. D.H Lawrence was known for being a cynical, grumpy man who continually shouted about how awful the world was, but in regards to his vision of class and society in England, he saw it all coming.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a novel that, like the best literature, operates on two levels, the primary story follows a woman who begins an extramarital affair in post-world-war-one England. However, Mr. Lawrence uses the story to hold broader thematic examinations about men and women, the fall of the aristocracy, and the blending of social class. Interest and focus on using a story to examine ideas is what makes a novel great, and it’s these deeper-lying aspects of Mr. Lawrence’s tale that elevate the novel from an average story of forbidden love to a classic worth reading.
What is a man? What is a woman? What is the meaning of sex? All of these are preeminent discussions in the narrative of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and each character in the story has an entirely different take on each question. There are no duplicate opinions in the story when it comes to these discussions, and Mr. Lawrence doesn’t single any particular take on the topic as being accurate, he simply allows his characters to voice their opinion and for the reader to think about it. This was one of the highlights of the book for me as many of the arguments being made in the book were not things that I had thought about previously, and it’s made for both interesting discussion and thought long after closing the back cover of the novel.
There is also an interesting thematic element in the breakdown of the English aristocracy and local royalty and the blending of social classes. Lady Chatterley is married to a man of the upper class who was badly injured in World War One, an injury that would cost him the functionality of the lower half of his body, and in this broken state he serves to function as a symbol of the declining influence of the ruling class. The ruling class has ceased to be able to take care of the lower classes, the lower classes must now begin to take care of the ruling class, and in so doing, they begin to realize that they are just as powerful as the people who used to be seen as better than them. This fact is emphasized by the way in which Clifford Chatterley reverts to a childlike state in which he can no longer take care of himself, or expect his wife to take care of him. He, like the English elite, turns away from the people and spends his days reading and pontificating about the future, wholly uninterested in continuing their line or helping the townsfolk in which their manor is supposed to preside over.
His wife’s paramour is a man of a much lower class, but despite that fact, Lady Chatterley finds herself far more attracted to him than to her husband. This relationship has thematic implications in regards to the breakdown of the social order as Lady Chatterley no longer needs to be in relationships within her own class, she can be free to enter into relationships with whomever she wants. Her paramour’s ability to speak the English of both commoner and elite further represents the ways in which the barriers of class are beginning to break down. It’s clear, especially by the description of the manor in which Lady Chatterley is housed, that the romanticized vision of royalty and elite status within society have vanished, replaced by something wretched, something that Lady Chatterley desperately wants to escape from.
The novel is also incredibly readable, Mr. Lawrence’s prose isn’t overwrought or filled with esoteric words, it’s a book that could be published today without much change needing to be made in regards to its writing. There are a few words that are spelled a little differently from how we spell them now, connection is spelled with an x for example, and there are moments where characters speak in the local dialect of English that are difficult to understand but overall the text is very friendly to those who don’t find their way out of contemporary fiction very often.
There’s little to dislike in the book, although I will say that the way the relationship between Lady Chatterley and George Mellor’s begins was a little odd. I’ve read reviews where people say that Mellor’s raped Lady Chatterley, and while I don’t agree with that particular diagnosis, I will say that it was a bit strange how it was handled. Connie is essentially watching him work when he decides to bring her into the cabin and sleeps with her, her catatonic state has more to do with her disillusionment than a lack of consent but I will admit that the scene gave me pause upon reading it the first time. It does also take Mr. Lawrence a long time to get around to beginning the affair between Lady Chatterley and Mellors, and while I understand the narrative purpose behind why the delay is present, I just don’t think it had to take up as much time as it did.
I also found myself wrestling with the ending of the story, there is something in it that feels very unfulfilled and incomplete. It’s a difficult subject to broach without spoiling the last third of the novel but I found myself having a hard time understanding what Mr. Lawrence was trying to convey through the way he ends the story. There are multiple interpretations that I have come across but I don’t think I’ve found the answer yet, and it could easily be a personal issue or a misunderstanding of Mellors as a character, but it certainly left me wanting more upon finishing the book.
Other than those few things I can’t highlight any other particular narrative issues with the novel. It’s an incredibly well-written story that has a lot of interesting themes on its mind, beyond even those that I’ve discussed. There are also themes surrounding industrialization, communism, and intellectualism, but to discuss each theme fully would take this review well beyond the number of letters Goodreads allows me. Just know that what the reader is getting out of Lady Chatterley’s Lover is not just a story of sex and romance between a man and woman, it’s a snapshot of, not only what England was like at the time but what England would become. In the modern-day, the traditional class barrier is gone and royalty is looked upon with respect but not the reverence and power that it once was. An American is a part of the royal family now, one of the princes married a woman who was very much middle class, the old world was completely blown up and shown to be incompatible with modern-day society. D.H Lawrence was known for being a cynical, grumpy man who continually shouted about how awful the world was, but in regards to his vision of class and society in England, he saw it all coming.