A less-than-ideal marriage, the death of a child, living beneath her station…everything points towards a woman unlucky in love and life. I think Lawrence made him out to be made this way through his mother’s influence, but I simply didn’t like him.

He was selfish and arrogant, unfeeling and rather nasty at times. He seemed spoiled and pathetic, incapable of thinking for himself at the same time as incapable of thinking of anyone but himself. However, by the end of the novel, I didn’t like him at all. Initially, I felt some compassion for Paul, sorrow for the power his mother had over him, and pity for the choices he made. As I read, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the story of Oedipus, such were the relationships between them.

The novel’s protagonist is Paul Morel, a young man with an intense, passionate love for his mother, and an intense hatred of his father. Sons and Lovers is said to be semi-autobiographical if this is true, then Lawrence certainly had a very interesting relationship with his mother. It was the characters, and the intensely woven relationships between them, that had me wanting more. It wasn’t, however, the gripping plot that kept me interested, for there really wasn’t much of a plot at all. Initially, I found the chapters to be incredibly long and rather monotonous, but as the story progressed, it became more of a page-turner than I expected. This is my first experience of reading Lawrence, and now that I’ve finished, I can happily say I was pleasantly surprised. Book #749 Reviewer: Ange, of Tall, Short & Tiny

Dh lawrence and lovers