My reading so far in 2013 has veered off down a lonely road towards challenging and thought provoking. The last book I completed was "Time Must Have a Stop" by Aldous Huxley. It was at times difficult to remain interested, but knowing the intellect of the author I felt compelled to continue reading so as not to miss out on something monumental. In actuality I can't say that the book was anything more then a solid read, but "Sons and Lovers" by D.H. Lawrence provided the next challenge and it was indeed that. Finding a place at number 9 on the Modern Library list of the 20th century's best novels, I had a pretty good idea that the novel would prove enjoyable. As I have now read a large handful of novels from the list, I have had success in that all the works on the list have been well-written and thought provoking. They have been from a variety of genres, written in an array of different styles and it feels like I am truly learning new things about the art of writing whilst consuming the reading material.
The novel "Sons and Lovers" explores in excruciating depth the dynamics of family relationships, and the idea that your upbringing can shape considerably your personality and your ability to develop relationships outside of the family. This novel is unique in that it doesn't follow one central character throughout the work. It opens with a focus on the mother Gertrude Coppard, and examines her marriage to the miner Morel. She is of the middle class, and marries down into depths of poverty that she didn't realize when she first fell for Morel. He soon shows himself to be a functioning alcoholic who abuses his young bride which leads to Gertrude turning her love and affection towards her children, specifically the eldest William. Their father's abusive behaviour towards their mother leads the children to resent him, and to strengthen their bond with their mother.
The novel moves to focus on William the oldest son as he gets older and begins to move on with his life. He moves to London and quickly begins moving up in social circles. He distances himself from the family, only coming home for occasional visits. He develops a relationship with a young lady, but it seems that the relationship is based solely on status, as his lady friend appears dim witted and superficial. The author works masterfully in the subtle way that he has the mother Gertrude quietly disapprove of her son's relationship, but she is resigned to having lost control emotionally. The girlfriend returns with William to visit the family a few times and she proves to be as materialistic as suspected. The William chapter closes with him returning for a visit not long before the planned wedding. He is sickly and it seems that his bride-to-be had hardly taken notice. He returns to London despite his ill health and is dead days later. This serves as a prelude to the heart of the novel, as the mother turns her focus to her youngest son Paul who shows a more dynamic depth of character then her middle son Arthur or her daughter Annie.
The main focus of the novel emerges, as Paul struggles through his teen years into adulthood. He has developed an extreme dependence on his mother that had been nurtured and shaped significantly by Gertrude herself. This is graphically illustrated in Paul's inability to develop his relationship with Miriam. He can not fathom loving another woman as deeply as his mother. His mother for her part disapproves of his relationship with Miriam which provides another wedge that eventually leads Paul and Miriam apart. He is overwhelmed by the depth of Miriam's feelings for him, as he can not devote himself fully to her when his mother truly has his heart. Paul moves on to a relationship with Clara, a married but separated woman who was a friend of Miriam. While he is now adult and his sexual relationship with Clara is more significant then he had with Miriam, it becomes apparent that he once again is incapable of giving his heart to another. Clara being an already married woman adds to the complications of the situation.
As the work moves towards a conclusion, Gertrude ages and her children all move on and out, except for Paul. He feels attached to her in a way that leads him to pledge to her his heart eternally. Quite dramatically, the bond between the two teeters on the edge of inappropriate before Paul realizes that his mother is aging rapidly. In one passage he questions the "fairness" of life, not wanting to accept that his mother will at some point be gone. As his mother falls ill with a tumor, Paul's mediocre relationship with Clara disintegrates. He develops a friendship with her estranged husband who had at one point engaged him in a fight. He realizes that because he never did grant his heart to Clara, he had not earned her as a wife. She tells him plainly that despite her husband Baxter's failings he had opened up to her, granted her access to him wholly, unlike Paul who was so guarded and distant. His mother's illness rapidly advancing towards death, Paul begins to realize that he should return Clara to her husband. He distances himself from everyone, Clara, Miriam, his family distant and immediate. Paul arranges to reunite Clara and Baxter, and as he bids them adieu at the train station on their way to Sheffield, he appears resigned to being alone. His mother dead, his sister returns to her husband and their life together. His father, so distant from Paul, goes to live with acquaintances and Paul takes up a living arrangement in Nottingham where he works. The author paints a desolate portrait, Paul wandering through the city alone with little to no human contact. Suicide is contemplated at this time, but no action is taken. One night after a few weeks he attends church where he sees Miriam. Walking to say hello after the service, they decide to go to dinner together. Returning to his apartment after, D.H. Lawrence begins to hint at the young lovers reuniting. At this point Paul extinguishes any possibility of that happen as he appears to resign himself to being alone in his misery. He seems to be punishing himself for his prior treatment of Miriam, knowing that he is not deserving of a wife so in love with him. Being unable to reciprocate as he never learned how to love, Paul sees Miriam out of his apartment as the novel closes.
I didn't realize while reading this book how much it made me think. I struggled at times to keep my interest, but eventually I read a significant portion of the 420 pages in a few days. The message becomes overwhelmingly vivid, and it really is an important one. An inability to love can be crippling.
Showing posts with label Sons and Lovers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sons and Lovers. Show all posts
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
Monday, 28 January 2013
Energy Boost
I've been feeling great this week. I have been coffee free for the last 5 days and I feel much better. I have switched to green tea sans caffiene and I have actually seen a significant boost in energy. I also have rededicated myself to eating right. This has likely also helped, though again after only 5 days it's effects are negligable. I hope to keep myself disciplined so I can be in decent shape come the spring. I plan to run a few road races this year and will need to do some significant training to make it happen.
It's Monday morning and just as it has been for the last 4 years that means I am nearing the end of my work week. When the clock strikes half past 2, or slightly before, I will be out of here. I will go and pick up Asher from daycare and then head up Ospika to go and get Jasmine from school. She always waits patiently for me to come, then regardless of when I arrive be it 2:45, 2:50 or later she always says something like "I had to wait sooooooooo long!" It's true, she does have to wait. She makes her little pouty face and climbs into the vehicle. I actually get a kick out of it now, the little attitude she gets, very similar to her mom's moods.
So, normally on Monday I am very exhausted due to my 2 early mornings and a distinct lack of sleep so we just head home and laze around for the afternoon. Today, we have a trip to the hockey rink planned and I doubt that my little Asher man will forget about it. He came downstairs last night near bedtime to find me taping up my hockey stick. This prompted him to start excitedly saying "hoggie, hoggie, hoggie" as he ran over to get his mini stick and find the ball. Dad had to tell him that no, we couldn't play because it was bed time. Well, my little 2 year old is in love with hockey. He started to cry and when he was called upstairs shortly after by his mom, he through himself on the floor at the bottom of the stairs to have a little tantrum all because he couldn't play "hoggie". Today is the day. It's about -5C with a light snow falling so hopefully in about 4 hours when we can play the weather will still be nice, and Dad will still have some energy. Jasmine has even rekindled her like of hockey due to Asher's enthusiasm and that also makes me happy. Last time out, Jasmine even joined me in the game of shinny that was going on while were there. She even set up dear old Dad for a goal.
My plan for this post was to provide a review of the book I am currently reading. As I am still currently reading it and didn't finish it as I had hoped, I can't review it quite yet. I am more then half way through "Time Must Have a Stop" by Aldous Huxley. This is the second of his books I have read, after being gifted "Brave New World" last year by my sister. Unlike the first novel, the current one is more of a standard novel rather then a dissertation on a utopian world that Huxley created. The main theme of the novel so far has been teenage Sebastian and his place in the world. He sees the contrast of his father's communist type ideas juxtaposed against the materialistic ways of his Uncle Eustace who married into money and couldn't be more different then his brother John who is Sebastian's dad. I will provide a complete review when finished, I am quite enjoying the read so far.
As a book nerd I had some considerable excitement over the weekend. I was dropping off some clothing donations at the St.Vincent de Paul thrift store (love the small shops, they truly feel like non-profits) and as always I browsed their book shelves. I found 2 gems, "Sons and Lovers" by D.H. Lawrence and "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck. I happily plunked down a toonie on the counter and walked out. "Sons and Lovers" was written in 1913 and finds itself at #9 on Modern Library's top 100 novels of the 20th century. As I outlined last summer a long term goal of mine is to read all 100 books on the list. At the time I thought it could be done in a few years, but its more likely to take a better part of my lifetime. As I found out, the local library has suprisingly few of the books on the list, unfortunate because you would think the classics would be the books that most belonged in a library. I will have to acquire most of the books in stores, so I was happy to find the first copy of this novel I had seen since I started looking. I haven't memorized the whole list, but I remembered this one due to it being in the top 10. I've already read books 2, 5, 6 and 10 so this will make 5 of the top 10 once i've read it. Yes, I know I am getting way too excited about this. "The Red Pony" is not one of John Steinbeck's well known books, but it was the third novel he wrote (it's more of a novella) and I look forward to reading it. "Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men" were both awesome reads that have turned me on to Steinbeck in a big way. I then walked across the street to the other thrift store "Bibles for Missions". There, I was lucky to find 2 more books to my liking. "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel and "Lucky" by Alice Sebold. I have almost bought "Life of Pi" on Amazon a few times and am looking forward to finding out what all the hype is about. "Lucky" is a book I already own, but I made the purchase for a friend who has been wanting to read it. I know it is a great book and am happy that I was able to find an extra copy for a quarter. Yes, the religious ladies were holding a 50% off sale making their dirt cheap prices even cheaper. Major score for a total of 3 bucks!
The movie at work this week was "The Hobbit" in 3d. As someone who is complete ignorant to the whole storyline I was still able to thoroughly enjoy it. Great visuals, cool story and a solid amount of humour mixed in. I am looking forward to the next installment. My favorite movie moment this week though was when I caught the last half hour of "That's What I Am". Done on a tiny budget starring Ed Harris and his wife, it's about kids in the 8th grade at a school where Harris' character teaches. Set in the 1960s it involves a trio of nerdy types who end up getting to know each other through a school project that their teacher (Harris) puts them together for. I caught the tail end of it and, wow! I was tearing up during a scene where the most outcast of the three gets up at the school talent show in the face of bullying and sings accapella despite not being that great of a singer. I excitedly told Sheila all about it, and will have to go about watching the movie as soon as I can. Hopefully Sheila and I can enjoy it together if I can find it online.
Sheila pointed out last week that this blog has a distinct lack of Sheila in it. I pointed out that most of my content is related to sports, books, movies and poker but I did agree with her. My next post will be dedicated to all things Sheila, look forward to it later this week most likely on the weekend. Until then.
It's Monday morning and just as it has been for the last 4 years that means I am nearing the end of my work week. When the clock strikes half past 2, or slightly before, I will be out of here. I will go and pick up Asher from daycare and then head up Ospika to go and get Jasmine from school. She always waits patiently for me to come, then regardless of when I arrive be it 2:45, 2:50 or later she always says something like "I had to wait sooooooooo long!" It's true, she does have to wait. She makes her little pouty face and climbs into the vehicle. I actually get a kick out of it now, the little attitude she gets, very similar to her mom's moods.
So, normally on Monday I am very exhausted due to my 2 early mornings and a distinct lack of sleep so we just head home and laze around for the afternoon. Today, we have a trip to the hockey rink planned and I doubt that my little Asher man will forget about it. He came downstairs last night near bedtime to find me taping up my hockey stick. This prompted him to start excitedly saying "hoggie, hoggie, hoggie" as he ran over to get his mini stick and find the ball. Dad had to tell him that no, we couldn't play because it was bed time. Well, my little 2 year old is in love with hockey. He started to cry and when he was called upstairs shortly after by his mom, he through himself on the floor at the bottom of the stairs to have a little tantrum all because he couldn't play "hoggie". Today is the day. It's about -5C with a light snow falling so hopefully in about 4 hours when we can play the weather will still be nice, and Dad will still have some energy. Jasmine has even rekindled her like of hockey due to Asher's enthusiasm and that also makes me happy. Last time out, Jasmine even joined me in the game of shinny that was going on while were there. She even set up dear old Dad for a goal.
My plan for this post was to provide a review of the book I am currently reading. As I am still currently reading it and didn't finish it as I had hoped, I can't review it quite yet. I am more then half way through "Time Must Have a Stop" by Aldous Huxley. This is the second of his books I have read, after being gifted "Brave New World" last year by my sister. Unlike the first novel, the current one is more of a standard novel rather then a dissertation on a utopian world that Huxley created. The main theme of the novel so far has been teenage Sebastian and his place in the world. He sees the contrast of his father's communist type ideas juxtaposed against the materialistic ways of his Uncle Eustace who married into money and couldn't be more different then his brother John who is Sebastian's dad. I will provide a complete review when finished, I am quite enjoying the read so far.
As a book nerd I had some considerable excitement over the weekend. I was dropping off some clothing donations at the St.Vincent de Paul thrift store (love the small shops, they truly feel like non-profits) and as always I browsed their book shelves. I found 2 gems, "Sons and Lovers" by D.H. Lawrence and "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck. I happily plunked down a toonie on the counter and walked out. "Sons and Lovers" was written in 1913 and finds itself at #9 on Modern Library's top 100 novels of the 20th century. As I outlined last summer a long term goal of mine is to read all 100 books on the list. At the time I thought it could be done in a few years, but its more likely to take a better part of my lifetime. As I found out, the local library has suprisingly few of the books on the list, unfortunate because you would think the classics would be the books that most belonged in a library. I will have to acquire most of the books in stores, so I was happy to find the first copy of this novel I had seen since I started looking. I haven't memorized the whole list, but I remembered this one due to it being in the top 10. I've already read books 2, 5, 6 and 10 so this will make 5 of the top 10 once i've read it. Yes, I know I am getting way too excited about this. "The Red Pony" is not one of John Steinbeck's well known books, but it was the third novel he wrote (it's more of a novella) and I look forward to reading it. "Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men" were both awesome reads that have turned me on to Steinbeck in a big way. I then walked across the street to the other thrift store "Bibles for Missions". There, I was lucky to find 2 more books to my liking. "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel and "Lucky" by Alice Sebold. I have almost bought "Life of Pi" on Amazon a few times and am looking forward to finding out what all the hype is about. "Lucky" is a book I already own, but I made the purchase for a friend who has been wanting to read it. I know it is a great book and am happy that I was able to find an extra copy for a quarter. Yes, the religious ladies were holding a 50% off sale making their dirt cheap prices even cheaper. Major score for a total of 3 bucks!
The movie at work this week was "The Hobbit" in 3d. As someone who is complete ignorant to the whole storyline I was still able to thoroughly enjoy it. Great visuals, cool story and a solid amount of humour mixed in. I am looking forward to the next installment. My favorite movie moment this week though was when I caught the last half hour of "That's What I Am". Done on a tiny budget starring Ed Harris and his wife, it's about kids in the 8th grade at a school where Harris' character teaches. Set in the 1960s it involves a trio of nerdy types who end up getting to know each other through a school project that their teacher (Harris) puts them together for. I caught the tail end of it and, wow! I was tearing up during a scene where the most outcast of the three gets up at the school talent show in the face of bullying and sings accapella despite not being that great of a singer. I excitedly told Sheila all about it, and will have to go about watching the movie as soon as I can. Hopefully Sheila and I can enjoy it together if I can find it online.
Sheila pointed out last week that this blog has a distinct lack of Sheila in it. I pointed out that most of my content is related to sports, books, movies and poker but I did agree with her. My next post will be dedicated to all things Sheila, look forward to it later this week most likely on the weekend. Until then.
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