The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I picked up this ebook through this website:
https://www.free-ebooks.net/ebook/The-Well-of-loneliness And yes, it was free. It was quite a while ago so I had to do some searching to figure out where it came from.
This book was very relatable. If you have ever felt like you didn’t belong to the norm for whatever reason, you understand the loneliness of the main character. Parents set you up? Check. Parents, relatives and friends find you weird? Check. All those feelings are beautifully, nearly poetically spelled out.
With the flavor of pre-WWI English, similar to Jane Austin the main character looks for love and feel quite unlovable. She learned that she doesn’t go for men but rather for women. The word ‘lesbian’ isn’t used. Gay refers to the tablecloth. In a time when all of this was far less accepted as it is now, one finds that we haven’t come as long a way as we may hope.
This story is anguishing and sad. It made my blood boil. It was tender. There are times when the tears are so close. BUT it was dreadfully boring at times. I read it on my Tablet using Moon Reader Pro so it could read to me. I tried very hard to read while listening, but there were times I got so distracted that I realized that whole chapters had whizzed on by.
Some consider this a classic and it does have that feel about it. It’s worth reading so that you can say you did. Maybe, if a read person narrated it it would keep my interest all the way through. I wonder if it has ever been made into a movie? I think it could be done quite well. The author gave many descriptions of gardens and lakes. It could be visually delicious!
Darswords 