“Let us hesitate no longer to announce that the sensual passions and mysteries are equally sacred with the spiritual mysteries and passions,” wrote D. H. Lawrence in Women in Love, his masterpiece heralding the erotic consciousness of the twentieth century. Lawrence explores love, sex, passion, and marriage through the eyes of two sisters, Gudrun and Ursula Brangwen. Intelligent, incisive, and observant, the two very different sisters pursue thrilling, torrid affairs with their lovers, Rupert and Gerald, while searching for more mature emotional relationships. Against a haunting World War I backdrop of coal mines, factories, and a beleaguered working class, Gudrun and Ursula’s temperamental differences spark an ongoing debate regarding their society, their inner lives, and the mysteries between men and women. Exploring what it means to be human in a time of conflict and confusion, Lawrence considered this to be his best novel.
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"Incredibly rich language and style. Sometimes so rich and thick it is difficult to get through but always very full, very effusive. Especially powerful display of emotion through language, especially paired adjectives ( dark and sweet...etc)." — Evrim (4 out of 5 stars)
"Incredibly rich language and style. Sometimes so rich and thick it is difficult to get through but always very full, very effusive. Especially powerful display of emotion through language, especially paired adjectives ( dark and sweet...etc)."
“It is…the world of the poets and the preponderance of the poet in [Lawrence] that is the key to his work. He magnified and deepened experience in the manner of a poet.”
“No other writer of [Lawrence’s] imaginative standing has in our time written books that are so open to life.”
“What beauties the book contains! There are many pages in it so saturated with warm and lovely intimacies that one reads absorbed.”
“Women in Love is a work of genius. It contains characters which are masterpieces of pure creation.”
" Totally engaging and beautifully written...and then it just lost me. "
" Took me forever to get through, but I'm glad I hung in there. "
" The name of this book should be "Men in Love". Far to repetitive and melodramatic. I gave up on it half way through and skipped to the last chapter. It ended just as I thought. Very preachy with egotistical characters. I gave it two stars because I felt it had potential, but the story faltered. "
" Not an easy read but not because of the writing. The characters aren't particularly likeable and their negativity and disillusionment doesn't come across as well as the "lost generation" of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. That said, Lawrence's writing is at times very beautiful. "
" If you want to understand women, or if you're a woman, and you want to understand the essence of being female, read this novel. He's not called one of the most influential writers of the 20th century by accident. "
" D.H. Lawrence's anti-humanist stance in this novel, is surely apparent and some of it are very intriguing, if not sometimes rather too repetitive and too long-winded for me. "
" I finally finished this book. The language was beautiful and the author demonstrates the subtle differences in the meaning of words that we've recently lost in order to accurately convey his descriptions. Recommended, but time-consuming. "
" Another NY Times Top 100 book. I did not like this story very much. "
" While this book continues the story of 2 sisters, Ursula and Gudrun, from Lawrence's book The Rainbow, I still enjoyed it without have ever read the former. "
" Very difficult book to stay engaged. Birkin keeps on going off on his philosophical tangents about how women suck. He was such a misanthrope that it was offputting. Some of his philosophies about women and love are worth noting though. "
" ...I will never think of `love` in the same way ever again...a tad bit too much existentialism for my taste... "
" I don't think Lawrence was banned because his books were controversial. I think it's because they are so boring and awful. They just wanted to save people the trouble. "
" I'm halfway through this but i'm not sure if I can be bothered to finish this. It's all a bit overwrought. Maybe I'm missing something "
" I may try and pick this one up again...maybe. "
" I'm sure this is good but not where I'm at currently. Maybe I'll come back to it later. I got through about 22%. "
" My favorite D.H. Lawrence novel. "
" Have to say I did not get on very well with this book and could not relate to the characters at all. I did manage to get to then end but can not say that I enjoyed it. "
" This was not an easy book. The characters are almost too complicated for the reader to relate too. Still, it's got a dark feel to it that pulls you in and keeps you going until the surprising resolution. "
" I might need to re-read this. I read it as a teen and a lot of it was over my head. "
" I admire most of his writing but it has to be read in depth. I am studying his theory on ultimate love between two people, male and female. His descriptive pieces are out of this world. "
" its a psychological novel you should read it times and times and play the role of each character to understand the plot and the theme "
" Not my favorite book but it wasn't bad either. I kinda felt like it was dragging on and would never really get to the point. "
" Didn't care for this book. It was tediousfor me to read. "
D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) was a British writer of novels, poems, essays, short stories, and plays. Some of the books he wrote in the early 1900s became controversial because they contained direct descriptions of sexual relations. His best-known books are Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love, and Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Vanessa Benjamin (a.k.a. Roe Kendall) is a native of the British Isles. Some twenty-five years ago she moved to the United States with her family and set down roots in Maryland. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, receiving their silver medal as well as the Sir Emile Littler and Caryl Brahms awards. Benjamin has performed on stage in the Washington, DC, area for several years and at many venues and has performed at the Kennedy Center as Mrs. Schubert in the long-running show Shear Madness. An accomplished actress and narrator, she has recorded over two hundred books. Her work as a freelance voice-over artist and narrator has led her in many interesting directions, from technical government materials to eighteenth-century romance novels to hotel advertising, but narrating books is what she really enjoys. “I really love playing all the parts when I narrate a book. It’s an adventure, a challenge, and above all I feel that I learn something new with each book I read. I do a lot of reading for the Library of Congress’ Blind and Physically Handicapped program, and it is so rewarding for me especially when I get a letter from a patron; it’s a great service for the listener.”
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