Worcestershire - The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall

[chesilbeach]

WORCESTERSHIRE
 
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
 
Synopsis:
A powerful novel of love between women, THE WELL OF LONELINESS brought about the most famous legal trial for obscenity in the history of British law. Banned on publication in 1928, it then went on to become a classic bestseller.
 
Stephen Gordon (named by a father desperate for a son) is not like other girls: she hunts, she fences, she reads books, wears trousers and longs to cut her hair.
 
As she grows up amidst the stifling grandeur of Morton Hall, the locals begin to draw away from her, aware of some indefinable thing that sets her apart. And when Stephen Gordon reaches maturity, she falls passionately in love - with another woman.
 
 
Other Worcestershire books:
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

[willoyd]

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The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall ** (out of 6)

This, in all honesty, is not the sort of book I'd normally read. The genre isn't of particular interest, and, aside from Virginia Woolf, there are few, if any, writers from this period whom I have tried and enjoyed. I'd picked this up, partly because it's on the English Counties list, and partly because it satisfied the criteria for one of the options in another challenge I'm doing, having been a 'banned book'. But the auguries weren't that positive.

 

Having said that, things got off to a good start, and I fairly cantered through the first hundred or so pages. However, gradually, I found myself grinding down slower and slower until, at around two-thirds of the way through I came to an abrupt halt. I really couldn't bring myself to go any further, so skipped to the last twenty of so pages to tie up the loose ends, and then called it a day, with some relief.

 

Why? Well it came down to one simple fact: this book is one of unremitting gloom. Nothing, but nothing, goes right for the heroine Stephen Morton (yes, Stephen is a girl). Even when it seems to be going right, it eventually turns out all wrong. It is one of the most miserable, depressing, books I've ever tried reading.

 

I don't think it helps in the way that Stephen's affairs are portrayed. This is meant to be one of the great lesbian novels, but Hall, a lesbian herself, whilst drawing her main character sympathetically enough, seems to regard Stephen's affairs as highly destructive, containing little in the way of mutual regard and care - everybody seems to come out of these relationships damaged in some way. Indeed, both Stephen's lovers seem to be more interested in men in the long term. Rather than giving lesbianism a chance to breathe, see the light of day, and be seen as a legitimate form of relationship, Hall appears to be trying to portray it as a completely negative experience. Maybe this was true of the 1920s, and that is what is trying to be said, but it seems a funny way of going about things.

 

But then, the further I got into the book, the more I found this book dragging too. It's over 450 pages long, and everything takes forever to develop (although the pace might have picked up in the last hundred or so - I jumped from p. 300 to 420+). I do worry at finishing a book early, but I have to say that whilst there was little about this novel that I positively disliked, I've felt nothing but relief since leaving it behind and moving on. There's more to life than being asked to wallow in someone else's unremitting misery - or at least life's too short.

[Alexi]

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I had never heard of this novel before embarking on the English Counties Challenge but it's something different from what I would normally read and therefore I was happy to pick it up as part of that. 

 

Unfortunately, it took me a long time to get through and I had to read other books alongside it, as I found it such a slog. 

 

It's so, so, so depressing. I realise that is the point, as to be a lesbian in this period was no easy feat, but unfortunately it made the book feel like wading through treacle. I read plenty of books where the main characters don't have an easy time and death and tragedy are major themes, but with this it was one thing after another that was quite samey so it lost any resonance. By the end of it I just wanted to slap everyone silly. 

 

The writing is poor which doesn't help and needed some serious editing both for style and length. It went and bleeding on and I ended up skimming the last portion. 

 

2/5 (Not my cup of tea)

 

Just to add: Willoyd, the pace did not pick up and I don't think you missed much by skipping 100 pages! 

Edited July 23, 2016 by Alexi

[chesilbeach]

Oh dear, these reviews don't bode well!  I'm going to have to face it at some point, but it's not exactly jumping up and down at me

[Janet]

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Stephen’s father expected his child to be a son, but instead got a daughter who was christened with the name her parents had already chosen. Stephen is an awkward and shy child who enjoys hunting and dresses like a man. Her relationship with her father is good but her mother does not understand Stephen and the two have a tense relationship. Stephen develops a very close friendship with a young man called Martin but is horrified when he falls in love with her and the pair part company. She later falls in love with an American woman but this relationship is also doomed. When her beloved father dies, Stephen’s mother Anna can’t cope with her daughter’s lifestyle and so Stephen moves to Paris where things begin to look up for her, but it seems that happiness is destined always to elude her…

I am so behind with my reviews! When I finished this I emailed myself a few initial thoughts but now, nearly two months later, I can’t remember to what they all refer, but I shall do my best to get my thoughts down!

I approached this novel with some trepidation, having read a few negative views of it, and it’s true to say that it took me a very long time to get into it, and a long time to read. However, I did enjoy it, especially once the action moved to Paris, where people were more accepting of Stephen. It is true that this is a bleak novel and is obviously of its time, and it’s easy to see why it was banned having been published in 1928 where homosexuality was illegal for men and considered an inversion for women. I felt very sad for Stephen, especially at the end of the novel and it left me feeling a bit down, but also very glad that for the most part people are more accepting now. I don’t think I’ll be trying anything else by her though, despite not hating the book!