The Rainbow

By: D. H. Lawrence

Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon

Set in the rural midlands of England, The Rainbowrevolves around three generations of the Brangwen family over a period of more than 60 years, setting them against the emergence of modern England. When Tom Brangwen marries a Polish widow and adopts her daughter as his own, he is unprepared for the conflict and passion that erupt. Suffused with biblical imagery, The Rainbow addresses searching human issues in a setting of precise and vivid detail.

In The Rainbow, D. H. Lawrence challenged the customary limitations of language and convention to carry into the structures of his prose the fascination with boundaries and space that characterize the entire novel. A visionary novel, considered to be one of Lawrence's finest, it explores the complex sexual and psychological relationships between men and women in an increasingly industrialized world.

Public Domain (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Lawrence is the most Dostoevskian of English novelists, in whose best work conflicting ideological positions are brought into play and set up against each other in dialogue that is never simply or finally resolved." ( David Lodge)

Narcissism at its most obnoxious

Though the book is more than 100 years old, it perfectly captures, in the final story of Ursula, today’s complete and obsessive self absorption. The first two generations, earlier in the book, were more engaging. Ursula’s story was one long, tedious wallowing in feeling and self-examination. Wildly swinging from ecstasy to agony, with many deviations along the way, then back through it all, driven all the while by worship of SELF. Perfect for today’s “It’s-ALL-about ME, ME, ME.” I’m a true literary nerd, and I like much of Lawrence’s work, but the last ten chapters made me gag. The narrator did an admirable job of slogging through hours upon hours of repetitive emotional masturbation. Yuck.

Exquisite language and rich portraits

The Rainbow is a saga of evolving hearts spanning three generations. The descriptions are richly textured. The narration is so fluid, immersive, and aware.

Literary Genius

D.H. Lawrence is a literary genius. After listening to The Rainbow, the Lost Girl, and Lady Chatterlay's Lover, I positively worship Lawrence. I built him a shrine and everything. Kidding aside, Lawrence is deep, cerebral, and emotional. This is life-altering fiction. But not for everyone. Most people won't be able to listen to it. Reading would be better than listening, but I don't think most people would tolerate reading it either.They would think that it drags and is too repetitive and boring. Lawrence is all cerebral emotionality and internal dialogue with very little action. Lawrence is obsessed with using the word "vaguely." Most people would probably say that his vocabulary was stunted and he over-relied on "vaguely" but I believe Lawrence's repetitive and crutch-like overuse and misuse of certain words was purposeful, much in the same way Picasso used blue paint during his "Blue Period." I adore everything Lawrence wrote, but I read the unabridged version of Tolstoy's War and Peace just for fun and thought It was one of the best books I've ever read. If you're like me, you'll love listening to The Rainbow and all of Lawrence's works.

Yea and nay

While Lawrence is a champion of reinterpreting tension between the sexes, he too frequently indulges in a desultory contemplating of navels. However, this first book in the Branguin series is compelling, if long-winded, and I'll expect more from Women in Love.

I don't get it

I hesitate to review this book because I am totally missing the point. Many members in my family have raved about this book, some going so far as to declare it a spiritual experience, but I just don't see it. I have to admit I was bored through most of it. And just when I thought I was getting into it a bit, Lawrence takes a left turn and I got lost. Just didn't enjoy it. It seemed to me like paragraph after paragraph of "They love each other, they love each other not." As my friend Paul says, "D.H. Lawrence could write. But somebody should have stopped him." Right now, I agree with Paul. Maybe I will change my mind when I grow up and reread it, but I just don't think I will ever have the time to spend on it again. There are too many good books out there.

Amazing literary work ruined by an awful narrator

What disappointed you about The Rainbow?

I *hated* the reader for this work because her tone was completely off. She read with an upbeat, fast, prim and proper affect that, when coupled with her British accent would have been perfectly fabulous for a Victorian romance or the like. However, The Rainbow is a serious book with heavy themes. Lawrence's prose and musings about his character's inner worlds and the human condition need to be really savored and processed, not rushed through as if the narrator were reading a "Jeeves" comedy. First audiobook that I couldn't stand more than 15 minutes of. What a waste of money.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

As stated above, her tone, pacing, and inflection were completely off.