what the heeeeeeeeeeell are we doing, folks ?

‘“Women and love, there is no greater tedium,” he cried.
She was slightly offended. And yet, this was her own basic feeling. Men, and love - there was no greater tedium.’

Read it a long time ago but don't recall a whole lot about it. I remember liking it well enough but not enough to read it again or to write home about it.

D. H. Lawrence's works that I have read stand alone in my experience for their at times awkward prose with with regularly clipped 4 word sentences, duplicated sentences and phrases with in a single paragraph, and use of 'hate' in response to so many simple interaction. The style at times is distracting to the point of taking one out of the book. Lawrence's focus is primarily on tension arising from human instinct for freedom and inability to experience love without sacrificing freedom. Plots and events are largely symbolic and fragmented. The focus is on the internal minds of characters and their intellectual struggles brought out through relationships with others. The 4 main characters each deeply and uniquely expressed. They are very modern for the time of writing and it's easily understood how controversial and even offensive and they would have been. Depending on your sensibilities that may still be. This is mostly an intellectual, even philosophical exploration of the way individuals compromise or for love or abandon it for freedom. Not the easiest read but rewarding and expansive.

I'm am disappointed, I wanted another Sons and Lovers, but alas. I found the characters in the love-square unlikable (with the exception of Ursula, although she was pressing her luck throughout), and I didn’t really connect with (or really understand) the Gudern-Gerald relationship. There are still enough great moments, the whole water-party scene and the great Ursula-Birkin argument that ends with Ursula walking off down the road, ostensibly to leave, only to return saying ‘see what flower I picked you’.

However, most of the societal criticism (which is mentioned in nearly every blurb of this book) comes across as superficial and angsty. Especially, because it primarily comes for the mouths of well-off people who seem to be affected by western industrialization on a visual level: ‘This building is ugly, the miners are ugly, the pit is ugly, it is ugly that man is subjected to the machine and so on’. Coupled with rants from the (obvious) author-insert character, it makes the novel feel pompous and mean spirited.

I'm sure this is good but not where I'm at currently. Maybe I'll come back to it later. I got through about 22%.

All of the characters were odious. I found it really hard to actually finish this book. The pomposity of the writing was too much. The whole book was very off-putting. I don't know if the author actually wanted you to like any of the characters, but I didn't. And the only reason I finished this book is so that I can continue towards my goal for this year. I'm glad I've read other works by Lawrence or this book would have turned me off of him forever.

I hated every character in this book more than I've ever hated book characters. This book made me throw away the other D.H. Lawrence book I had but hadn't read bc apparently one of the main characters of this book was based on Lawrence and that made me hate him as a person and writer. Regardless of racism and sexism I can normally enjoy "classics" but this one was impossible. The copy I had was very old and falling apart and normally I would save a book like that for arts and crafts but I threw it directly in the trash instead.

*This review is not informative at all, just very descriptive.