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Editorial Review Product Description
One of the most extraordinary literary works of the twentieth century, Lady Chatterley’s Lover was banned in England and the United States after its initial publication in 1928. The unexpurgated edition did not appear in America until 1959, after one of the most spectacular legal battles in publishing history.Amazon.com Review
Perhaps the most famous of Lawrence's novels, the 1928 LadyChatterley's Lover is no longer distinguished for theonce-shockingly explicit treatment of its subject matter--theadulterous affair between a sexually unfulfilled upper-class marriedwoman and the game keeper who works for the estate owned by herwheelchaired husband. Now that we're used to reading about sex, andseeing it in the movies, it's apparent that the novel is memorable forbetter reasons: namely, that Lawrence was a masterful and lyricalwriter, whose story takes us bodily into the world of its characters. ... Read more Customer Reviews (93) 
Did he have sex or explosive diarrhea?
I usually save two stars for books that I feel have isses with the plot or weak characters, etc. I don't feel that this book had any issues except I found most of it completely boring. It made me want to beat my forhead against things and rock back and forth like Rain Man in an attempt to pay attention to the story. Guess too fancy and historical for my ADHD brain.
I picked this book in honor of Banned Book Week so I felt guilty to not finish it, like if I stop somewhere some evil people will start squishing little mewlling kittens and mail me their little furry bodies in a box with a letter saying, "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT...YOU COULD HAVE PREVENTED THIS BUT NOOOOOO."
I didn't give up on LCL, it kind of read like waves in the ocean. It started off dull, and then it got interesting for a while, then down and back goes the wave of interest. I can understand the reasoning for banning it, all those challenging thoughts on pretty much everything including the certainty and necessity of the Iron Age...but there is a gianormous amount of whininess that is barely tolerable.
It's very comical to read the description of the sex scenes. First there was the lover that got mad at her for that he had to wait and hold still after he came so she could get off, like it was all her fault. Then her grounds keeper lover's sexual attraction to her was said as "his bowels stirred for her" and his cumming described as an "evacuating crisis"...which kind of sounds like the guy had explosive diarrhea, not sex. Yeah, that's sexy, lol.
Famous because it was banned
I picked this book up in honor of banned book week.It seems to me that this book gained more notoriety off the fact that it was banned than because it was a great piece of literature.I had to keep reminding myself that it was set in the 1920s, as the writing style was more reminiscent of a Victorian era novel.Furthermore, Lawrence portrayed his characters as if they were in the Victorian era.The characters were not well developed, thus making it hard to have sympathy for anyone in the story.The end was disappointing as it simply fizzled away.
Lady Chatterley's Lover.
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence. Published by MobileReference (mobi)
Dealing with themes of love, passion, respect, honor, and the need for understanding, Lady Chatterley's Lover is a complex, character-driven novel which celebrates the driving passions that can make life worth living.
Lady Chatterly
Lady Chatterly's Lover was not the perverted, illiterate story I was lead to believe it was. It was a story of classes and self realization.It was thoughtfully written, though it did drag in many parts.Yes, there are many sexual liasons in the story, but I think the author's intent was to make them part of the natural flow of the story instead of a suggestion.In saying that, it was quite evident the love scenes were written by a man.Mostly very mechanical in description and very cut and dry.A female author would have elongated the love scenes and added a bit more detail.Although the focus of the book has always been the sex scenhes, there is more substance to it than that
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Not shocking anymore, but dang good
A 'Novel' Guest Review By Leigh Wood
After one too many viewing's of the 1992 BBC production of Lady Chatterley, I finally broke down and read the book. I thought the 1928 unedited version of Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence would be a tough book to find. Expensive, rare, old leather, smelly, buried in an antiquarian store-that type of book. Indeed I was very pleased to find the 1928 Unexpurgated Oriali Edition in paperback at my local Borders. $4.95!
I wrapped Mists of Avalon as quickly as possible and avoided watching the film before I plunged into Lover. I read other writers' criticisms on D.H. Lawrence and his works before purchasing the book, and I knew the book and movie didn't have the same ending. Of course, I also knew the book's controversial reputation and supposedly salacious use of naughty words and torrid sex talk. My edition opened with forwards and introductions detailing the book's tough road to publication and the aftermath of censorship. Although this story is fairly well known in literary circles, this introduction is informative, with details and facts on the books printing, pirated editions, and trial information. Even if one was a toe towards prudish, you can't not be interested in reading Lady Chatterley's Lover after these words of praise.
Although the 1992 adaptation by Ken Russell is quite faithful, Lawrence's work is naturally bigger and more detailed than what can be translated to the screen. I noticed many cases where the film had taken word for word from the book, and also where scenes had been combined or moved and relocated for the film. Still, much was remaining to surprise me. After her Baronet husband's paralysis during World War I, young Constance Chatterley begins to question her mundane existence as Lady of Wragby Hall and nursemaid to her crippled husband. They are educated and literate, but as she listens to her husband and his friends chit chat about war, sex, society, and money, Connie becomes more and more disenchanted with her upper class standing. After a very dissatisfying affair with playwright Michaelis, Connie begins a saucy love affair with her husband's gamekeeper Olivier Mellors. Despite the fear of being caught and societal pressures upon them, Connie and Mellors continue to meet. When the scandal comes out, they take measures to secure a life together, despite the class divisions against them.
The great part of Lady Chatterley's Lover is the love discovered between the titular characters, so I was intrigued by the intitial Michaelis relationship. We learn much about Connie intellectually and sexually through this affair, internal thoughts and disappointing feelings that can't be show onscreen. I've read other fans commentaries online about Joely Richardson's performance as Lady Chatterley in the BBC version. Women sometimes find her portrayal conceded and flaky. Connie has nothing to loose, where Mellors has everything to loose. In the novel, this is certainly not the case. Connie is already nothing, an emotionless drone whose stature gives her nothing.
Likewise the Mellors in print has everything to gain. His backstory is greatly detailed by Lawrence, yet he maintains his strong silent and mysterious air. Once on officer during the war and a well educated pupil then tutor, Mellors could have the upper class at his fingertips, yet he chooses to be left alone. This book is not just about sex. Our couple is disenchanted with war, industry, money, and the people around them who think that those things give meaning to life. Some of Mellors' dialogue is written in dialect and for an American like me, it took a double take at first. However, Mellors can also speak perfect English, and does so when he chooses, not when people expect it of him. In fact, his speech is often broken when he thinks it will upset people, such as Connie's image conscious sister Hilda.
Lawrence spends a great many of the early chapters discussing artists and their self important selves, yet it is a great and subtle revelation when Connie discovers books in Mellor's house. Its often claimed not to be Lawrence's best work, but Lady Chatterley's Lover intricately weaves the love story between Connie and Mellors with multiple commentaries from Lawrence. Without being too obvious with his author views, Lawrence questions the English post war Jazz society and classes as well as the later artistic society Lawrence often found himself outcast from. This catch-22 is again mirrored in the novel. Where Connie and Mellors affair crosses class divides and angers their entire community, her husband Clifford's unusual relationship with his nurse Mrs. Bolton is entirely acceptable. I love Charles Dickens for his veiled or outright social commentaries, and I dare say Lawrence is on par here in asking those same society questions. Who decides these social barriers and imobilities? Why are some invisible to these restraints via power, position, and money? What is the right reason to circumvent these divides and do something about oneself?
Lady Chatterley's Lover has kept me thinking about itself long after I've finished the book. I'd like to read it again and find answers to these questions. Although it is a thorough British book in time and place, Lover also presents very modern thoughts and conjecture. After Lawrence's difficulty with self publishing and piracy, the book was banned until a 1960 obscenity trial. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't find the book all that shocking. Was it because I was familiar with the film version, or is it because the book perhaps caused our current liberal ideas and desensitizing? Four letter words and sex talk have always existed, but Lawrence's honest treatment of the subjects opened a Pandora's box on erotica, pornography, nudity, and bad words in art, literature, and film. I can't say the same for other works, but Lover is actually a very tasteful book, rather innocent in a way. The rebirth of the main characters through their love for one another. Lawrence was tempted to call the story `Tenderness' and the title would have fit.
Although the work speaks for itself when it comes to sex, society, and even religion, my edition of Lady Chatterley's Lover came with `A Propos on Lady Chatterley's Lover' by D. H. Lawrence himself. After finishing the book on a positive note, I was disappointed in this thirty page essay. One should always let his work speak for itself, and there's no need for this redundant and overlong speech from Lawrence. From World War I to Christianity, Lawrence's essays should be cut in half or is perhaps better for a college classroom discussion.
If you're looking for porn or sexual gratification, you won't find it in Lady Chatterley's Lover. Most certainly the book is not for everyone, and if frank sexual talk and situations is not your cup of tea, do skip this read. I'lm a fairly straight laced individual, and I only second guessed the book once. In Chapter 16 or 19, I thought the anal sex euphuisms were getting a bit redundant. I giggled a few times over the language, but was moved by other beautiful descriptions from Lawrence. At first I looked for Lover in Borders' small erotica section, but Lawrence's works are found in the general fiction section and in the classics section at my local library.
Lady Chatterley's Lover is by no means for children or prudes, but it is a fine novel that has transcended time and place. We may be too loose or vulgar in our society today-celebrities with wardrobe malfunctions and half naked women in music videos. Lover and the books in its wake may have caused this openness, but the book also reminds me of the good things about he past. Women wore gloves, men tips their hats to all, and writers wrote great books.
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Misleading Title
Scattered Attentions