After reading Sons and Lovers, I decided I liked the storytelling style where just one person’s life is followed and decided to read another acclaimed D H Lawrence book – Lady Chatterley’s lover. It deals with some interesting themes and I can see why it was banned in several countries including India in 1965. Turns out the ban was never lifted because these judgments are never reviewed and almost no one remembers which books were ever banned in the first place! There’s no list and so it means nothing for a book to remain banned in India. I was able to get a copy of the book without any effort whatsoever.
While my feeble literary mind must have missed many other interesting aspects of this book, the most interesting theme I found was about how important or unimportant “the sex thing” is for a woman. Lawrence shows us how the protagonist of the book – Connie – starts her early sexuality with a sort of irritation for the act. She puts up with it only because the men insist on it and she enjoys the conversations and dialogues she has with them. She often dreams of a relationship “only of the mind” without sex getting in the way.
Unfortunately for her, she gets her wish when her husband is paralyzed in WWII. Unable to engage is any sexual activity whatsoever, she’s thrown into a completely “mind based” relationship with a man who shares her former disregard for sex. While her husband is quite intelligent, is an author, and provides her with all the intellectual stimulation she ever wanted, she soon gets awfully bored and her body begins to dry up and shrivel. She finds an outlet in a sexual relationship with her husband’s gamekeeper which becomes more and more involved. Her husband, while he doesn’t know about it even suggests to Connie that she have a child with another man to provide an heir to the estate – another example of how completely divorced he is from the physical side of life.
The story ends somewhat abruptly for my taste. Connie gets pregnant and we never find out how it ends. The books is a bit slow, but that fits in with the boredom of Connie’s life. And it’s illuminating to see the many ways in which the same woman can react to sex over a period of time. Nothing very exciting though and I don’t have a reason to recommend it to anyone else!
I never got to read this book, although the intention was always there… now I know nothing was missed. :)
By the way I don’t agree with the Poll results on the sidebar – I loved the video posts but always with the the transcript provided for linking and quoting. I found ‘It’s more impactful to actually see someone saying it ‘… that’s my vote I guess! :)
In reply to Indian Homemaker
Hi IHM – haven't heard from you in a while and no blog posts either…?
Good to know you liked the video posts. Anupa's buying a new camera and so hopefully I'll have a better instrument to record when I decide to make another one!