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tiernanreads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
sarahkatherin's review against another edition
2.0
ooooookay.
so basically these two girls are together and they have a thing going on, they share a farm (failing) and a bedroom (unclear what goes on in there) and they don't want to work too hard, because life isn't just about work! then a dude (who is also a fox) shows up and cajoles/manipulates/maybe casts a magic spell to get the brunette to marry him. the blonde one is upset because "why would you let a man disrespect you like that?" brunette backs out of marriage. FoxMan kills blonde (accidentally?). Brunette has to marry FoxMan and is oppressed.
I have questions.
1. are these girls together or nah?
2. is this a magic realism folktale or just what passed for erotica in 1920? not that they're mutually exclusive
3. do the girls not want to work that hard because lawrence's views on labor (anticapitalism) or because he thinks ladies are frail/lazy?
4. what is it about March (the brunette) wearing a dress that dampens FoxMan's interest?
5. Would the girls have lived happily ever after if Foxman had never bugged them?
6. Why do I keep reading Lawrence?
basically my interpretation was that dudes get in the way of ladies living their lives as they want to and make them despondent, listless and without joy. but that's probably my modern perspective coloring lawrence's (sparse) words, right?
what on earth was he trying to say to us?
so basically these two girls are together and they have a thing going on, they share a farm (failing) and a bedroom (unclear what goes on in there) and they don't want to work too hard, because life isn't just about work! then a dude (who is also a fox) shows up and cajoles/manipulates/maybe casts a magic spell to get the brunette to marry him. the blonde one is upset because "why would you let a man disrespect you like that?" brunette backs out of marriage. FoxMan kills blonde (accidentally?). Brunette has to marry FoxMan and is oppressed.
I have questions.
1. are these girls together or nah?
2. is this a magic realism folktale or just what passed for erotica in 1920? not that they're mutually exclusive
3. do the girls not want to work that hard because lawrence's views on labor (anticapitalism) or because he thinks ladies are frail/lazy?
4. what is it about March (the brunette) wearing a dress that dampens FoxMan's interest?
5. Would the girls have lived happily ever after if Foxman had never bugged them?
6. Why do I keep reading Lawrence?
basically my interpretation was that dudes get in the way of ladies living their lives as they want to and make them despondent, listless and without joy. but that's probably my modern perspective coloring lawrence's (sparse) words, right?
what on earth was he trying to say to us?
cabbageroad's review against another edition
2.0
if i delude myself into thinking this novella is a self aware satire, then it’s tolerable, but the inherent sexism in how this man writes women is so physically hard to read that i cant even appreciate the fact that he included lesbians in a book written in post WW1
leelulah's review against another edition
2.0
Read to understand the points on Eudora Welty's On Writing.
Meh. Beautiful prose and some fox symbolism but deep-down the recurrent topic of the tough, tomboyish girl who's softened by a cunning fox-like man
Henry is such a nice guy, you guys, you won't believe it. He just wants to live off the work of women. And marry one, because it means a free house, indeed. In fact, he's even a nice guy in the classic internet sense.
You're just not like other girls, Nellie March, this is why I'll try to keep you apart from your friend, I only think of you in the most inappropiate ways possible, and I've crept up on you multiple times, in a rapey way, but that's just because you were dressed as a boy, and now that you have a dress on, you look feminine enough and I'm aware of your "feminine vulnerability"! I'll murder your smart friend in front of her own father, in front of you, and that's how we'll marry.
The moral of this story is: Stay away from the fox. I'm not sure, I think I don't feel like reading any more D. H. Lawrence unless I must. Not that it's not well built, not that it's bad, but it's too transparent. It's almost like a carefully disguised Jordan Peterson lecture. Perhaps the idea was the portrayal of two weak women and a cunning man, but again this was terribly transparent to me.
Meh. Beautiful prose and some fox symbolism but deep-down the recurrent topic of the tough, tomboyish girl who's softened by a cunning fox-like man
Spoiler
and she puts a dress on for him, because yeahHenry is such a nice guy, you guys, you won't believe it. He just wants to live off the work of women. And marry one, because it means a free house, indeed. In fact, he's even a nice guy in the classic internet sense.
Spoiler
"Yes, I might easily find another girl. I know I could. But not one I really wanted. I’ve never met one I really wanted for good. You see, I’m thinking of all my life. If I marry, I want to feel it’s for all my life. Other girls: well, they’re just girls, nice enough to go a walk with now and then. Nice enough for a bit of play. But when I think of my life, then I should be very sorry to have to marry one of them, I should indeed.’"You're just not like other girls, Nellie March, this is why I'll try to keep you apart from your friend, I only think of you in the most inappropiate ways possible, and I've crept up on you multiple times, in a rapey way, but that's just because you were dressed as a boy, and now that you have a dress on, you look feminine enough and I'm aware of your "feminine vulnerability"! I'll murder your smart friend in front of her own father, in front of you, and that's how we'll marry.
The moral of this story is: Stay away from the fox. I'm not sure, I think I don't feel like reading any more D. H. Lawrence unless I must. Not that it's not well built, not that it's bad, but it's too transparent. It's almost like a carefully disguised Jordan Peterson lecture. Perhaps the idea was the portrayal of two weak women and a cunning man, but again this was terribly transparent to me.
gritvmd's review against another edition
4.0
A dark short novel that you will remember. Reading this book reminds you how easy some writers' voices sound. The story is told with craft and soul, but flows out so simply. The tale itself is pretty misogynistic and has a horrifying twist. But, it works and though he sounds so hateful of women- somehow he gets in their heads really well.
jasonfurman's review against another edition
2.0
I did not like this novella very much. It is about two "older" (i.e., about thirty) unmarried sisters living on a farm when a young man comes. Oh wait, first a fox comes and then the young man comes and they keep conflating him with the fox for some reason. Then the relationship between the man and one sister creates issues with the other sister, leading to a vortex of jealousy and a strained triangle relationship. D.H. Lawrence feels like one of the (few) writers who was spoiled by high school, I did not particularly like Sons and Lovers when it was assigned and The Fox reads like it is asking for the wrong type of English essay as well.
tiffani_reads's review against another edition
2.0
I don't know if you can even call this a book, it's just like a really long chapter or the summery of a book with dialogue thrown in for the readers benefit. It's a simple and easy read but not that great in terms of context.