It was a pleasure to read this book,written in such a simple, crisp style and yet conveys the gravity of emotions between mother and son flawlessly with beautiful prose, subtle expressions, quiet reflections and profound discoveries. This is a true classic.
Overdramatic, largely biographical novel of the author's early life Submitted on: 2008-10-16
Sons and Lovers is D.H. Lawrence's highly autobiographical novel of the early years of a young man's life in mid-nineteenth century England. As such, the book is very intense emotionally, as Lawrence seems to convey his own strong feelings about his family into his characters. One result of this exaggerated level of emotions is a constant state of tension and unreality. A simple scene becomes a moment of high drama and the constant repetition of such scenes eventually dulls the reader to those moments of genuine crisis.
The book begins with the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Morel. Gertrude is an educated, sensitive woman who marries Walter because of his physical appearance and charming personality. She also believes, falsely as it turns out, that he does not drink and is the owner of this own house. Mr. Morel is a miner and the family lives in "The Bottoms," a hardscrabble mining community. It soon becomes clear that he cannot cope with the responsibility of raising a family that grows to four children. In response he turns to drink and abusive language (although no real violence) toward his family, and especially toward his wife. Throughout the book Walter is portrayed, not as an evil man, but as one defeated by life. His family comes to despise him and at the same time love him, depending on his moods and behavior.
William, the first child, is athletic and intelligent. He grows to manhood early in the book and leaves to go to London to seek his fortune, but comes to a tragic end. The second child, Annie, has only a modest role in the novel as benefits a book with this title. Paul, the third child, is the main character and Lawrence's alter ego. Unlike his siblings, Paul is sickly and unathletic, and he and Mrs. Morel develop a strong attachment for each other that carries throughout the book. The final child, Arthur, also plays a minor role in the plot.
The book is divided into two parts; the first largely concerned with the early years of the Morel family and the second with Paul and his love affairs. As a teenager he meets Miriam, a young girl on a nearby farm. Paul develops a fondness for the whole family and he and Miriam become entangled romantically and the understanding is that they will marry some day. But neither Paul nor Miriam can make a sufficient commitment to this idea and even when Miriam finally does so Paul is incapable of a similar response. At this point an older woman, Clara Dawes, comes into Paul's life. She is married to Baxter Dawes, a brutish man from whom she is separated. Paul is attracted to her physically and they begin an adulterous relationship. But again Paul has difficulty sustaining a mature relationship and is constantly torn between his love for (and even dependence on) his mother and his wish for a mature and stable relationship with a woman.
The novel is also infused with a heavy dose of religion. Miriam in particular, is described as highly religious and even derogatively referred to as a nun. The religion view that sex is something dirty is also evident.
It would help, given the nature of the book, to read a biography of Lawrence before tackling this novel. Many of the characters in the novel act in dysfunctional ways and the reader wonders how much of their behavior is a reflection of Lawrence's own life experiences.
It is difficult for me to rate this book much above three stars because of the depressing tone and unrealistic behaviors of the characters. One wants to say to Lawrence, "get some psychological help before writing about your life!" On the other hand it is a fascinating story written by one of the outstanding English writers of the nineteenth century. It is not his best work, but still quite good in many respects.
Touched by genius... Submitted on: 2008-10-10
D.H. Lawrence was a guy that came out of the womb knowing how to write. You read his prose and his innate genius quickly becomes self-evident--this is an artist for whom the creative act of literature is akin to a Mozart symphony--airtight, beautiful, logical, NATURAL. Floooooowing.
Compare Lawrence with someone like Wallace Stegner--the latter being a writer with a fair amount of talent and a heckuva lot of dedication...but whose works seem...synthetic. Over-written, almost. As if he would look at a sentence and say, "This needs another adjective here--and a polysyllabic synonym for this word here."
With Lawrence, there is no sense of writerly straaaaaaining for profundity...no sense of sweaty self-consciousness. The sentences seemingly emanate from the ether, with a fundamental soundness and beauty which only a tiny, tiny few lucky people are capable of creating.
Stegner could study the craft of writing for thirty years and still produce an inferior book to the twenty-seven-year-old Lawrence's Sons and Lovers. Lawrence had IT. He was the real deal. The genuine article. He WAS Mozart (Stegner was you-know-who).
Sons and Lovers is a masterpiece. Not without its flaws, surely, but a masterpiece all the same. Some parts drag; some parts are choppy; some parts are frankly uninteresting. Notwithstanding that, it is just a single rung below Lolita and Under the Volcano in terms of quality.
The MLA concluded that Sons and Lovers is the ninth best novel of the 20th century--and it's hard to quibble with that assessment. (Even though it is ranked AHEAD of the supernally brilliant--and better--Under the Volcano.)
If you are a serious connoisseur of literature, this is one you have to get under the belt.
indescribable Submitted on: 2008-08-22
Wow...I don't remember the last time that I've read a novel that would bring out in me such immense sensitivity as this one. With incredible detail Lawrence describes his life and ihs biggest loves. Perhaps I should not be writing this review because I only read 200 pages so far, but it is just too breathtaking.
Well written, but not enough to resist some skepticism Submitted on: 2008-07-30
This novel created considerable controversy, along with Freudian accusations of an Oedipal relationship between Paul the son and his mother Gertrude.
D. H. Lawrence depicted the physical attraction between Paul and Clara in a very frank direct manner that was quite radical for the time. The tormenting uncertainty between
Paul and Miriam, along with his strong attraction to Clara as compared to the mutual emotional dependency between him and his mother were understandably overwhelming to the public.
It was very instructive to see how the absence of love in the mother's life led her to have an emotional dependency on one of her kids, only to switch to another son when she loses the first one. Portraying human narcissism through motherly love is a very shocking way of examining human nature. It was very interesting, as well, to see how the son was always torn between loving a woman and loving his mom, which are very different and incompatible emotions.
Lawrence's honesty is very admirable considering the period in which the novel was written, and the unique way he described the son's decision while the mom is in pain on her death bed might raise some deep insight regarding this Author's vision. I, though, reject the possibility of a deep emotional thinker, and go with a merely honest portrayal of a pleasure worshipping male, who did not understand typical male desires as compared to typical human feelings.
Lawrence had many admirers, including some smart/confused feminists, who thought of him as a great writer who portrayed quite accurately women's feelings. I, on the other hand, agree with the good writer part but sense in him shallowness and pure blind desire with a great dearth of complex analysis.
Sad and lovely
Overdramatic, largely biographical novel of the author's early life