A review by win_monroe
Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence

3.0

This highly autobiographical book primarily follows Paul, a sensitive boy with artistic tendencies born in a northern English mining town, and his relationships with his mother and two lovers in his youth. It's an earnest and reflective story, with sadness and tenderness for his mother's difficult life, but also how it affected, and stunted, his ability to form romatic relationships. Perhaps my expectations were excessive, as the book is often mentioned in lists of "greatest novels of all time" but I was a bit underwhelmed by this first introduction to DH Lawrence's work. The writing can carry you away at times, but it can also a bit of a tedious slog at others. Part of this might be my own start and stop reading over the last few months, as I've been very busy. Nonetheless, the psychological perspective he unravels is impressively honest in its ability to identify and explore Paul's emotional challenges. In particular, Lawrence is a master of exploring the uncertainties and ambiguities of love from passion and lust to fear of rejection and self-sacrifice, we watch Paul and his partners cycle through them all, sometimes even in the same moment. At some point, I will need to return to DH Lawrence's later work, which is reported to be more 'radical.'

6/10