Tenderness

This book is essentially a love letter to ‘Lady Chatterley's Lover'. I have never read Lady Chatterley so maybe I am not the best target but it was nonetheless an interesting read, if a little bit meandering in places. The story jumps between several time frames, a couple within D.H. Lawrence's life and one during the trial of the book in the 1960s. Probably one of the most controversial pieces of literature out there, a lot of that controversy is based around the mores of the time it was written, so putting it in its historical context was interesting. That being said, the parts of the book dealing with the trial were definitely more interesting than the sections about the life of D.H. Lawrence. Lawrence led a somewhat sad life and there is a decided melancholy to the sections describing it. They do tend to drag for me somewhat though. The trial section tends to have more thrust as there is more at stake and ultimately provide a more satisfying read.

Ultimately this was a somewhat lopsided read. Interesting for its historical context it was overly longwinded in places, but it captured one of the most fundamental trials on freedom of expression within the literary arts in an interesting way. I will have to go and ready Lady Chatterley at some point and I am left wondering if more knowledge on that would have changed my opinion of this work

This is an exceptional historical novel. It is a slow read, quite long, but I found myself languishing over Macleod's prose. Her descriptions, her narrative, her imagery, her similes–all were complexly drawn to engage and expand and enrich the experience. I knew of the censorship of Lady Chatterley's Lover, but now I have lived it.