Lady Chatterley's Lover

By D. H. Lawrence

In Lady Chatterley's Lover, Lawrence argues for individual regeneration, which can be found only through the relationship between man and woman (and, he asserts sometimes, man and man). Love and personal relationships are the threads that bind this novel together. Lawrence explores a wide range of different types of relationships. The reader sees the brutal, bullying relationship between Mellors and his wife Bertha, who punishes him by preventing his pleasure. There is Tommy Dukes, who has no relationship because he cannot find a woman who he respects intellectually and at the same time finds desirable. There is also the perverse, maternal relationship that ultimately develops between Clifford and Mrs. Bolton after Connie has left. Masterful written, one of the most important novels of all time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Start Publishing LLC
• Release date: Mar 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781625587367

D. H. Lawrence

David Herbert Lawrence was born on 11th September 1881 in Eastwood, a small mining village in Nottinghamshire, in the English Midlands. Despite ill health as a child and a comparatively disadvantageous position in society, he became a teacher in 1908, and took up a post in a school in Croydon, south of London. His first novel, The White Peacock, was published in 1911, and from then until his death he wrote feverishly, producing poetry, novels, essays, plays travel books and short stories, while travelling around the world, settling for periods in Italy, New Mexico and Mexico. He married Frieda Weekley in 1914 and died of tuberculosis in 1930.

Reviews for Lady Chatterley's Lover

[kemilyh1988 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Misogyny abound. Regardless, it's quite hilarious. The first time I read this all I remembered was sex and chickens. This time around I picked up on much more. The narration by John Lee was perfect.

[theampersand · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've loved modernist fiction for a long time, but I've had a love-hate relationship with D.H. Lawrence for about as long. Lady Chatterley's lover is the best Lawrence I've ever read. Yes, you can still find what I think of as his bad habits there: his tendency to describe everything using opposites, his obsession with vitality which often seems, as someone else put it, "a sick man's dream of health," his obvious disdain for many of his characters and their choices. But all of these tendencies are reined in here: even his tendency toward repetition comes off as lyrical rather than merely trying. I can enthusiastically recommend it to people who don't much like D.H. Lawrence. What's most delightful about "Lady Chatterley" is that, considering a book that's supposedly about an intense, erotic affair between two people, it's surprisingly wide-ranging. One of the things that makes this book work is, oddly enough, is how carefully Lawrence crafts its temporal and physical setting. Beyond Constance and Oliver's relationship, we get a clear-eyed description of the generalized despair that followed the end of the First World War, a pitiless description of the British artistic scene, a careful transcription of the Derby dialect, and a look destructive effects of the coal industry on Lawrence's beloved British countryside that's simultaneously regretful and buzzing with dark energy. His descriptions of both the main characters' erotic adventures and the lush woods that they have them in are truly beautiful, there are passages where everything in the book seems to pulse with sensuality and life. For all his opinions about the state in which he found the world, I can't think of too many writers who were more interested in writing the body than Lawrence was. This novel might owe its notoriety to its four-letter words and its explicitness, but it also communicates the physicality of both sex and mere being exceptionally well. The paralyzed Clifford is sort of given short shrift here -- one imagines that he's got a body, too, though Lawrence depicts him as largely inert. Also, even while he praises the joy of sexual congress, Lawrence seems to have a lot of ideas about exactly how men and women should and shouldn't have sex. In the final analysis, though, seeing as it was produced by a writer who sometimes comes off as bitter and spiteful about the modern world, "Lady Chatterley" seems like a surprisingly optimistic argument for romantic and physical love. This may be especially true of its lovely final pages, where Constance and Oliver plan out a future that emphasizes the rhythms of nature, their love, and their truest selves. A difficult book from a difficult writer, but certainly worth the effort.

[justagirlwithabook · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

 This one was alright. I don't think there's a ton that's memorable aside from it being considered 'racy,' but it's DH Lawrence, so. It's not one that I'll likely reread again.

[over.the.edge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lady Chatterley's Lover🍒🍒🍒
By DH Lawrence
1928

Constance Chatterley is trapped in an unfulfilling marriage to a rich aristocrat whose war wounds have left him paralyzed and impotent. After a brief sexual affair, she becomes involved with the gamekeeper on the family estate. Oliver Mellors, the composite opposite of her husband, is unfulfilled as well by his wife Bertha, whose method of punishment is to withhold any intimacy. Their relationship develops as Constance begins to use Olivers shed as a sort of retreat. The curiosity and eventual lust grow and develop and soon they are intimately involved. First as a need, then a desire. This is the story of their intimate and beautiful relationship, and an example of this books premise: individual rejuvenation through love and personal relationships.
This book brought to mind, for me anyway, how we define love. What it is...what is means....how it's shared. What is the meaning of adultery...is it more than sex?
Masterful....intense.....a classic.....

[fliss88_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

At the start I thought, I'm not going to finish this, as I found the story quite slow moving. I'm glad I persevered, and although by today's standards it wouldn't be on a Banned Books List, I can see why it was at the time of publication. This is my first experience of D.H. Lawrence and his writing style slowly grew on me, so much so that by the end I had settled into and enjoyed the slow pace, the characters and the look back at his time and place. It's very well written and I could easily sympathise with all the characters, and appreciate the way they each found themselves trapped.

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

In vergelijking met de andere werken van Lawrence echt een afknapper, ondanks de taboedoorbreking. Het ligt er te dik op om te shockeren. Wel interessante sociale duiding: een verhouding binnen de eigen klasse is aanvaardbaar, erbuiten niet. Opvallende romantisch accent: afkeer van industrie en teloorgang van de oude wereld.

[shadowdancer_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

My daughter wanted to read it -- and so I thought I should finally get around to reading it myself first, if only to be able to give her a reasonable heads' up as to the level of sex scene she was getting into.
After the hype, and the banning, etc., I figured I might be reading a Fanny Hill sort of book. As it turns out, I was not. It was an interesting discussion on class, and women's roles etc. spiced up with a few not very titillating sex scenes.

[macescamilla · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This classic novel is more than just an outrageous accounting of one couple's sexual adventures; it's a commentary on the British class system, the role of women in this system, and yes, the unromanticized sexual appetites of the fairer sex. While some believe that Lawrence didn't understand these appetites and that his approach to Lady Chatterly was sexist, I feel that he was being sarcastic in his interpretation of events, trusting the reader to understand that he disagreed with how she was being treated. Good (and steamy!!) read. :)

[maxernst11 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

In vergelijking met de andere werken van Lawrence echt een afknapper, ondanks de taboedoorbreking. Het ligt er te dik op om te shockeren. Wel interessante sociale duiding: een verhouding binnen de eigen klasse is aanvaardbaar, erbuiten niet. Opvallende romantisch accent: afkeer van industrie en teloorgang van de oude wereld.

[novelrdr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Considered pornographic at publication, mild by today's standards. Best Lawrence novel I have read.

[jazmsngr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I liked Lady Chatterley's Lover, it was difficult to keep it in context. The context of Lawrence's novel is 1920's England. The story by today's measure is still good-- it's a little steamy, a little saucy and a little tawdry. Though by 1920's British standards, it is nothing short of scandalous. Therein lies a bump-in-the-road to a full appreciation of the LCL's contribution to literature. Nevertheless, the story is still relevant on certain levels. Sexual expression by women is still something that is viewed with disdain. Differing levels of social acceptance towards female sexuality was one issue Lawrence was railing against-- men with mistresses in proper British society was acceptable, almost expected. But a woman who sought sexual satisfaction from anyone other than her husband was a completely different matter.
The novel is well written and makes the author's point eloquently. But still, I wonder what would have become of the exact same novel had a woman written it in the same time period.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am shocked that I enjoyed this. My father - a non-reader - always held DH Lawrence as his standard for unreadable books. While I certainly love reading more than him, I tend to agree with his assessments to a less passionate degree (writes he says aren't half bad, I love, writers he's dislikes, I enjoy, writers he hates, I dislike, etc.). I really liked this though. It felt so oddly anachronistic - like a modern author *trying* to write a regency-era romance - it created a pleasantly jarring experience. I was so confused the first few scenes - I couldn't fathom when this book took place or was written. I was shocked to find it was in the early days of the Depression.

[chrisbookarama · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Finally done!

[jessicadelellis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I decided to read this book because it was a famous banned book. It was seen by many as being obscene.This was an interesting book. Some of the sex parts were unintentionally funny (ex. Mellors comparing his wife's vagina to a beak and all the John Thomas/Lady Jane talk). On the other hand it did offer some interesting perspectives on sex. Apart from the sex, this book also offered commentary against industrialization.

[waitingtoderail · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A more literate than average romance novel. One of the first of its kind, so important, but for this reader at least, banal and uninspiring.

[tobereadpile · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I had such great expectations about this book, but unfortunately it left me disappointed. While i appreciate why this would have been considered a banned book, i found it incredibly tedious and superfluous. I suppose these issues aren't as relevant or taboo in today's society as they were back then, which could be why it failed to impact me. I am looking forward to the 2015 film adaptation though, cause, hey, Richard Madden.

[zhenlee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I heard, it's a book of fame for its sensuality. But in my opinion, rather, it's a book of escaping the despair of the rotten world. Through the world of sensuality, they saw hope.The book starts with rather dismay or low situation, makes you think, the ending has to be lifted up, 'cause the chances are just higher at the other half. Clifford and Connie both were struggling in their settings, or in the chasm between their idealisms and their realities. Both painfully realized how repulsive or disgusting the reality was, both pursuing their ideal "kingdom". Though Clifford started out actively, Connie passively. She was doubting from beginning (not very beginning though, otherwise she wouldn't marry him) that his effort could get him anywhere. At the end, Clifford sank hopelessly in his own helplessness, which was reflected by his strange relationship with Mrs. Bolton. Connie, though, wakened by the ecstasy of sensual world, actively sought after the new relationship between her and Mellors.In one way, Lawrence definitely expressed his view of pure intellectual - cold, dry, lifeless and hopeless - in the character of Clifford, who was intelligent in many ways but totally disconnected from the sensual world, because of his disability. I don't think he meant that a person with disability would lead a lifeless life. He just used Clifford as an experiment to test out his theory, that pure intellectual can't save a wrecked life. Especially, at later part of the book, it described more of Clifford's vacancy of his soul. Like Connie's father said "there is nothing in it". Later he invested his intellectual power into coal mining, despite the success, but it can't even be used to maintain his class "dignity" (What a blow to learn that Connie preferred Mellors to him!)Connie with her instincts, eventually penetrated his intellectual nothingness. Her attitude toward him changed from a little fear and admiration at the beginning to despise and hate at the end. She had much richer world of consciousness than Clifford's, which situated her at superior position at the end (she understood the world of Clifford but not vice versa). The world of consciousness is the spiritual world in my opinion. Though religion wasn't even touched in the whole book. I wonder what was Lawrence's view regarding spiritual and religion.The consciousness of characters in the book was expressed mostly in form of narratives. The narrator penetrated the characters' consciousness in way of omnipotence. The characters themselves sometimes are not even aware of his/her own limitations. This is probably the details I enjoyed the most. The subtleties of every turn of human thoughts, naturally flow with the characters, each in its own cunning way, and inevitable by their circumstances.Example 1:Clifford - "You and I are married, no matter what happens to us, We have the habit of each other. And habit, to my thinking, is more vital than any occasional excitement. The long, slow, enduring thing ...""Connie sat and listened in a sort of wonder, and a sort of fear...The long slow habit of intimacy, formed through years of suffering and patience..."At intellectual level, Clifford probably believed such thing. But at deeper level, he himself was not sure. This was the product of his brain during the moment of its peak performance, which can't be maintained. Connie's reaction was unpredictable, at least to me, until it was spelled out so naturally by the narrator.Example 2:"He thought how handsome she looked, but also he shrank from her...He sat square and well-groomed in his chair, his hair sleek and blond, and his face fresh, his blue eyes pale, and a little prominent, his expression inscrutable, but well-bred. Hilda thought it sulky and stupid, and he waited. He had an air of aplomb, but Hilda didn't care what he had an air of;..."How beautifully the narrator drew the image of Clifford: confident appearance, though low self-esteem inside; longing to impress Hilda, though really afraid to get closer...There were hundreds of these subtle details, sometimes I do feel I had the exactly the same inner workings. Lawrence definitely studied the psychology of his character carefully, since they were so real, and falling to their places so naturally. It was one of the true treasures of the book.Mellors had a pessimistic view of the world through his own sufferings. Connie had an apparent optimistic view of the new relationship. Conflicts would be inevitable, but they were no longer Lawrence's concern. His job was done: raising their hopes. If that hope is another illusion, or isn't strong enough to uphold life's many tragedies, then that's up to other authors to prove or disprove it.But how did the sensual experience change Connie's perspective of life? I still don't have a convincing answer. The best I can get is: people's warmheartedness is just appearance, when relationship is getting closer, more and more ugliness would sink any naively conceived relation-ship, then how do you know the true noble heart? the warmhearted to the core? I guess, through the most intimate act - sex.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Read this way back in 2010. It is a story of an illicit love affair. This book was censored for many years and was first published in Italy and not England and was a subject of an obscenity trial. The affair is between Lady Chatterley and a working man (games keeper) which is one of the themes; unfair rule of intellects over working class. Lady Chatterley discovers she must love with her body as well as her mind. Love and personal relationships are the threads of the novel. A variety of relationships are explored including; bullying and perverse maternal.Themes:mind/bodyclass industrialization/nature

[schmerguls · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I did not approve of the morals of the characters in the book.

[blake.rosser · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I picked it up because I was curious to see what one of the so-called sexiest books ever could have going on with it. I was more impressed with the actual story than I was with the sex. It had an excellent running commentary about the destruction of tradition and humanity through industrialization.

[mahallett · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

don't quite know what lawrence was trying to do. ok story but not presented in a very interesting way.

[26kathryn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't what I was expecting at all. Obviously the book has a reputation, which is why I wanted to read it, to see what all the fuss was about. But it's not as scandalous as it's made out to be, not by today's standards anyway.The story is a bit of a cliche now, lady of the house is bored with married life so has an affair with a servant. But I could put up with that because this book is beautifully written.I enjoyed reading the political opinions of the characters, even though I didn't understand a few things they mentioned. I also really enjoyed seeing the relationship of Connie and Mellors develop. It was really easy to get sucked into the characters' minds and understand how they were feeling.

[thewasp_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Clifford Chatterley returns from WW1 wheelchair bound, and with his young wife Connie goes to manage Wragby, the family estate, in an industrial area in the english midlands. While initially happily married, Connie's desire for a child gains tacit approval from the sexless Clifford. An unexpected meeting with the estate's game keeper and the ensuing affair awakens Connie to a sexuality she did not know existed.I did not immediately take to the book, but enjoyed it more once the rythm of the story was established It is certainly easy to understand why it created such a stir when originally published

[laugal-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very good read and highly recommended.

[kell1732 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Now this was a slog of a book. I managed to finish it, but looking back, I should have just stopped when I realized that this book was so not worth my time. I had heard from various people whose opinions I respect and often agree with that this book needed to be on my reading list. Well, I got that out of the way.I thought the characters were dull, and I couldn't have cared less how this whole affair ended. Many a time I found myself thinking that this whole thing was just stupid. I got annoyed with Clifford and his whole, "You can go have a baby with some other guy, but I have to approve of the guy" schtick. Really? Constance, run away!While I am normally pretty good with understanding that these books are from a different time period, and that things were vastly different back then, I just could not sympathize with anyone in this book. I just wanted Constance to cut to the chase and run off with the hugely boring and uninteresting Mellors and let me get back to reading something worth my time. Maybe it's because I just don't see this situation being as scandalous today as it was then, and I know that this goes back to reading it with the knowledge of the time period, but I do expect there to be some relevancy to today that will keep me engaged in the book. I didn't see that here. Even in Tess of the d' Ubervilles there relevancy to today's society and the issue women still have fighting against a patriarchal system. While I can see Constance's situation as still being stigmatized today, (cause when isn't a woman making choices about sex not stigmatized) I couldn't help but be annoyed with her after a while for not just standing up for herself and leaving. It took forever!Maybe I would have felt more sympathetic if I had actually like Mellors, but since I really didn't care about him, and didn't understand what Constance saw in the man, I just wanted her to get on with it. I actually found him rather disrespectful and unlikable. I personally would have nothing to do with someone like Mellors, so I couldn't understand why Constance did.It was this and all the pretentious, philosophical discussions between very boring men about the meaning of sex and why they don't get what all the fuss is about. Is it just me or does this just seem a little unnatural? I also couldn't help but notice the absence of Constance's opinion on the matter (cause who wants to hear a woman talk about sex) even though she is the only one in the book who got close to figuring it all out. If that is what we would call her revelations, if we want to call them that. More like confused and muddled thoughts that never actually gained any coherency.As you can probably tell, I hated this book. I hated it so much that I tried to sell it back to Powell's, but not even Powell's would take it, thus it sits on my floor constantly reminding me of all the time wasted that could have been spent reading Junot Diaz's new book, This Is How You Lose Her (review forthcoming). If you want to read a classic, don't read this one. Unless you're into all the things I hate. In that case, go for it.

[bayardus-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

If someone having no particular knowledge of literature read Mrs. Dalloway, The Sun Also Rises, and Lady Chatterley's Lover, I'd put the odds at 100 to 1 that the person wouldn't guess that Lady Chatterley's Lover was the most recently written book. Despite the passages referring to cunts and penises and sex, or perhaps because of them, this book feels incredibly dated. What may have been shocking subject matter in its day is now unremarkable, and unfortunately I found that Lady Chatterley's Lover has nothing else to offer: its setting was boring, its characters were unrealistic and changed at the whim of the author, the relationships didn't feel natural, and in general nothing felt true-to-life. No matter what aspect of this work that you point to, there's a book that does it better than Lady Chatterley's Lover.

The most damning flaw in this book is that the central romance, as well as the behavior of the characters throughout the novel, didn't feel realistic in the slightest. D. H. Lawrence obviously set out to write the book that revealed the physical, sex-driven side of relationships (and probably was trying to shock with certain passages as well, but let's ignore that for a moment), but his attempt to portray a sexual relationship and the emotions that go with it is almost laughable. The interactions are so unnatural, so artificial, that they're completely removed from reality: it's as if someone today tried to write a book about sex, but their experience in the topic was limited to watching porn. Perhaps in the broadest strokes the writer would get it right, but all of the details would feel off. Here none of the particulars ring true, instead it feels like Lawrence wrote what he thought a sexual romance would be without having any knowledge of it himself, throwing in the words fuck and cunt, as well as passages of sexual theory blather, in order to mask the fact that he doesn't really know what he's talking about.

This lack of realism extends to the characters as well, who don't seem to do things in believable ways. Clifford is the clearest example of this, with Lawrence changing the character in order to fit into whatever role is needed for that chapter. First he's rather kind and charming, a writer who is shy even among his friends. Then he goes from writer to businessman, developing into an extremely competent businessman and becoming assertive over other people. While doing this he alternates between clingy, stubborn, and mean in a way that wasn't shown earlier in the book. There's one chapter that says that Clifford never had guests over anymore, and then two pages later discusses the important business guests that were staying at the estate that night. Lawrence fails to depict a single realistic character in this book, and Clifford seems blatantly changed at times in order to push forward the story.

The book is also peppered with passages of characters discussing issues or espousing theories, and every single one is boring and foolish. In the early chapters Clifford and his cronies sit in a room and discuss sex and Bolshevism and things, and everything they say is inane bullshit. These characters are supposed to be "intellectuals" in name only and actually lacking in substance, so at first you give Lawrence the benefit of the doubt, but later he puts speeches about sexuality into the mouth of Mellors that are equally inane. Given the largely positive portrayal of Mellors there is no reason to think that Lawrence meant his speeches to be taken as satire, but even if he did and a message of the book was supposed to be that no one knows what they're talking about, that message should have been delivered in a more interesting manner. Instead the general lesson that Lawrence is espousing throughout the book is that modern society, with its obsession with money, is bad and vastly inferior to an undefined yesteryear where men were men and they didn't live only to spend money on things. It's an incredibly unoriginal stance, and Lawrence doesn't say anything new about it, and in general I've always found the position idiotic. That's not to say that most of the book actually angered me or inspired emotion in any way; as exemplified by the shock passages that fail to shock, I would say the overwhelming feeling this book inspired in me was boredom.

Lady Chatterley's Lover just doesn't do anything well enough and sometimes does things downright poorly. If you want to read about a fully realized woman with an inner life, read Mrs. Dalloway. If you want to read a story of a man whose injuries prevent him from being physically intimate with women and the relationships he has because of that, read The Sun Also Rises. If you want to read a male's take on female sexuality and desires, read Ulysses. Heck, even if the setting of a coal town or the unresolved coal mine subplot of Lady Chatterley's Lover is what strikes your fancy, you're better off reading Germinal by Zola. All of these works predate Lady Chatterley's Lover, and all are superior to it. Unless you're interested in tracing the roots of the cheap paperback romance novels I'd recommend skipping this one.

[gracez-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very mixed feelings about this book.

At first I really didn't like it that much. I found Lawrence's writing to be a bit repetitive. He would come up with a nice way of describing something, and then use the same description over and over - for example "broad dialect" - and I hate when writers do that.

I loved the way this book seemed to slow down. When I started reading, I felt everything about me calm down, my eyes relax and move more slowly across the page as I sank into it. So it was a really nice way to relax.

By the end (last 50 pages or so), I was pretty hooked. I found the ending extremely unpredictable. The Mellors character was also. So all in all, a favorable finish.

[capiam1234 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I read this for the 1001 books to read before you die group challenge. The book was known for it's discussions on class systems and social conflict, and not to forget the challenge on censorship. But despite all that I just couldn't find myself liking this one that much.

[philsyphe · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I added this over a year ago but for some reason it's recently disappeared from my "read" list!Anyway, I read this twice because one of my modules at university was about D. H. Lawrence. First read was for class, second read was for essay preparation.Found out during the module that I'm not a Lawrence fan, though of all the works of his I read, "Lady Chatterley's Lover" was the best of the bunch.

[lisa.johnson.james · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am thrilled that I finally got a chance to read this book. I have heard many mixed reviews over the years, some appalled at the language the author uses, some at the um, expressiveness & offensiveness of his terminology, & some about how dry some of the book is compared to the more intimate scenes.I found it to be charming, even if some of the vernacular writing of how the Derbyshire accent is written, & I too found myself skimming the dryer parts. I was quite surprised at the terminology used, & the expressiveness of the intimate scenarios between Connie & Mellors. For the time in which it was written, it's quite "racy", although quite tame by today's steamy standards!There's a reason this classic has stood the test of time :)