274. Women in Love

Women in Love
D.H. Lawrence
1920
Around 530 pages

This book brings back some memories of boyfriends past. I was once dragged to a volleyball tournament, which I mistakenly thought would last a couple hours long. Cut to eight hours later, when I was desperately trying to combat a migraine from lack of food and trying to fix something I call "Gymnasium Hair." Anyway, at least I had this book to keep me company, which I read and finished during my incarceration. 

We pick up where we left off from The Rainbow. Ursula and Gudrun are sisters living in the Midlands of England. They meet a local school inspector, Rupert Birkin, and the heir to a coal mine, Gerald Crich. Ursula and Birkin begin a romantic relationship, while Gudrun and Crich form a romantic bond of their own. One is much smoother than the other.

My love for D.H. Lawrence is well documented at this point, but we still have quite a ways to go before we are finished with him. I will say his writing style is superb as always, and once again, he is racy for his time. It's interesting to see him elaborate on themes from The Rainbow as he gains more confidence as a writer. 

Are you a Gudrun or an Ursula? Comment below!

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Gudrun's character was partly based off of Katherine Mansfield, while Gerald Crich is based off of her husband.

UP NEXT: Main Street by Sinclair Lewis.

273. Night and Day

Night and Day
Virginia Woolf
1919
Around 500 pages

Now that this is the only 1001 blog I have left (I finished the music and movie blog), I look forward to writing blog posts more. It also has inspired me to spruce things up around here, so this blog might be getting a makeover soon. The List is feeling a little stale right now, as we ping pong between familiar authors. I guess it's up to me to bring the spruce.

Katharine Hilbery is the granddaughter of a distinguished poet, and thus belongs to the upper class. Katharine is engaged to William Rodney, who should taken public speaking off his list of attributes. Katharine attracts the attention of Ralph Denham, a lawyer who actually has to work for a living to support his long list of dependents. He doesn't realize that Mary Datchet, a suffragette, is in love with him regardless of his social standing. 

Virginia Woolf is clearly still in the early stages of her career, when the plot is much more coherent and the structure less experimental. And I like this Woolf. She seems like the type of person who would catch your eye during a dinner party and make it difficult not to laugh at some social snafu. I liked the love square, as well. It felt like a Shakespearean comedy.

Probably not a necessary addition, since she already covered a lot of this ground in The Voyage Out, but I enjoyed it.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Published following Woolf's second suicide attempt.

UP NEXT: Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence. Not many other sequels on the List.

272. Tarr

Tarr
Wyndham Lewis
1918
Around 350 pages

My new tracking system for 1001 reads allows me to see which books I am passing over across all editions. Since I am following the original List, it feels like I am just skipping all the entries not written by white Englishmen. It might be time to shake things up soon. For now, we will forge ahead with the original List, pre-non Western makeover.

The novel is set in pre war Paris, and follows the lives of two artists. The main character, Tarr, is thought to be based on Wyndham Lewis himself. Tarr is fed up with rules, conventions, and anything resembling civilization. His foil is Kreisler, a violent German and general failure as an artist. Their lives are full of missteps, duels, and truly terrible approaches to bed women.

This is my first Lewis novel, and wow, am I impressed. Lewis is a master of writing punchy sentences. I was delighted with many of the vivid and humorous descriptions in this novel. I was less interested in the world views that the two artists were meant to represent. It felt like the kind of nihilistic philosophizing that the Russians have already beaten to death by this point. But I loved his language, and was content with his descriptions of just about anything.

There are many more Lewis novels on the List (he is an Englishman, after all), and I am looking forward to it. That is, if he doesn't get too soapbox-y.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

The first American edition used equal signs instead of periods, in order to introduce painterly strokes into literature. Oh, brother.

Lewis wondered later if he had anticipated the personality of Hitler with the character of Kreisler. 

UP NEXT: Night and Day by Virginia Woolf. Another great pick.

271. The Return of the Soldier

The Return of the Soldier
Rebecca West
1918
Around 100 pages

I have been loving the frequent appearances of female authors on the List lately. The List tends to overdose on specific female authors like Virginia Woolf and Edith Wharton (love you, ladies), so we don't get the one-offs as much as we do with the men. After reading this novel, I am looking forward to the other Rebecca West entries on the List.

Our narrator, Jenny, is anxiously awaiting the return of her cousin, Chris, who is fighting for England in France. Jenny is keeping Chris's wife Kitty company as they wait for news and keep the Baldry estate up and running. One day, they are told by an unlikely informant that Chris is alive, but has no memory of the past 15 years. This makes things hella awkward, because Chris is still pining for Margaret, the girl he was in love with at 15. Not to mention he has no memory of his son's existence.

I loved the choice of narrator here. In some ways, she's much more reliable narrator than Kitty would have been. We are almost tricked into thinking she is impartial, then her hero worshipping of Margaret begins. I also thought it was fascinating that three such different characters had to decide among themselves what the cost of dignity should be. 

A brilliantly weaved tale, and can't wait to see what else she has in store for us.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Made into a stage musical in 2014. I'm sorry, what?

UP NEXT: Tarr by Wyndham Lewis. 

270. The Shadow Line

The Shadow Line
Joseph Conrad
1917
Around 200 pages

I had been keeping track of my progress on the 1001 Book List using an app. Unfortunately, the app doesn't work on my new phone, so I've resorted to using a Google Doc. The Google Doc contains the titles across all editions, which makes me think I should just start over with the higher total. If anybody wants to check out my progress, or wants a Google Sheet of their very own, drop me a line and I will send you a link. 

I'd much rather talk about List strategies than this novel, but the beat goes on. A young sea captain is eager to begin his first command, which is almost as dangerous as having one last shift before retirement. His ship experiences nothing but trouble, including disease, insanity, and poor weather conditions.

Once again, the concept of this novel is more interesting than the execution. There are four other Conrad novels on the List and this is easily the weakest link. I thought the descriptions were dull and the characters weak. Maybe his heart wasn't in it anymore. 

There are other authors that I am much more eager to show the door, but I was getting a little tired of Conrad's style. So ahoy Conrad, and thank you for coming.

RATING: **---

Official Conrad Ranking:

1. Lord Jim
2. The Secret Agent
3. Nostromo
4. Heart of Darkness
5. The Shadow Line

Interesting Facts:

Andrzej Wajda made a 1976 film adaptation of the novel (Smuga cienia).

UP NEXT: The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West. This is a quick read.

269. Summer

Summer
Edith Wharton
1917
Around 120 pages

We've hit one of the odd patches on the List where I've read the next five or so titles. I'll probably space out the next few reviews for the month of February, since I always try to read love stories this month. Yes, I am a slave to theme months. 

Charity was born to poor parents from "up the Mountain" and is taken in by the widowed Lawyer Royall. His kind gesture, of course, is predicated on Charity eventually having sex with him. Charity gets a job at the library in hopes to save up money and leave Lawyer Royall's care. One day, an architect, Lucius Harney, visits the library to mansplain how to do her job to her. She falls for him, failing to recognize that she's in an Edith Wharton novel, so she really shouldn't.

Okay, if I was forced to live in New England during this time, I can't think of a sweeter gig than working at the library. And then a hot guy comes along, and builds better ventilation for you and your books? Let's just say I don't blame Charity for falling for this guy. It's harmless to be in love with a fictional character, right?

It's odd how the character of Lawyer Royall is handled. As far as I am concerned, he is a Lovelace-level villain, but he's treated with a lot of sympathy here. It's strange how Wharton can be so seemingly ahead of her time in some ways, but then so traditional in other beliefs. She would have been an interesting lunch date, that's for sure. And maybe I could ask her if Lucius was based on a real person and if said person is available.

Ahem. In conclusion, I love Wharton.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Controversial for its time, which is one of the reasons it's a lesser known novel.

UP NEXT: The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad. 

268. Growth of the Soil

Growth of the Soil
Knut Hamsun

1917

Around 435 pages

Pardon me if I appear to be a bit giddy while writing this review. I am so excited to be done with this book that I would do a jig, if doing so wouldn't make my leg explode. Due to my limited mobility, I am unable to get my books from the library. So I read this as a eBook, which I am sure impaired the experience for me. But I am convinced I would have hated it anyway, even if it was printed on the finest, best smelling parchment in the land.

The Listmakers have decided that the Nazi sympathizer deserves not one book, but two. So here we go again. Isak is a Norwegian man who recently settled on a patch of land with tenable soil. Man is lonely without Woman, so a big woman with a harelip moves in with him (Inger). Life is terrible for every living creature, etc. 

I am always hesitant to avoid giving spoilers. Although if I did reveal some plot points, you might be reassured to know that something actually happens in this dreary, long novel. I know I had my doubts at time. Hamsun writes women exactly as one might expect: creatures of fancy who just want you to buy them gold rings while they murder your children. Okay, maybe that part was a bit unexpected. My point is it didn't ring true.

I feel like Hamsun's purpose is to ensure the reader knows his characters are as miserable as possible. I read that this was written in a style popular at the time, Norwegian new realism. Sorry Norwegian readers, but this was a total drag. Was it supposed to be?

I know I have brought up the debate quite a few times on this blog: Can art ever be separated from the artist? In this case, I don't like the art or the artist, so we don't have to complicate things.

RATING: *----

Interesting Facts:

After winning the Nobel Prize of Literature, Hamsun said, "I know not what I should do—I know not what is the right thing to do, but I raise my glass to the youth of Sweden, to young people everywhere, to all that is young in life."

UP NEXT: Summer by Edith Wharton. Loved this one.