Lady Chatterley's Lover

It took me two weeks to read Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence. A week and half of that was the first 50-75 pages. Boring. Very wordy. Or as my co-worker said, "verbose." He read three books, including Lady Chatterley's Lover, in the time I read the one book.

Once the affair started, well, that's when it got good. ;)

As much as I enjoyed reading all the sexual parts, what I didn't care for was Lawrence's ultimate portrayal of women. In the beginning, she's independent, intelligent; her own woman. Once she sexually connects with her lover and thus really falls in love, she becomes clingy and whiny. She constantly asks him to kiss her, to tell her he loves her. She clings to him and doesn't want him to leave her.

In the book, he's been hurt in the past and has closed himself off to women; doesn't want anything to do with them. Yet, there's something about Lady Chatterley that draws him in. And even though he starts to withdraw from her when she gets clingy and whiny, ultimately their sexual connection is too strong for him to fight against and he succumbs to her. He continues to remain distant, though, aloof almost, and you don't really believe he loves her until the end when he writes to her when they're apart.

Like Ginnifer Goodwin's character, Gigi, in "He's Just Not That Into You," says at the beginning of the movie, females are trained from an early age to fall for the jerks, the ones that pull your hair and call you names on the playground. We're told they do that because they "like" us. So we spend our entire lives going after the wrong guys; we fall for the jerks.

And Lady Chatterley's Lover even reinforces that sentiment, to a degree. He's distant, emotionally closed off, seems to mock her in their first meetings and as I mentioned, you don't really believe he loves her. The only difference is their sexual connection. Within it, they achieve true intimacy. Her total submission to him and enjoyment draws him into her. He desires her. He loves her.

And while I detest that she becomes clingy and whiny, the female I fear deep down inside of becoming, I love that he depicts how important sex is to truly connect with someone and how through that connection, you really live.