Middleclass woman Connie Read marries Clifford Chatterley of the Wragby estate, who got paralysed during WOI and is now bound to a wheelchair. This also means he isn’t able to give Connie any children of his own. The monotonous life at Wragby starts to bore Connie. When she meets her husband’s gamekeeper, the troubled Oliver Mellors, she loathes him at first. But in time, she visits him more and more in the woods and the two of them start an affair.
This is the winning novel of my first classics club spin. I added this book to the list because I saw the excellent BBC movie with Richard Madden and Holiday Grainger a few years ago. I didn’t remember anything from the plot so I was curious to start reading Lady Chatterley’s lover, expecting a romance novel with a lot of sex and drama.
But this didn’t turn out as expected. It’s written during the interwar period and has that typical early 20th century atmosphere. There were a lot of philosophical discussions that I wasn’t prepared for. About themes as social class, communism, women’s rights, industrialization… And that’s why I felt the story dragged on at times.
This book has a lot of sex, but compared to 21st century standards (I mean, we have 50 shades) it isn’t big deal. I can assume that in the 1920’s this was not done and the book has been banned in a lot of countries. But I also believe this was the cause because the book is about an affair between two people of a different social class. A respectable lady who mingles with a gamekeeper, who is far below her status… It would have caused quite a scandal in real life.
I didn’t feel the romance. Connie hates Mellors at first and slowly they grow towards each other, but I couldn’t understand why. The first times they have sex, it’s all about the sex and Connie is even thinking about other things while having intercourse. Her feelings towards Oliver change suddenly, but it’s never explained why. Mellors is a character that I couldn’t relate with. He speaks a certain dialect that I couldn’t understand (I read this book in English so that made these parts unreadable to me). I didn’t root for them, but I couldn’t also stand Clifford, who has little thought and affection for his wife.
The second part of the book got better (more action and dialogue, less philosophical themes), but all together I believe this story is better suited for a 2-hour movie than a 6-hour book.
This is book 5/50 for the classics club.
Have you read anything by D.H. Lawrence?
In Another Era 
I think we all read this expecting it to be really shocking and exciting, because of the ban and the court case. My mum was about 17 during the court case, and all the girls at her school got illicit copies of the book, for the thrill of reading a banned book because it was such a naughty thing to do! But it’s actually rather boring!
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Not much happens, apart from the scandalous affair indeed. The book wouldn’t have become famous without the ban.
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It would probably have faded into obscurity if the authorities had ignored it! When I was a kid, BBC radio used to ban songs considered “rude”, so everyone went out and bought the records to see what all the fuss was about. They weren’t very good, and would probably never have been heard of again if they hadn’t been banned!
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I rarely find that the film adaptation is better than the book, but it sounds like this is the case here. I guess it shows how much times have changed, but I can see why you found it a bit tame and dragging. Hope you have more luck with the next classics spin!
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It is the case here! And yes times have changed, but still this book teaches us something about the morals of the time it was published. I did enjoy reading it but I won’t read it again probably.
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[…] time, I read Lady Chatterley’s lover which was ok but not so much fun. In the meantime, I’ve only read Hardy’s Far from the […]
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