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Jan 02, 2012

Diletta rated it:

QUALCUNO MI RIDIA IL TEMPO CHE HO SPRECATO LEGGENDO QUESTO LIBRO.
Vi prego. Esisterà qualcosa tipo un soddisfatti o rimborsati, che ne so. Un sindacato dei lettori?
Ok, respira a fondo. Cerchiamo di calmarci e di mettere giù il libro, invece di continuare ad agitarlo pericolosamente così. Su, spostati dalla finestra. Da brava, così.

Donne innamorate è uno di quei libri che quando lo finisci di leggere, quando compi quel magnifico e agognato gesto di chiudere l'ultima pagin More...

13 comments like (10 people liked it)

Dec 04, 2011

Chiara rated it:

« Pah – l’amour. Lo detesto. L’amour, l’amore, die Liebe – lo detesto in ogni lingua. Donne e amore, non c’è tedio più grande » esclamò. Lei se ne sentì un po’ offesa. E tuttavia era la sua stessa, elementare sensazione. Uomini e amore, non c’era tedio più grande.

Non c’è cosa più irritante, io credo, che sentirsi troppo stupidi per capire un romanzo. Non c’è cosa più irritante che sentire che la distanza che ti separa dallo scrittore, in termini di complessità ideologica, di esperien More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 23, 2008

Edward rated it:

Ever noticed how many people hate DH Lawrence? Often for opposite reasons by the way--there are those who condemn his misognyny, while others allege him to be too doting of the fair sex. Which is it? Sometimes he's damned for being too obscene, but elsewhere dismissed as overly fussy about flowers and horses. He even gets clubbed for creating self-absorbed characters, just after someone has taken a swipe at him for promoting a harmful ideal of sacrificial love. All of these folks can agree that More...

2 comments like (14 people liked it)

Sep 28, 2011

Carolyn F. rated it:

This is not just because the narrator talks too fast and is really hard to understand, it's also because I'm just too old for this book. In my idealistic youth I would have found the ramblings of these people inspiring but now I'm bored. They go on and on about how the world is awful and I just had enough and can't finish it.

7 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 07, 2008

Suzanne rated it:

The book is a slog to get through, the film version with Alan Bates is much better.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 05, 2008

Liza rated it:

It is seemingly impossible to summarize a book such as Women in Love. The book innocuously begins with sisters Gudrun and Ursula Brangwen discussing marriage. Gudrun is an artist and Ursula is a school teacher, and their middle-class status is key in their ostracism from the high-society to which their lovers Gerald—the industrialist—and Rupert—the disillusioned intellectual. Although these relationships would seem to be key, the complex relationship between Rupert—modeled after author D.H. Lawr More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 08, 2008

Maureen rated it:

This book is like an Expressionist painting: you look at it once, and return and see something different. The writing is lush, and almost poetic at times. Lawrence uses the idea of the two sisters, Gudrun and Ursula, as his canvas to explore ideas about men and women, marriage and fidelity, and whatever else runs through his mind and on to the page.

In this high-speed, instant world, we are losing the art of leisurely contemplation. D.H. Lawrence needs to be taken up, and put do More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 03, 2008

Dan rated it:

This is a book about the relationships between two sisters and their, how shall we say, lovers.

It's written so that each chapter has dominant symbol (a rabbit, a scared horse, a wrestiling match), and I thought the symbols he chose were compelling (picture a man forcing a terrified horse to stand in place, only feet away from the first train it's ever seen as the train roars by). I especially liked the end, where they all go on a a vacation retreat in some remote and snowy mountains More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 05, 2010

Gloria rated it:

Ugh - this book was no fun for me. There were some lovely moments and prose that I copied into my quote journal, and that's about all that kept me going. The introduction advised that "one should not begin one's study of Lawrence with Women in Love", and man, I guess that's right. I really can't stand purposefully obscure language, or a supposedly realist novel that's full of dialogue and emotional reactions that make no sense and bear no resemblance to how people actually talk or t More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 10, 2008

Brittany rated it:

So, I loved this book through about the first half. I was ready to call it one of my favorite books, but then the characters changed into people that I could no longer stand to hear about. I still have to say that the book was really well-written with amazingly developed characters. Lawrence creates a profound connection between the readers and the characters because he allows you into the innermost thoughts of the characters. It is also an excellent portrayal of the ideas running through Europe More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jun 30, 2011

Zack rated it:

Spurred by my current Anaïs Nin obsession, I picked up Women in Love (Nin did a critical study of D.H. Lawrence early in her career). Burned through a third of it on a long plan ride from New Orleans to Oakland. I am in pursuit of a lineage and a vindication (permission?) for doing work that deals with emotions, relationships - that which is written "from the blood", as Lawrence would say.

It has also been a long while since I have read a novel from what might glibly be cal More...

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Mar 06, 2007

Jon rated it:

If The Corrections has no redeeming characters, no sympathetic inmates, what should one make of Women in Love? Either way, Lawrence's merciless scalpel and light open dark hearts, callow souls and capricious intellects. The climax is a good one and the novel is reasonably gripping, perhaps because of the shallow nature of so many of the main characters. Class is Lawrence's pallet and he rarely used it to paint as nuanced a picture as this one.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 31, 2011

Veronica rated it:

More of the Brangwen histrionics has most certainly not endeared me to Mr. Lawrence, as I had hoped. Since Women in Love was a continuation of The Rainbow, with the Brangwen sisters growing into young womanhood, I'd expected some revelations of wisdom on their behalves, but was instead subjected to more inane, adolescent angst, not even slightly interesting.

To make it clear and attempting to not give away any details, when one of the sister's love interests considers killing her, I se More...

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Mar 21, 2010

Cydney rated it:

Well, I'm proud of myself that I finished it. It wasn't horrible but I did push myself through it. I kept reminding myself that this classic novel is "magnificient" and that (the characters) "clash in thought, passion and belief, and the reader is gripped by deeply held convictions about love and modern society" . . or so they say. There are some passages written so beautifully, and definitely some thoughts on our existence that you can't help but think about; but it was More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2008

Katie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 05, 2010

Georgia rated it:

I found the book dreamy. I'm a sucker for beautiful language and Lawrence is a master at it; his unexpected vocabulary kept me hooked right throughout. The first half I adored, but the second half just seemed a bit of a drag - was it really necessary to have all those meaningless conversations? Likewise the philosophy in the first half was thought-provoking and lovely, but by the second half it had slipped to something of a showing-off; Lawrence seemed to be questioning everything thoughtlessly More...

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Apr 01, 2010

carl rated it:

Ahh, a continuation of 'The Rainbow' with Ursula and now Gudrun her younger
sister, so I'm glad I chose to read these in chronological order.

Their male counterparts are Rupert and Gerald. All four lives are
examined and cross-examined in themes of discussion of philosophies of
love, religion and war. Ursula & Rupert are more or less a happy
couple, the kind who quit their jobs to run off and 'find themselves',
where Gudrun and Gerald provide the More...

0 comments like

Jun 12, 2008

Bruce rated it:

Superb! D.H. Lawrence at his best. Each character is utterly individual and nuanced but cannot stand alone, being fully realized only in relationship and response to each other. Having read the work one sees these people around one every day, and of course one also sees aspects of oneself in each of them as well. A terrific novel!

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 18, 2010

Elizabeth rated it:

Why wasn't this book called "Men in Love" or "Mean Guys You'd Never Want to Almost Marry." I really liked Ursula in The Rainbow, but even she and her artist sister couldn't help me enjoy this story. I tried reading it about two years ago and couldn't get past the 4th "intellectual discussion". This time I forced myself through it and I wish I hadn't bothered.

The main men are unlikable and in love with each other. While I understand how terrible it is for More...

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Aug 23, 2011

Kelly A. rated it:

I can't say that I enjoyed the story of Women in Love. It strikes me as too prosaic. Nothing in the plot or in the relationships was interesting enough (to me) to warrant an entire novel on the subject.

At times the dialogue made me want to wing the book across the room. It seemed the characters spoke in soliloquies rather than to each other. They would drone on and on, frequently, using language quite unbelievable for casual discourse.

However, I did enjoy Lawrence's choic More...

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Aug 30, 2009

Deanna rated it:

First of all, this book should be called something more like "I Hate You With the White Hot Intensity of a Thousand Suns" instead of it's actual title. If people are really walking around with the thoughts that Lawrence writes of in this novel, I AM PERSONALLY TERRIFIED! With that being said, the novel was a great read lol. My husband commented at one point, "I've never seen you so caught up in a book." I really couldn't put it down. I will also add that though the title woul More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 27, 2011

aya rated it:

what is most clear almost immediately, is that between The Rainbow and Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence has changed immensely. There is a heavy, existential/philosophical darkness to him and he has lost his belief and love for humankind. Humans stand in opposition to God/nature, a true person must shed society and people altogether--this seems to be the main problem in the novel. The ones who struggle to rid themselves of the everydayness and tick-tock of society, these are the ones that Lawrence is More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 29, 2011

Luke rated it:

Not actually sure where how to rate this book. It had so much going on in it, and this was my first exposure to Lawrence's writing style. At times it was frustrating, because he leaves so many thoughts half-finished or unexplained, at least when they're coming from his characters. His actual thoughts and intentions are well-obscured beneath layers of opinions that are advocated by the cast of characters, which might make you feel like you're grasping at straws. On the other hand, who likes being More...

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Feb 03, 2011

Lena rated it:

This book was really hard for me.I couldn't understand it.The relationships and the motives behind the action of the characters, their total pessimistic views and their inability to love was a total mystery for me.I could not see through it.Maybe I lack some background information, I don't know.On the other hand I liked some of the ideas that were introduced in this book and some of the philosophical questions.I really liked the scene when Gerald entered Gudrun's house secretly after his father' More...

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Oct 27, 2010

Dawn rated it:

So exasper/exhilar/ated. Mostly 'ated' trying to put together what's what in the extended monologue of this book. Methinks two Lawrence(s) in a row was a mistake. The drama gnaws at you after a while. The thinking just grinds away. Where The Rainbow is a romp, Women in Love is stifled. Where Rainbow's is a wet mess, Women in Love is crispy, tweaked out, "modern" in a way that makes me a bit ill. If Rainbow is about the earth, Women is about inhabiting. And inhabiting is so much more br More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Sandhya rated it:

Intense, passionate and wonderfully written, this is treat for all D H Lawrence fans. I personally love the way Lawrence tackles love and relationships and delves into its complexities.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 28, 2011

Kaethe rated it:

Lawrence is an amazing period piece, just because he's one of the few writers ever to take Freud's theories as deep, meaningful truth. Not a happy guy.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 31, 2009

Liz rated it:

I'm sorry, I just don't 'get' DH Lawrence. I think he is the most over-rated novelist I've ever read. And I have tried. I'm sure he broke the boundaries of what was permitted to be discussed in the novel BUT, besides the chapter involving the boating trip and resulting accident, nothing impressed me or remains with me from the book other than intense irritation with all of the characters. The women are unrealistic and the men, arrogant and dull. I wanted to slap the lot of them and tell them to More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2011

Erica rated it:

I can see where the depth of characterization in this novel might be appealing, but it was almost too much for me. It felt like every single thought of every single character was described, and characters’ moods shifted so rapidly between extreme love and loathing that it was actually hard to understand them until about halfway through the story. Think about it: if someone were listening to a running monolog of every thought you had, including those unstated during conversations, the majority of More...

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Apr 16, 2011

Michael added it

After several game attempts at Women in Love, I'm a little mystified at the reputation of the alleged great modernist. For one thing, his writing seems anachronistically 19th Century in character, leaving me a little baffled as to what is supposed to be modern about it. And for another, his writing is no better than competent, not wooden exactly but hardly lively, so where's the greatness? Then, when I poke about to see what excites his defenders, they talk about Lawrence's passionate romanti More...

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