sons and lovers

Sons and Lovers by D H Lawrence is one of those books that shows up on read lists. It was written in 1913, and follows the lives of the Morel family, who begin as coal mining rural stock, and slowly find their way into the middle class due to the additional income generated by their three sons. The story follows the three boys as they grow up, start work, fall in love, and struggle to do what is best for themselves and their family. The largest part of the narrative follows the middle son, Paul Morel, who seems to struggle more than his brother to find his path.

I'm sure Sons and Lovers is on read lists because its both important, and I assume was quite risque when it was published, for not only its open depictions of love and sex--relative, for the time--but also perhaps because of the notion of trying to change ones class, seems uppity... what, what! but I don't pretend to know. This isn't a book I read and studied in school. Lets see what the interwebs say... Okay, so lots of 100 best books lists, discussion of the class changing thing, but in Lawrence's own words, the mother, who took a step down in class to marry her coal miner, then conceives her children in passion, later cools on her husband, and gives her love instead to the children, specifically the boys, who she chooses as stand-in lovers. First her oldest, William, and then after his death, Paul. Each of these boys, and then men, has to try and find love while their souls stay with their mother, and because they can't give their all to their lovers, they can't find satisfactory relationships. Hence, the struggles.

Its grim.

The text is a little repetitive, as are many of the scenes. I guess that makes sense when you're trying to drive home that these guys are stuck in a loop they can't escape from, but Lawrence could have eliminated twenty pages just by taking out the word 'hate.' And a hundred pages if he'd cut the same sentences that contained that word.

Is it important? Sure. Is it worth reading? You bet, but its a little too long, and a little too depressing for me.