Lady Chatterley's Lover (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

Although I, like many others, began reading this book due to it's risque reputation, I gained far more from it than I could have imagined. Connie's frustrations with the modern world and her desire for something better touched me, and echoed my own hidden feelings. Regardless of the manner of writing, the philosophical (some would say long-winded) side-tracking, and the sex that it is famous for, I enjoyed every page, every sentence...yes, every word. Any woman who says she cannot relate to Connie has either experienced nothing of nature or felt no yearn for love. As a 20 year old woman from the country who now lives in the town, I was entranced by the imagery of the landscape and the primal feelings it provokes within Connie, and indeed within myself.
To any woman, or indeed, man: Read this book and you won't regret a page.

A book which has achieved more notoriety for its sex scenes (shocking in 1930, when the book was written) than for its character studies, Lady Chatterley's Lover focuses on the affair between Constance, the "sturdy" young wife of Clifford Chatterley, and the antisocial gamekeeper on the Chatterleys' estate in the remote midlands. Constance, Lady Chatterley, who married Clifford a month before he left for World War I, becomes his caretaker when he returns from war paralyzed from the waist down and impotent. A writer who surrounds himself with intellectual friends, he regards Connie as his hostess and caregiver and does not understand her abject yearning for some life of her own.

The distance between Constance and Clifford increases when Mrs. Bolton, a widow from the village becomes his devoted caretaker, and he becomes increasingly dependent upon her. In a remarkable scene, Clifford finally tells Connie that he'd like an heir, and he does not care whom she finds to be the father of "his" child. Connie, yearning for an emotional closeness which she has not experienced in a previous affair, soon becomes involved with Mellors, the estate's gamekeeper. Crude and anti-social, Mellors has an honesty and lack of pretension which Connie finds refreshing.

Throughout the novel, Lawrence creates finely drawn characters whose interactions and gradual changes are explored microscopically. The growth of love between Connie and Mellors is complicated by the increasing self-centeredness of Clifford, whose outrage at rumors of their affair is motivated by Connie's choice of someone so far beneath her. To Clifford, the separation of the social classes is an integral and inevitable part of life. Devoted to achieving financial success even at the expense of his workers, Clifford is depicted as a symbol of unfeeling aristocracy and government. Mellors, by contrast, is a strong man of character who stands up for what he believes, obeying his best instincts.

Dealing with themes of love, passion, respect, honor, and the need for understanding, Lady Chatterley's Lover is a complex, character-driven novel which, though dated, celebrates the driving passions which can make life worth living. The romantic scenes and language here are tame by modern standards, and the extreme behavior and willingness to flout convention by Connie and Mellors may be less realistic psychologically than what would make sense for a modern reader. Firmly rooted in the 1930's, the novel shows an insensitive Clifford adhering to the outdated values, based on outdated economic structures, while Connie and Mellors, freed from these conventions, explore their instincts and their humanity. Mary Whipple

This is a delightful little gem, well presented and beautifully written. D.H.Lawrence's exquisite use of the English language has been (and still is by those of repressed intelligence) grossly misunderstood since he dared to tell it 'like it is' to a society very much in denial; people living a half-life of pseudo-modesty. Sadly, there'll always be the hypocrites, of course, plus the tabloid mentality brigade who are unable to perceive genius when they're presented with it; it's their loss.
Do buy this lovely book, read, devour and enjoy it at leisure; let it's passionate honesty lift your heart to a better place.