D. H. Lawrence

Constance Chatterley turns from a sterile marriage to a passionate relationship with a spiritually independent gamekeeper

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Lady Chatterley's Lover.

Jessica Sennebogen

But she said to him: ‘I only want one thing of men, and that is, that they should leave me alone.’

D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover scandalized the world when it was first published in paperback, and helped put Penguin Books on trial. The powerful depiction of the sexual liaison of Constance Chatterley with the gamekeeper Mellors, while her invalid husband quietly seethes, brilliantly captures the perennial struggle between the classes and the sexes.

Stephan Happe

the kind of book that feels less like reading and more like osmosing.. a masterclass in sex & love writing—really, more than that, a masterclass in capturing aliveness on the page.

alyssa natoci

Chloé

This book got penguin sued over a word which is flipping iconic. I also kept forgetting it was written by a man (which is the highest compliment i can give a male author).

D D D 

In Lady Chatterley's Lover, D.H. Lawrence creates a tale that initially seems a modernist critique of postwar disillusionment, with characters unable to deeply connect. The loveless marriage of Constance and Clifford represents a broader societal breakdown of communication and feeling. However, the book ultimately pursues a different aim - advocating a return to nature and sensual living as an antidote to modern malaise. 

The prose is highly repetitive, constantly reinforcing themes of meaninglessness and lack of fulfillment. The love scenes between Connie and Oliver aim for a sense of joyous sensual abandon but do not fully earn or integrate this ecstatic interlude with the whole. The ending seeks closure but falls short for many readers. 

The obscenity controversy brought the book much attention but obscured its literary aims. The work contains mixed messages about gender roles and sexuality that may not align with modern sensibilities. While flawed, it grapples with the postwar challenge of rediscovering meaning and connection in a fragmented world. Assessing it requires understanding the philosophical and social context that inspired its extremes. A more balanced critique recognizes the universal themes it aspires to, while scrutinizing its execution.

Liana

In Lady Chatterley's Lover, D.H. Lawrence creates a tale that initially seems a modernist critique of postwar disillusionment, with characters unable to deeply connect. The loveless marriage of Constance and Clifford represents a broader societal breakdown of communication and feeling. However, the book ultimately pursues a different aim - advocating a return to nature and sensual living as an antidote to modern malaise. 

The prose is highly repetitive, constantly reinforcing themes of meaninglessness and lack of fulfillment. The love scenes between Connie and Oliver aim for a sense of joyous sensual abandon but do not fully earn or integrate this ecstatic interlude with the whole. The ending seeks closure but falls short for many readers. 

The obscenity controversy brought the book much attention but obscured its literary aims. The work contains mixed messages about gender roles and sexuality that may not align with modern sensibilities. While flawed, it grapples with the postwar challenge of rediscovering meaning and connection in a fragmented world. Assessing it requires understanding the philosophical and social context that inspired its extremes. A more balanced critique recognizes the universal themes it aspires to, while scrutinizing its execution.

D H Lawrence

The perfect gift for Valentine’s Day WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BLAKE MORRISON Clifford Chatterley returns from the First World War as an invalid. Constance nurses him and tries to be the dutiful wife. However, childless and listless she feels oppressed by their marriage and their isolated life. Partly encouraged by Clifford to seek a lover, she embarks on a passionate affair with the gamekeeper, Mellors. Through their liaison Lawrence explores the complications of sex, love and class. Written in 1928 and subsequently banned, Lady Chatterley's Lover is one of the most subversive novels in English Literature.

Michael Klepacki

A fascinating collection of contradictions. Progressive (for the time) writing of sexuality, with conservative sexual ideals. Biting criticism of capitalist society that often still feels relevant today, delivered in a preachy, classical manor. Very pro-sex, but only the traditional, heteronormative sex Lawrence holds as holy. A disdain for vapid intellectualism, but descriptions of sex that read far more spiritual and  heady than steamy and physical. (Though some post-coital scenes are written with an intimacy that ring true.) 

A flawed and fascinating read, with still plenty offer today.

Wynter

Loved the authenticity and stark honesty of this book. Beautiful use of language to convey the repressed state that was (and to a degree still is) human sexuality.

David Herbert Lawrence

With her soft brown hair, lithe figure and big, wondering eyes, Constance Chatterley is possessed of a certain vitality. Yet she is deeply unhappy, married to a physical and emotional cripple, and embarks on an affair with Mellors, the gamekeeper.

heleen de boever

Uhm... Meh. Somewhat too repetitive in its descriptions. I enjoyed the descriptions of 'sensuous tenderness' and loins and bowels, though.

Lady Chatterly’s head is turned when a new bombshell enters Wragby Hall. 

Luke Pearce

Gavin

Alright, so it might be easy to mock (e.g. Connie insists on referring to orgasm as her "crisis"), and it's definitely on the Well of Loneliness / Uncle Tom's Cabin / Yellow Wallpaper side (of books that we can be glad were written and read without wanting to read them ourselves). And sure its idea of class and relative virility is dumb. Also its dichotomising and opposing mind and body, and its revaluation of the body over the mind. And its whole mythology of the phallus. Maybe it reads like a Mills and Boon in places (note that the gruff Northern gamekeeper is really a decorated officer back from the Raj with perfectly fine vowels if he felt like using them)... 

&c &c

suspiria

toplumsal sınıf ve cinsellik konuları bağlantılı, paralel olarak anlatılmış. kitap hakkında söylenecek bir şey yok, zor bir kitap değil, yine de çok dağınık. bitirdikten sonra kitaptaki kırıntıları kendiniz toplamanız gerekiyor

D.H. Lawrence

Lady Chatterley's Lover is a novel by D. H. Lawrence written in 1928. Printed privately in Florence in 1928, it was not printed in the United Kingdom until 1960 (other than in an underground edition issued by Inky Stephensen's Mandrake Press in 1929). Lawrence considered calling this book Tenderness at one time and made significant alterations to the original manuscript in order to make it palatable to readers. It has been published in three different versions. The publication of the book caused a scandal due to its explicit sex scenes, including previously banned four-letter words, and perhaps because the lovers were a working-class male and an aristocratic female. The story is said to have originated from events in Lawrence's own unhappy domestic life, and he took inspiration for the settings of the book from Ilkeston in Derbyshire where he lived for a while. According to some critics the fling of Lady Ottoline Morrell with "Tiger", a young stonemason who came to carve plinths for her garden statues, also influenced the story.

Mary Rose Luksha

While I enjoyed Lawrence's style of writing, and was really impressed that a man could write a woman so well, I felt that there wasn't a point to the story. I didn't gain anything other than the enjoyment of reading the novel. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I guess I just assume that I'd learn stuff from the dead guys, but you know what happens when you assume...

Lady Chatterley's lover.

Sarah Escorsa

Now I understand why this book was considered such a shocker when it was first published;-)I really enjoyed this read and particularly loved Lawrence's writing style.

D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover scandalized the world when it was first published in paperback, and helped put Penguin Books on trial.

Pia Sophia

This isn’t a story about sex or adultery. It’s a story of love, following one’s heart and growing from a past and present into a promising future. Beautifully written, captivating, and at times even poetic.

Viet-Hung Nguyen

Simona

Lexie 

Paige Wanner

Lady Chatterley's lover

Francesca

.0000000000Connie's unhappy marriage to Clifford Chatterley is one scarred by mutual frustration and alienation. Crippled from wartime action, Clifford is confined to a wheelchair, while Connie's solitary, sterile existence is contained within the narrow parameters of the Chatterley ancestral home, Wragby. She seizes her chance at happiness and freedom when she embarks on a passionate affair with the estate's gamekeeper, Mellors, discovering a world of sexual opportunity and pleasure she'd thought lost to her. The explosive passion of Connie and Mellors' relationship - and the searing candour with which it is described - marked a watershed in twentieth century fiction, garnering Lady Chatterley's Lover a wide and enduring readership and lasting notoriety. The text is taken from the privately published Author's Unabridged Popular Edition of 1930, the last to be supervised in the author's lifetime. It also includes Lawrence's My Skirmish with Jolly Roger, his witty essay describing the pirating of this most notorious novel which was specially written as an Introduction to this edition.With an Afterword by Anna South.

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Reviews

Highlights