John Thomas and Lady Jane: The Second Version of Lady Chatterley's Lover

This is a book you can lose yourself in, never mind any "notorious" tag due to its being one of the three versions of Lady Chatterley's Lover. This "second draft" is actually much better than the final version. I didn't find it mawkish at all. It's about tenderness so maybe that's why the other reviewer thought it "mawkish". Don't look for sensationalism here, this novel is about how two people from different worlds fall in love. It's really superb.

This is a novel you can lose yourself in, never mind any "notorious" tag due to its being one of the three versions of Lady Chatterley's Lover. This "second draft" of Lady Chatterley's Lover is actually much better than the final version. I didn't find it mawkish at all. It's about tenderness, so maybe that's why the other reviewer thought it was "mawkish". Don't look for sensationalism here, this novel is about how two people from different worlds fall in love. It's really superb.

One of the most fascinating things about picking up a book is being able to immerse oneself in the author's world. If the book is a success, one inevitably wonders where such genius comes from, how it develops. Part of the pleasure of reading John Thomas and Lady Jane is, therefore, the way it allows us to glimpse the writer's creative process in the second of three distinct stages in the formation of the idea of Lady Chatterley's Lover. It also allows us to see how D.H. Lawrence develops the various themes he returns to again and again in his works: overcoming class barriers, discovering sensuality and passion--in the true, deep senses of the words--and struggling against the brutally mechanical, cold world of modern day life. Yet the attractions of this novel are not limited to the rather academic analyses of how he gets from the rough first version to the final version of his notorious novel, Lady Chatterley's Lover. Though the plot is roughly developed in some places, almost mawkishly sentimental in others, John Thomas and Lady Jane is truly a pleasure to read for those seeking reaffirmation of the fact that tenderness and compassion still exist in this world, and that regardless of where, when and whom, it is always possible for us to find a way of living that truly expresses and embodies who we really are.