Reading 1001 discussion

A story about love, relationships, and disappointments, told in rich language, evoking a time and a place in British history that is at once foreign and familiar. That specific way of life, the grinding life of a miner and the ways in which mining communities rubbed along, has disappeared. The experience of people struggling to exist through low paid jobs, the tensions within families under that sort of economic stress, are still present. Although set in a different era, there is much that is relevant to modern life. Lawrence writes about people, and the way in which they deal with life. He has great insight into human nature and motivations behind behaviour. He writes fairly about both men and women, recognising that both genders are just people, and there is good and bad in both. I was at times transported by his writing, there with the Morel family in every moment Lawrence describes. He understands the dynamics of family life. He also understands the hopes and disappointments of love. At other times, when he indulged himself too much in ruminating on his own personality through the guise of Paul Morel, he bored me.

Rating: 4 stars


I have wanted to read this for a long time, and I am glad that I finally did. This is a story about human relationships, particularly a relationship between a man and his controlling mother. The mother has a poor relationship with the father and develops a deeper than usual bond with her children. His mother's jealousy and disapproval make it difficult for the main character to develop a romantic relationship with Miriam, the woman he falls in love with. It also doesn't help that Miriam has some issues of her own that further complicate the relationship.