This book may have been incredibly shocking and graphic and dirty when it was first written, but I think it's fair to say that your average romance novel now goes into just as much detail when discussing sex, never mind all the other novels that address this aspect of human relations. Sex is everywhere these days in writing, so I think the only reason this particular book gets so much attention--or still gets any attention for this particular issue--is that it's by a famous author and everybody knows it as a banned book. If it was banned before, better ban it now!

But if you're reading it just for the naughty parts you'll probably be disappointed, since they aren't really all that naughty. Read it for the other things instead. It addresses a lot of interesting issues, including thoughts on what makes a marriage, social classes (Connie Chatterley's affair is not so much the problem; it's the fact that she's having an affair with the lowly groundskeeper), whether people from different backgrounds can have lasting relationships, whether Connie is a weak woman who wants to be dominated, the importance of taking love wherever you can find it, the merits of elegant refinement versus hearty down-to-earthiness, etc.

Lawrence has a definite style to his writing that can be tiresome sometimes; a sort of determined simplicity that seems a little affected in places. If you can get used to it, though, it has a certain charm. I find that if you read him really quickly it's easier: the words just sort of pour into your brain and there you have the story. It kind of eliminates a middle ground composed of your own impressions of what he's saying. Or maybe that's just me.
Anyhow, he tells an interesting story and his characters are always vigorously alive and full of interesting quirks.

'Lady Chatterley' is actually one of his more 'complete' stories, I found. A lot of his short stories, like a lot of short stories in general, sort of go along for a while and then stop without you ever really feeling that anything solid has happened, and I found 'Women in Love' a little bit the same. I mean, stuff happened, but eventually it all just ended, and I thought, well, there's that, but it wasn't all that satisfying a conclusion to me. In this book, though, he takes us through some definite actions to some definite results, which is pleasing if you're into that sort of thing.

The two lovers in the book, a fine lady and a rough-hewn servant, are both interesting characters, and their relationship with each other, which goes through various stages and emotions, is also interesting to watch.

I would certainly say the book is worth reading, for its own merits and also to see what kinds of things people freak out about and decide no one should ever see. The story of the trial surrounding this book is also worth looking into.

As to whether it counts as a dirty book, I would say no. It does talk frankly about sex, and it's fiction rather than a medical text, but the sex is relevant to the story and there is more to the story than sex. I'd call it literature rather than pornography any day.



Recommended: Yes