At first, D.H. Lawrence made me want to keep reading. He is an excellent writer. This is a novel from the psychological realism genre, but it got a little too real for me! It was published in 1913 and must have been scandalous for its day. Since reading it, I have read that several of his books were banned. It is highly sexual in the second half of the book. In fact, it was too sexual, and I ended up really disliking the main character by the end (the son, Paul).I read that Lawrence's novels "emphasize the liberating effect of sexual love and criticize industrial society for limiting humankind's spiritual, instinctual nature" (The Book of Great Books, p.745). I don't think Paul Morel was in any way "liberated" as a result of expressing his sexuality. He went from a fairly decent human to an animal. YUK!
The first part was so much better. It dealt more with the mother's hard life with an alcoholic husband. It got really dysfunctional in how the mother transferred all her love, hopes, and dreams to her sons. My interest in reading it was peaked when the author of The Mama's Boy Myth referred to it several times.
Really, the second half was so melodramatic and stupid that I almost put it down. Not my cup of tea. D.H. Lawrence was a man, and maybe he was obsessed with sex in his own life because that is about all the second half contains. YUK!
The film adaptation was WAAAY too racy for my taste (and ClearPlay didn't have a filter for it since it is an obscure British TV drama). It left a very bad taste in my mouth. I would NOT recommend it!
2 comments:
D.H.Lawrence always left me feeling so depressed and like I needed a shower. I really found him toxic. Life's too short to waste time on books like that no matter how well the author may write. MHO!
Exactly, needed a shower. ICK!
I didn't know what to expect. It was on my list and also referred to in the Mama's Boy Myth book. So, I plunged in. D.H. Lawrence has been experienced, checked off the list, and will never be read again!
My classics book club (BOOK DAMES) is going to read it in April 2013, but I am going to recommend we NOT read it! ICK!
Thanks for validating my reality, Faith.
Post a Comment