A review by joemaggs
The White Peacock by D.H. Lawrence

4.0

Lawrence’s first novel and clearly so. The in-depth descriptions of the Nottinghamshire setting is impressive prose but sometimes too detailed and resulted in me losing interest. Beyond this, however, is what may be called in modern terms a “coming-of-age story” but yet is uniquely of its time and challenging. The book is not action-packed, nor is the story itself particularly hard-hitting. The enjoyably thought-provoking asset of The White Peacock is Lawrence’s exploration and intertwining of various themes - the mental and philosophical development one goes through in young adulthood, the role of women at the turn of the 20th century, finding one’s purpose in life, necessity of marriage at the time, having children, class, industrialisation - all of which can be in some way related to modern life. Nonetheless, it also stands alone an intriguing reflection of the time period with themes such as the damage of industrialisation and growing modernity, and the nature of monogamy and being unable to divorce. This is not a fairytale but I enjoyed it a lot for that and found it moving and stirring when it comes to thinking about life, purpose, growth, and decline.