Banned Books Week: Lady Chatterley's Lover

Lady Chatterley’s Lover

by D.H. Lawrence

★★

Lady Constance Chatterley marries her husband shortly before World War I. He returns from the war paralyzed from the waist down. Their relationship continues to stagnant in the countryside until she has an affair with their gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors. The book was considered incredibly racy it was published in 1928. The full novel wasn’t even published in England until 1960. I decided to read this because it’s one of the most banned books of all time.  

 

To me, the novel was a gross simplification of love. Physical love is part of relationships, but it’s not the only element. Lawrence seemed to think that without the physical connection there was no way that Constance and her husband Clifford could ever love each other. Her superficial connection with Oliver never rang true to me. 

Oliver Mellors’ character was hard to stomach. He’s racist, homophobic, selfish, and quick to lose his temper. The only thing Constance actually has in common with him is their mutual physical attraction. It’s hard to believe Lawrence’s premise that this is the most powerful relationship she can have. It would be more believable if Constance had an affair with him, began to understand the importance of the physical side of relationships and then found someone that satisfied both the physical and mental desires that she had.

BOTTOM LINE: It’s a classic and I’m glad I read it, but it’s definitely not a new favorite. Lawrence writes some beautiful passages, but the characters and the plot fell short.

The book was banned in countries all over the world. There was even a trial because of the content. You can read more about it here. 

Past Banned Books Week Posts 
2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011.

Banned Books Week

Every year I "celebrate" banned books week. It's a wonderful reminder that living in a society that has the freedom to choose what we read is important. It's something we should never take for granted and we should fight to protect it! This year I will be rocking my new Out of Print banned books tote.

This year Banned Books Week is from Sept. 27 - Oct. 3. Grab a book that has been banned or read some more information about current censorship here.

So celebrate your freedom to read this week and check out this list of frequently banned and challenged books to see how many you’ve read.

Past Banned Books Week Posts 
2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011.

Image from here with more great quotes.

Banned Book Week: Go Ask Alice

It’s Banned Book Week!!! As I may have mentioned in the past, banned book week is a big deal to me.

As Heinrich Heine said, “Where they burn books, so too will they in the end burn human beings.” I know that banning a book isn’t the same as burning it, but it’s not far off. Anytime we decide to restrict what others are allowed to read, we are treading into dangerous territory. Reading gives people the opportunity to explore new worlds and ideas and forbidding that should never be an option.

 

So celebrate your freedom to read this week and check out this list of frequently banned and challenged books to see how many you’ve read.

 

This year, in honor of banned book week, I read “Go Ask Alice” a book that has been banned countless times since the 1970s. The reasons cited for banning include profanity, explicit references to runaways, drugs, sex, and rape.

Go Ask Alice

by Anonymous

★★

 

This fake diary of a teenage girl explores her downfall by drug use. At the beginning we see a self-conscious girl who isn’t sure where to turn. By the end she’s tumbled beyond society’s ability to help her because of the bad influences by friends. This book rocked the literary world decades ago when teens everywhere thought they were reading an actual diary.

 

The book has an oddly childish tone and never sounded like a real teen to me. There are too many times when the girl says how wonderful her mother is or how sorry she is for her actions. In my experience, most teenage girls are a bit more critical of their mothers. It felt like something a mother would write to make her daughter scared of drugs.

 

It was hard for me to take seriously because it just felt so forced. I know that when it first came out people thought this was a real diary and if I’d read it at that time I’m sure I would have had a completely different reaction. But instead I went into it knowing that it was later revealed to be a work of fiction.

 

BOTTOM LINE: Not my cup of tea. I know a lot of teens struggle with drugs, but there are other books I’ve read that deal with that issue is a more convincing way.

 

“Sometimes I think we’re all trying to be shadows of each other, trying to buy the same records and everything even if we don’t like them.”

 

Image from here.

Wordless Wednesday: Margaret Mitchell's Grave

In honor of Banned Book Week 

Margaret Mitchell’s grave in Oakland Cemetery

Mitchell is the author of Gone with the Wind, 

which was banned for its depictions of slavery.

More Wordless Wednesday here.

Photo by moi.

Banned Book Week: Bless Me, Ultima

It’s banned book week (Sept. 22-28)! Every year I try to read at least one banned book during this month and this year I picked Bless Me, Ultima. I hope this week you take a minute to appreciate how lucky we are to have the freedom to choose what we read.  

  

Bless Me, Ultima

by Rudolfo A. Anaya

★★★★

Antonio is a young Mexican American boy living with his family in New Mexico. At the beginning of the novel the local healer, Ultima, moves in with his family. Ultima was the midwife who helped bring Antonio into the world and he feels particularly close to her. He is the youngest child in his family and as he grows up under the watchful eyes of his parents and Ultima he must learn what it means to truly lose your innocence. Despite their love and protection he bears witness to strife and violence in the community.

The novel reminds me of many other American coming-of-age novels, especially Cold Sassy Tree. Bless Me, Ultima has a much more serious tone, but it shares many similarities of a young boy growing up in a tight-knit community. It consists of a string of connected events, more like a short story collection in some ways than a novel.

It is set in the 1940s following World War II and Antonio sees the effects of PTSD first hand. He witnesses multiple deaths throughout the book, but none of them are gratuitous. The book touches on many issues that adolescents struggle with, like the division between the life your parents want for you and the life you want. It looks at the role of the healer in Mexican culture, the question of religion and the way a community reacts to tragedy.

BOTTOM LINE: A coming-of-age gem and an important piece of Chicano literature.

“Understanding comes with life,” he answered, “as a man grows he sees life and death, he is happy and sad, he works, plays, meets people—sometimes it takes a lifetime to acquire understanding, because in the end understanding simply means having a sympathy for people.”

“I made strength from everything that had happened to me, so that in the end even the final tragedy could not defeat me. And that is what Ultima tried to teach me, that the tragic consequences of life can be overcome by the magical strength that resides in the human heart.”

Lysistrata and Banned Book Week

Banned Book Week is a big deal to me and each year I try to read at least one banned book to celebrate our freedom to choose what we read. This year it is from Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2012 and I hope you'll all get out there and find at least one banned book to read or to give to someone else.

Lysistrata

by Aristophanes
★★★★
 
This comedy, originally written in 411 BC, was banned in 1967 in Greece because of its anti-war message. This modern translation by Douglass Parker breathes new life into the story and makes it accessible for all audiences.
 
The women in Greece decide that they are tired of their men always being away fighting the Peloponnesian War. One woman, Lysistrata, comes up with a brilliant idea and recruits the rest of the women to take part in her plan. They decide as a group to withhold sex from the men until they make peace. They lock themselves in the Acropolis and resist all temptation to give in to their husband’s demands. I loved the fact that the women don’t deny their own sexual desires and they have to fight both their urges and their husbands’ desires to make the plan work.
 
One of the funniest scenes includes a woman desperate to go back home to her husband. She announces she much leave and find a midwife because she’s about to deliver her baby… even though she wasn’t pregnant the day before. The women quickly call her on it and make her remove the metal helmet from under her dress where it was being smuggled to make her look pregnant.
 
BOTTOM LINE: The humor definitely plays better on the stage than the page, but I’ve found that to be true with all comedic plays. The premise is clever and fun and though it may be a bit silly, the message of encouraging peace is a good one.

Image from here.

Banned Book Week: The Chocolate War

(My satchel with my "I read banned books" pin)

It's Banned Book Week and in honor of that I've reviewed a banned book I recently read and I've listed a few of my favorite banned books that I've read in the past. As my favorite button (above) on my satchel says “I read banned books.” There’s something disturbing about a society that tries to control what people read, so of course, my first instinct is to go read it.

My top ten favorite Banned Books:

1) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
2) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
4) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
5) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
6) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
7) Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
8) Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
9) Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
10) All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren

Favorites when I was a kid:

1) A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
2) James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
3) The Giver, by Lois Lowry
4) Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
5) The Wish Giver by Bill Brittain

The Chocolate War
by Robert Cormier
★★★

This young adult book is frequently cited on banned book lists and honestly, that was the main reason I read it. Oddly, there’s very little in this book that I can point to as a possible reason to ban it. There’s very little language, there’s some violence and the main characters are teenage boys, so there are a few sexual thoughts, but very little in the grand scheme of banned books. Regardless, this one won’t be on any favorites lists of mine.

Jerry Renault is a freshman at a private high school run by Catholic priests. One of the teachers, Brother Leon, is a power-hungry, ruthless man and he decides he’s going to make the students sell double the number of boxed chocolates than they have in previous years in order to make himself look good.

The Vigils are a secret society within the school. A meathead jock is the front man, but the true leader of the group is Archie. He is the brains of the operation and he develops the random tasks that the group forces the students to do. Things get out of hand when the Vigils decide to make Jerry refuse to sell the chocolates for 10 days.

The thing that is starling about this book is the vindictive, cruel nature of the Vigils, especially the calculating character of Archie. It was strange to me because it seemed like they had no real motivation for their actions. It’s not just physical brutality, it’s the psychological and emotional strain they put on their fellow students.

The boys’ savagery is similar to that of the characters in Lord of the Flies, but because their circumstances are not extreme, it’s even worse. It’s almost understandable in wild jungles of Lord of the Flies, because the boys are reduced to their basic natures to survive. In The Chocolate Wars, they are living in a civilized world and every decision they make is thought out and intentional, which makes it even crueler.

In the end I didn’t even feel like rooting for the main character, Jerry, because it all seemed so silly and pointless. I was glad he was standing up for himself, but at the same time, it seemed stupid that he should have to fight against something so ridiculous.

For another view, check out the great review at Your Move, Dickens.

*Photo by moi