mrears0_0's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
dianagangan's review against another edition
3.0
I have a mixed feeling towards this book. I mean it's so well written and it portrays characters and their life so accurately, it leaves you shivering, with an aching remorse and disquiet regarding their future, their brokenness, their alienation. I feel utterly unsettled.
muftarova's review against another edition
4.0
A book that caused me emotional turmoil.
I can't even begin to describe how disturbing it sometimes was. The Oedipus complex that the sons had, would even have Freud turning in his grave, it was that upsetting. The tension between the two lovers (i won't name names, in order not to spoil) literally causes anxiety in the reader, and invests him/her deeply into the characters and the book itself. It was one of the most beautifully written books i've ever read and the scenery it causes you to imagine is just wonderful. The insight of the characters' thoughts and feelings was very masterful and i love how it represented love, and relationships very realistically. I scarcely read this book (i like to take my time) but when i did, i just couldn't put it down. It is a wonderful read, not very complex but astonishing. It reminded me very much of the classic russian novels and i would recommend it to everyone! I hope my review intrigues you to pick it up, it is very much worth it.
I can't even begin to describe how disturbing it sometimes was. The Oedipus complex that the sons had, would even have Freud turning in his grave, it was that upsetting. The tension between the two lovers (i won't name names, in order not to spoil) literally causes anxiety in the reader, and invests him/her deeply into the characters and the book itself. It was one of the most beautifully written books i've ever read and the scenery it causes you to imagine is just wonderful. The insight of the characters' thoughts and feelings was very masterful and i love how it represented love, and relationships very realistically. I scarcely read this book (i like to take my time) but when i did, i just couldn't put it down. It is a wonderful read, not very complex but astonishing. It reminded me very much of the classic russian novels and i would recommend it to everyone! I hope my review intrigues you to pick it up, it is very much worth it.
marginalian's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
shailendraahangama17's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
willowbiblio's review against another edition
5.0
"Their intimacy was so abstract, he did not know he wanted to crush her onto his breast to ease the ache there. He was afraid of her. The fact that he might want her as a man wants a woman had in him been suppressed into shame."
------
I found this to be a deeply moving story of how some children can become subsumed by their parents needs and fail to live their own lives. The lack of understanding and empathy between the Morel parents created a void that Mrs Morel filled with the love for, and from, her children. At first, she is a sympathetic character. As her children age she becomes the villain. William escaped her pull only in death. Paul was unable to move on from the Oedipal dynamic even after her death and made the choice to continue to live if only to carry her on. In Paul’s two romantic relationships he disassociated when physically intimate, almost as if keeping himself apart for his mother. It was hard to see his life break down around him and witness him never escape her orbit. Lawrence did a masterful job with pacing, settings, and capturing the humanity of such a tortured dynamic.
------
I found this to be a deeply moving story of how some children can become subsumed by their parents needs and fail to live their own lives. The lack of understanding and empathy between the Morel parents created a void that Mrs Morel filled with the love for, and from, her children. At first, she is a sympathetic character. As her children age she becomes the villain. William escaped her pull only in death. Paul was unable to move on from the Oedipal dynamic even after her death and made the choice to continue to live if only to carry her on. In Paul’s two romantic relationships he disassociated when physically intimate, almost as if keeping himself apart for his mother. It was hard to see his life break down around him and witness him never escape her orbit. Lawrence did a masterful job with pacing, settings, and capturing the humanity of such a tortured dynamic.
chairmanbernanke's review against another edition
3.0
This books reveals much about the role of religion and myth in society. Morel like a mushroom…
sadiereadsagain's review against another edition
4.0
What a wonderful book! Really, really great - written beautifully, with a simple but at the same time complex storyline. The story itself, though spread over so many years, didn't have a lot of action, but in terms of themes & revelations I thought it was incredibly compelling. The ending was very sad, & I liked that it didn't come to the conclusion I thought it would. For the time it was written its surprising how racy it is, & how relevant a lot of it still is. I did feel it was a shame that for all their prominence in the story & in Paul's life, the women involved all seem quite weak both in terms of character development & in terms of themselves when it comes to Paul. Even though one is a suffragette, another quite independent & all fairly strong, they are still rendered second to the main, and at times quite dislikeable, character.
trve_zach's review against another edition
Look, I can’t make this book appear or sound fun. Surface level: a woman (that is to say, low-class/poor) named Gertrude has come to dislike her life of raising and bearing more children. She hates her abusive husband. She struggles to find joy, a way out.
Her eldest son, William, dies, and her middle son, Paul, becomes the focus of her life and of the book. Paul is a painter with a day job who very much loves his mother (and because of his devout love, struggles to love anyone else). His mother desires a life inaccessible to her (or any of the other women in this story because, you know, they’re women…and poor) and lives it through Paul as well as her other children and comes to resent them as they grow independent.
Paul struggles between loving two women, Miriam (spiritual) and Clara (worldly), ultimately loves neither, and ends up messing everyone’s life up for a decade or so.
Then his mother dies a slow death. The way it ruins his life is really heartbreaking and the detailed recounting of her last breaths in bed is all too real/familiar. Ultimately, Paul is able to let this go and continue on.
Much like the Russian authors writing accounts of peasant life in a realistic style, this is a window into life for the downtrodden of Nottinghamshire. It’s about all the small ways we slowly pull away from our parents as we establish our own lives and joy and the pain of those experiences, and of finding love and wrestling with choosing a path, and losing family members and processing that, or of trying to find a place/having to fight for basic rights. Beautifully written, pedestrian-but-profound…I’m glad I read it.
Her eldest son, William, dies, and her middle son, Paul, becomes the focus of her life and of the book. Paul is a painter with a day job who very much loves his mother (and because of his devout love, struggles to love anyone else). His mother desires a life inaccessible to her (or any of the other women in this story because, you know, they’re women…and poor) and lives it through Paul as well as her other children and comes to resent them as they grow independent.
Paul struggles between loving two women, Miriam (spiritual) and Clara (worldly), ultimately loves neither, and ends up messing everyone’s life up for a decade or so.
Then his mother dies a slow death. The way it ruins his life is really heartbreaking and the detailed recounting of her last breaths in bed is all too real/familiar. Ultimately, Paul is able to let this go and continue on.
Much like the Russian authors writing accounts of peasant life in a realistic style, this is a window into life for the downtrodden of Nottinghamshire. It’s about all the small ways we slowly pull away from our parents as we establish our own lives and joy and the pain of those experiences, and of finding love and wrestling with choosing a path, and losing family members and processing that, or of trying to find a place/having to fight for basic rights. Beautifully written, pedestrian-but-profound…I’m glad I read it.