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A review by pawact
Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence
4.0
Women in Love is on of Lawrence's major works and it is among his best. Gudrun and Ursula are sisters in a mining town. Ursula is a teacher and Gudrun is an artist that had been flitting around London bohemian society. The book opens with the sisters discussing marriage and then going to a wedding which sets of the main theme of the book, essentially a philosophical discourse on pairing off and the search for a better, more spiritual or physical self in others.
Lawrence has always been interested in the battle between mind and body and what the purest way to achieve that balance is and his characters talk and philosophize . . . alot. If one comes to, say, Lady Chatterley's Lover for the sex, they leave with a lot of philosophy about sex, class, etc. Women in Love is particularly debate laden. Ursula pairs off with Birkin, a sickly, dreamy young man who is looking to get beyond simple love and transcend, in a weirdly Buddhist sense. He pushes Ursula who is a bit more earthy, to think past simple matters of love and affection. Meanwhile Gudrun has a love/hate relationship with Gerald, a young man whose taking over the family coal mining business in town. Gerald believes and revels in power and control in a very manly sense, but has an insatiable curiosity. Gudren is obsessed with this power and alternately succumbs and challenges it.
Then there's Gerald and Birkin, old friends who also love and occasionally repulse each other. Birkin is annoyed by Gerald's curiosity and general bullishness, but is also looking for that pure transcendence with Gerald. It's fascinating to read now what is clearly a homoerotic relationship in a novel that barely hides it, but probably went under the radar anyway for decades. Any doubt that it is just, you know, strong male friendships in the way that our generation doesn't understand dissipates in Birkin's words in the last few pages of the book.
As I sad, there is a lot of talk. Too much in fact. It's a little top heavy and plot light. But it is Lawrence who is a brilliant, fascinating writer and there are some fantastic scenes and tableaus to be had in the book. I would not hand this out as the first Lawrence novel (I'd probably pick Sons and Lovers) anyone who loves Lawrence's other work would do well to pick this up.
Lawrence has always been interested in the battle between mind and body and what the purest way to achieve that balance is and his characters talk and philosophize . . . alot. If one comes to, say, Lady Chatterley's Lover for the sex, they leave with a lot of philosophy about sex, class, etc. Women in Love is particularly debate laden. Ursula pairs off with Birkin, a sickly, dreamy young man who is looking to get beyond simple love and transcend, in a weirdly Buddhist sense. He pushes Ursula who is a bit more earthy, to think past simple matters of love and affection. Meanwhile Gudrun has a love/hate relationship with Gerald, a young man whose taking over the family coal mining business in town. Gerald believes and revels in power and control in a very manly sense, but has an insatiable curiosity. Gudren is obsessed with this power and alternately succumbs and challenges it.
Then there's Gerald and Birkin, old friends who also love and occasionally repulse each other. Birkin is annoyed by Gerald's curiosity and general bullishness, but is also looking for that pure transcendence with Gerald. It's fascinating to read now what is clearly a homoerotic relationship in a novel that barely hides it, but probably went under the radar anyway for decades. Any doubt that it is just, you know, strong male friendships in the way that our generation doesn't understand dissipates in Birkin's words in the last few pages of the book.
As I sad, there is a lot of talk. Too much in fact. It's a little top heavy and plot light. But it is Lawrence who is a brilliant, fascinating writer and there are some fantastic scenes and tableaus to be had in the book. I would not hand this out as the first Lawrence novel (I'd probably pick Sons and Lovers) anyone who loves Lawrence's other work would do well to pick this up.