The best of the best series - Sons and Lovers

Have you ever read a book that made you feel uncomfortable as hell? Sons and Lovers by D H Lawrence not only made me uncomfortable but also a little sick in the stomach. By the time I finished reading it, I felt a little like the protagonist Paul - completely lost. But I also could not get the book out of my mind. Hence it has become the first book that I would write about as part of my greatest book series.

The story is about a bright woman who marries a man who really doesn't match up to her in class or intellect simply for love. But love soon evaporates and in that place, the woman is left with a sense of desperation and loneliness. This is when she turns to give her passionate love to her two sons. A love almost Oedipal in nature.

Her love is at first bestowed towards her eldest son who loves his mother with equal vigor. But then as is the case with all young men, he meets another girl. Interestingly the mother hates her son's new love and shows every tell tale sign of jealousy. The son almost unable to take the pain of hurting his mother and not being able to love or even respect his fiance, eventually dies. This is when Gertude (the mother) turns completely towards her young son Paul. Thus begins a relationship that is as stormy, as passionate as any love story about star crossed lovers - except this one is between a mother and her son.

Paul is both fascinated and sickened by his mother and his love for her. The one thing that makes this novel different from other novels that deal with controversial subjects is that it never at any point judges it characters. So in a sense Lawrence is telling his readers - "Pity them... don't judge them... you have no right... they are only human". But it is Paul's struggle to get his mother's affection and to be rid of it that makes this novel iconoclastic.

Paul finds love with a young girl called Mirian but his relationship with his mother destroys that relationship. His own struggle to come to terms with his sexuality is another side effect of the love that he has for his mother and their relationship. Gertude does not approve of this girl and soon the relationship is over even before it really began. But then begins the part that I absolutely find fascinating. Paul falls into another relationship with a woman called Clara. She is six years his senior and their relationship is similar to the one Paul shares with his mother. Thus begins a dance between Clara and Paul's mother literally over Paul's soul. Of course the reader by now knows the hold the mother has on her son and knows that Clara is fighting a losing battle. But for few moments you almost cheer for the woman who might make Paul happy for once. But any happiness that Paul would experience would naturally be broken. Because he is broken. He goes back to his mother as she falls sick. And both of them in for better or for worse, in sickness or in health are one and belong to one another - even death can't do them apart.

The novel is really a study of human character. Freud would have been very happy reading this novel in which we see a week natured man who is dominated by his over powering mother. He dislikes his father intensely and guards his mother from him jealously. And yet as stated above while reading never do you feel anything but empathy for them and the life they have chosen to lead. Extremely powerful, evocatively written, this novel deserves every bit of critical appreciation that it has gotten. Don't read the book as story about a son and a mother but rather read it as a study of the human character. All the wasted love and a twisted ending makes this one of the eeriest and one of the most wonderful novels I have read.