Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
Exquisite writing, sharply delineated characterizations, beautiful descriptions of nature. What more could you want? They’re all there in Lawrence’s great novel of class-distinction, and thwarted love, Sons and Lovers. Mrs Morel, the mother-in-law from hell, dominates this novel. Her coal miner husband has come to realise that he is not good enough for this driven, ambitious woman who comes from a better class, and feels abandoned by her love for her children, so he gets drunk and beats her. It is arguable that Lawrence would have wanted readers to think that she provokes him at the time when this was written, however. He manages to make you feel sympathetic with both parents, a difficult feat! Paul, her sensitive, artistic son, based heavily on the young D.H., watches his parent’s violent marriage, and has to face the tragic death of his brother. Although the family isn’t poor, times are still tough in the bleak coal mining village, and he has to go to work young, although ...
