1001 Group Read: Sons and Lovers

Discussions1001 Books to read before you die

Rejoignez LibraryThing pour poster.

1001 Group Read: Sons and Lovers

Ce sujet est actuellement indiqué comme "en sommeil"—le dernier message date de plus de 90 jours. Vous pouvez le réveiller en postant une réponse.

1george1295
Août 30, 2011, 8:58 am

My plans will tie me up for the next few days (but things fall apart) so I am going ahead and starting the thread for our September group read, Sons and Lovers--a deeply stirring, psychologically questioning book.

2billiejean
Sep 6, 2011, 1:20 am

I will pick this up at the library tomorrow.

3chrissybob
Sep 6, 2011, 12:49 pm

I really didn't expect to enjoy this - and I didn't until I was half way through.

I loved the freudian look at Paul's relationship with his mother and the physical vs spiritual relationships with the lovers. It was challenging and thought provoking - and as you say deeply stirring.

I did feel Paul was a bit weak willed at points and got frustrated with him -clearly the over bearing mother in me striving to get out. I would have liked a stronger show down with his mother who became more tyrannical and darker as the book progressed but I think Paul's actions towards the end were brave.

Having two sons of my own I see elements of Paul and William in my boys - and reading this really made me think about my relationship with them (although they are only young so no issues with girls for a few years yet I hope!).

This was my first DH Lawrence novel and overall I enjoyed it - looking forward to the next.

4george1295
Sep 6, 2011, 3:06 pm

Chrissy, good observations. Is it not a conundrum? This novel is a picture of Lawrence's early life so does that mean that the weakness of Paul has now become the strength of Lawrence? How does one paint a word picture of himself as weak, tied to the apron strings of his mother's will, unless he is brave enough and strong enough to expose this fact to the reading public?

5chrissybob
Sep 8, 2011, 2:17 pm

George1295 - interesting I hadn't looked at it like that. Perhaps weak willed is the wrong phase - perhaps the story demonstrates his immaturity and as he has matured his self awareness has improved. His actions at the end with his mother are a clear indication of his increased maturity I suppose.

Where is everyone else hiding?

6annamorphic
Modifié : Sep 10, 2011, 11:57 am

Chrissy, Hiding because I realized that I read this book in high school. It was assigned for English class and looking back I think, wow. Those were the days when parents didn't complain about anything! We read all sorts of rather shocking books, in fact, and neither we nor our parents were ever shocked by them. This was the late 1970s and perhaps just a more open-minded age.

Oh, and this was in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Amish country. No bastion of liberalism.

7johnnypies
Sep 13, 2011, 5:12 pm

Hiding because it took me 3 hours to find the book amongst Mount TBR. On the plus side, as a by-product all of my TBR 1001 candidates are now in alpabetical order, albeit on the floor rather than on shelves.

I made a start on it yesterday. I think it might be a long month...

8Deern
Sep 14, 2011, 11:03 am

I just started the book and am sure I won't finish it this month... I'm just too busy with work right now. But at least the group read made me finally pick it up, it has been on my shelf (as part of a D.H. Lawrence collection) for more than 20 years now.

9chrissybob
Sep 14, 2011, 12:57 pm

#7 - that is a serious TBR pile by the sounds of it and a serious level of organisation. Making me look at mine again and contemplating a 'tidy up!'

Can't wait to hear what you all thought of this when you come out of hiding ;o)

10billiejean
Oct 9, 2011, 6:42 am

I just now finished the book. This is the first book by Lawrence that I have ever read, and I thought it was a pretty good one. I was wondering at the end if Miriam would ever find someone (else).