Title: Women in Love

Author: D.H. Lawrence

Genre:Classic Literature

Publisher: Arcturus Publishing

Format: Paperback

Pages: 431

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

“An analytical study of sexual depravity” and “an epic of vice” were two of the critical expressions which greeted the publication of “Women in Love”. Yet Lawrence regarded this novel as his best book and F. R. Leavis considered it Lawrence’s supreme masterpiece.

The novel tells of the relationships of two sisters, Ursula and Gudrun, who live in a Midland colliery town in the years before the First World War. Ursula falls in love with Birkin (a thinly disguised portrait of Lawrence himself) and Gudrun has an intense but tragic affair with Gerald, the son of a local colliery owner.

This book is a sequel to “The Rainbow”, and contains some of the clearest statements of Lawrence’s beliefs. It contains much philosophical discussion and descriptions of the characters’ emotional states. and unconscious drives, and many of the ideas arc expressed through elaborate symbolism. The characters and relationships are probably based on those of Lawrence and his wife Frieda, John Middleton Murry and Katherine Mansfield.

Review:

This is the second book in Lawrence’s duology (the first being The Rainbow).

I really liked that this book focused on the two sisters, Ursula and Gudrun. The rainbow seemed to only focus on Anna and Ursula, and while I liked seeing the contrast between mother and daughter, I was curious to know about Ursula’s relationships with her siblings.

This book also focuses on the relationships that Ursula and Gudrun have, and it looks into the complexity of relationships. Ursula is attracted to a man who wants a different type of relationship, and believes that one should strive for an almost other worldly sense of relationships. Meaning that the love you have for one person, and being loved by just one person isn’t enough.

Gudrun experiences a different relationship with a man; her lover seems to be more of a player, which is fine to Gudrun as she also doesn’t want to settle down. She’s an artist and wants to explore her art and herself, and not necessarily be shackled to one person.

I really like how this book looks at how complicated relationships are, which hasn’t really changed. One thing I want to point out with this book is the discussion of physical violence and understand that the way it’s presented was how it was presented when the book was published. One a father hit his daughter across the face in the book, her lover asked her what she did, as if it was her fault. This bothered me when I read it, but I remembered that this would have been the response back then and I’m so grateful that we have come such a long way from that point!

Happy reading!