Rating: 
Summary: A hint of great books to come
Review: D.H. Lawrence's most contraversial and classic book, an essential for anyone remotely interested in D.H. Lawrence and modern literature. It is, really, one of the first modern/contemporary novels, (along with Dostoevsky and Somerset Maughaum)although it still has a Victorian feel to it.
His book is almost prophetic, in a way. Lady launches the world into the likes of many modern writers (Henry Miller, Hemmingway, me). I'm not saying Hemmingway or Miller couldn't hold their own or write the way they did without Lawrence's influence. But, he did establish a less "popper" feel you get with Austen, the Brontes, Dickens, etc. Lady showed true equality and the absurdity of some traditions of class staus.
The only drawback with this novel, and other of Lawrence's books, is how similar the characters and language is in his books. In certain sections of his book(s) he'll overuse words. For example, in Lady and in The Rainbow, for about 50 pages he'll use "acquiesense" too much.
But never us mind that! His are excellent novels, beautiful, thoughtful, and sympathetic. Read it, you'll like it (unless you hate it).
Rating:
Summary: Delight of Demystification
Review: "Heaven has fallen through to earth.
I walk the roads searching for you.
Fire burns in my heart.
I grieve that you are alone.
I stretch out my arms to greet you." ~Isis My interest in D. H. Lawrence was born from reading the diaries of Anais Nin, which I found to contain a certain unveiling of the female mind. She saw the beauty in his writing and always wanted to be less reticent. I wanted to read D. H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study by Anais Nin, but felt I should read more of his work before taking on a study of his writing. It is amazing he wrote this book while dying. He started writing the novel at the Villa Mirenda, a vineyard in the hills of Tuscany. This review is for the Unexpurgated 1928 Orioli Edition. D. H. Lawrence died on March 2, 1930. I found it interesting that we have the same birth date of September 11th. This book is so much more than just a story about an affair. It is really the way Lawrence felt he could convey his deeply held beliefs about sex. He thought England could be regenerated through sex. He has some interesting ideas about men and women being streams that flow together and mingle to bring children, beauty and the true creations of humanity. I found it interesting that Lawrence was actually as shocked at people's lack of interest in soul-satisfying sex as they were by his writing. While D.H. Lawrence's descriptions are not quite as subtle as ancient Sumerian Love songs and poems, he does present a realistic experience which almost has a touch of tenderness. He fully develops his characters and Mellors is definitely a man who is willing to talk about the entire sexual experience with blatant honesty. Connie takes such delight in the words Mellors uses to describe why she gives him pleasure. As in a beautiful movie where sexuality is more implied than put on display, I think D. H. Lawrence could have been just as effective had he been less crass "at times." He does at times seem to take delight in "shocking" people with "dirty" words which have become quite common in novels these days. I almost found some of his writing to be purely mischievous. I don't think his genius has anything to do with making the forbidden commonplace. It is more in his awareness of the inner life and his naked honesty. His writing takes off in places and I loved his descriptions of nature. There is definitely evidence of an intellectual superiority in his observations, analysis and understanding of human nature. The humorous "matter-of-fact" style often creeps in and you have to also laugh at the hypocrisy of the upper class. They are just as human and have the same problems, yet they view themselves as "above the fray." Throughout the novel, Lawrence draws on our sympathies. Not only is the main character deprived of any sexual satisfaction in her marriage, her husband tells her it is fine for her to conceive a child with another man. Constance Reid (Connie) has married Sir Clifford Chatterley in 1917. He is then wounded in the war and is confined to a wheelchair. He is incapable of producing an heir. Her first lover is a man named Michaelis who becomes annoyed with her instance on gaining her own pleasure. He is obviously delusional and has no ability to comprehend the complexities of being a woman. It is not until Connie meets her gamekeeper that she recognizes the vast difference between the spiritually unfulfilling experience with Michaelis, the life of luxury with Clifford and the life of love and excitement with Mellors. It is obvious to the reader, Connie could not give a care about material possessions. She wants love, the type of love that drives her to Mellors. Her search reminds me of the poetry of Isis and Osiris where Isis learns of her husband's death and cries out that she will walk the roads searching for her lover and that a fire burns for him in her heart. Connie goes looking for daffodils and discovers she is a wilting flower that wants to bloom for the right man. This is really a story about two people seeking solitude, who find a secret place where their experiences with one another are deeply fulfilling. Connie is at first naïve, positive and almost child-like in her self-discovery. Clifford represents a certain sexual repression and Oliver Mellors represents the virile man, or the man who goes after what he wants and seduces a woman with his masculine ways and is not afraid to run about naked in the rain in an almost pagan enjoyment of life. "... it is so good to be chaste, like a river of cool water in my soul. I love the chastity now that it flows between us. It is like fresh water and rain... Well, so many words, because I can't touch you. If I could sleep with my arms round you, the ink could stay in the bottle." ~Mellors The end of the book contains a letter from Mellors to Connie and it reminds me of something Henry Miller wrote to Anais Nin. While it is often difficult to read the dialogue earlier in this work, he is an interesting character. Perhaps a bit like a wolf in the mysterious woods who awakens the goddess in Connie. I think if we would all be honest, maybe we all enjoy this book because deep inside our deepest fantasies we too would want to run away into the woods and have a secret place to meet our lover. A reason to go away for the weekend to a cabin. An erotic celebration of naked honesty that is somewhat unresolved. The uncertainty of the conclusion is perhaps the best part of this novel as you can make up your own ending. A story of individual regeneration through sexual love.
Rating: 
Summary: --First published in the 1920's--
Review: The beauty of belonging to a reading group is that everyone is exposed to books that they might not normally read. I don't think that I would have considered reading this book except that it was the choice of my book club. Well, this story was not really what I expected at all. Constance, Lady Chatterley is a rather likeable person who is trapped in a sad and boring life. What happens to her and her lover is something neither really anticipated nor expected. The book starts in 1917 and at the time when it was first published, the subject matter of LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER was considered to be totally shocking and unacceptable. Yes, a few parts of the book have rather crude passages, and language, but Lady Chatterley herself is a very sympathetic character. The style of writing used by D. H. Lawrence is very descriptive and the pace of the story is probably a little slower than modern readers are used to. Aside from some offensive language, I think that this was a rather interesting, but very depressing book. Many of the characters seemed to be lacking in any kind of a moral code and I found most of the men in the story to be rather despicable.
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Summary: Comment on Industrialisation
Review: Connie Chatterley's life is droll and boring with her handicapped husband in the industrial wasteland of post-WWI England. She soon starts an affair with the gruff estate games-keeper, Mellors. The entire book seems to me a direct attack on industrialisation, keeping with that theme (industrialisation v. nature) in Lord Chatterley and Mellors; Connie (perhaps she is the embodiment of the people in our culture) knows what she wants, but is still torn. There is a small scene where Lord Chatterley takes his motorised chair out into the park, and it gets stuck in the mud. He refuses help from Connie or Mellors several times, but when he finally gives up, he ingraciously orders Mellors (who is ill) to push his chair out of the mud. Connie looks down at the muddy tyre marks, and sees all the crushed little bluebells. It's almost like industrialisation doesn't really work, but we feel like it *must*, so we insist that it's fine and there's nothing else we need acknowledge. Sooner or later, however, we're going to throw our hands up and say "Fine! You were right. Push the damn chair." And only then will we see the damage we've done.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect love story
Review: I've noticed that the negative reviews of the novel are focused on the sexual content instead of the love story that leads to it.
This is a wonderful story of a wealthy woman who finds her life stagnant and her contemporaries unemotional rationalists who excuse true "love" as utter fantasy and nonsense. She finds that love IS possible when she starts an affair with a hermit- like poor man who also has a strong distaste and bitterness against the anti-romanticism that floods their society. Lady Chatterly's husband is a man who is disabled and finds his comfort in rejecting his body and loves his intellectual pursuits. He is void of any human compassion and is totally blind to his wife's unsatisfaction with him and his life. He then is crushed when he finds out about his wife's affair and becomes like a frightened child who's mother has abandoned him. Like many men, his pride blinded him. He thinks that all MUST agree with his heartless but extremely factual and logical view of life but after all, isn't it obvious things are this way? Even though his wife disagreed with his views and callousness, she didn't have the heart or the true ability to articulate her disagreements. When she finds her lover, he has a way of saying what she thinks. He helps her understand the roots of her heart and allows her to comfortably express all the suppressed feelings deep within. He is not always "romantic", to the contrary, many times he is vulgar and extremely blunt. He is not cautious of someone's feelings, he simply speaks from his heart's experiences and in doing so he found TRUE love in another who fully agreed. We all should do this and maybe by being more truthful and open to caring we also might find true love instead of dishonest, emotionally distant, controlling, empty, servile, desperate relationships that seem to plague many couples. D.H. Lawrence has the wonderful ablity to make his characters absolutely COME TO LIFE. He makes wonderful points about society's coldness and criticizes modern industrialism as being an uncontrollable machine that oppresses romantic ideals that are the true fuel to the human heart. He attempts to show how being void of emotional needs can create a society that simply pities those who still cling to them. He also shows us that if you do choose cling to them you just might come across the true loving person you have been invisioning. I will continue to read Lawrence because he is a wonderful romantic without all the sappyness of modern love stories. Read this novel is you enjoy an honest and realistic love story.
Rating:
Summary: The best erotic romance I've ever read!
Review: This novel's explicit sexual descriptions caused a great deal of controversy when it was first published in 1928. However, now that the literary world has embraced erotica, Lady Chatterley's Lover is now considered classic. D.H. Lawrence describes the sexual exploits between an unhappily married woman and her lover with beautiful prose and poetic undertones. The bold descriptions of the forbidden romance between the protagonists left me longing for more -- so to speak. The novel is mixture of romance and erotica, and said story has inspired authors to venture into this once obscure genre in literature. Are you an erotica enthusiast? Then I suggest you read the novel that started it all. Lady Chatterley's Lover is one of the best literary experiences I've ever had!
Rating: 
Summary: I finally know what the hoopla's about!
Review: When I first began to read Lady Chatterley's Lover I thought it was going to be quite a chore. I'm used to flowery language and all that, but I just wasn't in the mood for what I anticipated to be a sex-charged love story. Much to my surprise I got MUCH more from this wonderful classic. D.H. Lawrence makes some striking observations about the state of the social classes in post WWI England, as well as providing some good insights into tough individual decisions we make in regard to relationships. I had limited knowledge of the post-war subject beforehand, but I felt that I learned a great deal in the process of reading. At times the book seemed repetitive, as if Lawrence were beating me over the head with his message, sacrificing character and plot in the process, but after all was said and done I couldn't say that it was a bad book. It's a very insightful, multi-layered work and I'm very glad I read it. The fact that the book was widely banned from publication in its early days is just another tempting reason to read it although, by today's standards, what was so risqué then borders on the ridiculous for us now. As long as you remind yourself of the time period in which it was written you'll be just fine...the laughs and raised eyebrows in conjunction with more serious themes are a pleasant mix.
Rating:
Summary: A great tale of human intamacy
Review: This story is great in the way it deals with the male -female relationship in a subttle manner. It is erotic, moving and emotional. A powerful story and a great look into human nature and the power that sex has in a relationship. For those whom are interested in understanding the the development in the male and female movements that have grown over the past 100 years.
Rating: 
Summary: over-rated
Review: Lawrence clunks as a writer, wreaks of British propriety, is obvious in his narrative's situations and 'questioning of society' , and his characters and writing is so cold that it could have been written by the character Clifford. Bravery alone does not make great books and Lawrence's willingness to use four letter words and write a book that has sex in it, despite his impotence, does not make this deserving of praise. painful to read and completely lacking in felicitous writing.
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Romance
Review: Lawrence really lays bare his soul in this book. It is the story of a ripe, red blooded woman who needs a real man. As usual there doesn't seem enough to go around. Ladies! I hope you all meet a Mellor's in your lives. Gardening is indeed a great trade for aspiring lovers. And You'll love this tale - it was one of Lawrence's best. Lawrence wanted to bring us back to our dynamic center; he hated this celebral world and head sex. His domain was the realm of the body ... And all of its pent up sexual dynamisms. If you read Fantasia of The Unconscious you will be able to access his views right from his teeming intelect. He was perhaps one of the finest writers Britain ever produced and his literary output was prodigious indeed!
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