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Sons and Lovers

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Sons and Lovers

By: D. H. Lawrence
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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About this listen

Sons and Lovers, D. H. Lawrence's first major novel, was also the first in the English language to explore ordinary working-class life from the inside. No writer before or since has written so well about the intimacies enforced by a tightly knit mining community and by a family where feelings are never hidden for long.

When the marriage between Walter Morel and his sensitive, high-minded wife begins to break down, the bitterness of their frustration seeps into their children's lives. Their second son, Paul, knows that he must struggle for independence if he is not to repeat his parents' failure. Lawrence's powerful description of Paul's single-minded efforts to define himself sexually and emotionally through relationships with two women---the innocent, old-fashioned Miriam Leivers and the experienced, provocatively modern Clara Dawes---makes this a novel as much for the beginning of the 21st century as it was for the beginning of the 20th.

Public Domain (P)2010 Tantor Classics Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Fiction Marriage

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All stars
Most relevant  
A good reading of Lawrence classic unabridged. Locations come to life . Characters and dialogue well delineated by the narrator. I would recommend this.

Sons and Lovers

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Quite slow going, and I didn't initially care much about the characters. Parts of it were very good, like the early difficulties between the mother and father, and with the brother William, but then for long periods I would find I was waiting for something interesting to happen. At times it was a very in-depth exploration of the characters' lives and inner thoughts and motivations, and followed their lives quite closely, but then other things would be noted and brushed over in a few simple sentences, which was a bit jarring at times. There was a lot of "At this time, xyz was happening," or "By now the family had moved house", so there were strange gaps in the timeline, and it sometimes felt like an afterthought, like the book wasn't necessarily written in a planned way, or edited to remove inconsistencies. For example, I seem to remember when Paul first goes to Willy Farm it sounded like Miriam is the only daughter with her rowdy farmer brothers, and then all of a sudden another sister is introduced out of nowhere.

It did get more interesting towards the end, but it was quite tortuous (in the sense that Therese Raquin was tortuous/stressful to read). I wonder if perhaps the author was being too ambitious in what they were trying to do, by covering all these different elements of the Morrell's lives. Perhaps if it had had a narrower focus it would have been able to hold my interest more, but it just felt drawn out and overall I didn't feel like I connected with the plot and the characters much emotionally until the very end.

On a minor point, I did find it very difficult to follow some of the accents on a number of occasions, so had to refer to an online copy of the book so I could double check what was being said. Maybe it would have been better to read than listen to...

I've enjoyed other classic fiction, but overall this just didn't grip me in the way I hoped it would. Maybe I would have enjoyed an abridged version more, but I'm all honesty, I'm not sure I'll be reading any more D.H. Lawrence if the other books are like this.

Took a long time to get into it

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It’s all in the title; the complexities of gender, love, social roles and the pain and joy therein. I read this book when I was fifteen and loved the emotional intensity, the descriptions of family life, landscape, class and gender. Nearly fifty years later I re-read it and Lawrence’s writing felt just as fresh and perhaps even more relevant.

One of the best titles ever

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An absolute joy to listen to with moments that last forever. Lawrence has such tenderness and cruelty - never stepping away from the bitter truths of human love. A masterpiece

Stunning realism

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A mesmerising story with tragedy that took my breath away at times and so very well read by Simon Vance - the pace was perfect.

I shan't forget about the Morels.

Great book and great app

My first D.H. Lawrence novel, and I loved it.

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My first D H Lawrence. Really impactful being taken back in time to the English Midlands mining industry between Derby and Nottingham through the prism of love, romance, casual (almost matter of a factly) misogyny and domestic abuse, as well as class and oppression. Not to Dickens’, Hardy’s or Eliot’s standards perhaps but worth it nonetheless. Stuart

Social History

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I read the paper book years ago and it touched my heart. It still is a favorite book of mine and the interpretation is superb. The ending is one of the most intense pieces of literature I know, and a beautiful depiction of the immensity and loneliness of the human condition.

A favorite

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I've only listened to the sample so may be wrong, but the accent adopted by the narrator seems to veer around a bit and sounds more like a Yorkshire than a Notts one to me. I'm going to try the 'Naxos' version instead.

Accents sound wrong

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Absolutly fantastic read. Wonderful depth to the characters without slowing the pace of the story. You get a real feel for what life was like in a mining town at the turn of the century. Basically terrible. All the characters are so real and you feel as if you really get to know them and understand them. This is my first D H Lawrence, it will not be my last. The narration is spot on, strong, understandable accents.

Fantastic read

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At the start of the book I was taken with the writing which is excellent throughout and the description of a Nottingham mining village. By the end, I was desperate for it to end and probably won't try another DHL. I didn't like any of the characters and found the endless agonised soul searching mawkish - it reminded me of Dostoyevsky's Bros K. So, not to my taste.
The production and reading were faultless. Vance manfully waded through the accents and the anguish, and only slightly faltered in doing the children.

My first and probably last Lawrence experience

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