Women in Love by D.H. LawrenceMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Although a sequel to The Rainbow, this is a very different beast and can largely be read on its own (there are occasional references to previous events in Ursula’s life only to underline how far she has moved beyond them). Ursula shares the stage with her sister and the two men that love them, and each other. The central tension the book explores and ends on is whether marriage is partnership enough, or if other company is required for a fulfilled life. Happily Lawrence’s increasingly chauvinistic attitude is still reigned in here, and his avatar character’s lecturing is ridiculed and mocked, not least by the woman who loves him. It is that ambiguity and multipolarity that makes this a great novel. I think The Rainbow is greater still, laying out its thesis a bit more convincingly, but both books are triumphs and well worth reading.
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